Invasion of Italy
135-694: The Racconigi Bargain (Italian: L'accordo di Racconigi , Russian: сделка в Раккониджи , also known in Russia as the Russo-Italian Agreement , Русско-итальянское соглашение ) was a secret agreement between King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire , concluded on 24 October 1909 at the Castle of Racconigi , in Italy. Its terms included: From Italy's point of view,
270-661: A choice of attire he considered very disrespectful. Victor Emmanuel was ultra-critical of the slow progress made by the American 5th Army and the British 8th Army as the Allies fought their way up the Italian peninsula , saying he wanted to return to Rome as soon as possible, and felt that all of the Allied soldiers fighting to liberate Italy were cowards. Likewise, Victor Emmanuel refused to renounce
405-450: A force of his Fascist supporters on a March on Rome . Prime Minister Luigi Facta and his cabinet drafted a decree of martial law . After some hesitation the King refused to sign it, citing doubts about the ability of the army to contain the uprising without setting off a civil war. Fascist violence had been growing in intensity throughout the summer and autumn of 1922, climaxing in rumours of
540-476: A mere journalist". Grandi told Ciano that the king must be either "crazy" and/or "senile" as he was utterly passive, refusing to act against Mussolini. In late 1942, Italian Libya was lost. During Operation Anton on 9 November 1942, the unoccupied part of France was occupied by the Axis forces, which allowed Victor Emmanuel to proclaim in a speech at long last Corsica and Nice had been "liberated". Early in 1943,
675-637: A possible coup. On 24 October 1922, during the Fascist Congress in Naples, Mussolini announced that the Fascists would march on Rome to "take by the throat our miserable ruling class". General Pietro Badoglio told the King that the military would be able without difficulty to rout the rebels, who numbered no more than 10,000 men armed mostly with knives and clubs whereas the Regio Esercito had 30,000 soldiers in
810-493: A premier with whom he found it so satisfactory to deal as with Signor Mussolini, and I know from private sources that recent events have not changed his opinion". The Matteotti affair did much to turn Italian public opinion against Fascism, and Graham reported to London that "Fascism is more unpopular by the day" while quoting a high Vatican official as saying to him that Fascism was a "spent force". The fact that Matteotti had been tortured by his killers for several hours before he
945-450: A proposal to restore direct control of politics to the King. After the Council, held on 25 July 1943, a majority vote adopted the "order of the day", and Mussolini was then summoned to meet the King and dismissed as prime minister. Upon leaving the meeting, Mussolini was arrested by carabinieri and spirited off to the island of Ponza . Badoglio became President of the Council of Ministers or
1080-480: A republic. By this time, plans were being discussed within the Italian elite for replacing Mussolini. Victor Emmanuel stated that he wanted to keep the Fascist system going after dismissing Mussolini, and he was seeking to correct merely some of "its deleterious aspects". The two replacements that were being mooted for Mussolini were Marshal Pietro Badoglio and his rival, Marshal Enrico Caviglia . As Marshal Caviglia
1215-425: A result of individual action and influence". Victor Emmanuel was tired of the recurring crises of parliamentary government and welcomed Mussolini as a "strong man" who imposed "order" on Italy. Mussolini was always very respectful and deferential when he met him in private, which was exactly the behaviour which the king expected of his prime ministers. Many Fascist gerarchi , most notably Italo Balbo , regarded as
1350-479: A royal prerogative that Victor Emmanuel rejected, and was finally settled by the compromise of giving Mussolini operational command powers. On 10 June 1940, ignoring advice that the country was unprepared, Mussolini made the fatal decision to have Italy enter World War II on the side of Nazi Germany . Almost from the beginning, disaster followed disaster. The first Italian offensive, an invasion of France launched on 17 June 1940, ended in complete failure, and only
1485-498: A secret meeting Victor Emmanuel told Badoglio that he would soon be sworn in as Italy's new prime minister and the king wanted no "ghosts" (i.e. liberal politicians from the pre-fascist era) in his cabinet. On the night of 25 July 1943, the Grand Council of Fascism voted to adopt an Ordine del Giorno (order of the day) proposed by Count Dino Grandi to ask Victor Emmanuel to resume his full constitutional powers under Article 5 of
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#17328866535801620-523: A special judicial tribunal to try political crimes with no possibility of a royal pardon. Even though the right of pardon was part of the royal prerogative, the king gave his assent to the law. However, the king did veto an attempt by Mussolini to change the Italian flag by adding the fasces symbol to stand beside the coat of arms of the House of Savoy on the Italian tricolour. The king considered this proposal to be disrespectful to his family, and refused to sign
1755-560: A surprise to many observers inside and outside Italy. Unfavourable comparisons were drawn with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth , who refused to leave London during the Blitz , and of Pope Pius XII , who mixed with Rome's crowds and prayed with them after Rome's working-class neighbourhood of Quartiere San Lorenzo had been destroyed by bombing. Despite the German occupation, Victor Emmanuel kept refusing to declare war on Germany, saying he needed
1890-555: A villa owned by the Pirzio Biroli family at Brazzacco in order to be close to the front. In May 1941, Victor Emmanuel gave permission to his unpopular cousin, Prince Aimone , to become King of Croatia under the title Tomislav II, in an attempt to get him out of Rome, but Aimone frustrated this ambition by never going to Croatia to receive his crown . During a tour of the new provinces that were annexed to Italy from Yugoslavia, Victor Emmanuel commented that Fascist policies towards
2025-717: A vote by Parliament first, though that had not stopped him from signing declarations of war on Ethiopia, Albania, Great Britain, France, Greece, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and the United States, none of which had been sanctioned by Parliament. Under strong pressure from the Allied Control Commission, the king finally declared war on Germany on 8 October 1943. Ultimately, the Badoglio government in Southern Italy raised
2160-627: The Statuto Albertino , or constitution, granted the king considerable residual powers. For instance, he had the right to appoint the prime minister even if the individual in question did not command majority support in the Chamber of Deputies . A shy and somewhat withdrawn individual, the King hated the day-to-day stresses of Italian politics, though the country's chronic political instability forced him to intervene on no fewer than ten occasions between 1900 and 1922 to solve parliamentary crises. When
2295-793: The First World War began, Italy at first remained neutral, despite being part of the Triple Alliance (albeit it was signed on defensive terms and Italy objected that the Sarajevo assassination did not qualify as aggression). In April 1915, Italy signed the secret Treaty of London committing itself to enter the war on the side of the Triple Entente . Most of the politicians opposed the war, and Italy's Chamber of Deputies forced Prime Minister Antonio Salandra to resign. At this juncture, Victor Emmanuel declined Salandra's resignation and personally made
