Author: Marek Sobski Publisher: Independently Published ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 210
Book Description
Benito Mussolini was an exceptionally hot-headed politician. No wonder then that when reports from various sources began to reach him about the invasion of the Soviet Union planned by Adolf Hitler, in the blink of an eye he made the decision to accompany his friend in this new venture. The news of the enormous successes of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front only reinforced the decision to send representatives of the Italian armed forces to Russia in the form of the Expeditionary Corps (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia; CSIR). It was one of the most disastrous decisions of the Duce, which in time directly contributed to the collapse of the fascist regime, as the number of victims and brutality of the fighting in the east terrified the Italian public opinion, which never looked at war in such a total way as it was in the 3rd Reich or USSR. In early July 1941, three Italian divisions and a Blackshirt Legion began their journey into the unknown. There, soldiers were to fight against a completely unknown opponent, among peoples and ethnicities of the Soviet Union oppressed by red terror and living on the verge of poverty. Italians also quickly understood that their enemy would be the climate, regardless of the season. Nevertheless, they proudly represented their country, and the period discussed in the book was indeed a time of heavy fighting, but also successes, which for Italian troops were so often missing in World War Two. At the same time, the first symptoms of impending catastrophe appeared. CSIR logistics turned out to be ineffective, the enemy's reserves of manpower seemed to be endless, and in terms of the quality and availability of weapons, he quickly began to outperform the Italians. The book covers the first period of Italian involvement on the Eastern Front: CSIR's participation in Operation "Barbarossa" and the Soviet counteroffensive in the winter of 1941/1942. The basis for the decision to increase the Italian participation to the level of an entire army (the 8th Army, commonly known as Armata Italiana in Russia - ARMIR) is also presented. One of the chapters is also devoted to the aviation component, which was subordinated to the command of the CSIR. The book is being illustrated by 8 maps and 97 photographs of the main theme of the work as well as photo album: Operation "Barbarossa" as seen in the Italian press at the time. Table of contents: Maps Introduction I. Fascist Italy And The USSR (1922-1941) II. Mussolini - An Unexpected Crusader III. Formation Of The Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia IV. Army Group "South" In Operation "Barbarossa" V. Workers' And Peasants' Red Army VI. Manoeuvre at Petrykivka VII. Italians in the Donetsk Basin VIII. The Christmas Battle IX. The Last Actions of the Corps X. The decision to form ARMIR XI. Behind the CSIR Lines XII. The Italian Air Corps on the Eastern Front Conclusion Appendix 1 Italian Ranks and Appointments Used Throughout The Book And Their British Equivalents Appendix 2 Biographies Of The High-Ranking Italian Commanders of Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia Appendix 3 Ordre de Bataille of Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia Bibliography Photo album: Operation "Barbarossa"
Author: John Gooch Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 164313549X Category : History Languages : en Pages : 304
Book Description
A remarkable new history evoking the centrality of Italy to World War II, outlining the brief rise and triumph of the Fascists, followed by the disastrous fall of the Italian military campaign. While staying closely aligned with Hitler, Mussolini remained carefully neutral until the summer of 1940. At that moment, with the wholly unexpected and sudden collapse of the French and British armies, Mussolini declared war on the Allies in the hope of making territorial gains in southern France and Africa. This decision proved a horrifying miscalculation, dooming Italy to its own prolonged and unwinnable war, immense casualties, and an Allied invasion in 1943 that ushered in a terrible new era for the country. John Gooch's new history is the definitive account of Italy's war experience. Beginning with the invasion of Abyssinia and ending with Mussolini's arrest, Gooch brilliantly portrays the nightmare of a country with too small an industrial sector, too incompetent a leadership and too many fronts on which to fight. Everywhere—whether in the USSR, the Western Desert, or the Balkans—Italian troops found themselves against either better-equipped or more motivated enemies. The result was a war entirely at odds with the dreams of pre-war Italian planners—a series of desperate improvisations against an allied force who could draw on global resources, and against whom Italy proved helpless.
Author: Giuliana Chamedes Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674983424 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 441
Book Description
The first comprehensive history of the Vatican’s agenda to defeat the forces of secular liberalism and communism through international law, cultural diplomacy, and a marriage of convenience with authoritarian and right-wing rulers. After the United States entered World War I and the Russian Revolution exploded, the Vatican felt threatened by forces eager to reorganize the European international order and cast the Church out of the public sphere. In response, the papacy partnered with fascist and right-wing states as part of a broader crusade that made use of international law and cultural diplomacy to protect European countries from both liberal and socialist taint. A Twentieth-Century Crusade reveals that papal officials opposed Woodrow Wilson’s international liberal agenda by pressing governments to sign concordats assuring state protection of the Church in exchange for support from the masses of Catholic citizens. These agreements were implemented in Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany, as well as in countries like Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. In tandem, the papacy forged a Catholic International—a political and diplomatic foil to the Communist International—which spread a militant anticommunist message through grassroots organizations and new media outlets. It also suppressed Catholic antifascist tendencies, even within the Holy See itself. Following World War II, the Church attempted to mute its role in strengthening fascist states, as it worked to advance its agenda in partnership with Christian Democratic parties and a generation of Cold War warriors. The papal mission came under fire after Vatican II, as Church-state ties weakened and antiliberalism and anticommunism lost their appeal. But—as Giuliana Chamedes shows in her groundbreaking exploration—by this point, the Vatican had already made a lasting mark on Eastern and Western European law, culture, and society.
