Viva Balbo! – An Alternate Duce, an Alternate Italy
Prologue: a Controversial Legend Reborn
“My eyes wander over this land for which I had pined with such longing, and pick out the familiar spots, houses, streets, clumps of trees, the long curves of the Sacred Isle…suffused with the golden glow of the setting-sun. It is the hour of nostalgia which is the theme of so many poets, the hour when a feeling of loneliness broods over the sailor, the hour that recalls gold-tinted landscapes that were the background of our dreams. After all our wanderings over strange lands and seas, we are gazing on holy Italy, the most beautiful country in the whole world… Slipping on my tunic and cap, I step from the pilot’s cabin on to the left wing. I see the Duce in his black shirt, his face aglow. I give the Roman salute. Then I leap ashore.” – Italo Balbo, My Air Armada, 1934
Today as of the posting of this text, June 28th, 2009, marks the 69th anniversary of a fateful day in OTL history. On this day in 1940, at the dawn of Italy’s involvement in the Second World War, a Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 three-engine bomber, identification I-MANU, was shot down by friendly fire while attempting a landing at the Tobruk airbase in Italian Libya. There were no survivors. The bomber had taken off on what was to be a routine combat reconnaissance mission, scouting for British raiders out of Egypt. However, the overloaded crew of VIPs and friends of the pilot brings up real questions as to how much of the mission was recreational in nature…or pointless adventurism. The pilot was Governor of Italian Libya and Air Marshal Italo Balbo.
Marshal Balbo was a legend in his own time, a contradiction and an enigma. A Mazzinian Republican and former Mason, he proved critical in the rise of Fascist dictatorship in Italy. A modern-day adventurer, his exploits as a pilot brought him world fame – and the suspicion of his leader and comrade Benito Mussolini. Balbo flew boldly to his death in the opening phase of a war he opposed. He proved eerily prescient when, upon Italy’s entry into the war on Nazi Germany’s behalf, he warned that there “won’t be enough lamp posts to hang us all!”
He was an incredibly skilled organizer. He built up the Blackshirts from armed mobs into a powerful paramilitary organization. The March on Rome may have been impossible without him. He built up the Regia Aeronautica to one of the world's largest air forces despite the industrial limitations of his nation, only to hand it off to far less competent people after his promotion/exile to the colonial governorship of Libya by a jealous and frightened Mussolini. Balbo quickly turned Libya from a desolate backwater into a model colony and, given another ten years, might have successfully forged it into the planned "fourth shore" of Italy.
A passionate Germanophobe and open friend to the Jews of Italy, he angrily and publicly opposed the alliance with Hitler, whom he considered a threat to world order, and likewise opposed the Anti-Semitic Laws of the late 30’s, which conflicted with his very nature. He foretold that the "Axis" would prove the doom of Fascist Italy. He advocated partnership with the UK and US. He was a vocal critic of many of Mussolini’s policies, though he never wavered in his duty to the "Chief" even after their falling-out. While Mussolini ran on self-doubt, fear, and paranoia, Balbo ran on a burning self-confidence, vanity, and an almost juvenile love for adventure and daring.
However, he was not without weaknesses of his own. His vanity made him crave the public limelight that insecure Mussolini abhorred. His boldness got the better of him and led directly to his OTL friendly fire death over Tobruk (to this day conspiracy theories abound as to Mussolini's involvement, though no supporting evidence has appeared and a great deal of opposing evidence has been found). His love for show helped feed the great bluff that was the Italian military and many of his strategic plans were more adventurous than strategically sound.
In all, a Balbo Italy offers some truly interesting counterfactual what-ifs. This ATL will have the assassination of Mussolini and Ciano via anarchist bomb set up Balbo's rise to power and chronicle the Balbo reign as Il Duce. I've seen a lot of speculation, even a couple of TLs, on a "smarter Fascist Italy" that doesn't tie itself to Hitler or commit the more egregious OTL blunders. Interestingly, Balbo offers one such scenario. Many of the OTL mistakes will be avoided in this TL, but new, different ones will be made.