2430-517: The Habsburg Empire and the annexation of the Italian-speaking provinces of Trento and Trieste and the southern part of German-speaking Tirol (Sued-Tirol). For this reason, Victor Emmanuel was labelled the "King of Victory". However, a part of Italian nationalists protested against the partial violation of the 1915 Treaty of London and what they defined as a " mutilated victory ", demanding
2565-682: The Italian Co-Belligerent Army ( Esercito Cobelligerante del Sud ), the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force ( Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana ), and the Italian Co-Belligerent Navy ( Marina Cobelligerante del Sud ). All three forces were loyal to the King. Relations with the Allied Control Commission were very strained as the king remained obsessed with protocol, screaming with fury when General Noel Mason-Macfarlane met him wearing shirt sleeves and shorts,
2700-787: The Mediterranean Sea was not in any real sense Italy's Mare Nostrum . While the Air Force generally did better than the Army or the Navy, it was chronically short of modern aircraft. As Italy's fortunes worsened, the popularity of the King suffered. One coffee-house ditty went as follows: Quando Vittorio era soltanto re Si bevea del buon caffè. Poi divenne Imperatore Se ne sentì solo l'odore. Oggi che è anche Re d'Albania Anche l'odore l' han portato via. E se avremo un'altra vittoria Ci mancherà anche la cicoria. When our Victor
2835-462: The Peschiera conference , where he defended Italy's strategic decisions. The economic depression which followed World War I gave rise to much extremism among Italy's sorely tried working classes. This caused the country as a whole to become politically unstable. Benito Mussolini , soon to be Italy's Fascist dictator, took advantage of this instability for his rise to power. In 1922, Mussolini led
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#17328866535802970-588: The Prime Minister of Italy . However, Grandi had been told that another general of more significant personal and professional qualities ( Marshal Enrico Caviglia ) would have taken the position. On July 27, the new First Badoglio government began to undertook measures by banning all Fascist organizations throughout Italy as well as disbanding the National Fascist Party and it's other elements associated with it. The appointment of Badoglio did not change
3105-575: The Regio Esercito , Regina Marina and the Regia Aeronautica all took their oaths of loyalty to the king, not Mussolini. The vast majority of the Italian officers in all three services saw Victor Emmanuel as opposed to Mussolini as the principal locus of their loyalty, allowing the king to check decisions by Mussolini that he disapproved of. Italy declared neutrality in September 1939, but Mussolini always made it clear that he wanted to intervene on
3240-591: The Statuto. In effect, this was a motion of no confidence in Mussolini. The following afternoon, Mussolini asked for an audience with the king at Villa Savoia . When Mussolini tried to tell Victor Emmanuel about the Grand Council's vote, Victor Emmanuel abruptly cut him off and dismissed him in favour of Badoglio. He then ordered Mussolini's arrest. Publicly, Victor Emmanuel and Badoglio claimed that Italy would continue
3375-461: The Strait of Messina and began landing in the southernmost tip of Calabria during Operation Baytown . The day after the armistice had been made public, 9 September, the Allies made landings at Salerno and at Taranto . The Allies failed to take full advantage of the Italian armistice and were quickly checked by German troops. In terrain that favoured defence, the Allied forces took 20 months to reach
3510-502: The heel of Italy , to sail for Malta . At 02:30, on 9 September, the three battleships Roma , Vittorio Veneto , and Italia "shoved off from La Spezia escorted by three light cruisers and eight destroyers". When German troops, who had stormed into the town to prevent the ships from sailing, became enraged by the ships' escape, "they rounded up and summarily shot several Italian captains who, unable to get their vessels underway, had scuttled them". That afternoon, German bombers attacked
3645-509: The royal family and Badoglio, fled Rome on the early morning of the 9th and took shelter in Brindisi , in southern Italy. Their initial intention was to move army headquarters out of Rome with the King and the Prime Minister, but few staff officers reached Brindisi. Meanwhile, the Italian troops, without instructions, collapsed and were soon overwhelmed. Some small units decided to stay loyal to
3780-513: The squadristi used violence to prevent opposition MPs from entering Parliament and in November 1926, Mussolini arbitrarily declared that all of the opposition MPs had forfeited their seats, which he handed out to Fascists. Despite this blatant violation of the Statuto Albertino , the king remained passive and silent as usual. In 1926, Mussolini had violated the Statuto Albertino by creating
3915-511: The "Instrument of Surrender of Italy.", which General Campbell had presented to another Italian general, Zanussi in Lisbon. Zanussi, who had also been in Cassibile since 31 August, for unclear reasons had not informed Castellano about them. Nevertheless, Bedell Smith explained to Castellano that the other conditions would have taken effect only if Italy had not taken on a fighting role in the war alongside
4050-640: The 18-year-old Albanian patriot Vasil Laçi . Later, this attempt was cited by Communist Albania as a sign of the general discontent among the oppressed Albanian population. A second attempt by Dimitri Mikhaliov in Albania gave the Italians an excuse to affirm a possible connection with Greece as a result of the monarch's assent to the Greco-Italian War . Under the terms of the Pact of Steel signed on 22 May 1939, which
4185-537: The 1930s newsreel images of King Victor Emmanuel and Queen Elena evoked applause, sometimes cheering, when played in cinemas, in contrast to the hostile silence shown toward images of Fascist leaders. On 30 March 1938, the Italian Parliament established the rank of First Marshal of the Empire for Victor Emmanuel and Mussolini. This new rank was the highest rank in the Italian military. His equivalence with Mussolini
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4320-515: The 50th Infantry Division Regina on the island of Kos , who were shot in early October 1943 after the Germans captured the island. Only on the islands of Leros and Samos , with British reinforcements, would the resistance last until November 1943, and in Corsica , Italian troops forced the German troops to leave the island. In other cases, individual Italian units, mostly more minor, remained loyal to
4455-673: The Albanians (1939–43) following the Italian invasions of Ethiopia and Albania. During his reign of nearly 46 years, which began after the assassination of his father Umberto I , the Kingdom of Italy became involved in two world wars . His reign also encompassed the birth, rise, and fall of the Fascist regime in Italy . The first fourteen years of Victor Emmanuel's reign were dominated by prime minister Giovanni Giolitti , who focused on industrialization and passed several democratic reforms, such as
4590-649: The Allied request for a meeting to be held in Sicily , which had been suggested by the British Ambassador to the Vatican . To ease communication between the Allies and the Italian government, a captured British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent, Dick Mallaby , was released from Verona Prison and secretly moved to the Quirinale . It was vital for the Germans to remain ignorant of any suggestion of Italian surrender, and
