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The Journal of Military History 67.2 (2003) 580-581



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Gli italiani in armi: Cinque secoli di storia militare nazionale 1494- 2000 (Italians in Arms: Five Centuries of National Military History, 1494-2000). By Ciro Paoletti. Rome: Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito, Ufficio Storico, 2001. ISBN 88-87940-11-8. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Indexes. Pp. 815. L.45,000.

Over the past quarter century, Italian military history has enjoyed a renaissance. Post-1945 revulsion over Fascist militarism and humiliating defeat in World War II, combined with the cultural ascendancy of pacifist Leftism in Italian society, made military history almost anathema. While memoirs of the world wars and some blatantly apologetic official military history appeared in the postwar years, relatively little of merit was published until the mid-1970s. Then pioneers like Giorgio Rochat, Lucio Ceva, and Massimo Mazzetti began producing serious scholarly work. Since then, a new and larger generation of Italian military historians have expanded the previous trickle of good books into a steady stream.

Gli italiani in armi synthesizes the best recent Italian military history, flavoring it with noteworthy older sources. Paoletti compressed five hundred [End Page 580] years of warfare into a large but smoothly flowing text. He outlines Italian loss of independence to invaders, three centuries of foreign domination, Risorgimento achievement of national unity, the subsequent European and African conflicts and, finally, revival of Italian arms since 1945. The author presents pre- and post-unitary Italian wars as a continuum, emphasizing how the struggles involving the larger and smaller states shaped the military culture the Kingdom of Italy inherited in 1861. He notes how Risorgimento successes—due more to French and Prussian assistance than most Italians would admit—encouraged a belligerent foreign policy, culminating in the 1943-45 catastrophe. The author emphasizes the essentials of battles, campaigns, and wars, describing them in a concise, almost lapidary style that is still a real pleasure to read. Thus the French invasions of 1494-1526 are covered in only eighteen pages, Italian aspects of the War of the Spanish Succession in sixteen, the three major and half-dozen smaller Risorgimento campaigns in thirty-five, and Italian participation in the Spanish Civil War in just eight pages. Yet in these and every other case, Paoletti leaves the reader satisfied with an understanding of those conflicts, while made eager to read more about them. The extensive sources utilized and the ease of access to them which Paoletti's writing style provides demands admiration.

The author stresses narration over analysis, providing a carefully balanced introduction to the sweep of Italian military history. He divides the book into five sections by centuries, biased toward 1848-1945 events. Nonetheless, those years are arguably the most significant in the long history of Italian wars. Nor are the earlier centuries and—unusual for accounts of Italian military history—developments since 1945 slighted. The bibliography of over three thousand entries offers a highly reliable guide for those interested in learning more about particular subjects. Would that this book were translated into English. For those who read Italian, the price—now some twenty-six euros—is a remarkable bargain. The Italian Army historical office deserves great credit for commissioning this fine volume.

 



Brian R. Sullivan
Vienna, Virginia

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