WesWorld

Taken from "Italy: Her Impact and Influence in the Twentieth Century" by Conte di Rosso pp.385

&from early October when Mussolini had proclaimed that elections would be held in late October in accordance with the Kings request. The announcement was quickly attacked by his remaining political opponents as playing for time. Although this was later proved correct, the population remained split about the fascists intentions but were extremely tired of the continued bloodshed. There had been politically motivated violence since the end of the 1914-1918 War but this was brought to a head in the civil war of 1934. The 1914-18 War brought profound change in the politics of Italy with the removal of the Liberals from power who had guided Italy from its birth. The 1920s experiment in a middle ground was a dismal failure and ended up with the fascists under Mussolini ascending to power and rule with a rod of iron. The people themselves were fed up and badly wanted a change to normality and peace. This was to come in 1935 with Pax Italiana in the style of the Romans  peace after a war.


Things moved quickly after the bloody weekend in Turin as the King ordered the army to move in and remove Mussolini and his fascists from government. After a firefight lasting 9 hours they were taken into custody but Mussolini was not among them, having been shot whilst the soldiers were storming the building. The action caused a great shock throughout the country and was portrayed by the remaining fascists as a coup on the part of the King. He had overstepped his nominal authority into a grey area that has been the cause of much legal wrangling afterwards. King Vittorio Emanuele III abdicated on 22nd November 1934, giving power to his son Umberto. Italy was shattered, tired of violence, facing a naval building race, increased international tensions, facing a resurgent Yugoslavia and was distrusted throughout the world. There was no government. In charge was a 21 year old boy. Then he did something that no one expected.

*Grrrrrrrrr*

Grrrrrrr!

Interesting times seem to be on the way for Italy.

Hmmmm. Germany watches all of this with interest, and no little amount of concern. Neither Mussolini's Fascists or the King had been great favorites in Germany, but now they were being replaced by a youngster who no one knew. Which way would he jump, what would he do, in a world situation that was becoming more tense and where more and more eyes watched everyone with concern.

I got really really bored at work this morning so I decided to open di Rosso's epic 9-volume history again.

The next chapter will appear soonish.

Great, he's bored and throws us THIS as a curve ball.....

Nice job

Let me know if you need me to reserve the Palace next to Kaiser Wilhelm.

Well this was coming sooner or later, my drowsiness just galvanised me into action.

King Umberto II will speak to various European representatives of his intentions at the monthly PETA conference.

...express regret at the unfortunate outbreak of violence in Italy, and await with interest the views and policy of the new King.


OOC: A well-done bit of newswriting

Quoted

Let me know if you need me to reserve the Palace next to Kaiser Wilhelm.

Quoted

Originally posted by Red Admiral
King Umberto II will speak to various European representatives of his intentions at the monthly PETA conference.

So what's the date of the next meeting?

Quoted

Originally posted by Red Admiral
King Umberto II will speak to various European representatives of his intentions at the monthly PETA conference.

On his accession the usual nice words would come forth from the Dutch govt, expressions of help for the King and his people in these trying times, etc etc.

Privately, the Dutch Ambassador to Rome would repeat the above and be clear that the Dutch will be of what ever aid they can.

So which PETA meeting would that be?

a) People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
b) People Eating Tasty Animals
c) Philippine Educational Theater Association
d) Pembela Tanah Air (Defenders of the Motherland)
e) Pan-European Trade Agreement

I like b) the most!

Quoted

So what's the date of the next meeting?

10th December?

Works for me. Foreign Minister Stressemann's going to be busy, but that's OK. Not to mention that it fits nicely with the pause in the Nordmark-Germany talks: the Foreign Minister has had to leave for the PETA meetings, so the high-level sessions are on hold while he's gone.

[Hmmmm, the question is, what's he going to propose? AANM and SATSUMA merge? A new CT replacement treaty? The RRE? Or something else? The world wonders......]

Dec 10th works for the Netherlands as well, as my delegates to SF should be back by then and can be dispatched to the meeting. If this is to be Umberto's first international outing, the Dutch would want to send the foriegn minister and likely the Crown Prince.

King Umberto II was rapidly elevated to power on 22nd November and found himself in charge of a country with widespread dissatisfaction. Many commentators were critical of the twenty-one year old and his early decisions but he was later vindicated by history. On 1st December he stood in the Senate and gave notice of a national referendum on the monarchy to be held on 3rd January. Contemporary accounts state that the populace had come to distrust the previous monarch and Umberto's own confidence was shattered. In fact Umberto knew precisely what he was doing and laid the foundations for the modern Italian Republic. It was his confidence in the method of government that was broken, not in himself. He saw that the violence and turmoil of the previous decade could be vanquished and replaced by a more trusted method of government.

The month of December saw Umberto travelling throughout the country speaking to his people and putting forward his reasons for change. As an orator rivalled only by Odysseus, and full of youthful energy, he assuaged the fears of the elites and became, in contrast to the previous King, almost revered by the population. On the 3rd January, the country voted in favour of abolishing the monarchy and replacing it with parliamentary democracy although the voting was split, with the more southern regions being more monarchist. The next 6 months were spent in writing the constitution, a document ensconcing Umberto's ideals . The Italian Republic that emerged even looked different, a separate referendum resulted in the inhabitants of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania becoming Italian citizens in three new regions. This would lead to a muslim senator in a catholic country, a bizarre series of events but which were representative of the new liberal regime.