4725-404: The Allies bombed Rome on 16 May, invaded Sicily on 10 July and prepared to land on the Italian mainland . In the spring of 1943, preoccupied with the disastrous situation of the Italian military during the war, the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini , removed several figures from the government whom he considered to be more loyal to Victor Emmanuel III than to the Fascist regime. To help
4860-518: The Allies . The armistice was approved by both Victor Emmanuel III and Marshal Pietro Badoglio , who was serving as Prime Minister of Italy at the time. The signing of the armistice was kept secret on that day, and was announced to the media on September 8th. Nazi Germany responded by attacking Italian forces in Italy , southern France and the Balkans , and freeing Benito Mussolini on 12 September. The Italian forces were forcefully disbanded in
4995-578: The Allies. On the afternoon of the same day, Badoglio had a briefing with the senior commanders of the Regia Marina (Italy's Royal Navy) and the Regia Aeronautica (Italy's Royal Air Force), with the War Ministers and with the King's representatives. However, he omitted any mention of the signing of the armistice and referred only to ongoing negotiations. The day the armistice entered into force
5130-528: The Allies. A bombing mission on Rome by 500 airplanes was stopped at the last moment and had been Eisenhower's inducement to accelerate the procedure of the armistice. Harold Macmillan , the British government's representative minister at the Allied Staff, informed Winston Churchill that the armistice had been signed "without amendments of any kind". That evening Castellano met with Allied officers to discuss what
5265-634: The American people; because Britain was "rotten to the core" and would soon cease to be a great power; and because everything he kept hearing about the massive losses sustained by the Red Army convinced him that Germany would win on the Eastern Front at least. Another excuse used by Victor Emmanuel was that Mussolini was allegedly still popular with the Italian people and that it would offend public opinion if he dismissed Mussolini. The Vatican favoured Italy exiting
5400-459: The Axis powers. Many of the units formed the nucleus of the armed forces of the puppet Italian Social Republic . Both the Regio Esercito (Italian Royal Army) and the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) virtually disintegrated with the announcement of the armistice on 8 September. The Allies coveted the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy), with its 206 ships in total, including
5535-524: The Balkans. Mack Smith wrote that these demands were "unrealistic" and caused much time to be wasted in the Lisbon peace talks as the Allies were willing to concede that Victor Emmanuel could keep his throne and rejected all of his other demands. In the meantime, German forces continued to be rushed into Italy. On 8 September 1943, Victor Emmanuel publicly announced an armistice with the Allies . Confusion reigned as Italian forces were left without orders, and
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5670-651: The Blackshirts marched past the Quirinal Palace and he lit votive lamps at public ceremonies to honour the Fascist "martyrs" killed fighting against the Socialists and Communists. At the same time, the Crown became so closely identified with Fascism that by the time Victor Emmanuel was able to shake himself loose from it, it was too late to save the monarchy. In what proved to be a prescient speech, Senator Luigi Albertini called
5805-462: The Croats and Slovenes were driving them towards rebellion, but chose not to intervene to change the said policies. On 22 June 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa , the invasion of the Soviet Union. Mussolini had the king issue a declaration of war, and sent an Italian expeditionary force to the Eastern Front , through Victor Emmanuel was later to claim that he wanted only a "token" force to go to
5940-449: The Fascist regime was becoming very unpopular, but he had decided to keep Mussolini on as a prime minister because there was no replacement for him. Because the king had supported Fascism, he feared that to overthrow the Fascist system would mean the end of the monarchy as the anti-Fascist parties were all republican. During the invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Victor Emmanuel moved to
6075-404: The Fascist regime. In the summer of 1941, the carabinieri generals told the king that they were prepared to have the carabinieri serve as a strike force for a coup against Mussolini, saying if the war continued, it was bound to cause a revolution that would sweep away both the Fascist regime and the monarchy. Victor Emmanuel rejected this offer, and in September 1941, when Count Ciano told him
6210-578: The Fascist system was destroyed; when the king rejected that course under the grounds that the Fascist Grand Council would never vote against Mussolini, Grandi assured him that it would, saying the majority of the gerarchi were now against Mussolini. Using the Vatican as an intermediary, Victor Emmanuel contacted the British and American governments in June 1943 to ask if they, the Allies, were willing to see
6345-464: The German ally. From 8 to 12 September, the German forces occupied all of the Italian territory that was still not under Allied control, except Sardinia and part of Apulia , without meeting organized resistance. In Rome, an Italian governor, with the support of an Italian infantry division, nominally ruled the city until 23 September, but in practice, the city was under German control from 11 September. On 3 September, British and Canadian troops crossed
6480-575: The German government suggested that Hitler was intent on seeing the Danzig crisis escalate into war that year. Between 11 and 13 August 1939, the Italian Foreign Minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano , visited Hitler at the Berghof, and learned for the first time that Germany was definitely going to invade Poland later that same summer. Mussolini at first was prepared to follow Germany into war in 1939, but
6615-733: The Germans established the Italian Social Republic as a puppet state in Northern Italy . Having signed the armistice with the Allies he then declared war on Germany in October. He clashed constantly with Allied command. Under pressure from the Allies, Victor Emmanuel transferred most of his powers to his son in June 1944, effectively ending his involvement in the war and in the government of Italy. Victor Emmanuel officially abdicated his throne in 1946 in favour of his son, who became King Umberto II . Victor Emmanuel hoped to strengthen support for
6750-614: The Germans, who had been expecting this move for some time, quickly disarmed and interned Italian troops and took control in the occupied Balkans, France and the Dodecanese , as well as in Italy itself. Many of the units that did not surrender joined forces with the Allies against the Germans. Fearing a German advance on Rome, Victor Emmanuel and his government fled south to Brindisi . This choice may have been necessary to protect his safety; indeed, Hitler had planned to arrest him shortly after Mussolini's overthrow. Nonetheless, it still came as
