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The Rise and Fall of Fascism in Italy (c.1911-46) > The Restoration of Democracy (1943-46) > Flashcards

The Restoration of Democracy (1943-46) Flashcards

1
Q

What was the main reason why the Allies decided to invade Italy?

A
  • To divert German troops from Russia and France
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2
Q

How long did the Allies predict it would take for them to take control of Italy?

A
  • 4 months
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3
Q

How long did the Italian campaign last after the invasion of Sicily?

A
  • From September 1943 to May 1945
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4
Q

What were 4 reasons why the invasion of Italy took much longer than expected?

A
  • The German defensive line was in the Apennine Mountains
  • The weather was predominantly wet and cold
  • The Allies ended up fighting a war of attrition against the Germans
  • To help the D-Day landings in June 1944, six Allied divisions were removed from Italy
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5
Q

What did Badoglio do after being instated as prime minister?

A
  • He and the king began negotiating Italy’s surrender to the Allies
  • An armistice was signed on 8th September 1943
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6
Q

What were 2 conditions of Italy’s surrender? What was the problem with them?

A
  • To hand over Italy’s entire navy and airforce
  • To give the Allies the assistance of 60,000 Italian soldiers
  • Neither the king nor Badoglio had put these arrangements into place; Italian soldiers were only told to retaliate if attacked
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7
Q

Give 5 details on what it was like for Italian soldiers after the armistice was signed.

A
  • There was confusion over what they should do
  • Over 1 million surrendered and were taken prisoner
  • Some tried to get home
  • Some wanted to continue fighting alongside the Germans
  • In the Greek islands, German and Italian soldiers fought against each other which resulted it in the death of 1200 Italian soldiers in combat and another 4800 for resisting the Germans
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8
Q

What was the impact of the signing of the armistice? Give 3 details.

A
  • Hitler decided to invade Italy
  • The king and Badoglio fled south towards the Allies, which left Italy in chaos
  • They refused to command the Italian army to fight against the German army as they feared this would have a backlash on citizens
  • As Rome wasn’t adequately defended, the German army took over it
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9
Q

What had happened to Mussolini after his arrest?

A
  • He had been imprisoned in a highly isolated location to prevent the Germans from finding him
  • In September he was rescued by German commandoes and was taken to Germany
  • Hitler told Mussolini to return to Italy and set up a new fascist government in the north
  • Mussolini returned to Italy to be the head of this puppet state
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10
Q

What was Mussolini’s new state called?

A
  • The Salò Republic (officially the Italian Social Republic, RSI)
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11
Q

Give 3 examples of how the Salò Republic was a puppet state.

A
  • The Germans spread out the different ministries across the north of Italy to prevent Mussolini from creating an effective power base which he could then be used against German troops
  • Germany appointed officials without consulting Mussolini
  • The new republic was forced to sign a deal that required it to pay Germany 7 billion lire a month
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12
Q

What 2 advantages did the Salò Republic have?

A
  • It was based in the north, so it controlled the richest and most populous areas of Italy
  • Mussolini made a new cabinet of radical fascists (who had been purged in the 1920s) who wanted to take fascism back to its violent origins
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13
Q

What were 2 brutal policies Mussolini used in the RSI?

A
  • He sentenced to death the fascists who had voted in favour of Grandi’s resolution
  • He executed 5 of them, including Ciano (Grandi and the others could not be found)
  • He decided that all Jews would live in camps in Italy
  • 7500 of them were sent to Nazi death camps, and only 500 survived
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14
Q

How popular were the fascists in the RSI?

A
  • Their new political party had only 487,000 members while the PNF had had 2.6 million members in 1939
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15
Q

How much military power did the Salò Republic have?

A
  • They had an army of 200,000 men
  • They also had an air force and navy
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16
Q

What was the biggest issue that the RSI had? Give 4 details.

A
  • Partisans
  • They were rebel fighters that fought against German and fascist forces in the north
  • By June 1944 there were 82,000 of them
  • 60% of them were from the PCI
  • 28,000 of them came from the Party of Action
17
Q

What role did the RSI have in WW2?

A
  • They didn’t fight alongside German forces as they were involved in a civil war with the partisans
18
Q

What was life like for most Italians in the Salò Republic? Give 2 details.

A
  • They joined neither the partisans nor the RSI’s forces as they knew the Allies would arrive in northern Italy
  • They were terrorised so that they wouldn’t help partisans
19
Q

Give an example of how the population in the Salò Republic was controlled.

