The Italian occupation of south-eastern France, 1940-1943

The Historical Journal, 2009

This is a controversial reappraisal of the Italian occupation of the Mediterranean during the Second World War, which Davide Rodogno examines for the first time within the framework of Fascist imperial ambitions. He focuses on the European territories annexed and occupied by Italy between 1940 and 1943: metropolitan France,

Diacronie, 2017

2016

The fact that France and Italy shared something of a common fate during the 'dark years' is clearly sufficient grounds to justify a comparison of the two cases. Indeed, both countries were characterized by their ambiguity. On a domestic level, the Fascist and the Vichy regimes both claimed to be launching a national revolution and they did so, at least initially, with the passive, if not the active, consent of their populations. On an international level, the two 'Latin sisters' were allies of the Reich, an alliance that was official in the case of Italy and rather less obvious in the French case, even though Marshall Pétain set his country 'on the path of collaboration' on 24 October 1940 and at no time supported British or American action, including during the Anglo-American landings in North Africa in November 1942. In 1940, however, Charles de Gaulle launched his famous appeal and kept the 'true France' in the war. In 1943 King Victor Emmanuel III assented first to the deposition of Mussolini and then to the conclusion of an armistice which transformed Italy, until then supporting Germany, into an ally of the Anglo-Americans. The declaration of co-belligerence on 12 October 1943 made this turnaround official. At the moment of their liberation, the two countries faced, in many respects, a comparable situation. First of all they had to negotiate their new status with London and Washington, or indeed with Moscow, which was by no means a foregone conclusion in either case. The British and the Americans distrusted their partners: they harboured doubts about Badoglio's resolve and only grudgingly acknowledged General de Gaulle, whose government was not recognized de jure until 23 October 1944. The two governments also had to eliminate the legacies of Fascism and Vichyism which, given the popularity of these political experiments and their hold on the army and the administration, was a high-risk undertaking. The French and Italian populations were subjected to a harsh German occupation until 1945 and maintained complex relations with their liberators thereafter, and they lived throughout this period in a context dominated by shortages, military operations and the violence of war. These factors set out a common framework which makes it possible, and pertinent, to undertake a comparison of the two countries. As such, France and Italy were placed, ex ante, in comparable, though by no means

This article surveys the existing literature on the occupation policy Italy conducted in Southeastern Europe during the Second World War. The whole subject was largely neglected by scholars of contemporary Italian history up to the 1990s, but in the last twenty years a consistent flow of studies has begun to appear. The reasons for the previous disregard of the topic and, now, the growing interest in it are investigated in the first part of this article. The second part focuses on work done in recent years. It evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of this new literature, and maps out a series of a blank spots that should be addressed by future research.

in "Memories and Representations of War in Europe: the case of WW1 and WW2", V. Fortunati, E. Lamberti (eds.), New York-Amsterdam, Rodopy, 2009

From the invasion of Abyssinia to the end of World War Two, Italy experienced a decade of war. This conference aims to re-evaluate the history of the Italian experience during this ten-year period with a unifying perspective that places the Italian Fascist regime and its foreign and military enterprises in an entirely internationalised framework of analysis. It will bring an international focus upon the Italian role in the break-down of the international system and appeasement, and will analyse the consequences of Italian militarism on a global scale. It will explore comparative and transnational histories of the Italian occupations of France, the Balkans, Greece, and Albania, as well as the Allied occupation of Italy following the defeat. The conference will seek to place particular emphasis upon the significance of the Mediterranean region in the wider history of the Second World War, exploring the broader implications of Italy’s actions in Africa and the Middle East. It will also look at Italian diplomatic, military and economic relations with Britain, the United States, and Nazi Germany, as well as those with other states such as Vichy France and Spain. This conference aims to bring together scholars working in the fields of military, political, diplomatic, international, colonial, transnational, and comparative history, and encourages inter-disciplinary contributions. The conference organisers aim to publish selected papers in an edited volume and a journal special issue.

The First World War as Remembered in the Countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, 2006

A survey of state and society relations in Italy during the First World War