Controversy has long surrounded the complex relationship between King Victor Emmanuel III and the dictator Benito Mussolini in Fascist Italy. It is clear that the king played decisive roles in ...bringing Mussolini to power in 1922 and in removing him in 1943. In between, the two coexisted as Italy became a 'dyarchy', with two foci of power. The presence of the monarchy at once checked Fascist radicalism and persuaded many conservatives to adhere to the regime. Thanks especially to the monarchy, the innovative thrust of Fascism was channelled in certain delimited directions, toward a statist economy, for example. Still, the relationship between the crown and Mussolini was often rocky, though the king's reluctance did not prevent alliance with Nazi Germany, anti-Semitism, and war. Tensions were largely papered over by rhetoric and myth-making, as if the elements of Fascism fit together neatly. Despite his opposition to certain particulars, Victor Emmanuel identified with the overall Fascist project to some extent, and he worried that outright opposition to the regime would jeopardize the monarchy. But as the Second World War went badly for Italy, the king finally deposed Mussolini. Nevertheless, Italy soon voted to eliminate the monarchy, discredited by its association with fascism.
Faszyzm włoski narodził się formalnie po zakończeniu I wojny światowej. Faktycznie wyrastał z poczucia krzywdy i niesprawiedliwości związanych z podpisaniem pokoju w 1919 r. w Wersalu. Benito ...Mussolini, wykorzystując już wcześniej ujawniane poglądy filozoficzne, zdołał przejąć przywództwo nad ruchem „czarnych koszul”. Od momentu przejęcia władzy Mussolini, konsekwentnie budował koncepcję Włoch jako mocarstwa kolonialnego, dążącego do hegemonii w basenie Morza Śródziemnego. Przygotowywał państwo i społeczeństwo do nowej wojny, która miała naprawić krzywdę odczuwaną po Wersalu i dać Włochom prawdziwy i sprawiedliwy pokój. Droga Włoch do wojny, rozpoczęła się wraz z końcem poprzedniej i ani na moment państwo to nie zeszło z tej drogi.
Tens of thousands of Italian civilians perished in the Allied bombing raids of World War II. More of them died after the Armistice of September 1943 than before, when the air attacks were intended to ...induce Italy’s surrender. Allied Air Attacks and Civilian Harm in Italy, 1940–1945 addresses this seeming paradox, by examining the views of Allied political and military leaders, Allied air crews, and Italians on the ground. It tells the stories of a little-known diplomat (Myron Charles Taylor), military strategist (Solly Zuckerman), resistance fighter (Aldo Quaranta), and peace activist (Vera Brittain) – architects and opponents of the bombing strategies. It describes the fate of ordinary civilians, drawing on a wealth of local and digital archival sources, memoir accounts, novels, and films, including Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and John Huston’s The Battle of San Pietro. The book will be of interest to readers concerned about the ethical, legal, and human dimensions of bombing and its effects on civilians, to students of military strategy and Italian history, and to World War II buffs. They will benefit from a people-focused history that draws on a range of eclectic and rarely used sources in English and Italian.
The paper presents the Italian historian Renzo De Felice and his historiographical treatment of Italian fascism. In Italy, his research in the 1970s marked a turning point in the historical consensus ...on the subject up to that time. Hence, his work has been accompanied by several polemics that have often left the framework of scientific debate. In the first part of the paper, De Felice’s claims are confronted with his critics’ reproaches, while in the second part the article endeavours to explain the background of the polemic, presenting the specific socio-cultural situation in the Italy of that time and its impact on historiography on the fascist period. The discussion concludes that De Felice’s work, despite some contentious points, is currently considered as indispensable for all modern researchers of this period of Italian history.
Depuis quelques années, fascisme et populisme sont deux mots qui ne cessent d’être employés dans l’espace public démocratique, le plus souvent sans préciser leur signification. L’inflation de l’usage ...de ces termes s’avère problématique. Dans cet article, l’auteur propose des définitions générales et opératoires du fascisme et du populisme afin d’explorer les interactions entre fascisme et populisme en ayant soin de prendre en compte à la fois l’unicité et la pluralité de ces deux phénomènes politiques. Il s’efforce ensuite de repérer les continuités et les ruptures du conglomérat qu’ils ont pu former dans le passé et qu’éventuellement ils forment encore l’un et l’autre. Il s’intéresse également aux liens entre les populistes de droite les plus contemporains et le fascisme. Enfin, il examine le cas d’étude paradigmatique de l’Italie, pays inventeur du fascisme, et, pour reprendre la formule du politiste italien Marco Tarchi, « terre promise du populisme », en étudiant deux partis, la Ligue de Matteo Salvini et Frères d’Italie de Giorgia Meloni désormais présidente du Conseil des ministres. À propos de ce parti, l’auteur observe ses filiations avec le populisme, le fascisme, le néofascisme et le post-fascisme mais aussi son évolution vers une droite radicale, nationale-conservatrice, voire traditionaliste.
Of the many discursive materials created by Mussolini in the Fascist vintenium, few are as rich as the 1932 Doctrine. Published at a time when the regime was seeking to institutionalize and ...“normalize”, the material is fundamental to the historiography of Fascism for revealing how Mussolini saw his own movement/ideology/regime. This article will offer a content analysis of this material, with the intention of apprehending the main elements that constitute it and their differences or similarities in relation to other moments of Fascism. With the help of Robert Paxton's theory, it will be possible to contribute to the historiography of Fascism, by illuminating the idiosyncrasies of the Doctrine, showing how much the movement/regime has changed over the years ― which makes it difficult to speak in a Fascism with frozen features. In short, to understand what Fascism said about itself, and how much this dialogued with Mussolini’s practice.
Dr. Hu Shih (1891–1962) was one of China’s top scholars and diplomats and served as the Republic of China’s ambassador to the United States during World War II. As early as 1941, Hu Shih warned of ...the fundamental ideological conflict between dictatorial totalitarianism and democratic systems, a view that later became the foundation of the Cold War narrative. In the 1950s, after Mao’s authoritarian regime was established, Hu Shih started to analyze the development and nature of Communism, delivering a series of lectures and addresses to reveal what he called Stalin’s “grand strategy” for facilitating the International Communist Movement. For decades—and today to a certain extent—Hu Shih’s political writings were considered sensitive and even dangerous. As a strident critic of the Chinese Communist Party’s oligarchical practices, he was targeted by the CCP in a concerted national campaign to smear his reputation, cast aspersions on his writings, and generally destroy any possible influence he might have in China. This volume brings together a collection of Hu Shih’s most important, mostly unpublished, English-language speeches, interviews, and commentaries on international politics, China-U.S. relations, and the International Communist Movement. Taken together, these works provide an insider’s perspective on Sino-American relations and the development of the International Communist Movement over the course of the 20th century.
This book is freely available in digital formats thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Anglophobia in Fascist Italy traces the origins and development of anti-British ...sentiment in Fascist Italy, as Britain turned from being an ally in the First World War to an enemy in the Second. The book demonstrates that Fascist ideologues framed Britain as a stagnant and decaying country and the polar opposite of Fascism's new civilization, to the point that the regime's assessment of British political resolve and military might were distorted by ideological bias. The book offers a thorough analysis of diplomatic, military and journalistic sources and demonstrates that anti-British tropes had permeated Italy to a greater degree than was previously believed.
