ABSTRACT
Politician and prime minister Born in the Trentino region, part of the AustroHungarian Empire until 1919, De Gasperi served in the Vienna Parliament as a Christian Social MP from 1911 to 1919, a fact used against him by the fascists in the early 1920s. After 1919 he became a prominent member of the Partito Popolare, succeeding Don Luigi Sturzo as leader in 1923. Following the forced dissolution of the PPI in 1926, he tried to escape Italy but was caught; he was eventually released on a Vatican guarantee of his good behaviour.
