A Military History of Italy

A Military History of Italy PDF Author: Ciro Paoletti
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
This book follows Italy's military history from the late Renaissance through the present day, arguing that its leaders have consistently looked back to the power of Imperial Rome as they sought to bolster Italy's status and influence in the world. As early as the late 15th century, Italian city-states played important roles in European conflicts. After unification in 1861, the military would become the nation's unifying force, the melting pot of the state. Italy's industrial and then colonial expansion brought it into the wars of the 20th century. The rise of fascist movement was the disastrous consequence of Italy's desire for colonial and military power, a history that the nation still confronts as it seeks to play a role in world politics. Wealthy, urban Italy has always had great political, cultural, and strategic importance for Europe. The leaders of its independent city-states intervened militarily in struggles among the European powers to its north and west but also against the expanding Muslim empires to its south and east. Italian culture supported military innovation, developing (for instance) new fortifications and naval organizations. After centuries of division, which limited Italy's power against the larger, unified European nations, the military played an important role in the nationalist unification of the entire country. Rapid industrialization followed, and along with it Italy's forays into overseas colonialism. Italy became a major power, but its turn to militant fascism during its expansionist era continues to haunt its state and military.

A Military History of Italy

A Military History of Italy PDF Author: Ciro Paoletti
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book follows Italy's military history from the late Renaissance through the present day, arguing that its leaders have consistently looked back to the power of Imperial Rome as they sought to bolster Italy's status and influence in the world. As early as the late 15th century, Italian city-states played important roles in European conflicts. After unification in 1861, the military would become the nation's unifying force, the melting pot of the state. Italy's industrial and then colonial expansion brought it into the wars of the 20th century. The rise of fascist movement was the disastrous consequence of Italy's desire for colonial and military power, a history that the nation still confronts as it seeks to play a role in world politics. Wealthy, urban Italy has always had great political, cultural, and strategic importance for Europe. The leaders of its independent city-states intervened militarily in struggles among the European powers to its north and west but also against the expanding Muslim empires to its south and east. Italian culture supported military innovation, developing (for instance) new fortifications and naval organizations. After centuries of division, which limited Italy's power against the larger, unified European nations, the military played an important role in the nationalist unification of the entire country. Rapid industrialization followed, and along with it Italy's forays into overseas colonialism. Italy became a major power, but its turn to militant fascism during its expansionist era continues to haunt its state and military.

Italy and the Military

Italy and the Military PDF Author: Mattia Roveri
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030571610
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
This book sheds new light on the role of the military in Italian society and culture during war and peacetime by bringing together a whole host of contributors across the interdisciplinary spectrum of Italian Studies. Divided into five thematic units, this volume examines the continuous and multifaceted impact of the military on modern and contemporary Italy. The Italian context offers a particularly fertile ground for studying the cultural impact of the military because the institution was used not only for defensive/offensive purposes, but also to unify the country and to spread ideas of socio-cultural and technological development across its diverse population.

The Italian Wars

The Italian Wars PDF Author: Massimo Predonzani
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781912866526
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
On 6 July 1495 a sudden gunshot came from the right bank of the Taro River in the Gerola Valley, near Fornovo (not far from Parma); shortly afterwards a sky full of clouds unleashed its fury on a wretched battlefield. That gunshot kicked off a battle which changed warfare and represented the starting point of a raging conflict known as the Italian Wars. Francesco II Gonzaga, a brave commander and leader of the League, challenged the fury of the flooding Taro River in a clash against Charles VIII, a contemptuous king who ravaged the peninsula from Piedmont to Campania and spread terror wherever his terrible mercenaries set foot. This volume, The Italian Wars Volume 1. The expedition of Charles VIII into Italy and the Battle of Fornovo, offers an accurate analysis of every frantic stage of the battle. The reader will be transported into the heart of battle and exposed to the rumble of thunder and the clash of arms. They will see how the encounter wore out both sides, leading the opponents to an unclear resolution: both armies claimed victory. The text offers a detailed description of the composition of the armies, the weapons, and the armour, as well as of the heraldry borne by captains and shown on standards. Such analysis is based on the authors' research on Italian and French contemporary documents and pictures. Wonderful painted illustrations are shown on charts, thus delivering an immediate and clear overview of the men and the colours on the battlefield.

Italy in the Era of the Great War

Italy in the Era of the Great War PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004363726
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
In Italy in the Era of the Great War, Vanda Wilcox brings together nineteen Italian and international scholars to analyse the political, military, social and cultural history of Italy in the country’s decade of conflict from 1911 to 1922. Starting with the invasion of Libya in 1911 and concluding with the rise of post-war social and political unrest, the volume traces domestic and foreign policy, the economics of the war effort, the history of military innovation, and social changes including the war’s impact on religion and women, along with major cultural and artistic developments of the period. Each chapter provides a concise and effective overview of the field as it currently stands as well as introducing readers to the latest research. Contributors are Giulia Albanese, Claudia Baldoli, Allison Scardino Belzer, Francesco Caccamo, Filippo Cappellano, Selena Daly, Fabio Degli Esposti, Spencer Di Scala, Douglas J. Forsyth, Irene Guerrini, Oliver Janz, Irene Lottini, Stefano Marcuzzi, Valerie McGuire, Marco Pluviano, Paul O’Brien, Carlo Stiaccini, Andrea Ungari, and Bruce Vandervort. See inside the book.

