Italian Empire
TAG = ITA | |
Capital | Rome |
Ruling Party | PNF - Partito Nazionale Fascista |
Head of State | King Umberto II |
Head of Government | Duce Galeazzo Ciano |
Sphere | Italian Sphere |
Foreign Alignment | Triumvirate Founder |
GDP | $104.27B |
Credit Rating | Good |
Market Type | Corporatism |
The Italian Empire is the fourth most powerful country in the post-WW2 world. In many ways a "lesser among equals" during the war, having a terrible start, the Italian Empire came out of the war a force to be reckoned with. Italy became a country only on March 18, 1861, after the Second War of Independence, where the armies of the Kingdom of Sardinia, along with France, conquered Lombardy from the Austrians, and the subsequent dissolution of all kingdoms allied to Austria in central Italy. And thus the Kingdom of Italy was born, with Sardinian king Victor Emmanuel II becoming King. The young nation however, was troubled from the start, and after the infamous "Vittoria Mutilata" in WWI, Benito Mussolini and his National Fascist Party seized power in the March on Rome in October 1922. After seizing complete power, Mussolini would embark on a radical development of the nation, promising the people to bring back the past glory of Rome. After the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in 1936, "Il Duce" declared the Italian Empire. After a difficult start in WW2, the Italians, with help from the Germans, would modernize their Army and it's tactics. Now, in the aftermath of the war, the Italian Empire is at the helm of the Triumvirate, an alliance led by the three Mediterranean Axis members to combat against German aggression, Italy, Turkey and the Iberian Union (plus their various colonies, client states and independent allies). The first fascist state, Italy is led by Mussolini's successor, his son in-law, Gian Galeazzo Ciano.
History
Great War
It all began with the Great War. With the start of the war in 1914, Italy was immediately divided between pro and anti war forces in politics, as Italy remained on the sidelines for a year since the government at the time was led by the anti-war government of Giovanni Giolitti. Among the "interventionists" was the young Socialist journalist Benito Mussolini, who for violent accusations against major politicians and his general riotous attitude in favor of the war, the majority anti-war PSI kicked Mussolini out of the party. But we'll return to Mussolini later. Returning to the war, with the ascent of Antonio Salandra's government, and under the impression the war would be quick, and especially after being promised large swathes of land, such as South Tyrol, Venezia-Giulia, Istria and Dalmatia by the British and French, in the spriti fo what Salandra called "sacred egoism" on the 23rd of May, 1915, Italy would declare war on Austria-Hungary. Italy's experience in the Great War was terrible to say the least. Far from a quick victory as they expected, not only was the "Regio Esercito" outdated and with insufficient resources for modern weaponry, it was also commanded by the infamously incompetent General Luigi Cadorna, who would lead young Italians into suicidal charges against the Austrian defenses, most infamously at the 12 Battles of the Isonzo River. The constant fighting in the mountains would scar a generation of Italians. Then, in 1917, with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Germany defeated Russia and then proceeded to reinforce the Austrians, while sending a majority of their troops to the Western Front. Due to the utter exhaustion of troops on the Italian side, led to the embarrassing defeat at Caporetto, where the Italians would be pushed back all the way to the Piave River, where, under the command of newly appointed General Armando Diaz, they would desperately defend the front. After that, the momentum of the advance was stopped, as the Italians would soon be reinforced by the French and British, plus more modern equipment from factories, and finally defeated the Austrians at Vittorio Veneto.