Currently my primary sources include Italo Balbo: A Fascist Life by Claudio G. Segre (a detailed and balanced account; the definitive English text on Balbo from what I can find - there's a good preview on Google Books for those interested), Fascist Eagle: Italy's Air Marshal Italo Balbo by Blaine Taylor (a good primer with some great pictures, though a little too laudatory), Mussolini and his Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922-1940 (Cambridge Military Histories) by John Gooch (good and neutral scholarly overview of the Italian War Machine and strategic/diplomatic concerns), Mussolini's Intellectuals: Fascist Social and Political Thought by A. James Gregor (for the politics and philosophy of Italian Fascism), and Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915-1945 by R. J. B. Bosworth (a good, if rather hostile and damning account of life under the regime). I have also managed to obtain via inter-library loan a rare vintage copy of Balbo’s own My Air Armada, translated by Gerald Griffin, which covers his transatlantic armada flight from Rome to Chicago and back in 1933. It’s a wonderfully poetic and adventurous insight into the thoughts and self-image of the man himself. I also appreciate any additional recommendations anyone can give.
Balbo was a larger-than-life character. Nothing I write here could be more unbelievable than his OTL experiences. His fame and charisma were such that, after his death, he was praised openly by friend and foe alike. The British honored him post-mortem even while formally at war with his nation. America, who greeted him as a hero after the Chicago flight, celebrated him in life and death. To this day a street in Chicago bears his name – to continued controversy.
I should make note, however, that this ATL is not intended to be an “Italo-wank”, nor is it intended to be apologist or revisionist. While the sins Fascist Italy may have paled in comparison to those of their Nazi allies or Stalinist enemies, it remains a regime of totalitarianism, secret police, anti-democratic philosophy, unabashed imperialism, and ethnic superiority.
Dr. Segre, in his definitive English language biography of Balbo, sums my feelings up nicely: “As his contemporaries found, and as my sources, written and oral, testified, he was a likable man blessed with intelligence, charm, courage, enthusiasm, and humanity. He was also a pillar of a corrupt and cynical regime, a friend and collaborator of a demagogue who led his nation to catastrophe…the reader may at times succumb to Balbo’s charm and fascination as I did. Nevertheless, I have not forgotten the real nature of the regime that Balbo promoted and served so well – and I hope the reader does not either.”
Prologue: a Controversial Legend Reborn
“My eyes wander over this land for which I had pined with such longing, and pick out the familiar spots, houses, streets, clumps of trees, the long curves of the Sacred Isle…suffused with the golden glow of the setting-sun. It is the hour of nostalgia which is the theme of so many poets, the hour when a feeling of loneliness broods over the sailor, the hour that recalls gold-tinted landscapes that were the background of our dreams. After all our wanderings over strange lands and seas, we are gazing on holy Italy, the most beautiful country in the whole world… Slipping on my tunic and cap, I step from the pilot’s cabin on to the left wing. I see the Duce in his black shirt, his face aglow. I give the Roman salute. Then I leap ashore.” – Italo Balbo, My Air Armada, 1934
Today as of the posting of this text, June 28th, 2009, marks the 69th anniversary of a fateful day in OTL history. On this day in 1940, at the dawn of Italy’s involvement in the Second World War, a Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 three-engine bomber, identification I-MANU, was shot down by friendly fire while attempting a landing at the Tobruk airbase in Italian Libya. There were no survivors. The bomber had taken off on what was to be a routine combat reconnaissance mission, scouting for British raiders out of Egypt. However, the overloaded crew of VIPs and friends of the pilot brings up real questions as to how much of the mission was recreational in nature…or pointless adventurism. The pilot was Governor of Italian Libya and Air Marshal Italo Balbo.
Marshal Balbo was a legend in his own time, a contradiction and an enigma. A Mazzinian Republican and former Mason, he proved critical in the rise of Fascist dictatorship in Italy. A modern-day adventurer, his exploits as a pilot brought him world fame – and the suspicion of his leader and comrade Benito Mussolini. Balbo flew boldly to his death in the opening phase of a war he opposed. He proved eerily prescient when, upon Italy’s entry into the war on Nazi Germany’s behalf, he warned that there “won’t be enough lamp posts to hang us all!”
