Vincere
- Subject: General Military & Naval History | Clear the Decks Up to 80% OFF
- Format:
Hardcover
- Pages:
224pages
- Illustrations:
Based on ten years of study in the Italian archives and on the ground, “Vincere” examines a little-known topic: the counterinsurgency operations carried out by the Italian Royal Army in Libya and Ethiopia from 1922 to 1941.
- Published:
January 15, 2020
- ISBN-10:
1682474283
- ISBN-13:
9781682474280
- Product Dimensions:
9 × 6 × 1 in
- Product Weight:
17 oz
Overview
Vincere! presents an overview of the counterinsurgency operations carried out by the Italian Royal Army from 1922 to 1941 in Libya and Ethiopia. Based on ten years of study conducted in the Italian archives and on the ground, this volume looks at a period when the Italian Royal Army faced significant new challenges in the conduct of war. Facing new challenges in an atypical theater of war, Italian Royal Army forces learned significant lessons that would shape the conduct of future combat. In the period covered in this work, Italian Royal Army forces had to adapt to new terrain, while modifying their techniques and methods in relation to the local populations and the overall characteristics of the territories in Africa. Moving away from a reliance on heavy, slow battalions formed for the most part by Italian troops, the Italians instead turned to mobile units, lightly armed and composed primarily by African troops who were able to respond quickly to the needs of this kind of war. Men coming from the loyal Eritrean colony, from Somalia, Libya, from the countries on the Red Sea and even from Ethiopia, progressively replaced Italian troops. In Libya, warfighting and counterinsurgency operations were conducted mainly by regular infantry (Libyan battalions, Méharists, Saharian) and cavalry units (Savaris and Spahis), while in Ethiopia, regular and irregular bands were used. Vincere! offers a look at some of the earliest irregular warfare and counterinsurgency operations the modern Italian forces ever conducted.
Italian forces faced local populations while conducting counterinsurgency (COIN) operations in what was, for them, a new theater of war. In Libya, the rebellion was quelled in the space of ten years, at an admittedly high price for the regional forces. In Ethiopia, where COIN operations were interrupted by World War II, the available data suggests that military actions, accompanied by a more responsible policy toward the population, would have eventually defeated the insurgency. The use of airpower in Ethiopia made a huge difference, and its lessons were learned long before the French experience in Algeria. The Italians waged counterinsurgency operations over twenty years in two geographically separate theaters, and in two very different operational environments and much of value for current practitioners and scholars can be learned from these different experiences.
About the Author
Editorial Reviews
“Packed with timeless lessons, no other account rivals this skillful dissection of Italian counterinsurgency in Africa. Dr. Fasanotti’s rigorously researched gem is now the standard, revealing as it does the human factors and strategies that dominate war.” —General Jim Mattis, USMC (Ret.), United States Secretary of Defense, 2017 to 2019
“This fine analysis is my favorite kind of military history—engaging, innovative, concise, and highly purposeful. Fede is highly respectful towards the subjects of her book, and kind as well as highly educational towards the reader. Bravo!” —Michael O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Director of Research - Foreign Policy, The Sydney Stein, Jr. Chair, The Brookings Institution
“The extensive and in-depth work done by Dr. Fasanotti on the Italian army’s colonial counterinsurgency operations in Africa in the twenties and thirties deserves our outmost appreciation. It is of great credit to Dr. Fasanotti to have brought these facts and lessons back to our attention. She deserves our full admiration and appreciation.” —Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, Former Chief of Defence of Italy, former Chairman of NATO Military Committee, former Minister of Defence of Italy
“For her book Vincere, Dr. Federica Saini Fasanotti picked out one of the most difficult moments in contemporary Italian military history and relentlessly and perfectly illuminated the Italian attacks on Libya and Ethiopia (Abyssinia). She has also compiled and evaluated the considerable costs for both sides. As a reader you can feel her many years of experience in the field of counterinsurgency warfare and the passion with which she devotes herself to this topic. It is a must for anyone concerned with counterinsurgency.” —German Gen. Wolf Langheld, commander, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Allied Joint Force Command (JFC)
“An impressive work of extensively detailed and documented scholarship, Vincere!: The Italian Royal Army's Counterinsurgency Operations in Africa 1922-1940 is a unique and exceptionally informative military history that is unreservedly recommended for community, college, and university library military history collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, military buffs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject.” —Midwest Book Review
“The book in an agile and extremely enjoyable way examines and dissects every aspect of the two counterinsurgency experiences with lessons still current and that were applied in other wars of decolonization (or not applied, with bad results for the countries involved), and which also provide today material of study for the military and historian.” —On the Old Barbed Wire
“This book provides a detailed examination of Italian counterinsurgency strategy.” —The Strategy Bridge
“Vincere! is a useful read for anyone interested in the history of counter-insurgency of Italian military institutions in the inter-war period.” —StrategyPage
“Written by an Italian and based on hitherto-unavailable sources, Vincere! describes how the Italians ‘did not hesitate to employ all the resources available’ against insurgents, including airpower and poison gas drops. Within are valuable lessons in how a counterinsurgency should, and should not, be carried out.” —HistoryNet
“Saini Fasanotti earned a PhD at the University of Milan and is a senior visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington, DC. This is her fifth book, here translated (with only a few anomalies) from the Italian by Sylwia Zawadzka. Based on Saini Fasanotti's ten years of study in Italian archives and on-the-ground research, Vincere! provides original insights that even now will be of interest to those responsible for these regions. It serves as an example of applied history that can be a practical tool to inform policy, tactics, procedures, and techniques in more-contemporary operations.” —U.S. Naval War College