As promised, here I am with a special #ItalianHistory thread. Seeing the mood of these #Elections2020 I think it's fitting to talk about... fascism, and how to fight it. In particular, I'm going to talk about

ITALIAN PARTISAN RESISTANCE

let's kick some fascist asses!
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Italian resistance finds its roots in the antifascist movement, which developed in Europe in the '20. As soon as fascism was born, there were people willing to fight it. When Mussolini rose to power, the antifascists began to organise in small, clandestine groups. 2/?

These groups, however, were weak and were mostly driven by ideological commitment. They produced a lot of essays about the evil of fascism, but these rarely reached the masses, and so were not able to sway public opinion. 3/?

Things changed dramatically with the beginning of WWII, and with the catastrophic performance of the Italian army on all fronts. 4/?

With the Cassibile armistice, Italy yielded to the Allies, which caused the disruption of the fascist regime. But not the end of fascism in Italy, as Mussolini - who was freed from his prison by nazis - founded a fascist state in Northern Italy. 5/?

So, in 1943, you had Italy split in two - the South in the hands of the Allies, the North+Center occupied by Nazis and what remained of Mussolini's forces (see pic). 6/?

This situation, however, allowed the antifascist movements to come out in the open and properly organize to kick them nazi asses! The CLN was founded (Committee for the National Liberation) in order to see fascism eradicated for good and liberate Italy 7/?

Meanwhile, in Northern and Central Italy, the areas occupied by nazifascist scum, rebel groups started to spontaneously organise. These were the proper partisans, the guerrilla fighters who - hiding in the impervious Italian mountains - relentlessly attacked the nazis 8/?

I want to delve on them - the partisans, the symbols of Italian resistance. They were men and women with different political leanings united by the hate toward fascism and the desire to finally see Italy freed from nazi occupation 9/?

They were organized in 'brigades' and 'divisions', and had different names according to their political ideology - the Brigate Garibaldi were mostly made of communists, the socialists had the Brigate Matteotti, the catholics the Fiamme Verdi and so on. 10/?

In september 1943, the partisan forces counted about 3.800 fighters. But despite the efforts of the nazifascist regime, they kept growing, reaching 20.000-25.000 fighters by April 1944 11/?

Who were the partisans? Mostly, common people. The leaders of the partisans were mostly connected to this or that newborn political party, but the fighters were civilians who were simply fed up with the fascist rule. 12/?

They didn't have a uniform, since their resources were scarce, but they sported iconic handkerchiefs with colours associated with their formations (the red handkerchief is a symbol of the partisans, but it wasn't the only one!). Here's a colorized pic! 13/?

Between 1944 and 1945, Italy was theater of a bloody war between the partisans and the nazifascists, ever more violent now that their end was close. The events that finally caused the fall of Mussolini and his death are worth their own thread, but to cut a long story short - 14/?

the partisans and the Allied forces were able to coordinate and strike blow after blow to the nazifascist regime, freeing the major Italian cities from its rule. Mussolini tried to flee, but he was captured by a partisan brigade and executed. 15/?

Thanks to the joined forces of the Allies and the partisans, Italy was finally free from the nazi occupation and the fascist regime! 16/?

The legacy of the Italian Resistance is not forgotten.
'If you want to visit the place where our Constitution was born, you'd have to climb the mountains where the partisans died. To visit the cells where they were held. The fields where they were hanged.' 17/?

The Allied forces were pivotal in the end of the Italian fascist regime, but the final blow would not have landed without the efforts of the brave partisans, men and women, young and old, communists and catholics and reactionaries to whom we owe our freedom. 18/?

This goes to show just how strong the impact of resistance can be in the fight against fascism. So, friends from across the ocean, keep fighting. Keep resisting. 19/?

And if you're curious about more light hearted Italian history threads, browse this moment! 20/20 https://twitter.com/i/events/1300196333505179648