He was an incredibly skilled organizer. He built up the Blackshirts from armed mobs into a powerful paramilitary organization. The March on Rome may have been impossible without him. He built up the Regia Aeronautica to one of the world's largest air forces despite the industrial limitations of his nation, only to hand it off to far less competent people after his promotion/exile to the colonial governorship of Libya by a jealous and frightened Mussolini. Balbo quickly turned Libya from a desolate backwater into a model colony and, given another ten years, might have successfully forged it into the planned "fourth shore" of Italy.
A passionate Germanophobe and open friend to the Jews of Italy, he angrily and publicly opposed the alliance with Hitler, whom he considered a threat to world order, and likewise opposed the Anti-Semitic Laws of the late 30’s, which conflicted with his very nature. He foretold that the "Axis" would prove the doom of Fascist Italy. He advocated partnership with the UK and US. He was a vocal critic of many of Mussolini’s policies, though he never wavered in his duty to the "Chief" even after their falling-out. While Mussolini ran on self-doubt, fear, and paranoia, Balbo ran on a burning self-confidence, vanity, and an almost juvenile love for adventure and daring.
However, he was not without weaknesses of his own. His vanity made him crave the public limelight that insecure Mussolini abhorred. His boldness got the better of him and led directly to his OTL friendly fire death over Tobruk (to this day conspiracy theories abound as to Mussolini's involvement, though no supporting evidence has appeared and a great deal of opposing evidence has been found). His love for show helped feed the great bluff that was the Italian military and many of his strategic plans were more adventurous than strategically sound.
In all, a Balbo Italy offers some truly interesting counterfactual what-ifs. This ATL will have the assassination of Mussolini and Ciano via anarchist bomb set up Balbo's rise to power and chronicle the Balbo reign as Il Duce. I've seen a lot of speculation, even a couple of TLs, on a "smarter Fascist Italy" that doesn't tie itself to Hitler or commit the more egregious OTL blunders. Interestingly, Balbo offers one such scenario. Many of the OTL mistakes will be avoided in this TL, but new, different ones will be made.
Currently my primary sources include Italo Balbo: A Fascist Life by Claudio G. Segre (a detailed and balanced account; the definitive English text on Balbo from what I can find - there's a good preview on Google Books for those interested), Fascist Eagle: Italy's Air Marshal Italo Balbo by Blaine Taylor (a good primer with some great pictures, though a little too laudatory), Mussolini and his Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922-1940 (Cambridge Military Histories) by John Gooch (good and neutral scholarly overview of the Italian War Machine and strategic/diplomatic concerns), Mussolini's Intellectuals: Fascist Social and Political Thought by A. James Gregor (for the politics and philosophy of Italian Fascism), and Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915-1945 by R. J. B. Bosworth (a good, if rather hostile and damning account of life under the regime). I have also managed to obtain via inter-library loan a rare vintage copy of Balbo’s own My Air Armada, translated by Gerald Griffin, which covers his transatlantic armada flight from Rome to Chicago and back in 1933. It’s a wonderfully poetic and adventurous insight into the thoughts and self-image of the man himself. I also appreciate any additional recommendations anyone can give.
Balbo was a larger-than-life character. Nothing I write here could be more unbelievable than his OTL experiences. His fame and charisma were such that, after his death, he was praised openly by friend and foe alike. The British honored him post-mortem even while formally at war with his nation. America, who greeted him as a hero after the Chicago flight, celebrated him in life and death. To this day a street in Chicago bears his name – to continued controversy.
I should make note, however, that this ATL is not intended to be an “Italo-wank”, nor is it intended to be apologist or revisionist. While the sins Fascist Italy may have paled in comparison to those of their Nazi allies or Stalinist enemies, it remains a regime of totalitarianism, secret police, anti-democratic philosophy, unabashed imperialism, and ethnic superiority.
Dr. Segre, in his definitive English language biography of Balbo, sums my feelings up nicely: “As his contemporaries found, and as my sources, written and oral, testified, he was a likable man blessed with intelligence, charm, courage, enthusiasm, and humanity. He was also a pillar of a corrupt and cynical regime, a friend and collaborator of a demagogue who led his nation to catastrophe…the reader may at times succumb to Balbo’s charm and fascination as I did. Nevertheless, I have not forgotten the real nature of the regime that Balbo promoted and served so well – and I hope the reader does not either.”
