Italy: Course

HIST  3810

The Second World War in Italy                                                                         

6 ch

This team-taught course explores the bitter struggle waged on the Italian peninsula by the Allies and anti-fascist Italians against the Nazi-Fascist coalition from 1943-1945.

The course is taught on location throughout Italy and centers on visiting historic sites, monuments and battlefields. Lasting reminders of Italy’s brutal, but little-known, civil war are evident throughout its cities and countryside. In addition, Italy's unique geography made Second World War battles there especially difficult.

Thus, the wartime legacy and Italian terrain provide students with an ideal classroom and subject for studying the war in Italy. Although the course addresses the war in Italy as a whole, special attention is paid to the highly successful, yet little-known, Canadian contribution to the campaign in the battles for Ortona, the Liri Valley and the Gothic Line.

Core Themes:

  1. How do we explain the rise of Mussolini and Fascism in Italy and its subsequent collapse as Italy plunged into civil war amid the devastating clash of Allied and German armies?
  2. What was the Allied purpose for invading Italy? Given that the Italian peninsula was never completely conquered, was the campaign a success?
  3. How did the decision to mount a campaign in difficult Italian terrain and weather conditions impact Allied units sent to fight it? Why were Allied troops in Italy always low on the priority list for reinforcements, new equipment and supplies? How did they face these challenges on the battlefield?
More background information on the Italian campaign after Sicily

 

  • You can choose to either take courses for credit or audit (auditing may appeal to participants who do not wish a grade and simply want to take the program out of interest).
  • CEL will register you for the courses you have selected when registration opens for Summer Term (usually mid March).
  • Prior to departure, students will receive information materials that may include a course book and guide.