6885-558: The Grand Council as a precondition for giving his consent to declaring war. On 31 March 1940, Mussolini submitted to Victor Emmanuel a long memorandum arguing that Italy to achieve its long-sought spazio vitale had to enter the war on the Axis side sometime that year. However, the king remained resolutely opposed to Italy entering the war until late May 1940, much to Mussolini's intense frustration. At one point, Mussolini complained to Ciano that there were two men, namely Victor Emmanuel and Pope Pius XII , who were preventing him from doing
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#17328866535807020-415: The House of Savoy continue after the war. On 19 July 1943, Rome was bombed for the first time in the war, further cementing the Italian people's disillusionment with their once-popular King. When the King visited the bombed areas of Rome, he was loudly booed by his subjects who blamed him for the war, which caused Victor Emmanuel to become worried about the possibility of a revolution which might bring in
7155-422: The Italian Government should do. General Harold Alexander presided over the meeting with Smith, Lowell Ward Rooks , and John K. Cannon (commander 12th Air Force USAAF), Brigadier General Patrick W. Timberlake (of Mediterranean Air Command), Strong, and General Lyman Lemnitzer (Deputy Chief of Staff, 15th Army Group ). Only after the signing had taken place was Castellano passed the long terms contained in
7290-444: The Italian elite was his way of trying to avoid making a decision. Moreover, Victor Emmanuel had considerable respect for Mussolini, who he saw as his most able prime minister, and appeared to dread taking on a man whose intelligence was greater than his own. In a conversation with the papal nuncio, the king explained that he could not sign an armistice because he hated the United States as a democracy whose leaders were accountable to
7425-412: The Italian state as illegitimate and that a treaty with the Vatican was necessary. However, when Orlando attempted to open negotiations with the Vatican in 1919, he was blocked by the king who was furious at the way in which the Catholic Church had maintained pro-Austrian neutrality during World War I. Aside from championing the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin , which belonged to the House of Savoy,
7560-424: The Low Countries and France , and as the Wehrmacht continued to advance into France, the king's opposition to Italy entering the war started to weaken by the second half of May 1940. Mussolini argued all through May 1940 that since it was evident that Germany was going to win the war that here was an unparalleled chance for Italy to make major gains at the expense of France and Britain that would allow Italy to become
7695-478: The Racconigi Bargain facilitated Italy's preparations for the Italo-Turkish War two years later during which Italy conquered Tripoli and Cyrenaica. Victor Emmanuel III Victor Emmanuel III (11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947), born Vittorio Emanuele Ferdinando Maria Gennaro di Savoia , was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. A member of the House of Savoy , he also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia (1936–41) and King of
7830-429: The Rome area armed with heavy weapons, armoured cars, and machine guns. During the "March on Rome", the Fascist squadristi were halted by 400 lightly armed policemen, as the squadristi had no desire to take on the Italian state. The troops were loyal to the King; even Cesare Maria De Vecchi , commander of the Blackshirts , and one of the organisers of the March on Rome, told Mussolini that he would not act against
7965-441: The SOE was the most secure method under the circumstances. Badoglio still considered it possible to gain favourable conditions in exchange for the surrender. He ordered Castellano to insist that any surrender of Italy be conditioned on a landing of Allied troops on the Italian mainland. The Allies held only Sicily and some minor islands. On 31 August, Brigade General Castellano reached Termini Imerese , in Sicily, by plane and
8100-435: The Soviet Union, rather than the 10 divisions that Mussolini actually sent. In late 1941, Italian East Africa was lost. The loss of Italian East Africa together with the defeats in North Africa and the Balkans caused an immense loss of confidence in Mussolini's ability to lead, and many Fascist gerarchi such as Emilio De Bono and Dino Grandi were hoping by the spring of 1941 that the king might sack him in order to save
8235-418: The United States was a harmless move. The king was pleased by the news of Japan entering the war, believing that with Britain's Asian colonies in danger that this would force the British to redeploy their forces to Asia and might finally allow for the Axis conquest of Egypt. Marshal Enrico Caviglia wrote in his diary that it was "criminal" the way that Victor Emmanuel refused to act against Mussolini despite
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#17328866535808370-409: The Vatican to end the "Roman Question". In 1929, Mussolini, on behalf of the King, signed the Lateran Treaty . The treaty was one of the three agreements made that year between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See . On 7 June 1929, the Lateran Treaty was ratified and the " Roman Question " was settled. The Italian monarchy enjoyed popular support for decades. Foreigners noted how even as late as
8505-409: The abuses of the squadristi , of which the murder of Matteotti was only the most notorious example, and were hoping that he would dismiss Mussolini, saying that one word from the king would be enough to bring down his unpopular prime minister. The newspaper Corriere della Sera in an editorial stated the abuses of the Fascist government such as the murder of Matteotti had now reached such a point that
8640-486: The acceptance of the Allied conditions. He had no written authorization from Badoglio, the head of the Italian government, who wanted to dissociate himself as much as possible from the forthcoming defeat of his country. The signing ceremony began at 14:00 on 3 September. Castellano and Bedell Smith signed the accepted text on behalf of Badoglio and General Eisenhower, respectively. The armistice includes that all Italian land, air, and naval forces must cease hostilities against
8775-419: The actions were to be conducted contemporaneously with the signing, not to precede it, as the Italians had wanted. The following day, Castellano was received by Badoglio and his entourage. Italy's Foreign Minister, Raffaele Guariglia , declared that the Allied conditions were to be accepted. Other generals, such as Giacomo Carboni , maintained that the Army Corps deployed around Rome was insufficient to protect
8910-405: The alternative: socialism and anarchism . Both the spectre of the Russian Revolution and the tragedies of World War I played a large part in these political decisions. Victor Emmanuel always saw the Italian Socialists and Communists as his principal enemies, and felt that Mussolini's dictatorship had saved the existing status quo in Italy. Victor Emmanuel always returned the fascist salute when
9045-416: The annexation of Croatian-speaking territories in Dalmatia and temporarily occupying the town of Fiume without royal assent. During the early 1920s, several short-serving prime ministers, including the well-respected Giolitti, serving an unprecedented fifth term as prime minister, could not unify the country in the face of the growing Italian fascist movement. Strengthened by the economic downturn facing
