The Italian Resistance: Fascists, Guerrillas and the Allies

by Tom Behan

Overview

One of the enduring myths about World War Two is that only the Allies liberated occupied Europe. Many countries had anti-fascist Resistance movements, and Italy's was one of the biggest and most politically radical yet it remains relatively unknown outside of its own homeland.

Within Italy many plaques and streets commemorate the actions of the partisans - a movement from below that grew as Mussolini's dictatorship unravelled. Led by radical left forces, the Resistance trod a thin line between fighting their enemies at home and maintaining an uneasy working relationship with the Allies.

Essential for courses on World War Two and European history, Tom Behan uses unpublished archival material and interviews with surviving partisans to tell an inspiring story of liberation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745326948
Publisher:	Pluto Press
Publication date:	08/20/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	807,410
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Tom Behan (1957 - 2010) was Senior Lecturer in Italian Studies at the University of Kent. His books include Defiance: The Story of One Man Who Stood Up to the Sicilian Mafia (2008), See Naples & Die: The Camorra & Organised Crime (2009) and The Italian Resistance: Fascists, Guerrillas and The Allies (Pluto Press, 2009).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Abbreviations x

Acknowledgements xi

Chronology xii

Introduction 1

The meaning of the Resistance

How this book is structured

Part I

1 Midnight in the Century 9

Italian colonialism, racism and the Second World War

The ice melts

2 The Mafia and Street Kids: How Fascism Fell in the South 22

The liberation of Sicily

25 July 1943: the fall of Mussolini and ‘the end of the beginning’

8 September 1943: the fall of fascism

Four days in Naples

3 People, Parties and Partisans 40

The March 1943 strikes

The birth of a national unified movement

The Socialist Part

The Action Party

The Communist Party

The CLN

Anti-fascism on the ground

The three wars

4 Resistance in the Mountains 61

A new kind of army

Why the partisans were successful

5 Resistance in the Cities 77

Strike action in the cities

The liberation of Florence

6 ‘Aldo says 26 for one’ 93

Spring comes in many colours

All that glitters is not gold

7 Postwar Partisan Activity 107

Why partisans were angry

Political violence after liberation

Legal attacks against partisans

Partisan rebellions

The non-monolithic Communist Party

Occupation and Insurrection, 1947–48

The end of the Resistance?

8 The Long Liberation 138

Italian fascism: down but not out

The Tambroni affair

Attempted coups

The strategy of tension

The political defrosting of the MSI

The undermining of the Resistance

Part II

9 Female Fighters 161

Non-military activities

Military activities

Military versus women's liberation

10 The Partisan Republics 175

The Montefiorino republic

The republic of Carnia

The Ossola republic

11 Organising ‘Terrorism’ 190

A tale of two cities

12 An Uneasy Alliance: The Resistance and the Allies 208

An alliance for military needs

Between a rock and a hard place: the Resistance and the Rome protocols

The Allies' political strategy

Conclusion 224

Notes 229

Index 253

Editorial Reviews

""'This is the book on mid-twentieth century Italian history I have been waiting for'"" - Dr Gerd-Rainer Horn, Senior Lecturer, Department of History, University of Warwick ""'At a time when the Italian Resistance is under attack from all quarters, Tom Behan's clear and accessible book is a trenchant reminder that the movement had great moral, historical and political significance'"" - Dr Phil Cooke, Senior Lecturer in Italian Studies, University of Strathclyde, editor of The Italian Resistance: An Anthology

From the Publisher