Foreigners in the Italian armed forces during World War II:

a "fascist model" of recruitment?

Abstract

During World War II, the Italian armed forces incorporated a fair number of men without Italian citizenship, especially ethnic Italians and citizens of countries occupied by Italy, as well as Italians emigrants coming home from abroad. The present article aims to present the system by which these foreigners or emigrants ended up participating in the Italian war effort, their motivations and that of the Italian state. A special emphasis is dedicated to the specificities of the fascist system (especially the division of the foreigners between the regular Army and the fascist Militia), to rediscuss the contraposition between the Italian State and the fascist party, a classical theme to the historiography but still fundamental for the understanding of the nature of the Fascist regime.