9180-419: The arch-conservative Antonio Salandra as well as General Armando Diaz , that it would be better to do a deal with Mussolini. On 1 November 1922, the king reviewed the squadristi as they marched past the Quirinal Palace giving the fascist salute. Victor Emmanuel took no responsibility for appointing Mussolini prime minister, saying he learned from studying history that events were "much more automatic than
9315-486: The armistice was announced by Allied radio on the afternoon of 8 September, German forces immediately attacked Italian forces by executing Operation Achse . Most of the Regio Esercito (Italian Royal Army) had not been informed about the armistice, and no clear orders had been issued about the line of conduct to be taken in the face of the German armed forces. Some Italian divisions that should have defended Rome were still in transit from southern France. The king, along with
9450-426: The battleships Roma , Vittorio Veneto , and Italia (known as Littorio until July 1943). There was a danger that some of the Navy might fight on, be scuttled, or (most concerningly for the Allies) end up in German hands. As such, the truce called for Italian warships on Italy's west coast, mostly at La Spezia and Genoa , to sail for North Africa and to pass Corsica and Sardinia and for those at Taranto , in
9585-427: The city because of the lack of fuel and ammunition and that the armistice had to be postponed. Badoglio did not pronounce himself in the meeting. In the afternoon, he appeared before the King, who decided to accept the armistice conditions. A confirmation telegram was sent to the Allies. The message, however, was intercepted by the Wehrmacht , the German armed forces, which had long since begun to suspect that Italy
9720-473: The city. Badoglio told the delegation that his army was not ready to support the landing and that most airports in the area were under German control. He asked for a deferral of the armistice of a few days. When General Eisenhower learned that, the landing in Rome of American troops was cancelled, but the day of the armistice was confirmed since other troops were already en route by sea to land in southern Italy. When
9855-548: The country, the National Fascist Party led the March on Rome , and Victor Emmanuel appointed Benito Mussolini as prime minister. He remained silent on the domestic political abuses of Fascist Italy , and he accepted the additional crowns of the Emperor of Ethiopia in 1936 and the King of Albania in 1939 as a result of Italian imperialism under fascism . When World War II broke out in 1939, Victor Emmanuel advised Mussolini against entering
9990-623: The crown as Emperor of Ethiopia . His decision to do this was not universally accepted. Victor Emmanuel was only able to assume the crown after the Italian Army invaded Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War . Ethiopia was annexed to the Italian Empire . The League of Nations condemned Italy's participation in this war and the Italian claim by right of conquest to Ethiopia
10125-533: The decision for Italy to enter the war. The king possessed the right to do so under the Statuto, which stipulated that ultimate authority for declaring war rested with the crown. Demonstrations in favour of the war were staged in Rome, with 200,000 gathering on 16 May 1915, in the Piazza del Popolo. The corrupt and disorganised war effort, the stunning loss of life suffered by the Royal Italian Army , especially at
10260-500: The dominant power in the Mediterranean. On 1 June 1940, Victor Emmanuel finally gave Mussolini his permission for Italy to enter the war, though the king retained the supreme command while only giving Mussolini power over political and military questions. The delay between the king's permission to enter the war and the declaration of war was caused by Mussolini's demand that he have the powers of supreme command, an attempt to take away
10395-521: The execution of his plan, the King asked for the assistance of Dino Grandi (1st Count of Mordano), one of the leading members of the Fascist hierarchy who, in his younger years, had been considered the sole credible alternative to Mussolini as leader of the National Fascist Party . The King was also motivated by the suspicion that the Count of Mordano's ideas about Fascism might be changed abruptly. Various ambassadors, including Pietro Badoglio himself, proposed
10530-872: The fact that France signed an armistice with Germany on 22 June, followed by another armistice with Italy on 24 June allowed Mussolini to present it as a victory. Victor Emmanuel sharply criticized the terms of the Franco-Italian Armistice , saying he wanted Italy to occupy Tunisia , Corsica , and Nice , though the fact the armistice allowed him to proclaim a victory over France was a source of much pleasure to him. In 1940 and 1941, Italian armies in North Africa and in Greece suffered humiliating defeats. Unlike his opposition over going to war with major powers like France and Britain (who might actually defeat Italy), Victor Emmanuel blessed Mussolini's plans to invade Greece in
10665-458: The fact that he was clearly mismanaging the war. One Italian journalist remembered that by the fall of 1941 he did not know anyone who felt anything other than "contempt" for the king who was unwilling to disassociate himself from Fascism. The British historian Denis Mack Smith wrote that Victor Emmanuel tended to procrastinate when faced with very difficult choices, and his unwillingness to dismiss Mussolini despite mounting pressure from within
10800-460: The fall of 1940, saying he expected the Greeks to collapse as soon as Italy invaded. Through the carabinieri (para-military police), Victor Emmanuel was kept well informed of the state of public opinion and from the autumn of 1940 onward received reports that the war together with the Fascist regime were becoming extremely unpopular with the Italian people. When Mussolini made Marshal Pietro Badoglio
10935-405: The great defeat of Caporetto , and the post–World War I recession turned the King against what he perceived as an inefficient political bourgeoisie . Nevertheless, the King visited the various areas of Northern Italy suffering repeated strikes and mortar hits from elements of the fighting there, and demonstrated considerable courage and concern in personally visiting many people, while his wife,
11070-514: The introduction of universal male suffrage . In foreign policy, Giolitti's Italy distanced itself from the fellow members of the Triple Alliance (the German Empire and Austria-Hungary ) and colonized Libya following the Italo-Turkish War . Giolitti was succeeded by Antonio Salandra , Paolo Boselli , and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando . The First World War brought about Italian victory over
11205-521: The king a "traitor" to Italy by supporting the Fascist regime and warned that the king would one day regret what he had done. Victor Emmanuel was disgusted by what he regarded as the superficiality and frivolity of what he called the "so-called elegant society" of Rome, and as such, the king preferred to spend his time out in the countryside where he went hunting, fishing and reading military history books outside. A taciturn man who felt deeply uncomfortable expressing himself in conversation, Victor Emmanuel
11340-456: The king had both a legal and moral duty to dismiss Mussolini at once and restore the rule of law. During the Matteotti affair, even pro-Fascist politicians like Salandra started to express some doubts about Mussolini after he took responsibility for all the Fascist violence, saying he did not order Matteotti's murder, but he did authorise the violence of the squadristi , making him responsible for