A
  • German policy laid out that for every German soldier killed, 10 Italians would be executed
  • 33 German soldiers were killed, which resulted in the death of 335 Italians
20
Q

What was the government like in the south of Italy? Describe 4 aspects.

A
  • The king was head of the new Kingdom of the South
  • However, in reality it was a puppet state controlled by the Allies
  • The conservative elites remained in their positions as prefects and podestàs
  • Badoglio was seen by the Allies as being too involved with fascism, so was removed and replaced with Bonomi, who was an antifascist liberal
21
Q

What did Bonomi do as prime minister, and how successful was this?

A
  • He tried to conscript 100,000 men, but this was largely resisted
  • In the end, 50,000 men from the south fought alongside the Allies
22
Q

What impact did the resistance to conscription in the south have?

A
  • It deepened the north-south divide as the antifascist war was only really happening in the north
23
Q

How did it become clear that the Salò Republic could not survive?

A
  • By 1944 the Allies had broken through the German defensive line and German forces were retreating across Europe, which made it clear that the Germans were losing the war
  • It was therefore impossible for the Salò Republic to survive
24
Q

What was life like for Mussolini himself as it was becoming obvious that the war was lost? Give 3 details.

A
  • He was seriously ill
  • He was 61and lacked the charisma and energy that he had had before
  • However, when toured bombed areas of Milan, there were still huge, cheering crowds
25
Q

When did Mussolini accept that the war was definitely lost, and why?

A
  • April 1945
  • The Allies had captured major parts of northern Italy, and US and Soviet troops had met in central Germany
26
Q

What did Mussolini do as a result?

A
  • He met with partisans and tried to negotiate a surrender on the condition that he was allowed to retreat further north with 3000 loyal Blackshirts
  • However, he discovered that Germany was negotiating a surrender without informing him
  • He therefore tried to escape to Switzerland
27
Q

How successful was Mussolini’s escape?

A
  • Although he had disguised himself as a German soldier, he was recognised and taken prisoner by partisans
28
Q

What happened after Mussolini’s capture? Give 3 details.

A
  • The local partisan leader ordered his execution and those of other top fascists
  • He and his mistress Claretta Petacci were executed by machine gun
  • Their bodies were publicly displayed in Piazzale Loretto Milan, where they were beaten and strung up
29
Q

When did the German forces in Italy surrender?

A
  • 2nd May 1945
30
Q

What happened as the war ended?

A
  • Leading fascists such as Farinacci were killed, but full-scale massacres were avoided
  • However, it is predicted that partisans killed 30,000 alleged fascist supporters
31
Q

Describe 4 aspects of the situation Italy was in at the end of WW2.

A
  • Millions of Italians were homeless, unemployed or both
  • The cost of living was 23 times higher than it had been in 1938
  • The country’s infrastructure had been ruined by the war
  • Half a million Italians were dead (including civilians), and 30,000 of them had died in the civil war
32
Q

Who made up Italy’s first post-war government? What was problematic about this?

A
  • Communists
  • Socialists
  • Christian Democrats
  • They put an emphasis on the role of those who had fought against the RSI, but this excluded those who had fought for it, and the south
33
Q

How did the war affect Victor Emmanuel’s position? What did he do as a result?

A
  • He was unpopular due to his support for Mussolini from 1922 and his lack of action after the removal of Mussolini in 1943
  • He abdicated in favour of his son, Umberto II
34
Q

Which 2 important elections happened in 1946? What was particularly important about these elections?

A
  • A referendum on the monarchy
  • A vote for the Constituent Assembly
  • Women were allowed to vote
35
Q

What was the result of the referendum of the monarchy?

A
  • 10 million in favour of keeping the monarchy (every province in the south)
  • 12 million in favour of having a republic (almost every area in the north)
36
Q

What were the results of the election for the Constituent Assembly?

A
  • The Christian Democrats won 207 seats
  • The PSI won 114
  • The PCI 104
  • Liberals 41
37
Q

Describe 4 aspects of the new constitution.

A
  • Civil and political freedom were guaranteed
  • The president was the head of state and was largely a symbolic figure
  • The rule of law was under an independent judicial system
  • Some aspects of Mussolini’s rule, such as the Lateran Pacts, were kept

The Rise and Fall of Fascism in Italy (c.1911-46) (15 decks)

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