Teaching code

4S001218

Teacher

Renato Camurri

Coordinator

Renato Camurri

Credits

6

Also offered in courses:

• Contemporary History I - LM [Sede VR] of the course Master's degree in Arts (interuniversity)
• History of late modern Europe (m) of the course Master’s degree in Tradition and Interpretation of Literary Texts

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

M-STO/04 - CONTEMPORARY HISTORY

Period

2 A, 2 B

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning outcomes

Analysis and understanding of complex historical processes over time (including the analysis of shorter historical times in a long-term perspective) and in space (by linking the national history with the European and international ones), capturing the complexity and articulation of historical events, while being able to identify the most significant causal nodes.

Program

Italian Fascism: Origins, Transformations and Legacy

The course aims to provide a complete overview of the history of Italian Fascism, starting from the question of its origins and arriving at the concluding stages of its twenty-year-long history. The history of Mussolini's regime is set against the background of the European history of the period 1900-1950, which is examined with attention to its political, diplomatic and cultural aspects.
The program of the course is structured around four blocks of lessons corresponding to as many crucial phases for understanding the origins, transformations and characteristics of the Fascist regime. The final part of the course is dedicated to a historiographical assessment of fascism and to the question of the continuity of Fascism in Italian and European history with a final reflection focused on the debate around modern populism.
Particular attention is given to the relationship between fascism and culture in all its manifestations (art, cinema, literature) and to the influence that Mussolini's regime exerted in various European and non-European contexts.
At the end of the course the student will be able to reach a high level of knowledge about: a) the periodizations of the historical events considered, b) the events that characterize the different historical phases examined, c) the different historical processes that authoritarian and totalitarian regimes have generated, d) the historiographic interpretations of these processes.

Program

1. The Great War and the crisis of the European civilizations.
2. The causes of the conflict and its characteristics.
3. Italy from neutrality to entry into the war.
4. Peace and the geopolitical consequences of war.

5. The post-war period and the crisis of liberal regimes in Europe.
6. Italian Fascism: origins and transformations.
7. The March on Rome and the construction of the fascist regime.
8. Nazism, fascism and authoritarian regimes in Europe.

9. Fascism and anti-fascism.
10. Intellectuals, culture, and fascism.
11. Structures, apparatus and elites of fascism.
12. Between Europe, the United States and Latin America: transnational fascism.

13. Fascism's foreign policy: from the Spanish Civil War to World War II.
14. The anti-Jewish laws of 1938.
15. Fascism's war and occupation regimes.
16. The fall of the regime, the birth of the Italian Social Republic, and the Italian Civil War.

17. After 1945: interpretations and legacy of fascism.
18. Fascisms and populisms in the societies of globalization.

Required Reading

1. One book chosen from the following:

M. Mazower, Le ombre dell’Europa. Democrazie e totalitarismi nel XX secolo, Garzanti, 2000 (e successive edizioni).
M. Isnenghi-G. Rochat, La Grande Guerra, Il Mulino, 2008 (e successive edizioni).
G. Melis, La macchina imperfetta. Immagine e realtà dello stato fascista, Il Mulino, 2021 (solo le parti indicate dal docente).
E. Gentile, Le origini dell’ideologia fascista, 1918-1925, Il Mulino, 2011 (e successive edizioni).


2. Two books chosen from the following:

E. Gentile, Il culto del littorio, Laterza, 1994 (e successive edizioni).
E. Traverso, A ferro e a fuoco. La guerra civile europea 1914-1945, Il Mulino, 2007 (e successive edizioni).
M. Sarfatti, Gli ebrei nell’Italia fascista. Vicende, identità, persecuzione, Einaudi, 2000 (e successive edizioni).
M. Carli, Arte e politica nelle esposizioni di regime (1928-1942), Carocci, 2021.
F. Finchelstein, Dai fascismi ai populismi. Storia, politica e demagogia nel mondo attuale, Donzelli, 2019.


Non-attending students must add to the above bibliography the volume:

J. Cahpoutot, Controllare e distruggere. Fascismo, nazismo e regimi autoritari in Europa (1918-1945), Einaudi, 2015.

Teaching Methods

Lectures, guided tour to museums and archives, projections of movies and documentaries, lessons with external guests, seminars.
The partecipants can prepare brief paper to present in class.

Examination Methods

Examination procedure

1. The assessment is based on an oral exam.
2. Students must demonstrate their capacity in using historical concepts and the appropriate language. They must also demonstrate their ability to make connection between different historical processes, both national and international.
3. Questions will be based on the most important topics discussed during the lessons and suggested in the literature.
4. Assessment method: a final mark from 18 to 30/30.