Postgraduate Courses

Italian Terrorism in the 20th Century (HT71125B)

Content

This course will look at indigenous Italian terrorism of both the extreme left and extreme right, focusing on the period between 1968 and the early 1980s, in the context of broader social and political developments in the history of Italy. Some reference will also be made to the Italian anarchist terrorism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries as an historical precedent and to the Italian Resistance of  1943-45, whose activities groups like the Red Brigades frequently evoked in their attempts to justify their own violent actions. Some attention will also be paid to the social and political movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this period a small minority of those involved in such movements gravitated towards leftwing terrorism, whilst rightwing terrorism was in  many ways a reaction against such movements, even if it had its own ideological roots in the Fascist Regime. Some brief comparison between the Red Brigades and the German leftwing terrorism of the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Gang) will be made, primarily to demonstrate that Italian terrorism had a wider social base than its German counterpart. The course will examine the work of historians, political scientists and sociologists, as well as autobiographical material from former terrorists, Italian films (subtitled) and television documentaries. No foreign language requirement.

Learning Outcomes

• To introduce students to the historiographical, sociological and political debates about Italian terrorism in the 20th century.
• To enable students to place Italian terrorism within the broader context of 20th century Italian politics, society and culture.
• To allow students to make some comparisons between Italian terrorism and terrorism elsewhere in 20th century Europe, particularly Western European terrorist groups that emerged in the aftermath of the events of 1968.
• To enable students to write creative and critical historical analysis and narrative.
• To accustom students to the use of a wide variety of source material including films and documentaries as well as autobiographical texts.

Introductory Reading

• Raimondo Catanzaro  (ed), The Red Brigades and Left wing Terrorism in Italy (London, 1991)
• Robert C Meade, Jr, Red Brigades: The Story of Italian Terrorism (London, 1990)
• Richard Drake, The Revolutionary Mystique and Terrorism in Contemporary Italy (Indiana, 1989)
• David Moss, The Politics of Left-wing Violence in Italy, 1969-85 (Basingstoke, 1989)