4. Democracy restored, 1943–46

Question 1

Terms of the italian surrender

Answer 1

3 september 1943, Badoglio promised to secure all handover the entire italian army and air force alongside guarnteeing the allies of the assistance of 60,000 italian troops based around Rome

Question 2

Italian troops after the surrender

Answer 2

No order was issued to the italian troops except they should retaliate if attacked so soldiers were left in confusion - some surrendered with over one millon take prisoners, some tied to get home whilst others wanted to continue fighting alongside the germans

Question 3

Germany’s invasion in Italy

Answer 3

9 september 1943: German forces began pouring into Italy - the king, Badoglio and top military leaders fled south towards the allied forces refusing to issue orders to the italian army to fight back belieivng this would incite the Germans to attack civilians = The lack of direction meant Rome was inadequately defended and taken over by German forces

Question 4

When did Italy declare war with Germany

Answer 4

13 September 1943: Italy was declared to be at war with Germany (when the king and Bodoglio was safely with the allies)

Question 5

Capturing Rome

Answer 5

Took nine months as opposed to the planned four to capture Rome

Allied advance was hampered by the weather and italy’s geography - mountains, narrow ridges and valleys combined with wer and freezing weather

Question 6

Events of Italy during 1943

Answer 6

Allied invasion of Italy, (involved fighting against the Germans) parallel to a civil war waged in the new Italian Social Republic between facists and antifascist Italians

Question 7

When was Mussolini arrested and rescued?

Answer 7

28 August 1943: Mussolini transferred to a prison (isolated location where germans would not find him) but was rescued on 12 September by the Germans

Question 8

Mussolini’s appointment as head of Salo

Answer 8

13 September 1943: Mussolini met with Hitker at the Nazi control centre in east prussia where hitler demanded mussolini return to italy at the head of a new facist governemnet that the nazis would establish - if mussolini refused then hitler would have german forces destory Milan, Genoa and Turin

25 September Mussolini returned to italy and established his capital in Gargano where it was easy for the Germans to control him

Question 9

How the Germans controlled Salo and Mussolini

Answer 9

The germans ensured that the government officials were spread out over 100 miles across northern italy to stop it functioning effectively

The Germans appointing officials in various parts of the RSI without consulting Mussolini and forcing the republic to sign a deal that required it to pay the Germans seven billon lire a month

Question 10

Strengths of the Salo Republic

Answer 10

Salo controlled the richest and most populated areas of Italy - Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia

Mussolini established a new cabinet made up of radical fascists (those who had been part of the violent blackshirt militia purges in the 1920s who had waiting to take facism back to its violent orgins)

Question 11

Verona Manifesto

Answer 11

Drawn up to take back facism back to its original form as proposed in the 1919 programme when it was first founded

Italy was to be an anticlerical republic, industry would be mostly nationalised and a real cooperative stature run by workers and management was to be established

Question 12

Jews in the Salo Republic

Answer 12

The Verona Manifesto declared judaism as a nationality and thal all jews weer classes as an enemy - the salo republic subsequently organised the movement of all jews into campls - 7600 jews were taken from italian camps and sent to nazi death camps

Question 13

The army in the salo republic

Answer 13

A new militia was formed known as the National Republican Guard (GNR) and was able to recruit 140,000 men

In total RSI had an army of 573,000 men - greater than the antifacist partisan forces

Question 14

Civil war in northern italy

Answer 14

War against antifacists (partisians) and german and RSI forces

German policy set out that every german soldier dies, ten italians would be exceuted - partisian attacks in March 1944 killed 33 German soldiers and had been answered with the exceution 335 italians

Question 15

Why the power of the Salo Republic was limited

Answer 15

• Many italians had lost faith in Mussolini and the fascists
• Republic depended heavily on German support as Mussolini was a puppet leader
• By 1944 the partisians posed a serious threat to the German forces and Salo Republic

Question 16

The kingdom of the South

Answer 16

client state with little say in it’s own affairs and under the control of the Allied occupation that expanded as the Allies pushed north

Little change to local leadership - the king preferred to leave those conservatives (stron supporters of the monarchy) who held the posts of prefects and podestas to remain in place

Question 17

Support for the kingdom of the south

Answer 17

50,000 men from the kingdom of the south did fight alongside the allies

fighting in italy was slow and bitter leading to italians having to live in terrible conditions with a blackmarket and widespread corruption

Question 18

Mussolini’s speech in 1944

Answer 18

16 December 1944: Mussolini’s speech: told a packed the theatre it was the king and italy’s conservative elite that had betrayed the country and led it to defeat and was able to still draw enormous cheering crowds

Question 19

Events of April 1945

Answer 19

By april 1945: the allies were beginning to capture major areas of northern italy

25 April: Mussilini met with partisian leaders to negotiate surrender - ended talks when he realised the Germans were already negotiating surrender with the Allies without informing him

27 April: Mussolini was caught trying to escape to switzerland disguised as a german soldier

Question 20

Execution of Mussolini

Answer 20

28 April: Mussolini was executed alongside 12 captured fascists - odious were displayed at Piazzale Loretto wher huge crowded attacked Mussolini’s body

Despite Mussolini’s death, fighing still contuinued in north italy

Question 21

referendum and elections - establishing a republic

Answer 21

2 June 1946: Italians voted whether Italy should be a republic - the king’s support for mussolini had made him massively unpopular with the italian public
Italian people voted to an end of an italian republic by 12.7 millon votes to 10.7 millon - the north mostly voted for a republic whilst the south voted for retaining a monarchy

Question 22

Election of 1946 results

Answer 22

Christian Democrats were victorious securing 207/556 seats with the PCI getting 104 and PSI 114

New constitution established a libral democracy and replaced the monarchy by a president as head of state

Question 23

Ridding Italy of fascism

Answer 23

provided different as late as most of the county’s predicts, police chiefs and deputies were the same people who had worked for the facist government