Description:

BENITO MUSSOLINI
(1883 - 1945) Italian dictator whose fascist supporters marched on Rome, securing him power; allied with Hitler, after many military and political setbacks he was captured and executed at war's end by partisans. Fine content T.L.S. 'Mussolini' as Prime Minister on Ministry of Foreign Affairs letterhead, 6pp. legal folio, Rome, May 17, 1927. Mussolini issues a directive concerning the operation of Foreign Ministry offices as the nation mobilizes for war. In small part: '...I have the honor of responding, in my capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs, to the Circular of the Supreme Commission of Defense...The tasks that may fall to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contribute to the organization of the Nation for War are of two types: a) tasks common to the state of peace and the state of war; b) special warfare tasks; Common tasks - These generally concern the country's diplomatic action and are in this sense normal for the Foreign Ministry. All the organization and all the work of the Foreign Ministry, intended to prevent or foresee the crisis of war, and to present the country in the most advantageous political, diplomatic, juridical and moral situation possible...Given the character of modern warfare, this information can touch on any field that affects a nation's power and resilience...it is not a question of setting up and keeping any new body in a potential state. It is understood that, during the phases of war or which may lead to war, the entire current organization, however efficient, may be susceptible to intensification and specialization as I will demonstrate below. Special Warfare Tasks. They may concern: a) The mobilization service with all the operations of military service abroad and the start-up in Italy of men called to arms. This service belongs to the Consulates, which do not need special bodies to provide it...The German submarine campaign has shown that a country which has to entrust itself, as may be the case with Italy, to private warfare or undermining warfare must...[be] strong, vast and audacious, to keep their units far from their bases and supply them with covert means on neutral and even enemy coasts. This organization is among those to be studied in agreement with the Military Ministries. The Foreign Administration will deem it an honor to contribute by any means...The Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides for the creation of a special Propaganda Office in the Central Administration in the event of war...this coordination would be made more rapid and effective by establishing liaison officers between the Ministry itself and each of the other Administrations. These liaison officers, who should belong to the real Administrations concerned, would become the normal and exclusive means for the exchange, verbal or written, of all service communications and of all agreements for the action to be carried out in the common interest...the question of the (passive) protection of one's own things and people from air raids, for this last part, the work of the Foreign Ministry is reduced to very little, since it must only provide for the protection of its central headquarters, that is, of a single palace...if the Supreme Defense Commission deems it appropriate, it must demand from now on a real defense project for the Foreign Ministry building. As regards the question of personnel, I anticipate that the Foreign Affairs Administration does not intend to make any declaration of irreplaceability. All personnel subject to arms will respond to calls. This statement of principle will have to lead to a very large organization of replacements...[who would] usually be very young even in high grades, and given that these replacements will have to take place in locations around the world...I therefore ask you to postpone ...[until] I will be able to examine the situation...' Paperclip stains at top. light folds, else very good. At this point in his rule, Mussolini had already 'pacified' Libya by way of thousands of murders, had almost gone to war with Britain over an attack on Corfu, and in a secret speech to the Italian military leadership in January 1925 Mussolini described his intention of creating an Italian empire extending to India.

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November 29, 2023 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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