B013883 - MILITARY HISTORY

In italian language

The study of this very particular theme offers students an original historical reading of the events of the last centuries. The course therefore offers interpretative tools suitable for the perception of many current military and political events, expanding the framework of the actors and tools involved.

The course is dedicated to the History of Italian Secret Services from the Risorgimento to the twentieth century and beyond.

Knowledge of contemporary history at European level and of the English language

Possibly frontal lectures or other solutions dictated by the general provisions in relation to the Covid pandemic

Frontal exam or quiz on the digital platform e-val.unifi.it in the eventual persistence of problems related to the pandemic

Modern Italian intelligence has its roots in the courts of the Florentine and Venetian Renaissance. Agents, spies and hit men, sometimes even unsuspected names for their official role within the aristocratic and artistic society of the time (see Giacomo Casanova for Venice), moved in the shadows ready to steal important political and economic information to pass them on to their government or to the highest bidder. Only 150 years ago, with the birth of Italian unity, this dense network of secret services was gradually absorbed by the state. First as Office I and then as a SIM. A network initially formed by officers of the Royal Army, diplomats, ladies, frontier and fortune entrepreneurs. After having examined some aspects of the earlier history of the pre-unification secret services, with particular attention to Rome, Florence (during the Medici dynasty) and Venice (see Bedmar's conspiracy and its subsequent historical falsifications [1617-1618]), the course examines the contents of the circular of 1855 with which General Alfonso Lamarmora founded the first nucleus of the Italian secret service at the Sardinian Army. It then analyzes the history of the secret services up to 1945, the year in which the Sim ceased to exist as an autonomous entity. It also takes into consideration the subsequent events also linked to the speed and extent of the changes in the last century. Particular attention is also dedicated to the war on terrorism, to the reform law 124/2007 with which the SISR was established, to the global challenges of the new millennium and to some episodes of the Cyber ​​war and their consequences on world equilibrium.

Textbook: A. Vento, In silence rejoice and suffer. History of the Italian secret services from the Risorgimento to the Cold War, Milan, il Saggiatore, 2014. The title of this work is inspired by a phrase that appears on a 1937 calendar published by SIM


Other reference books that will be used and cited by the teacher:
L. Ranke, Critical history of the conspiracy against Venice in 1618, Capolago, Helvetic typography, 1834
G. Conti, A secret war. The Sim in the Second World War, Bologna, il Mulino 2009
A. Colonna Vilasi, History of Italian secret services from Italian unification to the challenges of the 21st century, Reggio Calabria, Città del Sole, 2013
P. Preto, The secret services of Venice. Espionage and counter-espionage at the time of the Serenissima, Milan, Il Saggiatore, 2016
C. Colavito-F. Chaplain, The Great Secret War on the Italian Front (1915-1818), Rome Historical Office of the Army General Staff, 2018
A. Giannuli-A. Curioni, Cyber ​​War. The coming war, Milan, Mimesis, 2019
T. Saintclaire, Information and Security Services. The evolution of Italian intelligence from the national unity to laws n. 124/2007 and 133/2012, Lecce, Youcanprint, 2020
C. Galas-G. Pasqualini, The Italian secret services from 1919 to 1949. From the first to the second world war (1922-1939). The S.I.M. and its constitution in 1925, in "The Enigmas of History", n. 42, 07/30/2021, pp. 52-81

All the material for the lessons will be published progressively in the E-learning space relating to Military History subject, The course will be supplemented by the participation of some experts and scholars of this topic