In this Book
- Mussolini's Army in the French Riviera: Italy's Occupation of France
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: University of Illinois Press
- Series: History of Military Occupation
Employing a multi-tiered approach, Emanuele Sica examines the simultaneously conflicting and symbiotic relationship between the French population and Italian soldiers. At the grassroots level, Sica asserts that the cultural proximity between the soldiers and the local population, one-quarter of which was Italian, smoothed the sharp angles of miscommunication and cultural faux-pas at a time of great uncertainty. At the same time, it encouraged a laxness in discipline that manifested as fraternization and black marketeering. Sica's examination of political tensions highlights how French prefects and mayors fought to keep the tatters of sovereignty in the face of military occupation. In addition, he reveals the tense relationship between Fascist civilian authorities eager to fulfil imperial dreams of annexation and army leaders desperate to prevent any action that might provoke French insurrection. Finally, he completes the tableau with detailed accounts of how food shortages and French Resistance attacks brought sterner Italian methods, why the Fascists' attempted "Italianization" of the French border city of Menton failed, and the ways the occupation zone became an unlikely haven for Jews.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- pp. vii-ix
- Abbreviations
- pp. ix-x
- Part I
- Introduction
- pp. 3-14
- 1. Countdown to War
- pp. 15-24
- Part II
- 4. A Prelude to Full Occupation
- pp. 55-74
- Part III
- 5. The November 1942 Invasion
- pp. 77-90
- 6. The Italians Settle In
- pp. 91-114
- 7. Life under the Occupation
- pp. 115-126
- 8. Military Repression,Civilian Resistance
- pp. 127-150
- 9. Collaboration and Accommodation
- pp. 151-161
- 10. The Italian Jewish Policy in France
- pp. 162-173
- 11. Drawing the Curtainon the Occupation
- pp. 174-182
- Conclusion
- pp. 183-190
- Bilbiography
- pp. 257-268
- About the Author
- pp. 277-280
- Image Plates
- pp. 281-292
Additional Information
Copyright
2016