Italian History – Page 9 – General History

The Battle of Arnhem 1944

General Browning, husband of novelist Daphne de Maurier / homeusers.brutele.b

Arnhem is the sixth largest city in the Netherlands. It was the scene of fierce and remorseless fighting between 17 and 26 September, 1944, following the successful invasion of Normandy in June, by allied troops, ships and airforces.

The idea for a parachute/glider-mounted attack in the Dutch Netherlands is said to have been General Montgomery’s, though it was backed by General Eisenhower, supreme commander of the allied forces, and Winston Churchill, Britain’s prime minister. The idea was a very good one, strategically speaking, but it failed to take heed of local advice about cleverly hidden German tank regiments between Nijmegen and Arnhem. In fact the allies decided to take no notice whatever of clear and accurate intelligence. Clearly, in the minds of the planners lay the idea that if Arnhem should prove successful, it would raise the morale of the inading allies tremendously – as indeed it would have – had the Arnhem plan worked.

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By Dean Swift| 2014-04-01T14:24:38+00:00 January 3rd, 2011|African History, Asian History, Czech History, English History, French History, German History, Greek History, Italian History, Jewish History, Russian history, South American History, Spanish History, US History, World History|0 Comments

Anticlericalism

Anti-clericalism is not the same as anti-Christian movements. Most Roman emperors tried to stamp out Christianity from the death of Christ under Tiberius until Constantine the Great decided to adopt Christianity as an official religion within the Empire, thus ceasing the practice of pitting Christians against lions and other wild animals, such as hyenas, in the ring.

The name anti-clericalism applies in modern times to any policy bent on destroying the moral and political power of the Christian Church, and subordinating its non-spiritual functions within the State. Though there have been many instances of anti-clericalism at the expense of the Orthodox Church (Russia and Turkey), and even now in Moslem countries (see recent massacres of Christians in Iraq and Afghanistan), the term is usually restricted to aggressive hostility towards the Roman Catholic Church, its Pope, bishops, priests, monks and nuns. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2011-01-03T12:07:38+00:00 January 3rd, 2011|African History, Asian History, Czech History, English History, French History, German History, Greek History, Italian History, Jewish History, Russian history, South American History, Spanish History, US History, World History|0 Comments

Mazzini and Garibaldi

Giuseppe Mazzini (1805 – 72) has been called ‘the apostle of Italian republicanism’. He was a doctor’s son, born in Genoa, and was politically minded enough to enlist in the Carbonari (a violent Italian secret society) in the early 1820s, barely eighteen years old. He soon became bored with the group’s sporadic, occasionally revolutionary conspiracies, and decided to found his own revolutionary movement in March, 1831.

With ‘Young Italy’ he attempted not only to unite Italy through a national uprising, but to encourage and elevate Italian patriotism by heated moral fervour. His detailed plans for a national insurrection in June 1832 failed when the Piedmontese authorities arrested most of his collaborators.

‘Young Italy’ resorted to the occasional, sporadic and ill-organised uprisings which had so frustrated Mazzini in the first place. From his HQ in Marseilles, and later in London, Mazzini developed the concept of a republican brotherhood of nations. He now established ‘Young Europe’ – a movement based upon non-sectarian principles – oddly enough.

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By Dean Swift| 2014-04-01T13:40:22+00:00 December 30th, 2010|Italian History|0 Comments