Indiana History Bulletin, volume 19, number 10, October 1942
ITALY IN THE WAR
Italy entered the present war June 10, 1940, by invading France while the Germans were advancing on Paris from the Somme. The act has been permanently characterized as "a stab in the back" of a neighboring state. She declared war against the United States December 11, 1941, four days after the Japanese gangsters knifed the United States by attacking Pearl Harbor while negotiating for an understanding at Washington. Both steps were characteristic of the present head of the Italian government. They were betrayals of the Italian people as well as of international relations. They opened the book of accounts in which inevitably will be recorded the price the Italian nation will have to pay for the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini.
Italy did not become a modern nation until the middle of the nineteenth century. In culture for centuries before, Italy had been a torch-bearer for Europe. Politically, it had been a mangled victim of the countries north of the Alps. It was France that in 1859 drove out the last foreign oppressor, Austria, and made possible the union of the peninsula in the Kingdom of Italy. In keeping with the vicious practices of European statesmanship, however, the liberator itself despoiled the new nation of its very birthplace, the Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice--a grand larceny which deadened the gratitude of the kings of Italy, but does not justify the murder committed by Mussolini eighty years later. Not until 1866 did the Kingdom of Italy obtain Venetia, and not until 1870 was the unification of the peninsula completed by the occupation of the remainder of the papal state, the little republic of San Marino remaining as a museum piece of divided Italy.
Title Indiana History Bulletin, volume 19, number 10, October 1942
Subject Indiana--History--Periodicals; World War, 1939-1945--United States--Propaganda.; World War, 1939-1945--Italy.; History--Study and teaching.; Local government publications; Social sciences--Study and teaching.; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Monuments--Indiana.; Randolph County (Ind.)--Union Literary Institute.; Whitewater Canal (Ind. and Ohio); Liriodendron tulipifera; Boy Scouts.; Seeds-- Harvesting.; Gas City (Ind.)-- Anniversaries, etc.; Somerset (Ind.)--Centennial celebrations, etc.; University of Notre Dame.-- Centennial celebrations, etc.; Grand Army of the Republic. National Encampment (76th : 1942 : Indianapolis); Ludlow, Louis, 1873-1950; Schreyer, Johann--correspondence.; Archives; Gristmills--Indiana--Montgomery County; Social Science Research Council (U.S.)--Research grants
transcription INDIANA HISTORY BULLETIN VOLUME 19 OCTOBER 1942 NUMBER 10 ITALY IN THE WAR Italy entered the present war June 10, 1940, by invading France while the Germans were advancing on Paris from the Somme. The act has been permanently characterized as "a stab in the back" of a neighboring state. She declared war against the United States December 11, 1941, four days after the Japanese gangsters knifed the United States by attacking Pearl Harbor while negotiating for an understanding at Washington. Both steps were characteristic of the present head of the Italian government. They were betrayals of the Italian people as well as of international relations. They opened the book of accounts in which inevitably will be recorded the price the Italian nation will have to pay for the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini. Italy did not become a modern nation until the middle of the nineteenth century. In culture for centuries before, Italy had been a torch-bearer for Europe. Politically, it had been a mangled victim of the countries north of the Alps. It was France that in 1859 drove out the last foreign oppressor, Austria, and made possible the union of the peninsula in the Kingdom of Italy. In keeping with the vicious practices of European statesmanship, however, the liberator itself despoiled the new nation of its very birthplace, the Duchy of Savoy and the County of Nice--a grand larceny which deadened the gratitude of the kings of Italy, but does not justify the murder committed by Mussolini eighty years later. Not until 1866 did the Kingdom of Italy obtain Venetia, and not until 1870 was the unification of the peninsula completed by the occupation of the remainder of the papal state, the little republic of San Marino remaining as a museum piece of divided Italy.