First published in 1944, this indispensable historical work covers the dramatic year from October 1942 to September 1943-a period which produced a series of military and political crises in Italy which led to the overthrow of Benito Mussolini and the fall of Fascism.
Written by the man at the very centre of events, this work starts with the defeat of the Axis armies at the Battle of El Alamein and the end of the war in North Africa. This was the first-but not the last-of the devastating military setbacks which shook confidence at home in Mussolini. Soon was to come the invasions of the Italian territory-first, the island of Pantelleria, then Sicily, and finally the Italian mainland.
Mussolini describes, with no punches pulled, the disastrous performance of the Italian military forces, and the betrayal and intrigue which lay behind the total collapse of the army in Sicily. These defeats, the author readily acknowledges, brought on the internal dissension which finally saw him ousted from power at his own party's "Grand Fascist Council" meeting in July 1943.
Summoned by the King of Italy the next day, Mussolini was informed that he had been dismissed as the head of government. Upon his departure, the ousted Fascist leader was then placed under arrest, and detained at two separate locations until finally being placed on the top of a remote hill, the Gran Sosso, to await extradition to Britain to stand trial.
There, literally out of the blue, German commandos swooped down in gliders and freed Mussolini. After being spirited away in a small aircraft, Mussolini then returned to Italy to start again . . . All of these events, and more, are covered in detail, using resources available only to the author.
Written originally in the third person as a series of anonymous articles published in the Corriere della Sera newspaper from June to July 1944, it soon became obvious from the details contained therein who the author was. Finally, in August 1944, the articles were republished as a book, with the title "Storia di un anno. Il tempo del bastone e della carota, Storia di un anno, Ottobre 1942 - Settembre 1943,"-and sold out in weeks.
This gripping account of the last days of the Fascist party in Italy also reveals the internal divisions which wracked that movement, its ongoing conflict with the Italian monarchy, and the full extent of how German support had propped up the state.
This new English translation contains 27 rare photographs and is fully indexed.
It is an utterly indispensable historical work for both historians and lay people alike, as it provides a completely unique perspective of some of the most earth-shaking events in modern Italian history.