In the aftermath of the First World War, the political map of Europe was radically reshaped and reorganized. Nationalistic tensions sprang up in the immediate aftermath of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and history's most bombastic backlash to it was the Italian Regency of Carnaro. Gabriele D'Annunzio, renowned Italian poet and aviator, stormed the port of Fiume on the Dalmatian coast with thousands of hardened veterans in protest of the government of Rome agreeing to transfer the city, populated by Italians, to Yugoslavia. What followed was a period of bombastic theatrics, fiery oration, and irredentist zeal that captivated the world and served as an inspiration for the future fascist parties of Europe. In With D'Annunzio in Fiume, fellow poet and veteran Mario Carli recounts his experiences with his brothers-in-arms in the taking of Fiume and their stand against the diktats of the post-war order.
Also included in this book is an essay called We Arditi, in which Carli eulogizes the Arditi, "the daring ones," who were the special forces of the Italian army during the First World War. Like their more well-known German counterparts, the Stormtroopers, they were the shock troops of modern warfare, infiltrating No Man's Land to storm trenches and blow up bunkers. If With D'Annunzio in Fiume is a celebration of poetry and art, then We Arditi is its militant counterpart, a hypermasculine ode to the glory of combat. These two pieces together offer a well-rounded and complementary analysis of the duality of war.
Antelope Hill Publishing is proud to present these two pieces, now available in English for the first time ever. The oft-overlooked saga of the Fiume adventure serves as a foundation for what came later in Italy with Mussolini and the Fascists, and a reminder to the modern reader that pen and tongue are just as important as the rifle on the road to conquest.
