Fascist ideas, practices and networks of ‘Empire’

Rethinking Interwar Italy as post-Habsburg history (1918–1938)

Bibliographic Data

ID11340329
AuthorsMarco Bresciani (0000-0002-1330-9328, University of Florence, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume50
Issue4
Pages584-596
Publication date2024-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy & Social Criticism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0191-4537 • E-ISSN: 1461-734X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/01914537231215704
OpenAlexW4388658183
LanguageEN
References cited23

This chapter relates post-1918 Italy to the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the ascent of the successor states, and analyses, from the Trieste’s vantage point, fascist projects, practices and networks of ‘empire’ in the Adriatic Sea, in Mitteleuropa and in the Balkans between 1918 and 1938. It focuses on three connected aspects. Firstly, the northern Adriatic was the first setting of the ascent of squadrismo, a model of violent action against ‘enemies within’ then replicated elsewhere. Secondly, Italian nationalism and imperialism aimed to reconfigure the post-Habsburg economic space and to reconnect the Adriatic with Central and Balkan Europe. Thirdly, Italian nationalist (then Fascist) élites from Trieste played a critical role, by boosting processes of empire-building and defending Austria vis-à-vis the prospects of Anschluss. In sum, the Habsburg legacies kept on shaping the dynamics of Italianization and fascistization in northern Adriatic and on feeding the search for Italy’s informal empire in Central and Southeastern Europe

Ancient history · Economic history · Empire · Geography · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Successor cardinal · Central European national history · European history and politics · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · Law

Tools

Open DOI