Italian Empire
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.svg) 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 |
Italy (Italian: Italia), officially the Kingdom of Italy (Italian: Regno d'Italia), and informally known as the Italian Empire (Italian: Impero Italiano), is a country in southern Europe, with colonial territory in Africa and the Near East, and a founding member of the Triumvirate. Italy's heartland is located on the Italian peninsula in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea, and the country is bordered by France to its west, Burgundy to its northwest Switzerland and Germany to its north, and Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania to its east.
Italy is considered by many to be 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.
Geography
Italy controls a large empire with vast territory, however its heartland is located on the Italian peninsula in Southern Europe, in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea. Italy borders many other countries in Europe, as well as via its colonial possessions. In Europe, Italy is bordered by France to its west, Burgundy to its northwest Switzerland and Germany to its north, and Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania to its east. Through the islands it owns in the Aegean Sea, it has a maritime border with Turkey. In Africa, it has colonial borders with German Africa and French Africa, as well as Egypt. Its colonies in the Near East border Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Oman.
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 spirit of 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
The Fiume Incident and the birth of the Fasci
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 Iugoslavians, 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".
The Red Biennium and the Rise of the Blackshirts
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 lead to the creation of the Red Guards and 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 "squadre d'azione"", but they are better known in reference to their iconic black attire, the "Blackshirts". The "blackshirts" would become an essential tool used by Mussolini and factory owners who were members of the Fasci.
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. In 1920, when the socialists won many local elections, the Blackshirts responded brutally, dissolving trade unions under the threat of "physical destruction". The Fasci would join Gioltti's anti-socialist National Blocs coalition in the 1921 general election and would succeed in securing 35 seats in parliament, one of which was held by Mussolini himself. After a few weeks, Mussolini dissolved his alliance with Giolitti's Liberal Party (PLI), who then failed to dissolve the "Blackshirts", and Mussolini would sign the "Pact of Pactification" with the Socialists in the summer of that year. That too however, would be dissolved at the Third Fascist on the 7th to 10th of November 1921, where Mussolini would fully espouse his views, declaring a new ideology, fascism and renaming the party to the National Fascist Party, which now counted 320,000 members. In August, 1922, a socialist led anti-fascist general strike was held throughout the country. Mussolini declared that his men would immediately intervene, in such a way that his party would be viewed as the defender of law and order. The "blackshirts" began in Ancona, on August the 2nd, where they would fiercely repress the strikers, proceeding through each striking city, including Genova. On August 3rd and 4th, the PNF thugs captured Milan, burning the iconic Socialist newspaper "Avanti!" and overthrowing, alongside local business owners, they would remove the socialist from the town hall, installing fascists in their stead. And so, Milan became the base of operations for the party.
The March on Rome
The central government did not respond to Mussolini's actions, prompting Mussolini to begin planning a March on Rome, where, from their new Milanese base. and with financial support from big companies determined to fight against "strikes, bolshevism and nationalization". Mussolini spoke with the General Confederation of Italian Industry (or Confindustria) two days before, and also spoke with American ambassador Richard Washburn Child about whether the USA would object to Fascist participation in the Italian government to which Child gave him American support. And so, having received news of new P.M. Luigi Facta's preparation for a celebration commemorating the Italian victory in WWI, which would be headed by D'Annunzio, Mussolini sprung into action. On the 24th of October, 1922, Mussolini declared at the behest of 6000 Blackshirts in Naples, "Our program is simple, we want to rule Italy". On the following day, Mussolini would appoint the Quadrumvirs, Emilio De Bono, Italo Balbo, Michele Bianchi and Cesare Maria de Vecchi, at the head of the march, while he left for Milan. And so, an army of Blackshirts began marching towards Rome.
He would not participate in the march, but he would have pictures taken with him. Among other supporters of the march were the Marquis Dino Perrone Compagni and Ulisse Igliori, and generals Gustavo Fara and Sante Ceccherini. In Rome, on October 26, Salandra would warn Facta that Mussolini was demanding his resignation and that he was preparing to march on Rome. Facta (who was still in power even if having resigned) dismissed this, believing Mussolini wanted to simply become a member of his cabinet, and to repel the fascist forces, would decide to declare Rome in a state of siege. However, when he requested the King's permission, to his dismay, Victor Emmanuel refused, fearing a civil war, refused to sign the military order. On October 28, some of Mussolini's industrialist allies met with him at the headquarters of "Il Popolo d'Italia" to try and convince him to rule together with P.M. nominee Salandra. Mussolini refused. On October 30, with fascist forces converging on the capital, the King handed power to Mussolini. On the 29th of October, Mussolini would be requested to form his cabinet, while thousands of Blackshirts paraded in the streets.
