Comparison between the National perspective and the “official” interpretation

The emerging national perspective of the sources coincides with the official one. This is because Italy is under a dictatorship, allied to Germany, a situation where dissident voices cannot be heard. Addictionally, the culture of war as a by-product of the Great War and as part of the choice of expansion are both foundations of the fascist ideology. In this view it is possible to see that Italy, in this historical moment, was not completely subjugated by the German ally, but it had ambitions to play an international role of its own. The oral sources show that September 1st was not felt by the people as a watershed. The date that was more meaningful to the people was June 10th 1940 when Italy declared war to France and England. More recent studies show how this last date compromised the support to the regime by the people, especially after it became clear to everyone that the conflict was to last more than a few weeks. At the time, however, most of the opposition to the regime was abroad, one that survived the Spanish defeat and one that was divided by the Ribentrop-Molotov Pact in August 1939. This pact had caused many divisions in the anti-fascist movements and generated conflicting and ambiguous positions with regards to Germany, Russia and Stalin, all of which proceeded to divide the rapidly defeated Poland among themselves.