11475-461: The king had little interest in religion. In private Victor Emmanuel regarded the Catholic Church with a jaundiced eye, making remarks about senior clerics as being greedy, cynical and oversexed hypocrites who took advantage of the devout faith of ordinary Italians. In 1926, the king allowed Mussolini to do what he prevented Orlando from doing in 1919, giving permission to open negotiations with
11610-412: The large naval base of Taranto, it watched a flotilla of Italian ships sailing out of Taranto Harbour towards their surrender at Malta. An agreement between the Allies and the Italians in late September provided for some of the Navy to be kept in commission; however, the battleships were to be reduced to care and maintenance and effectively disarmed. Italian mercantile marine vessels were to operate under
11745-522: The law when Mussolini submitted it to him. By 1928, practically the only check on Mussolini's power was the King's prerogative of dismissing him from office. Even then, this prerogative could only be exercised on the advice of the Fascist Grand Council , a body that only Mussolini could convene. Whatever the circumstances, Victor Emmanuel showed weakness from a position of strength, with dire future consequences for Italy and fatal consequences for
11880-543: The monarchy against an ultimately successful referendum to abolish it. After the 1946 Italian institutional referendum established the Republic, Victor Emmanuel went into exile to Alexandria , where he died and was buried the following year in St. Catherine's Cathedral, Alexandria . In 2017, his remains were returned to rest in Italy following an agreement between presidents Sergio Mattarella and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi . Victor Emmanuel
12015-411: The monarchy itself. Fascism was a force of opposition to left-wing radicalism. This appealed to many people in Italy at the time, and certainly to the King. In many ways, the events from 1922 to 1943 demonstrated that the monarchy and the moneyed class, for different reasons, felt Mussolini and his regime offered an option that, after years of political chaos, was more appealing than what they perceived as
12150-657: The murder of Matteotti. The king affirmed that "the Chamber and the Senate were his eyes and ears", desiring a parliamentary initiative, according to the Statuto Albertino. The knowledge that the king and the Parliament would not dismiss the prime minister led to the Mussolini government winning a vote of no confidence in November 1924 in the chamber of deputies by 314 votes to 6 and in the Senate by 206 votes to 54. The deputies and
12285-487: The north and centre of the country, with most of Italy being occupied by the Germans, who established a puppet state , the Italian Social Republic led by Mussolini. The king, the Italian government and most of the Navy fled to southern Italy under the protection of the Allies. An Italian resistance movement emerged in German-occupied Italy. After the surrender of the Axis powers in North Africa on 13 May 1943,
12420-516: The northern borders of Italy. Some of the Italian troops based outside Italy, in the occupied Balkans and Greek islands , held out some weeks after the armistice. Still, without any determined support from the Allies, all had been overwhelmed by the Germans by the end of September 1943. On the island of Cephalonia , the Italian Acqui Division was massacred after it had resisted German forces. A similar fate awaited 103 Italian officers of
12555-493: The number two-man in Fascism, remained republicans, and the king greatly appreciated Mussolini's conversion to monarchism. In private, Mussolini detested Victor Emmanuel as a tedious and tiresomely boring man, whose only interests were military history and his collections of stamps and coins, a man whom Mussolini sneered was "too diminutive for an Italy destined to greatness" (a reference to the king's height). However, Mussolini told
12690-452: The other gerarchi that he needed the king's support and that one day, another fascist revolution would take place "without contraceptives". The King failed to move against the Mussolini regime's abuses of power (including, as early as 1924, the assassination of Giacomo Matteotti and other opposition MPs). During the Matteotti affair of 1924, Sir Ronald Graham, the British ambassador, reported: "His Majesty once told me that he had never had
12825-473: The position of Italy as Germany's ally in the war. However, many channels sought a peace treaty with the Allies. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler sent several divisions south of the Alps , officially to help defend Italy from Allied landings but really to control the country. Three Italian generals (including Brigade General Giuseppe Castellano ) were separately sent to Lisbon to contact Allied diplomats. However, to open
12960-604: The press, and declared the Fascist Party to be the only legal party in Italy. In December 1925, Mussolini passed a law declaring that he was responsible to the King, not Parliament. Under the Statuto Albertino Italian governments were legally answerable to Parliament, but politically answerable to the monarch. However, it had been a strong constitutional convention since at least the 1860s that they were legally and politically answerable to Parliament. In January 1926,
13095-800: The proceedings, the Allies had to determine who was the most authoritative envoy, and the three generals had started to quarrel about who had the highest authority. In the end, Castellano was admitted to speak with the Allies at the British Embassy to set the conditions for the armistice of Italy . Among the representatives of the Allies were the British Ambassador to Portugal , Sir Ronald Hugh Campbell , and two senior officers sent by Dwight Eisenhower : major-general Walter Bedell Smith (US Army, Eisenhower's chief of staff) and brigadier Kenneth Strong (British Army, Eisenhower's assistant chief of staff for intelligence). On 27 August, General Castellano returned to Italy and, three days later, briefed Badoglio about
13230-445: The queen, took turns with nurses in caring for Italy's wounded. It was at this time, the period of World War I, that the King enjoyed the genuine affection of the majority of his people. Still, during the war he received about 400 threatening letters from people of every social background, mostly members of the working class . On 8 November 1917, he met with the prime ministers of Britain ( Lloyd George ) and France ( Paul Painlevé ) at
13365-527: The same general conditions as the Allies. In all cases, the Italian vessels would retain their Italian crews and fly Italian flags. The Armistice of Cassibile signed at Sicily was considered the 'shorter' version of the whole armistice. On 29 September, the longer version of the armistice was signed at Malta between Italy and the Allies. It was signed by Badoglio and Eisenhower aboard the British battleship HMS Nelson . The agreement included that Benito Mussolini and his Fascist officials must be handed over to
13500-508: The scapegoat for the failure of the invasion of Greece and sacked him as Chief of the General Staff in December 1940, Badoglio appealed to the king for help. Victor Emmanuel refused to help Badoglio, saying that Mussolini would manage the situation just always as he had in the past. In January 1941, the king admitted to his aide-de-camp, General Paolo Puntoni , that war was not going well and
13635-444: The senators were unwilling to risk their lives by voting for a no-confidence motion as the king had made it clear that he would not dismiss Mussolini even if the motion did carry the votes of the majority. Victor Emmanuel remained silent during the winter of 1925–26 when Mussolini dropped all pretence of democracy. During this time, the king signed without protest laws that eliminated freedom of speech and assembly, abolished freedom of