Post-War
Following Vittorio Veneto, Italy would continue advancing through the territories it claimed, seizing South Tyrol, Venezia Giulia and Trieste. Problems though, quickly arose on the exact borders, as tensions began to rise between with the nascent Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, since both claimed Istria and Dalmatia. When the government began negotiations however, it did not sit well with many irredentist Italians, as the government was signing off territory they claimed as theirs. In the midst of this, legendary poet Gabriele d'Annunzio marched a large contingent of Arditi and idealists of his caliber to seize Fiume (in Croatian Rijeka) and declared the Italian Regency of the Carnaro. What became known as the Fiume incident shook Italia politics to its very core, as P.M.'s Francesco Nitti's Radical government fell apart, while the crippling debt and unemployed soldiers were putting the country in a precarious situation. Even if the whole incident would last only a few months, before the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo, between Italy and the Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, settling the borders and giving Istria to Italy, while Dalmatia would go the soon to be Jugoslavians, and Fiume would become a free city within the Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Among the chaos caused by Fiume, young Benito Mussolini rose to the occasion, having served himself in the war, he created the extremist "Fasci del Combattimento" in Piazza San Sepolcro, Milan, at the time only counting about 50 people. However, Mussolini would quickly become popular among some of the disillusioned populace, and fervent interventionists such as the Futurist movement, and would begin contact with D'Annunzio through Harukichi Shimoi, a young Japanese nobleman who was with D'Annunzio, who nicknamed him "Compare Samurai" or "Comrade Samurai". Mussolini's major support, though, came from the Milanese bourgeoisie, who were terrified of the rise of communism in the country. As mentioned before, Italy was in a pitiful state after the Great War, and the populace was furious with the political establishment and while some turned to Mussolini, others turned to communism, as the Russian Revolution spurred on a wave of proletarian movements, especially in the North, which would culminate in the separation of the more radical members of the PSI and the creation of the Italian Communist Party or PCI at a conference in Livorno, in 1921. This time period would go down in popular history as "Il Biennio Rosso" or "The Red Biennium" where on many occasions there was a genuine fear of communist revolution in Italy. Mussolini, in response to the growth of communist street gangs, created his own group, the "squadristi", but they are better known in reference to their iconic black attire, the "Black Shirts". The "blackshirts" would become an essential tool used by Mussolini and factory owners who were members of the PNF. Some iconic examples are, the repression of the general worker's strike at thew Alfa Romeo factory in August, 1920 or the repression of Socialist movements, in the Po Valley following the murder of Bolognese councilor Giulio Giordani. Mussolini too would found his own party in 1921, the National Fascist Party, based on the ideology he'd been creating during this period, fascism.
Parties and Factions
Pre-Penelope's Web Rework
Name | Ideology | Leader |
---|---|---|
National Fascist Party | Fascism | Galeazzo Ciano |
National Fascist Party - Monarchy | Despotism | Umberto II |
National Fascist Party - National Socialist | National Socialism | Roberto Farinacci |
Name | Ideology | Leader |
---|---|---|
Italian Socialist Party - Berlinguer Clique | Neocommunism | Enrico Berlinguer |
Italian Socialist Party - Maximalist | Revolutionary Front | Pietro Nenni |
Italian Democratic Socialist Party | Democratic Socialism | Giuseppe Saragat |
Christian Democracy | Christian Liberalism | Aldo Moro |
Italian Democratic Party of Monarchist Unity | Paternalism | Achille Lauro |
Italian Social Movement | National Conservatism
Neofascism |
Giorgio Almirante |
Penelope's Web Rework
Name | Ideology | Leader |
---|---|---|
National Fascist Party | Fascism
Sansepolcrismo Fascist Mysticism |
Galeazzo Ciano |
Name | Ideology | Leader |
---|---|---|
Italian Socialist Party | Revolutionary Front | Pietro Nenni |
Italian Democratic Reformist Party | Progressivism | Giuseppe Saragat |
Italian Liberal Party | Oligarchic Liberalism | Giovanni F. Malagodi |
Italian People' Party | Christian Liberalism
Christian Conservtivism National Catholicism |
Carlo Donat-Cattin |
Monarchist National Party | Right-Wing Populism | Alfredo Covelli |
National Front | Fascism | Fascism |
Name | Ideology | Leader |
---|---|---|
Communist Party of Italy | Left Communism
Marxism-Leninism Guevarism Christian Socialism |
Onorato Damen |