> Bombing of Germany, Italy and Japan in WW II was not justifiable?
Hi all,
as representing the 50% of the Italians here :-), I feel the need to say what I
think about the WWII in Italy. Take it as a forecast of a possible thought of an
Afghan or an Iraqi of year 2050 A.D.
One of the most philo American person I've ever known was my father. He loved
John Wayne's movies, studied English in the 50's at an American school (his
English was better than mine!). He was in the first line in the protests
against the Soviet invasion of Hungary (1956). His visit to New York in the 80's
was for him a dream becoming truth. But especially he had a strong remember of
the day when the allies finally entered in Bologna, in spring 1945. He was 7,
and, at times, war was for him a normal condition of life.
There was a small difference between Italy and the other two countries. In WWI
Italy was allied of UK and USA. Germany and Austria were then our traditional
enemies, and Italy was a very young nation: the three wars for independence
(from Austria, and the Pope, mainly) ended about 1870. But a portion of the
northern Italian territory was still under the Austrian empire, so WWI was for
Italy the occasion to complete the unification of the nation.
In short, the WWI was won with great loss of victims, and with the decisive help
of the USA. But after the war, Italy was not a better place. Communist ideas
were menacing a weak democracy, and, in order to avoid it, the King and the
richest families found it good to give the rule to a populist, Benito Mussolini,
formerly a socialist, that had founded a new party. Mussolini organized a golpe,
the "March on Rome", in 1922, actually a farce, as no one was there to stop
them. Italy became a fascist country.
Fascism was a blend of Nationalism, Futurism (an Italian modern art form),
Actualism (the philosophy of Giovanni Gentile), and nostalgic feel for the
ancient times of the Roman Empire. Mussolini was a great orator, especially
effective on a largely illiterate population: he spoke the language of the
people, and for a nation divided in a myriad of dialects (northerners and
southerners could not understand each other clearly) it was a great worth.
According to the fascist propaganda, the mission was to make of Italy a modern
nation. So, the enemies were large estate owners (land to the people!), the
Church, the Marxists, and mafia. Actually, the only enemies Mussolini
annihilated were the political opponents... and mafia. Yes, in the 20s, many
mafiosi had to go to America (you all know about Al Capone....). BTW, it's well
known here the role of Sicilian mafia to help the American forces to disembark
in Sicily in 1943.
Actually, Mussolini invented the modern dictatorship. Control of information,
one only political party, nationalism, populism: the same ingredients used by
Hitler in Germany, Franco in Spain, Pinochet in Chile. He had in the first years
good economic results. Italy was in mid 30s a country in which every opponent
was killed or forced to exile, but it was also a wealthier nation.
But he was mainly an adventurer. In 1940, when Hitler's power seemed impossible
to be stopped, he declared war to an already defeated France. He was sure that
the war would have been short, and he was trying to gain something at the table
of the political deals, after the war. As we know, he was wrong.
Italian population was largely against the war, and this is IMO the small
difference between Italy and Germany and Japan. And more, many felt it was not
good to be allied with Germany, despite of the political similarities: since the
times of emperor Augustus, we never had good relations with Germans.... and it
was an about face 20 years after WWI.
Anyway, we entered the war. In short, after three disastrous years, the Great
Council of Fascism decided to displace Mussolini and enclose him into a jail.
The allies had already invaded southern Italy, and were going northward to take
Rome. The King (really a poor figure in all these events) escaped to South. The
Italian army secretly dealt the capitulation to the allies. Many Italians
thought that the war was over.
Not at all, the war had still to begin. Nazis were not stupid, and took northern
and central Italy. They massacred many divisions of the Italian army. Mussolini
was liberated and he became a straw man in the hands of the Nazis. The members
of the Great Council of Fascism were executed as betrayers. Since winter 43/44,
Italy was divided in two, the King in the South with the allies, Mussolini in
the North with the Nazis. While the south learned soon to forget the war, in the
north a civil war begun. Many fascists went on supporting their ancient leader,
but many of the soldiers escaped to the mountains and begun the partisan's
Resistance. Actually, WWII has been for Italy a civil war.
Without the help of the allies, of course, it was impossible to free Italy from
the Nazis. A great worth of the allies was also to help the Resistance to create
the nucleus of a future democratic nation. In short, as the allies were coming
to conquer a new city, they were not seen as conquerors, rather as liberators.
The allies had helped us to win WWI, let's not forget it. Again, the Italian
population saw these Americans (and British, Australians, Indians..) come and
decide the conclusion of the war. A lot of young boys were dying for us, and
many of them hardly knew anything about Italy. These things are not without
value.
They made mistakes. They bombed, for example, the abbey of Monte Cassino, a holy
ancient monastery. By mistake, they thought that Nazis were hidden there. They
actually killed monks and destroyed a holy monument. And they dropped bombs on
all the cities of Central and Northern Italy, causing the death of thousands of
civil persons. And this is the question. Was it right? I was not there, so I
can't know the feelings of those persons under the bombs. But I've listened to
my father many times to tell about those days. At times, he was living in the
heart of the Bologna, in a tall building were the Nazis had installed a radio
antenna, always defended by a wonderful couple of Doberman dogs. The risk of an
American bomb was huge.
One morning, the Germans were disappeared. They just left there the Dobermans.
Bombs were not falling anymore. He went down to the streets, finally crowded,
and saw the partisans coming from the mountains, while the allies were coming
from the other side. All the soldiers were smiling (the war was clearly going to
end in few weeks). For the first time, my father saw a black man; dressed in his
uniform, he was offering chocolate to all the kids. One can't forget this sort
of things. That's why he was philo American.
After the war, for many years we received gifts from America: food,
machineries - the Marshall Plan. It has been a decisive ingredient for a young
democracy to resist to communist or nationalist temptations. For what I know,
the Marshall plan has been the best business America ever did in Europe.
This is the story. Was it right to drop bombs on Italy? Yes. Almost no one here
in Italy feels it as a crime. Was it possible to avoid all that? Probably yes.
It was possible to stop Mussolini and Hitler before, but in the end there were
not anymore alternatives. It's like to be in a car without brakes in a
descending road. You are running and it's too late to cry for the mistake. You
have to drive until you reach the plain. But in the end it's a mistake to be
proud for the war you have won. We should be proud only for avoided wars.
If I try a hazardous parallelism with the Gulf War, and this incoming possible
war that is IMO its consequence, the biggest difference is that in those Muslim
countries they don't see Americans as liberators. Try to imagine if Italy had
suffered bombs, and, in the end, Mussolini was still there, almost no American
had perished personally, and no one had offered chocolate. Be sure, the feelings
for the USA here in Italy could not be the same we know. And probably my father
could not become a philo American.
Thanks for reading
Marco
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