Author: David I. Kertzer Publisher: ISBN: 0198716168 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 587
Book Description
The compelling story of Pope Pius XI's secret relations with Benito Mussolini. A ground-breaking work, based on seven years of research in the Vatican and Fascist archives by US National Book Award-finalist David Kertzer, it will forever change our understanding of the Vatican's role in the rise of Fascism in Europe.
Author: Frank Joseph Publisher: Helion and Company ISBN: 1906033560 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 241
Book Description
Among the great misconceptions of modern times is the assumption that Benito Mussolini was Hitler's junior partner, who made no significant contributions to the Second World War. That conclusion originated with Allied propagandists determined to boost Anglo-American morale, while undermining Axis cooperation. The Duce's failings, real or imagined, were inflated and ridiculed; his successes, pointedly demeaned or ignored. Italy's bungling navy, ineffectual army - as cowardly as it was ill-equipped - and air force of antiquated biplanes were handily dealt with by the Western Allies. So effective was this disinformation campaign that it became post-war history, and is still generally taken for granted even by otherwise well-informed scholars and students of World War Two. But a closer examination of recently disclosed, and often neglected, original source materials presents an entirely different picture. They shine new light, for example, on Italy's submarine service, the world's greatest in terms of tonnage, its boats sinking nearly three-quarters of a million tons of Allied shipping in three years' time. During a single operation, Italian 'human torpedoes' sank the battleships HMS Valiant and Queen Elizabeth, plus an eight-thousand-ton tanker, at their home anchorage in Alexandria, Egypt. By mid-1942, Mussolini's navy had fought its way back from crushing defeats to become the dominant power in the Mediterranean Sea. Contrary to popular belief, his Fiat biplanes gave as good as they got in the Battle of Britain, and their monoplane replacements, such as the Macchi Greyhound, were state-of-the-art interceptors superior to the American Mustang. Savoia-Marchetti Sparrowhawk bombers accounted for seventy-two Allied warships and one hundred-ninety-six freighters before the Bagdolio armistice in 1943. On 7 June 1942, infantry of the Italian X Corps saved Rommel's XV Brigade near Gazala, in North Africa, from otherwise certain annihilation, while horse-soldiers of the Third Cavalry Division Amedeo Duca d'Aosta defeated Soviet forces on the Don River before Stalingrad the following August in history's last cavalry charge. As influential as these operations were on the course of World War Two, more potentially decisive was Mussolini's planned aggression against the United States' mainland. Postponed only at the last moment when its conventional explosives were slated for substitution by a nuclear device, New York City escaped an atomic attack by margins more narrow than previously understood. It is now known that Italian scientists led the world in nuclear research in 1939, and a four-engine Piaggio heavy bomber was modified to carry an atomic bomb five years later. These and numerous other disclosures combine to debunk lingering propaganda stereotypes of an inept, ineffectual Italian armed forces. That dated portrayal is rendered obsolete by a true-to-life account of the men and weapons of Mussolini's War.
Author: Hope Hamilton Publisher: Casemate ISBN: 9781612003924 Category : Stalingrad, Battle of, Volgograd, Russia, 1942-1943 Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
When Germany's Sixth Army advanced to Stalingrad in 1942, its long-extended flanks were mainly held by allied armies. But as history tells us, these flanks quickly caved in before the massive Soviet counter-offensive which commenced that November, dooming the Germans to their first catastrophe of the war. However, the historical record also makes c
Author: Paul Gottfried Publisher: Cornell University Press ISBN: 1501759361 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 124
Book Description
A conservative take on the antifascist movement Antifascism argues that current self-described antifascists are not struggling against a reappearance of interwar fascism, and that the Left that claims to be opposing fascism has little in common with any earlier Left, except for some overlap with critical theorists of the Frankfurt School. Paul Gottfried looks at antifascism from its roots in early twentieth-century Europe to its American manifestation in the present. The pivotal development for defining the present political spectrum, he suggests, has been the replacement of a recognizably Marxist Left by an intersectional one. Political and ideological struggles have been configured around this new Left, which has become a dominant force throughout the Western world. Gottfried discusses the major changes undergone by antifascist ideology since the 1960s, fascist and antifascist models of the state and assumptions about human nature, nationalism versus globalism, the antifascism of the American conservative establishment, and Antifa in the United States. Also included is an excursus on the theory of knowledge presented by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan. In Antifascism Gottfried concludes that promoting a fear of fascism today serves the interests of the powerful—in particular, those in positions of political, journalistic, and educational power who want to bully and isolate political opponents. He points out the generous support given to the intersectional Left by multinational capitalists and examines the movement of the white working class in Europe—including former members of Communist parties—toward the populist Right, suggesting this shows a political dynamic that is different from the older dialectic between Marxists and anti-Marxists.
Author: Bastian Matteo Scianna Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3030265242 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 372
Book Description
The Italian Army’s participation in Hitler’s war against the Soviet Union has remained unrecognized and understudied. Bastian Matteo Scianna offers a wide-ranging, in-depth corrective. Mining Italian, German and Russian sources, he examines the history of the Italian campaign in the East between 1941 and 1943, as well as how the campaign was remembered and memorialized in the domestic and international arena during the Cold War. Linking operational military history with memory studies, this book revises our understanding of the Italian Army in the Second World War.
Author: Marek Sobski
Author: John Gooch
Author: Giuliana Chamedes
Author: David Stahel
Author: David I. Kertzer
Author: Frank Joseph
Author: H. P. Willmott
Author: Hope Hamilton
Author: Paul Gottfried
Author: Bastian Matteo Scianna