13770-478: The ships sailing without air cover off Sardinia and launching guided bombs . Several ships suffered damage, and Roma sank with the loss of nearly 1,400 men. Most of the remaining ships made it safely to North Africa "while three destroyers and a cruiser which had stopped to rescue survivors, docked in Menorca ". The Navy's turnover proceeded more smoothly in other areas of Italy. When an Allied naval force headed for
13905-589: The side of Germany provided that this would not strain Italy's resources too much (the costs of the wars in Ethiopia and Spain had pushed Italy to the verge of bankruptcy by 1939). On 18 March 1940, Mussolini met Hitler at a summit at the Brenner Pass and promised him that Italy would soon enter the war. Victor Emmanuel had powerful doubts about the wisdom of going to war, and at one point in March 1940 hinted to Ciano that he
14040-537: The summer of 1943. Besides rejecting unconditional surrender as "truly monstrous", Victor Emmanuel wanted from the Allies a guarantee that he would keep his throne; a promise that Italian colonial empire in Libya and the Horn of Africa would be restored; that Italy would keep the part of Yugoslavia that had been annexed by Mussolini; and finally the Allies should promise not to invade the Italian mainland, and instead invade France and
14175-558: The ten divisions of the " Italian Army in Russia " ( Armata Italiana in Russia , or Armir) were crushed in a side-action in the Battle of Stalingrad . By the middle of 1943, the last Italian forces in Tunisia had surrendered and Sicily had been taken by the Allies . Hampered by lack of fuel as well as several serious defeats, the Italian Navy spent most of the war confined to port. As a result,
14310-401: The things that he wanted to do, leading to state he wanted to "blow" the Crown and Catholic Church "up to the skies". Victor Emmanuel was a cautious man, and he always consulted all of the available advisors before making a decision, in this case, the senior officers of the armed forces who informed him of Italy's military deficiencies. On 10 May 1940, Germany launched a major offensive into
14445-550: The titles of Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Albania, recognizing the previous holders of those titles as legitimate. The crown of the King of the Albanians had been assumed by Victor Emmanuel in 1939 when Italian forces invaded the nearly defenceless monarchy across the Adriatic Sea and caused King Zog I to flee. In 1941, while in Tirana , the King escaped an assassination attempt by
14580-475: The usurped Ethiopian and Albanian crowns in favour of the legitimate monarchs of those states, claiming that the Fascist-dominated Parliament had given him these titles and he could only renounce them if parliament voted on the matter. Armistice of Cassibile Winter Line Gothic Line 1945 Spring Offensive The Armistice of Cassibile ( Italian : Armistizio di Cassibile )
14715-586: The vague possibility of succeeding Mussolini as dictator. The secret rebels later involved Giuseppe Bottai , another high member of the Fascist Directorate and Minister of Culture, and Galeazzo Ciano (the 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari), the second most powerful man in the Fascist Party and Mussolini's son-in-law. The conspirators devised an "Order of the Day" for the next meeting of the Grand Council of Fascism ( Gran Consiglio del Fascismo ), which contained
14850-512: The war as a member of the Axis . Privately, they both began negotiating with the Allies for an armistice. The king was advised by his generals to sign an immediate armistice, since German troops in Italy were still outnumbered by Italian troops. But Victor Emmanuel was unwilling to accept the Allied demand for unconditional surrender, and as a result, the secret armistice talks in Lisbon were dragged out over
14985-401: The war by 1943, but papal diplomats told their American counterparts that the king was "weak, indecisive and excessively devoted to Mussolini". In the summer of 1942, Grandi had a private audience with Victor Emmanuel, where he asked him to dismiss Mussolini and sign an armistice with the Allies before the Fascist regime was destroyed only to be told to "trust your king" and "stop speaking like
15120-499: The war was lost, blasted him for his "defeatism", saying he still believed in Mussolini. On 11 December 1941, Victor Emmanuel rather glibly agreed to Mussolini's request to declare war on the United States . Failing to anticipate the American "Europe First" strategy, the king believed that the Americans would follow an "Asia First" strategy of focusing all their efforts against Japan in revenge for Pearl Harbor, and that declaring war on
15255-445: The war would soon turn around for the Axis powers because it had to. Even Victor Emmanuel was forced to concede that Mussolini had taken a turn "for the worse", which he blamed on "that woman" as he called Mussolini's mistress, Clara Petacci . On 15 May 1943, the king sent Mussolini a letter saying Italy should sign an armistice and exit the war. On 4 June 1943, Grandi saw the king and told him that he had to dismiss Mussolini before
15390-456: The war. In June 1940, he relented and granted Mussolini sweeping powers to enter and conduct the war. Amidst the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943, Victor Emmanuel discharged Mussolini from the office of Prime Minister and signed the armistice of Cassibile with the Allies in September 1943. In the face of the coming German reprisal ( Operation Achse ), he and the government fled to Brindisi while
15525-427: The wishes of the monarch. De Vecchi went to the Quirinal Palace to meet the king and assured him that the Fascists would never fight against the king. It was at this point that the Fascist leader considered leaving Italy altogether. But then, minutes before midnight, he received a telegram from the King inviting him to Rome. Facta had the decree for martial law prepared after the cabinet had unanimously endorsed it, and
15660-476: Was "Remember: to be a king, all you need to know is how to sign your name, read a newspaper, and mount a horse." His early years showed evidence that, by the standards of the Savoy monarchy, he was a man committed to constitutional government. Even though his father was killed by an anarchist , the new king showed a commitment to constitutional freedoms. Although parliamentary rule had been firmly established in Italy,
15795-530: Was also called Sciaboletta ("little sabre") by some Italians. Victor Emmanuel III was born in Naples in the Kingdom of Italy to King Umberto I and Margherita of Savoy , the Queen consort . He was named after his grandfather, Victor Emmanuel II , King of Sardinia and later King of Italy . Unlike his paternal first cousin's son, the 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) tall Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta , Victor Emmanuel
15930-423: Was an armistice that was signed on 3 September 1943 between Italy and the Allies during World War II . It was made public five days later. It was signed on September 3rd by Major-General Walter Bedell Smith for the Allies and Brigade-General Giuseppe Castellano for Italy. The armistice's signing took place at a summit in an Allied military camp at Cassibile , Sicily , which had recently been occupied by
