WWI

1915-1918 Italy joined Allies in World War I in exchange for the promises of the secret Treaty of London. (the Allies promised if they won the war they would give Italy Trieste and Trentino and portions of Albania, Dalmatia, Istria as well as financial aid and territory in Africa.) Italy declared war on Germany and Austria.

1915 Battles against Austria along Italy's northeast borders were expensive (manpower and materials) and did not settle territorial disputes.Italy only gained 16 kilometers of Austrian territory in two years.

1917 German and Austrian atroops attacked and forced Italy to retreat.

1918 Italy rallied (with Allied help) and won some important victories before the war ended but suffered heavy losses on the Alpine front. The Versailles Peace Conference followed World War I. Italy was unhappy with the treaties made and with the Western Allies. While Italy had gained 23,000 kilometers of territory that formerly belonged to Austria-Hungary it was much less than the Allies had promised. Italians were more dissatisfied with their government than before the war. Economic crises lead to the rise of the Fascisti (and of Benito Mussolini).

1919 Italian election was the first in which all Italian males were allowed to vote. Conflicts in Parliment between political parties prevented effective national leadership. Thousands of workers out of jobs. Worker strikes, peasants demanded land, threats of revolution grew.

FASCISM

1923-24 Mussolini's electoral law is passed.

1924-25 Dictator Benito Mussolini "IL Duce" took control of the Italian government. He established a Fascist dictatorship, a corporate state, which attained early successes in social welfare, employment, and transportation. Very popular with the Italian people. Fascists promised national order and promoted nationalism. Italian Fascists became a model for similar movements across Europe and Latin America. Fascists organized youths, workers and employers into groups pledging support for Mussolini. To prevent opposition Fascists used terror, secret police, public communications as their tools of control.

1929 Mussolini negotiated the Lateran Treaties which established normal relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Italian government for the first time since Rome was taken from the Pope. The treaty created Vatican City as a separate city-state. Vatican City recognizes the Kingdom of Italy. Roman Catholicism affirmed as Italy's official religion.

1935-36 Colonial expansion; Italo-Ethiopian War between Italy (Benito Mussolini) and the African Empire of Ethopia [formerly Abyssinia] (Emperor Haile Selassie). The League of Nations protest.

1935 (October) Invasion of Ethiopia began.

1936 (May 05) Mussolini conquered Ethiopia. The Italians under the command of Marshal Pietro Badoglio took control of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital. Ethiopia proclaimed an Italian territory by Mussolini.

1936-39 Mussolini sent about 70,000 troops to help Francisco Franco's rebels to win the Spainish Civil War.

1936 Rome-Berlin Axis Mussolini and Adolf Hitler (German dictator) signed agreement outlining a common foreign policy for Germany and Italy. (named Axis - to suggest that all of Europe rotated around a line between the two capitals.)

1939 Italian troops seized Albania.

1939 Italy agreed to fight on Germany's side in the event of war.

WWII

1940 June 10 Italy joined World War II (on Germany's side) shortly before France fell to Germany. Italian army (unprepared for modern warfare) suffered defeats in North Africa, Ethiopia, Eritea, and Greece.

1941 Emperor Haile Selassie returned to his throne.

1943 Italy lost its African possessions. Italian cities bombed by Allies.

1943 July 10 Allies invaded Sicily . Under orders from King Victor Emmanuel III the Italian government overthrew and imprisoned Mussolini. His successor, Badoglio, signed a surrender and declared war on Germany. German paratroopers rescued Mussolini and he fled to northern Italy.

1943 September 03 The allies landed on the Italian mainland and Italy surrendered that same day.

1943 October 13 Italy had declared war on Germany but German forces took control of the Italian government and installed Mussolini as the head of a puppet government (Italian social Republic). Italy became divided into two war zones, one controlled by the Allies in the south and the other (including Rome) held by the Germans.

1944-1945 the Allies moved northward, civil war broke out between the remaining Fascist forces and the Resistance (anti-Fascist and anti-Nazi movement). All of Italy liberated by the Allies with the Italian army and partisan movement.

