Promotional Information

Following Italy's military history from the late Renaissance to the present day, this book shows the role Italy has played in struggles for power in Europe and the role the military has played in forming the modern Italian nation-state.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction PART I: THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 1 Before the Deluge 2 The Italian Wars in the Early Sixteenth Century 3 Between France and the Muslims: 1565–1601 PART II: THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 4 The Thirty Years' War in Italy 5 The Second Half of the Century 6 The League of Augsburg: 1690–1696 PART III: THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 7 The Spanish Succession: 1700–1713 8 The Second Morea War, the Quadruple Alliance, and the Corsican Troubles: 1715–1733 9 The Polish Succession: 1733–1739 10 The War of Austrian Succession: 1740–1748 11 Italy from the Corsican Rebellion to the French Revolution through the First Cold War: 1748–1792 12 The Revolutionary Hurricane: 1792–1799 PART IV: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 13 Napoleon Emperor and King 14 From the Restoration to the First War of Independence: 1816–1847 15 The First War of Independence: 1848–1849 16 From the Peace to the Second War of Independence: 1849–1859 17 Garibaldi in Sicily 18 The New State 19 The Kingdom, Royal Policy, and the Colonies, from Rome to Peking: 1871–1900 PART V: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 20 Before the Great War: 1900–1912 21 The Great War: 1915–1918 22 From the Great War to the Ethiopian War 23 "Overseas Spain" and "Overseas Tirana": 1936–1939 24 The War with the Germans: 1940–1943 25 The War Against the Germans: 1943–1945 26 Italian Armed Forces from World War II to the End of the Cold War: 1946–1988 27 Italy and NATO until the End of the Cold War 28 From the Cold War to the War on Terror: 1989–2005 Notes Bibliography Military Unit Index Name Index Place Index A photo essay follows page

About the Author

Ciro Paoletti teaches at the State University La Sapienza of Rome. He is co-author of the Italian Official Histories. He has numerous publications and publications in both English and Italian.

Reviews

Paoletti contributes a much-needed modern military history of Italy. The author of a previous book focusing on army history, he incorporates over 8,300 sources and includes much on naval and air issues. Paoletti sets military development in the context of Italian social, economic, and political evolution to illuminate certain issues. The book opens with an overview of the medieval period and moves into the chaotic Renaissance era. Most of the first three sections concern the 16th-18th centuries, when Italy served as a perpetual battleground between France and the Hapsburgs and faced Islamic threats. The fourth section covers the 19th century, including the Napoleonic Wars and the unification process. Paoletti focuses much of his attention on the Piedmont's military and its role uniting the peninsula, the diplomacy that made it possible, and colonialism. The final section concerns the 20th century, with Italy's ill-fated participation in the world wars and its involvement in NATO and peacekeeping projects. In most cases, Paoletti tends to rate Italian military efforts higher than other authors have done, but he is critical when appropriate. Overall, this work is a valuable addition to European military historiography. Recommended. All levels/libraries.
*Choice*

[Paoletti's] thumbnail sketches of the Italian campaigns of the Second World War, and of the bloody years of civil war between 1943 and 1945 capture the complexityof Italy's misfortunes.
*The International History Review*