16065-561: Was an offensive and defensive alliance with Germany, Italy would have been obliged to follow Germany into war in 1939. As the Pact of Steel was signed, the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop , told Mussolini that there would be no war until 1942 or 1943, but the Italian ambassador in Berlin, Baron Bernardo Attolico , warned Rome that the information he was hearing from sources in
16200-424: Was an opportunist who was well known for his sycophancy towards those in power, which led the king to choose him as Mussolini's successor as he knew that Badoglio would do anything to have power whereas Caviglia had a reputation as a man of principle and honour. The king felt that Badoglio as prime minister would obey any royal orders whereas he was not so certain that Caviglia would do the same. On 15 July 1943, in
16335-400: Was blocked by Victor Emmanuel. At a meeting with Count Ciano on 24 August 1939, the king stated that "we are absolutely in no condition to wage war"; the state of the Regio Esercito was "pitiful"; and since Italy was not ready for war, it should stay out of the coming conflict, at least until it was clear who was winning. More importantly, Victor Emmanuel stated that as the king of Italy he
16470-500: Was considering dismissing Mussolini as Ciano wrote in his diary: "the King feels that it may become necessary for him to intervene at any moment to give things a different direction; he is prepared to do this and to do it quickly". Victor Emmanuel hoped that a vote against Italy entering the war would be registered in the Fascist Grand Council, as he knew that the gerarchi Cesare Maria De Vecchi , Italo Balbo and Emilio De Bono were all anti-war, but he refused to insist upon calling
16605-448: Was content to let Mussolini rule Italy as he regarded Il Duce as a "strong man" who saved him the trouble from meeting various politicians as he had done before 1922. Victor Emmanuel was anti-clerical, being greatly embittered by the refusal of the Catholic Church to recognize Rome as the capital of Italy, but he realized that as long as the Catholic Church remained opposed to the Italian state, that many Italians would continue to regard
16740-405: Was killed especially shocked Italian public opinion, who were much offended by the gratuitous cruelty of the squadristi killers. Given the widespread public revulsion against Mussolini generated by the murder of Matteotti, the king could have dismissed Mussolini in 1924 with a minimum of trouble and broad public support. Orlando told the king that the majority of the Italian people were tired of
16875-453: Was linked to a planned landing in central Italy and was left to the Allies' discretion. Castellano still understood that the date was intended to be 12 September, and Badoglio started to move troops to Rome. On 7 September, a small Allied delegation reached Rome to inform Badoglio that the next day would have been the day of the armistice. He was also informed about the pending arrival of the American 82nd Airborne Division into airports around
17010-451: Was one of the few officers of the Regio Esercito who kept his distance from the Fascist regime, he was unacceptable to Victor Emmanuel who wanted an officer who was committed to upholding Fascism, which led him to choose Badoglio who had loyally served Mussolini and committed all sorts of atrocities in Ethiopia, but who had a grudge against Il Duce for making him the scapegoat for the failed invasion of Greece in 1940. In addition, Badoglio
17145-510: Was plain King, Coffee was a common thing. When an Emperor he was made, Coffee's odour it did fade. Since he got Albania's throne, Even the odour has flown. And if we have another victory We're also going to lose our chicory . By early 1943, Mussolini was so psychologically shattered by the successive Italian defeats that he was so depressed and drugged out as to be almost catatonic at times, staring blankly into space for hours while high on various drugs and mumbling incoherently that
17280-471: Was rejected by some major powers, such as the United States and the Soviet Union , but was accepted by Great Britain and France in 1938. In 1943, Italy's possession of Ethiopia came to an end. The term of the last acting Viceroy of Italian East Africa , including Eritrea and Italian Somaliland , ended on 27 November 1941 with surrender to the allies. In November 1943 Victor Emmanuel renounced his claims to
17415-486: Was seeking a separate armistice. The Germans contacted Badoglio, who repeatedly confirmed the unwavering loyalty of Italy to its German ally. The Germans doubted his reassurances, and the Wehrmacht started to devise an effective plan, Operation Achse , to take control of Italy as soon as the Italian government had switched allegiance to the Allies. On 2 September, Castellano set off again to Cassibile with an order to confirm
17550-586: Was seen by the king as offensive and a clear sign that the ultimate goal of the fascist was to get rid of him. As popular as Victor Emmanuel was, several of his decisions proved fatal to the monarchy. Among these decisions was his assumption of the crowns of Ethiopia and Albania and his public silence when Mussolini's Fascist government issued German-style racial purity laws . Prior to his government's invasion of Ethiopia, Victor Emmanuel travelled in 1934 to Italian Somaliland , where he celebrated his 65th birthday on 11 November. In 1936, Victor Emmanuel assumed
17685-420: Was short of stature even by 19th-century standards, to the point that today he would appear diminutive. From birth until his accession, Victor Emmanuel was known as " The Prince of Naples ". On 24 October 1896, he married Princess Elena of Montenegro . On 29 July 1900, at the age of 30, Victor Emmanuel acceded to the throne upon his father's assassination. The only advice that his father Umberto ever gave his heir
17820-567: Was the supreme commander-in-chief, and he wanted to be involved in any "supreme decisions", which in effect was claiming a right to veto any decision Mussolini might make about going to war. On 25 August, Ciano wrote in his diary that he informed a "furiously warlike" Mussolini that the king was against Italy going to war in 1939, forcing Il Duce to concede that Italy would have to declare neutrality. Unlike in Germany where officers from 1934 onward took an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler, officers of
17955-486: Was transferred to Cassibile , a town near Syracuse . It soon became evident that the two sides in the negotiations had adopted somewhat distant positions. Castellano pressed the request for the Italian territory to be defended from the inevitable reaction of the German Wehrmacht against Italy after the signing. In return, he received only vague promises, including launching a parachute division over Rome . Moreover,
18090-439: Was very surprised when he learned about 9 am on 28 October that the king had refused to sign it. When Facta protested that the king was overruling the entire cabinet, he was told that this was the royal prerogative and the king did not wish to use force against the Fascists. The only politician Victor Emmanuel consulted during the crisis was Antonio Salandra , who advised him to appoint Mussolini prime minister and stated he
18225-455: Was willing to serve in a cabinet headed by Mussolini. By midday on 30 October, Mussolini had been appointed President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister), at the age of 39, with no previous experience of office, and with only 32 Fascist deputies in the Chamber . Though the King claimed in his memoirs that it was the fear of a civil war that motivated his actions, it would seem that he received some 'alternative' advice, possibly from
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