1945 End of World War II; German power collapsed, members of the Resistance (Partisans) caught and killed Mussolini when he tried to escape to Switzerland. Many partisans were part of the Communist party and after the war they became very influencial.

1945-1948 Outlines of a new Italy appeared. WWII left Italy in poverty and politically disunited.

POST WORLD WAR II:

1946 May 09 King Victor Emmanuel III gave up his throne and his son Humbert II became king.

1946 June 02 Italy held it's first free election in twenty years. Italians abolished the monarchy which had been closely associated with Fascism. King Humbert II leaves the throne. Italian people "voted in" a republican form of government, headed by a president. The Republic of Italy was declared. Voters elected a Constituent Assembly (556 members) to write a constitution.

1946 Italy's coat of Arms established after the formation of the Italian republic. The star represented unity, the wreath of laurel and oak for republicanism, and the cogwheel represented industry. The country's name in Italian was placed on the ribbon.

1947 Feb. 10 Allied forces left Italy after a peace treaty was signed. The peace treaty required Italy to pay reparations of $360 million to the USSR, Yugoslavia, Greece, Ethiopia, and Albania. Possessions such as the Dodecanese islands, Eritea, and Libya were lost. Italy's economy was in a state of near collapse.

1947 The Assembly approved the new democratic constitution.

1948 Jan.01 Constitution became effective. Established a governing system with: a President (7 year term), a Cabinet headed by a premier (appointed), and a Parliment in two parts; Senate and Chamber of Deputies. First elections won by Christian Democrats.

1948-1953 Prime Mimister Alcide De Gasperi (head of the Christian Democrats) was the most powerful figure in the government. De Gasperi excluded the Communists from the government and established programs of industrial growth and agricultural reform. Under his leadership Italy formed closer ties with the United States of America (the Marshall Plan) and with other Western European nations which gave Italy foreign assistance.

1949 Italy became a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

1949 Italian Somaliland was made a United nations trust territory for ten years and placed under Italian administration.

1950 Italy became a founding member of the European Payments Union (now the European Monetary Agreement).

1952 Italy's social welfare legislation was redesigned by law.

1953 (up to) Over a third of all Italians were employed in agriculture.

1953-1968 industrial production almost tripled. Italy managed to restore it's economy to the pre war level.

1954 Alcide De Gasperi died. After De Gasperi's death the Christian Democratic party became divided allowing other parties greater influence in the government. Communist Party still kept out of power positions in the Italian government.

1955 December 14 Italy became a member of the United Nations.

1957-58 Italy became one of founding members of the European Economic Community (EC), also known as the European Common Market.

1950's - 1960's Italy was transformed from a primarily agricultural nation into one in which industry formed the strength of the country's economics. The economy grew so quickly that major problems developed between the richer north and the poorer southern regions despite government aid to the south.

1960's Roman Catholic church's political influence began to weaken.

1962 Rising demands for social reforms. Political agreement called "opening to the left" gained Socialists a role in government. They developed a working coalition with the Christian Democratic party. This period established regional governments with increased authority, a fairer tax system, and opened higher education to more students.

1966 Floods cover Florence, damaged many works of art. Papal encyclical against contraception.

1969 Series of strikes, riots and clashes between the right and left factions. Strikes and protests by labor union members led to increased wages and benefits for workers.

1970's Communist Party increased their voice in Italian politics - almost equal in size to the Christian Democratic party. Many social reforms were put into place. Italian communists became independent of the Soviet and Eastern European Communism.

1970 Roman Catholic Church became unable to block attempts to legalize divorce in Italy. Divorce bill made law.

1970's "Red Brigade" (small group of left wing terrorists opposed to all Italian poitical parties) created fear and disruption by bombing public places and shooting leading business executives and government officials.

1971 Rioting in Reggio over new capital of Calabria.

1976 Government's monopoly on broadcasting was abolished.

1976 May 6 Earthquake in northeastern Italy, 900 people killed.

1976 Aldo Moro's coalition government of Christian Democrats and Republicans resigned. Socialists withdrew from the political coalition (begun in 1962).

