Military Italy

From the deserts of North Africa to the mountains of Italy, 15men and women veterans of the Italian campaign open up about a war that was so brutal, news of it was downplayed at home. Here are the stories from a vanishing generation speaking to America today. The war in the Mediterranean, and particularly the Italian Campaign, is one that for many Americans is shrouded in mystery and murkiness. Yet it was here that the United States launched its first offensive in the west on enemy soil.

With incredible wit, startling confessions, and unique observations, Ned Mathews went from being a twenty-eight-year-old Art Historian and Restorer to an infantryman in the bloodiest fought battle of World War Two. Always with an eye for entertaining his bride at home, Ned’s letters were filled with witty points of view of army life, explaining the difficulties of overtaking the German forces from their dug-in defenses, admiring the architecture of Europe, and watching the bombing of Monte Cassino.

The 1942 raid on Dieppe was an attempt to test the enemy readiness, and take some pressure off the Russian front. It was a costly disaster, but lessons learned there were of the utmost importance to the D-Day planning. After a massive build up of men and materials, the D-Day landings finally took place in Normandy on June 6th, 1944. Despite vicious battles and stubborn resistance, within 12 weeks the Allied forces invaded Paris.

When the Italian dictator Mussolini saw that Hitler was conquering Europe, he decided that he too would have a share of the plunder. He declared war on the Allies, vowed to control the Mediterranean, and with his 300,000 troops stationed in Libya, take Egypt and the Suez Canal. But he knew that this could not be accomplished while the strategic island of Malta remained in Allied hands. For the next two years Malta and its people suffered for almost continuous bombardment, but never gave in.

"Dovunque sorga una controversia, lì deve esistere la possibilità di giudizio" scrive Dante nella Monarchia, mentre nell'Italia del Trecento, ovunque nasca una controversia non esiste alcuna possibilità di ottenere giustizia perché due sono i poteri e due solo le parti destinate a restare sempre in bilico, in un eterno braccio di ferro. Con i Guelfi e i Ghibellini, per il Papa o per l'Impero, ma quasi mai per un diverso modo di vedere il mondo, quasi sempre e solo per opportunità e contingenza.

L'ordine dei Templari nacque a Gerusalemme come conseguenza della prima crociata del 1096 e circa venti anni dopo, nella città di Troyes, ricevette una Regola monastica. Fu solo a Roma, tuttavia, che ottenne i crismi della sanzione apostolica. Nella primavera del 1128 il fondatore dei Templari, il cavaliere Hugues de Payns, arrivò da Gerusalemme per sottoporre a Onorio II un progetto innovativo: un ordine religioso di frati abilitati a uccidere i nemici saraceni.

The ideology that was carried out in the vicious Spanish War right before World War II, and was embraced by Nazi Germany, was actually pushed and more or less invented by the Italians during a critical time in history when many changes were made, and when fear and uncertainty were in the air. Mussolini was efficient and influential. He was a fearless leader not to be trifled with. Let’s take a look at what he did and why. Throughout the interwar period, Mussolini, as totalitarian of Italy and creator of fascism, cultivated and promoted the worldwide development of fascist movements.

Dopo le Leggi razziali del 1938, la famiglia Di Segni continua a vivere a Roma ma nel 1943 capisce che i rischi sono aumentati. Il figlio diciottenne Pacifico Franco viene messo al riparo sui tetti dell'Ambasciata di Francia con altri ragazzi. Lì resterà fino all'aprile del '44. Durante la clandestinità scrive un diario della guerra ispirato da quanto ascoltava su Radio Londra. Il diario è tratto da "Memoria violenta", a cura di Furio Colombo e Vittorio Pavoncello, edizioni All Around.

Si quiere descubrir la fascinante historia de la guerra de las Galias, continúe leyendo...Mientras Roma se llenaba de comerciantes, artesanos, esclavos y familias ricas de comerciantes, sus políticos luchaban por mantener las propiedades democráticas fundamentales del gobierno republicano. Las reglas se doblegaban y rompían, políticos y votantes eran sobornados y engañados, hasta que finalmente, el poder de Roma cayó en manos del único hombre que podía reunir el respeto y la lealtad del mundialmente famoso ejército romano.

On March 25, 1957, Italy signed the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community (EEC), a forerunner of the European Union (EU) that was promoted as a guarantor of future peace in Europe. For the soldiers on both sides of World War II fighting each other 13 years earlier in the mountains around Monte Cassino, south of Rome, this would have seemed a highly improbable outcome. The Italian Campaign of World War II effectively divided Italians into three groups, and the country into two rival political entities.

As Rome swelled with tradespeople, artisans, slaves, and wealthy merchant families, its politicians struggled to maintain the fundamental democratic properties of the republican government. Rules were bent and broken, politicians and voters were bribed and lied to, and eventually, the power of Rome fell to the one man who could muster the respect and loyalty of the world-famous Roman army. That man was Gaius Julius Caesar.

We deliver the truth about this divisive yet fascinating figure. From his early foreign policy to eventual involvement in WW2, we unveil the reality of his imperial aims.