The Mussolini Government
The Bivouac
Mussolini would give his first speech as P.M. in the Chamber of Deputies on November 11, 1922 and it would go down as the Speech of the Bivouac:
"Gentlemen, (signs of keen attention) what I am doing today, in this Chamber, is an act of formal deference to you and for which I am not asking you for any special acknowledgement. For many, indeed for too many years, government crises had been posed and resolved by the House through more or less tortuous manoeuvres and ambushes, so much so that a crisis was regularly described as an assault, and the Ministry represented by a rickety stagecoach. Now it has happened for the second time, in the space of a decade, that the Italian people - in its best part - have overruled a Ministry and given themselves a Government outside, above and against any designation by Parliament. The decade of which I speak lies between May 1915 and October 1922. I leave it to the melancholic zealots of super-constitutionalism to dissertate more or less moaningly on this. I affirm that the revolution has its rights. I add, so that everyone knows, that I am here to defend and strengthen the revolution of the 'black shirts' to the utmost degree, intimately incorporating it as a force of development, progress and balance in the nation's history. (Vivid applause to the right). I refused to overdo it, and I could overdo it. I imposed limits on myself. I told myself that the best wisdom is that which does not leave you after victory. With three hundred thousand young men armed to the teeth, determined to do anything and almost mystically ready at my command, I could chastise all those who slandered and tried to besmirch Fascism. (Applause on the right). I could make of this deaf and grey Chamber a bivouac of maniples... (Vivid applause to the right - Noises - Comments)."
Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani: "Long live Parliament! Long live Parliament! (Noises and apostrophes from the right - Applause from the extreme left)."
Mussolini: "President of the Council of Ministers, Minister of the Interior and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs ...I could have bolted Parliament and set up a Government exclusively of fascists. I could: but I did not, at least at this early stage, want to."
In response, among the silent opposition, the old Socialist Fillppo Turati condemned in an equally hard and vehement speech against Mussolini and the sloth of his fellow Deputies:
"... The Chamber is not called upon to debate and deliberate on confidence; it is called upon to give it; and, if it does not give it, the Government takes it. In short, it is the march on Rome, which for you is a cause for honour, which continues, in impeccable redingote, within Parliament. Now, what confidence can a Chamber grant in these conditions? A Chamber of dead, of embalmed, as was already diagnosed by the doctors of the fourth power? One had the impression of an improbable hour, of an hour taken from fairy tales, from legends; I would almost say a gay hour after, as I was saying, the new Prime Minister had spoken to you with whip in hand, like a tamer of beasts in the circus - oh! Beasts, on the other hand, deh, how narcotized! - and the spectacle offered of the rump offered to the whip and the thanksgiving of plaudits at each nerfing ..."
Then, referring to the proposal by Mussolini to modify the electoral law that would give the majority a humongous advantage, which would delay the elections in order to have the law pass, Turati said:
"I am well aware, ladies and gentlemen, that the reason for the compromise - which will be brief, and therefore useless, which the House will uselessly accept - is that elections upset many personal interests, and those of groups, and of camarillae, and from too many rectors therefore the cry is raised: averte a me calicem istum. Also because there are not many who believe - oh, certainly wrongly; but people are so distrustful! - that the elections, under your rule, given the precedents that led you to government, will ensure electoral freedom, that is, they will be true elections [...]".
A voice from the extreme right retorted "You would like the ones from 1920!"
Turati: "We didn't do them"
Francesco Giunta: "We'll do them with the truncheon!" (Lively noises - Comments from the extreme left - Lively protests from MP Salvadori leaving the Chamber - Applause from the extreme left - Comments) [...] [...]
Turati: "[...] You have also spoken [...] of universal suffrage as a toy that must be given to this stupid and impatient child that is the people, so that they can play with it to their heart's content [...]. For us - unlike and in diametrical contrast to what you have proclaimed - for us cowards and 'lamentable zealots of super-constitutionalism', universal suffrage, free, respected, effective (and by this we also mean unadulterated proportional representation, without which suffrage is a deception and an abuse); for us, universal suffrage, despite its errors, which it alone can correct, is the only basis of a legitimate sovereignty - but what do I mean legitimate? - of a sovereignty that can, in modern times, live, act, and remain [...] To call elections at once, sparing the farce of this convocation of the Chamber, was your duty! Nor did we have any reason to fear them [...]. But that, I understand perfectly well, was wasting your time [...].
Mussolini: "Natural!"
Turati: "[...] and you are in a great hurry. [...] You demand full powers [...] even in tax matters; which means you abolish Parliament, even if you let it subsist, as a painted scenario, for your convenience. You ask it to swoon. It will obey you [...]"
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 |