1977 Communists allowed a policy-making role in government; still excluded from the Cabinet.

1978 Italian voters rejected the Roman Catholic Church's anti-abortion position and voted to allow abortions.

1978 Minority goverment of Giuliio Andreotti forced to resign.

1978 The "Red Brigades" (Brigate Rosse) kidnapped former Premier Aldo Moro (president of the Christian Democratic party) who was expected to become Italy's next president. "Red Brigade" demanded release of their members from prison in exchange for Moro's life. The demand was rejected and Moro was killed. The murder caused a renewed campaign against the left-wing terrorists. Hundreds of people were arrested and convicted.

1978 President Giovanni Leone resigned as a result of allegations of corruption; Alessandro Pertini became first Socialist president of the republic.

1978 Polish cardinal (Pope John Paul) became Pope.

1979 The second Andreotti administration collapsed; Francesco Cossiga formed minority "government of truce".

1980 Socialists rejoin the coalition.

1980 November 23 Earthquake struck the southern regions of Campania and Basilicata, killed more than 4,500 people and left more than 400,000 homeless.

1980's (mid) Italy's population growth slowed down.

1980's Communist vote had begun to decline.

1981 May Government of Arnaldo Forlani resigned as a result of the scandalous "P-2 affair" (involved illegal right-wing activities); Giovanni Spadolini formed a majority coalition government and became first non-Christian Democrat premier since the start of the republic.

1982-83 Italy contributed military units to the international peacekeeping force in Beirut, Lebanon.

1982 Forty-second government in Italy since 1948. General Dalla Chiesa, spearhead of the government's efforts against the Italian Mafia (a criminal organization), was assassinated.

1983 Bettino Craxi premier of Italy. Red Brigade members sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with the kidnapping and murder of Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978.

1984 Agreement between the Church and the government to end a 1929 provision that had made the Roman Catholic Church the state religion of Italy. Approved by parliment in 1985. The Federation of Protestant churches had about 50,000 members in the mid-1980's; the two major denominations were the Lutheran Church and the Waldensians. There were also approximately 45,000 Muslims and 32,000 Jews.

1985-1987 Internal security inproved- had lowest terrorist attack rate since 1969. Major effort against organized crime was under way. Mass prosecution by the Italian government of 452 accused Mafia in Palermo (338 were convicted as a result of the trial).

1987 Premier Craxi resigned. Italy sent ships to protect tankers in the Persian Gulf.

1988 Only (est.) ten percent of employed Italians worked in agriculture.

1990 August Iraq invaded Kuwait.

1991 (early) Persian Gulf War Italian air forces took part in the allied bombing of Iraqi military targets.

1991 Communist party changed it's name to the Democratic Party of the Left. Some of its members rebelled and formed a smaller Communist Party called the Communist Refoundation.

1992 Guilian Amato (socialist Party) became premier of a coalition government. Christian Democrats still held the largest number of Cabinet posts.

• ITALY, The World Book Encyclopedia, Vol.10, 1993 edition. [World book's additional resources :
  • DICTIONARY OF MODERN ITALIAN HISTORY, Ed. by Frank J. Coppa. Greenwood,1985.

  • A HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY ITALY: SOCIETY AND POLITICS, 1943-1988 by Paul Ginsborg. Penguin, 1991.

  • THE ITALIANS: HISTORY, ART, AND THE GENIUS OF A PEOPLE. Ed. by John J. Norwich. Portland Hse., 1989.

    First published in 1983.

  • ITALY by Ian James. 1988, Watts. For young readers.

  • MICHELIN GREEN GUIDE TO ITALY. 2nd ed., 1989.]

• WORLDMARK ENCYCLOPEDIA of the NATIONS, EUROPE Vol.5 (Italy), Seventh Edition 1988, Worldmark Press, LTD., Publisher John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Exclusive World Distributor, G63.W67 1988 903'.21 88-5530 ISBN 0-471 62406-3(WILEY)

• ITALY the land and it's people by Michael Leech, Silver Burdett Company - Morristown, N.J. 1981 Printing. ISBN 0 382 06107 1 Library of Congress Catalog Card No.75-44863 1974 Macdonald Educational Limited, Holywell house, London, E.C. 2

• ENCHANTMENT of the WORLD, by R. Conrad Stein, Childrens Press, 1984 Chicago.