To what extent did the Italian nation change between 1943-46?

Question 1

Why did Britain’s pm think an attack on Italy would be advantageous?

Answer 1

• could acquire more airfields from which to attack German forces opening a second front in the balkans
• helping the French invasion by pinning down the important parts of the German military
• little evidence that the south would be defended by the German forces who it appeared were being drawn back to the north
• thought it would be quick

Question 2

When was the Italy’s surrender to allies signed and what did badgolio promise?

Answer 2

• 3 sep 1943
• Badoglio promised to secure all Italy’s airfields and ports and hand over the army, navy and airforce
• guaranteed the allies the assistance of 60,000 troops that were based around Rome

Question 3

What was made clear on 8th sep 1943?

Answer 3

that neither badgolio nor the kinghad actually done anything to put these promises in place
- no order was issued to the Italian troops apart from the command that they should retaliate
- italian soldiers were left in confusion

Question 4

How many soldiers were killed in the Greek fighting between Italians and German forces?

Answer 4

• 1,200 Italian soldiers
• 4,800 captured Italian soldiers shot as a punishment for resisting the German army

Question 5

When did the German forces begin pouring into Italy?

Answer 5

9th sep 1943

Question 6

Who fled south due to the German invasion? And what did this result in?

Answer 6

king, badoglio and other military leaders
- refused to issue any orders for the Italian army to fight against the germans and this resulted in Rome being inadequately defended and taken over by the German forces

Question 7

When was Italy officially declared to be at war with germany?

Answer 7

13th sep 1943 (when the king and badoglio were with the allies)

Question 8

What did the capture of Rome look like for the allies?
Where was the war fought?

Answer 8

• much of the fighting took place across mountains. narrow ridges and valleys
• weather was predominately wet and freezing
• German armies destroyed bridges and mountain passes
• after 8 months of fighting the allied army was further depleted as troops were transferred for the more important invasion of France

Question 9

When did Rome fall to the allies?

Answer 9

4 June 1944

Question 10

When was mussolini transferred to a prison on gran sasso and when he was rescued out? - who was he rescued by

Answer 10

• 28th august 1943
• 12th sep 1943 -rescued by German commandoes and bought back to germany

Question 11

What did hitler demand mussolini to do and what did he blackmail him with?

Answer 11

• demanded mussolini return to at the head of a new fascist gov that the nazis would establish
• if mussolini refused hitler would have German forces destroy Milan, Genoa, Turin

Question 12

When did mussolini return to Italy and where did he set up his capital?

Answer 12

• 25th sep 1943
• established his capital in the small town of gargano

Question 13

What control did germany have over the new government that formed under mussolini?

Answer 13

• germans ensured the government bodies were spread out over 100 miles across Italy in order to stop them functioning effectively
• Germans appointed officials in various parts of the psi without consulting mussolini
• forced the new republic to sign a deal that required it to pay germans 7 billion lire a month

Question 14

Who did the new cabinet that mussolini establish consist of?

Answer 14

• radical fascists - mainly those who had been part of the violent blackshirt militia that had been purged in the 1920s

Question 15

When was the Verona manifesto set up and what did it say?

Answer 15

• 14 nov 1943
• attempted to take fascism back to what it was
• anticlerical republic
• industry nationalised
• real cooperative state run by workers and management

Question 16

was mussolini able to take fascism back to its radical roots and why?

Answer 16

• no
• he never had the time, support or willingness from the Germans to put any of his policies in place

Question 17

How was the Salo republic brutal?

Answer 17

• jan 1944: five fascists were arrested including ciano were sentenced to death for treason
• 13 others including grandi who could not be found were tried and sentenced to death
• fascists in the Salo republic were active in assisting the German plans to send Italians jews to nazi death camps
• 7,500 jews were taken from Italians camps and sent to nazi death camps

Question 18

What was the new militia that was formed called?

Answer 18

National republican guard

Question 19

At the start of 1944 what did the rsi army consist of?

Answer 19

• 200,000 men
• navy of around 20,000 and are force of 28,000 men and an anti-aircraft service of 50,000

Question 20

Who was the brutal war waged in the north between?

Answer 20

• Italian antifascists, German and psi forces

Question 21

What was the German policy set out?

Answer 21

for every one German soldier 10 Italian would be killed
partisan attacks in march 1944 that killed 33 German soldiers resulted in the death of 335 Italians

Question 22

Describe the kingdom of the south

Answer 22

• a gov that had little say in its own affairs
• under the control of the allied occupation
• allies talked about a mass purge of those that had worked with the fascists but this was not carried out
• conservative who held the posts of podestas and prefects were allowed to remain in place

Question 23

Who was badoglio replaced with as head of government?

Answer 23

Bonomi

Question 24

What did Bonomi tried to do and was he successful?

Answer 24

• get a conscription of around 100,000
  but conscription was largely resisted and only managed to get a conscription of 50,000

Question 25

When did mussolini give his last speech and what did he say in his speech?

Answer 25

• 16 dec 1944
• said that the king and the conservative elites who had betrayed the country

Question 26

When did mussolini leave gargano and try to settle his capital in Milan?
Why did he do this?

Answer 26

• 18th April 1944
• mussolini hoped that the move would bring him closer contact with those who might be able to guarantee his safety

Question 27

When did mussolini meet with the partisans? and what offer did he try to make?

Answer 27

25th April 1944
- mussolini offered to surrender if he was allowed to retreat further north with 3000 loyal blackshirts

Question 28

Why did mussolini end talks with the partisans?

Answer 28

Mussolini discovered that the germans were already negotiating surrender with the allies without informing him

Question 29

What did mussolini do when he found out that the Germans were surrendering to the allies?

Answer 29

mussolini tried to escape towards evacuating German soldiers

Question 30

When was mussolini caught trying to leave germany and what was he disguised as?

Answer 30

• 27th April 1944
• a German soldier

Question 31

When was mussolini executed and where and with who and what?

Answer 31

• 28th April 1944
• lack Como
• his mistress claretta petacci
• machine gun

Question 32

What was done with mussolini’s body after he was executed?

Answer 32

• driven to milan and publicly displayed
• huge crowds attacked mussolini’s body before hanging it upside down

Question 33

How many people died in result of World War Two?

Answer 33

• 1/2 million civilians
• total included 17,000 italian anti-fascist fighters, 13000 psi soldiers, 30,000 fascist supporters

Question 34

When did German command sign the surrender documents?

Answer 34

29th April 1944

Question 35

What did the Christian democrats, communists and socialists base the foundation of the new Italy on?
Who did this exclude?

Answer 35

• on the ‘values of the resistance’ that had fought against the rsi and German forces
• those that fought with the rsi and did not support the partisans felt excluded

Question 36

How many votes were there for and against a republic?

Answer 36

• for: 12.7 million
• against: 10.7 million

Question 37

In the constituent assembly set up how many seats did the parties win?

Answer 37

• christian democrats: 207
• pci: 104
• psi: 114

Question 38

What was the monarchy replaced with and what was the rule of law under?

Answer 38

• monarchy –> president as the head of the state
• rule of law was under an independent judiciary system