Iron Arm

Iron Arm PDF Author: John Joseph Timothy Sweet
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 9780811733519
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
A detailed study of Italy's long-ignored tank force Explores the intersection of technology, war, and society in Mussolini's Italy Second only to Germany in number of tank divisions, first to create an armored corps Though overshadowed by Germany's more famous Afrika Korps, Italian tanks formed a large part of the Axis armored force that the Allies confronted--and ultimately defeated--in North Africa in the early years of World War II. Those tanks were the product of two decades of debate and development as the Italian military struggled to produce a modern, mechanized army in the aftermath of World War I. For a time, Italy stood near the front of the world's tank forces--but once war came, Mussolini's iron arm failed as an effective military force. This is the story of its rise and fall.

Mussolini Warlord

Mussolini Warlord PDF Author: H. James Burgwyn
Publisher: Enigma Books
ISBN: 1936274299
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
The first study of Benito Mussolini's failure as a war leader.

The Battle of Adwa

The Battle of Adwa PDF Author: Raymond Jonas
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674062795
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
In March 1896 a well-disciplined and massive Ethiopian army did the unthinkable-it routed an invading Italian force and brought Italy's war of conquest in Africa to an end. In an age of relentless European expansion, Ethiopia had successfully defended its independence and cast doubt upon an unshakable certainty of the age-that sooner or later all Africans would fall under the rule of Europeans. This event opened a breach that would lead, in the aftermath of world war fifty years later, to the continent's painful struggle for freedom from colonial rule. Raymond Jonas offers the first comprehensive account of this singular episode in modern world history. The narrative is peopled by the ambitious and vain, the creative and the coarse, across Africa, Europe, and the Americas-personalities like Menelik, a biblically inspired provincial monarch who consolidated Ethiopia's throne; Taytu, his quick-witted and aggressive wife; and the Swiss engineer Alfred Ilg, the emperor's close advisor. The Ethiopians' brilliant gamesmanship and savvy public relations campaign helped roll back the Europeanization of Africa. Figures throughout the African diaspora immediately grasped the significance of Adwa, Menelik, and an independent Ethiopia. Writing deftly from a transnational perspective, Jonas puts Adwa in the context of manifest destiny and Jim Crow, signaling a challenge to the very concept of white dominance. By reopening seemingly settled questions of race and empire, the Battle of Adwa was thus a harbinger of the global, unsettled century about to unfold.

The Italian Army and the First World War

The Italian Army and the First World War PDF Author: John Gooch
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521193079
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
A major new account of the role and performance of the Italian army in the First World War. Setting military events in a broad context, Gooch explores pre-war Italian military culture, and reveals how an army with a reputation for failure fought a challenging war in appalling conditions - and won.

Regio Esercito

Regio Esercito PDF Author: Patrick Cloutier
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781097633685
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Regio Esercito: the Italian Royal Army in Mussolini's Wars 1935-1943. Foreword by Colonel John R. Griffin (retired), US Army Special Forces. A history of the Italian Army's campaigns in East Africa, Spain, North Africa, Greece, Yugoslavia, Russia, and Sicily. Sources include Italian, Russian, Yugoslav, and German texts; includes translated Russian passages. Mr. Cloutier brings attention to Italian battlefield successes. He examines a few strategic situations of World War 2, and holds that Italian forces at times were a key asset, whose misuse by the Axis cost them important victories. New material on the Spanish Civil War and Russian Front. Black and white; 232 pages, 76 maps, 70 photos, 19 drawings, appendix, and photo annex; 353 footnotes.

A Soldier on the Southern Front

A Soldier on the Southern Front PDF Author: Emilio Lussu
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
ISBN: 0847842797
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
A rediscovered World War I masterpiece—one of the few memoirs about the Italian front—for fans of military history and All Quiet on the Western Front An infantryman’s “harrowing, moving, [and] occasionally comic” account of trench warfare on the alpine front seen in A Farewell to Arms (Times Literary Supplement). Taking its place alongside works by Ernst JŸnger, Robert Graves, and Erich Maria Remarque, Emilio Lussu’s memoir as an infantryman is one of the most affecting accounts to come out of the First World War. A classic in Italy but virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, it reveals in spare and detached prose the almost farcical side of the war as seen by a Sardinian officer fighting the Austrian army on the Asiago plateau in northeastern Italy—the alpine front so poignantly evoked by Ernest Hemingway in A Farewell to Arms. For Lussu, June 1916 to July 1917 was a year of continuous assaults on impregnable trenches, absurd missions concocted by commanders full of patriotic rhetoric and vanity but lacking in tactical skill, and episodes often tragic and sometimes grotesque, where the incompetence of his own side was as dangerous as the attacks waged by the enemy. A rare firsthand account of the Italian front, Lussu’s memoir succeeds in staging a fierce indictment of the futility of war in a dry, often ironic style that sets his tale wholly apart from the Western Front of Remarque and adds an astonishingly modern voice to the literature of the Great War.