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Lista del molibdeno

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The Lista del molibdeno (lit. 'Molybdenum's list') was a list of requests of raw materials and military materials which Benito Mussolini sent to Adolf Hitler's Germany as condition for Italy's entry into World War II.

The list is named after Bernardo Attolico's—Italy's-then embassor in Berlin—comment, as its amount of molybdenum requested was larger than the entire world's production, making it clear the list as a pretext to avoid joining World War II.[1][2] The list was redacted during a meeting held at Palazzo Venezia, Rome, on 26 August 1939 among Mussolini and Italy's military staff. It was sent to Attolico on the same date, who sent it Joachim von Ribbentrop, Germany's-then Minister for Foreign Affairs.

History

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The diplomatic situation in Europe worsened in August 1939, making the outbreak of a new war more likely in the short term. The European nations had already signed non-aggression pacts and mutual-assistance pacts between them; one of the most recent was the Pact of Steel (22 May 1939) between Italy and Germany.[3] On 12 August of the same year, Italy's Minister for Foreign Affairs Galeazzo Ciano went to the Berghof, Hitler's residence in Bavaria, for a meeting with the Führer. Hitler talked about the possibility of an armed conflict restricted to the sole Germany and Poland in case Warsaw refuses Berlin's proposals, adding that "Poland's provocations and the exacerbation of the situation had made urgent Germany's action urgent".[4]

The Pact of Steel's clauses obliged Italy to go to war together with Germany if the latter had attacked Poland, but Mussolini was aware that Italy's conditions, following the 1935–1937 war in Ethiopa and Italy's aid to Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War, did not allow any further vast-scale military operation, so he communicated this to Hitler. On 25 August, the German cancellor asked to the Duce about what military equipment and raw materials Italy required.[5] On the following morning, Mussolini called an urgence meeting at Palazzo Venezia among Mussolini and Italy's military staff to decide what would be requested to Berlin. The generals present at the meeting received from Galeazzo Ciano the recommendation, with Mussolini's tacit consent, of exaggerating Italy's requests and of not applying any "criminal optimism".[6]

On the afternoon of 26 August, Mussolini replied to Hitler with a very long and purposely abnormous list impossible to satisfy. The list, named "Lista del molibdeno" (lit. 'Molybdenum's list') for the 600 tons of molybdenum required, was redacted without any parvence of seriousness and contained a total of 17 millions of tons of material and specified that Italy could not substain the bellic effort without such resources.[7][8] Mussolini himself added 600 pieces of anti-aircraft artillery to discourage the Germans from accepting Italy's requests.[5]

Italy's embassor in Berlin, Bernardo Attolico, received the list from Rome and sent it to Joachim von Ribbentrop so he could send it to Hitler. Ribbentrop, upon reading it, asked Attolico about when Italy expected to receive such a large amount of material. The question troubled Attolico, who, without any instruction from Rome, replied "immediately."

Hitler, despite suspecting Mussolini was deceiving him, appeared sympathetic and said that he recognised Italy's precarious situation and that he could send only a small portion of the requested forniture, but it was impossible to him to satisfy entirely Rome's requests.[9] The Reichskanzler asked Italy to keep France and the United Kingdom thinking they were going to join through propaganda and troop movement and to send manpower to Germany.[10]

References

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  1. ^ Bocca (1996, p. 45)
  2. ^ Di Nolfio (2008, p. 264)
  3. ^ Bauer (2015, pp. 250–253)
  4. ^ Ciano (1948, p. 457)
  5. ^ a b Bocca (1996, p. 38)
  6. ^ Schäfer (1967, pp. 125–139)
  7. ^ Bocca (1996, pp. 64–65)
  8. ^ Mack Smith (1993, p. 243)
  9. ^ Paoletti (2014, p. 61)
  10. ^ Watt (1989, pp. 637–638)

Bibliography

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  • Bocca, Giorgio (1996). Storia d'Italia nella guerra fascista 1940−1943 [History of Italy in the fascist war] (in Italian). Milan: Mondadori. ISBN 88-04-41214-3.
  • Bauer, Eddy (2015). Controstoria della seconda guerra mondiale, Vol. 1. Milan: Res Gestae. ISBN 978-88-6697-109-2.
  • Baumont, Maurice (1973). Le origini della Seconda guerra mondiale. Milano: Mursia.
  • Ciano, Galeazzo (1948). L'Europa verso la catastrofe. La politica estera dell'Italia fascista 1936-1942. Verona: Mondadori.
  • Di Nolfio, Ennio (2008). Storia delle relazioni internazionali: Dal 1918 ai giorni nostri. Bari: Editori Laterza. ISBN 97-88-85811730-9.
  • Kershaw, Ian (2012). Scelte fatali. Trebaseleghe: Bompiani. ISBN 9788845269882.
  • Paoletti, Ciro (2014). Dalla non belligeranza alla guerra parallela. Rome: Commissione Italiana di Storia Militare.
  • Schäfer, Emil Philipp (1967). Prima dell'apocalisse. Turin: Ugo Mursia Editore.
  • Mack Smith, Denis (1993). Le guerre del Duce. Cles: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. ISBN 88-04-43229-2.
  • Watt, Donald Cameron (1989). 1939. Leonardo Edizioni. ISBN 88-35-50019-2.
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