When did moves to depose Mussolini begin?
(3)
- late 1942, Dino Grandi and Ciano discussed peace with the Allies; told an armistice would not be offered if Mussolini was in power
- only the King could depose Mussolini; early 1943 the King discussed his plan for the monarchy to take constitutional and military powers to replace Mussolini with the King
- King opened up secret talks with the Allies through the Vatican; May 1943, Roosevelt’s negotiator made it clear the USA would only negotiate a peace deal if Mussolini was dismissed
What events set up the deposition of Mussolini?
- forced to act by the Allied invasion of Sicily
- 16th July 1943, a deputation of fascists met Mussolini and convinced him to call a Grand Council meeting on 24th July]
- Grandi drafted a resolution calling for the removal of Mussolini + government to be placed in the King’s hands, and gathering support from other fascists to ensure the vote would pass
- King’s advisors, army generals, heads of police all informed (crucial support)
- King only accepted the decision to remove Mussolini a few days before the Grand Council meeting
What happened at the Fascist Grand Council meeting?
(part of Mussolini’s deposition)
24th July 1943, Grand Council meeting;
- Grandi brought in 2 hidden grenades
- Mussolini opened with a long, rambling speech for 2hrs
- then other fascists voiced their concerns
- 9hrs later, Grandi’s resolution passed 19 votes to 7
Why was Grandi so nervous about the Grand Council meeting?
(4)
- Grand Council had not met since September 1939
- Mussolini had the final say; did not have to accept the vote of the Grand Council
- Mussolini could order the arrest of any fascists that opposed him
- unsure the King would follow through
How did Mussolini’s deposition take place?
(3)
- 25th July 1943, Mussolini met the King for their regular meeting; widely thought Mussolini hoped for some concessions from the King (eg. give up military control but remain head of government)
- King informed Mussolini that he had decided to dismiss him and replace him with Marshal Bagdolio
- Mussolini attempted to leave the meeting but was met by Admiral Maugeri; placed him in an ambulance that took him to prison
Why did the Allies invade mainland Italy?
(4)
- intially did not plan to; not to divert attention from main focus of northern France
- Churchill convinced Americans to invade; to acquire more airfields, open a second front in the Balkans and Aegean, help invasion of France by tying up important parts of the German military in Italy
- hoped the invasion would be quick; thought Rome could be taken by Christmas –> flase, long war of attrition
- little evidence that German forces would defend southern Italy; appeared to be drawn back north of Rome
What happened to the government following Mussolini’s deposition?
(3)
- King placed control of Italy and its armed forces in Marshal Bagdolio
- 3rd September 1943, Bagdolio signed Italy’s surrender to the Allies; promised to hand over all Italian ports, navy, airfields, and army , and guaranteed assisstance of 60,000 Italian troops based around Rome
- 8th Sept, surrender made public; clear that neither Badoglio or King had done anything to put terms in place, Italian troops only ordered to retaliate if attacked
Why did Italian troops have differing reactions to the Allied invasion?
(3)
- despite terms of surrender, had only been commanded to retaliate if attacked; vague as had been fighting with Germans until then
- some surrendered (over 1mil taken prisoner), some tried to get home, some wanted to continue fighting alongside Germans
- on Greek islands, German and Italian forces began fighting; 1,200 Italians killed, 4,800 shot for resisting German Army
How did Germany react to the Allied invasion of mainland Italy?
(+ how this played out) (5)
- 9th Sept 1943, more German forced began to enter Italy
- King, Badoglio, and other military leaders fled south towards the Allies
- Italian command refused to order Italian army to fight Germans not to incite Germans to harm Italian civilian
- therefore, Rome poorly defended and overtaken by German troops
- 13th Sept 1943, Italy announced it was at war with Germany
What was the nature of fighting during the Allied invasion of mainland Italy?
(6)
- Allies bogged down in slow + difficult war of attrition; took 9 months to capture Rome (not 4) on 4th June 1944
- Allied advance hampered by weather (wet, cold) and geography (much fighting in Apennine Mountains)
- German army destroyed bridges and mountain passes in their retreat
- after 8 months, Allied army further depleated as troops transferred to France
- fighting for the north of Italy continued until 2nd May 1945
- parallel to Italian civil war between fascists and antifascists
How did Mussolini return?
(4)
- 28th Aug 1943, placed in a prison on Gran Sasso = extremely isolated
- 12th Sept 1943, Mussolini rescued by German commandoes in an aerial raid, brought back to Germany
- 13th Sept, met with Hitler; told to return to Italy as the head of a new fascist government established by the Nazis
–> if he refused, Hitler promised to destroy Milan, Genoa, and Turin - Mussolini stayed in Germany for 2 weeks; made radio broadcasts announcing the establishment of a new fascist government that would continue to fight with Germany + Japan
How was the RSI set up?
(7)
- RSI = Repubblica Sociale Italiana
- 25th Sept 1943, Mussolini established Gargano (Lake Garda) as capital of his new state
- Nazi puppet state; appointed officials without consulting Mussolini and forced to pay Germany 7 billion lire per month
- Germans ensured government bodies were spread out across 100 miles to hinder efficiency
- Foreign Ministry + Ministry of Popular Culture established in Salo = Salo Republic
- controlled the richest, most populated areas of Italy (Piedmont, Liguria, Veneto, Emilia)
- Mussolini established a new cabinet of radical fascists (largely old blackshirts who wanted to return to violence)
What were the policies of the RSI?
