Fascism, World War II, Resistance

World War II

During the twenty years of dictatorship, an underground opposition to the regime continued to exist, this being demonstrated by the institution of the Special Court for State Security that inflicted a long list of convictions. To become a mass phenomenon the opposition needed a detonator that would make the regime’s contradictions explode. It was the war, declared with irresponsible conceit by fascism, an act of folly that demonstrated the regime’s total thoughtlessness, and that was marked by a succession of military defeats and by moral bankruptcy. The idea of rebelling against fascist rule, kept alive by the underground circles, was passed on to the majority of the Italian people, and, after the armistice of 8th September 1943, given the right circumstances, the armed Resistance was formed, a melting pot where the old anti-fascists were joined by the young generations that had been awakened by the war, and that were yearning, even albeit in a somehow confused and not politically qualified manner, for a different and better Italy.

The population had to put up with rationing and with the necessary evil of the black market, with the terror of bombing raids on undefended cities and the downheartedness caused by an unnatural alliance.The bravery and sense of duty of the armed forces could not compensate the inadequacy of the high commands, the shortages in weaponry and the moral demotivation brought on by a war that was not wanted nor felt as their own.

After the fall of fascism on 25th July 1943 thanks to a palace plot, and after the armistice with the Allies, that was signed on 8th September 1943 - while the king fled abandoning his people and the army to their fate - between 8th and 12th September 1943 the Germans occupied Veneto and Vicenza as a reaction to the armistice signed by the legitimate Italian government, and restored fascist power in the form of the Italian Social Republic puppet government.