(6)
14th Nov 1943, first congress of the new fascist party was held in Verona; drew up Verona manifesto;
- returned fascism to its original policies from the 1919 programme
- anticlerical
- industry to be mostly nationalised
- cooperative state run by workers and management; 12th Feb 1944, private companies with over 100 employees or 1mil lire in capital to be managed equally by workers and employees like all state-owned industry
- –> never had time, support, or willingness of Germans to put these policies into place
What was terror like in the RSI?
(6)
- Jan 1944, 18 fascists sentenced to death (13 in absentia) for treason (their involvement in Mussolini’s deposition); executed on the 11th Jan
- Verona Manifesto classed Judaism as a nationality and all Jews as enemies of the state
- RSI fascists actively assisted German plans to send all Jews to death camps; 7,500 Jews from Italian camps sent to Nazi death camps in eastern Europe where 7,000 were executed
- northern Italians terrorised to ensure they wouldn’t shelter partisan soldiers and report them if seen
- German policy stated that for every dead German soldier, 10 Italians would be executed; March 1944, Partisan attacks killed 33 German soldiers caused the execution of 335 Italians
- Of all civilian executions in north Italy during WWII, estimated that only 10% carried out by RSI forces independently
What were the RSI’s forces like?
(3)
- GNR (National Republican Guard), new militia, formed; recruited 140,000 men
- army of 200,000 men, also had a navy, air-force, anti-aircraft service
- overall 573,000 men in RSI’s armed forces; much greater than antifascist partisan forces
- RSI’s army primarily fought partisans, rarely fought alongside German army
What was the situation in the south of Italy during the RSI?
(4)
King had established the royal government of the Kingdom of the South;
- effectively a client state; government had little say in its own affairs, under the control of Allied occupation
- little change to local leadership; King wanted conservative podestas and prefects to remain as supported monarchy and helped control social unrest
- June 1944, King encouraged to include antifascist parties in government; Badoglio changed by Ivanoe Bonomi
- Italian contribution to fighting remained small; Bonomi tried to conscript 100,000 men but anger at King + Badoglio meant conscription was widely resisted, 50,000 Italians did fight alongside the Allies
How popular was the RSI/Mussolini?
(4)
- not very popular despite large military force
- popularity declines as war continued
- 1944, clear Germans were losing war = RSI’s longterm existance was impossible
- Mussolini extremely ill, yet still drew enormous cheers from crowds as he toured bombed areas of Milan
What preceded Mussolini’s end?
(4)
- April 1945, Allied forces began to capture major parts of northern Italy
- 18th April 1945, Mussolini left Gargano and established Milan as the RSI capital
- 25th April, Mussolini tried to negotiate a surrender with the partisans if he was allowed to retreat further north with 3,000 blackshirts; ended talks when he discovered Germany was already negotiating a surrender with the Allies
- Mussolini tried to escape towards Switzerland with escaping German soldiers
What were the events of Mussolini’s end?
(4)
- 27th April 1945, Mussolini’s convoy stopped by partisan forces in Dongo; Mussolini found disguised as a German soldier
- Mussolini, other fascists, and Claretta Petacci (mistress) were arrested
- 28th April, Mussolini and his mistress were executed by machine gun fire in a small town near Lake Como, 12 other captured fascists executed on Dongo town square
- all 14 bodies publicly displayed in Milan’s Piazzale Loretto; Mussolini’s body attacked by crowds and hung on the girders of adjacent petrol station
How did the end of the RSI come about?
(5)
- fighting in northern Italy continued despite Mussolini’s death
- Allies pushed further north and Germans engaged in a mass retreat
- 29th April 1945, German command signed surrender documents
- 1st May, ceasefire agreed and news surfaced of Hitler’s death
- 2nd May, war in Italy finished
What was life like in Italy after the end of WWII + Civil War?
(5)
- worse situation than in 1918
- economy and infrastructure wrecked
- many lacked clean water and food
- overall 1/5 million dead (inc. civilians); 17,000 antifascists, 13,000 RSI soldiers, 30,000 dead in partisan revenge killings
- reemphasised north-south divide; different experiences of war
What happened to government after the end of the war?
(6)
- Communists, Socialists, and Christian Democrats founded a new Italy on the ‘values of the resistance’; alienated Italians who fought for the RSI or did not support the partisans
- 2nd June 1946, Italians voted for a new constitution and for a referendum on the monarchy
- –> King had abdicated in favour of his son, yet people voted for a republic 12.7mil votes to 10.7mil; every southern province voted to keep the monarchy
- Constituent Assemby vote (included women for first time!) won by Christian Democrats (207/556 seats), then PCI (104), then PSI (114)
- new constitution established a liberal democracy with guaranteed political and civil freedom
- monarchy replaced by a President + independent judicial system
- Lateran Pacts included in new constitution
Did fascism disappear after the end of the Wars?
- 1960s, most prefects, police chief, and deputies were the same as those under fascism
- 1st Sept 1957, massive crowds watched Mussolini get laid to rest in his family tomb in Predappio
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Liberal Italy Background26
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1912-191527
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1915-191827
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Unit 1 Stuff9
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Mussolini's Rise to Power31
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Mussolini's Rise to Power - Pt 226
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Mussolini's Consolidation of Power35
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Consent and Control - Fascist State33
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Consent and Control - Fascist State Part 222
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Mussolini's Relationship with the Elites and the Church37
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Mussolini and the Economy32
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Mussolini and the Economy Pt 224
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Mussolini Foreign Policy31
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Mussolini Feisty Foreign Policy23
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Mussolini's Feistier Foreign Policy33
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Italy in WWII24
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The End23
