Sword of islam

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Retouched propaganda photo showing Mussolini after handing over the sword

The sword of Islam ( Italian La Spada dell'Islam , Arabic سيف الإسلام) is a ceremonial sword so called by the fascist propaganda , which was given to the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937 . The sword was intended to underline the role of Mussolini, who had appointed himself “defender of Islam”.

background

Fascist Italy's foreign policy towards the Arab world was not uniform and was characterized by several phases. The post-war order after the end of the First World War had neither fulfilled Italy’s aspirations for great power nor the political independence of the Arab world. In the 1920s there were only hesitant approaches between the two sides. It was not until the 1930s that Italy pursued an increasingly pro-Arab policy in the Mediterranean region . At this time Italy saw itself as a bridge between the West and the Arab world and intensified its economic and cultural relations with the Arab world.

In 1934 Italy began to intensify its propaganda work against the Arab world. For example, with Radio Bari, the first European station was set up that addressed the population in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula directly in Arabic . During this phase the first contacts between the fascist regime and pan-Arab and nationalist movements were established.

With the Abyssinian War between 1935 and 1936, relations with the Arab-Islamic world were intensified, while Italy was able to assure itself of the neutrality of the Arabs, which in part turned into open sympathy, since the Negus was viewed as the oppressor of the Muslims.

After the successful campaign and the strengthening of Italy in Europe and the Mediterranean, the role of Italy against the colonial powers France and Great Britain was to be strengthened with the help of the Arab-Italian friendship. In 1937, the year in which Mussolini was presented with the sword of Islam, the efforts for the Arab-Islamic world with the help of fascist propaganda, which had hitherto remained largely unknown to the broader population, became more popular.

history

The sword of Islam was presented to Mussolini in March 1937 during his visit to the Italian colony of Italian Libya at the gates of Tripoli in the Bugara oasis. The handover by the Berber leader Jusuf Kerbisch was cleverly staged by the fascist propaganda. However, a soldier holding the reins of the horse had been retouched from the well-known photo, which shows Mussolini on a horse with his sword raised.

In 1938, based on the propaganda photo, an equestrian statue of Mussolini was erected in Tripoli in a similar pose by the artist Quirino Ruggeri.

The richly decorated ceremonial sword, passed off as an Arab sword by the propaganda, was actually made in Florence . It was lost after Mussolini's fall in July 1943. According to his wife, Rachele Mussolini , it was stolen from a showcase in the Rocca di Caminate private residence by anti-fascists.

literature

  • Elisa D'Annibale, Veronica De Sanctis, Beatrice Donati: Il filoarabismo nero: Note su neofascismo italiano e mondo arabo (1945-1973). Edizioni Nuova Cultura, Rome 2019, ISBN 978-88-336-5209-2 .
  • Renzo De Felice : Il fascismo e l'Oriente. Arabi, ebrei e indiani nella politica di Mussolini. Il Mulino, Bologna 1988.
  • Enrico Galoppini: Il Fascismo e l'Islam. Edizioni all'Insegna del Veltro, Parma 2001.
  • Giancarlo Mazzuca: Mussolini ei musulmani: quando l'Islam era amico dell'Italia. A. Mondadori, Milan 2017, ISBN 978-88-04-67540-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ La “Spada dell'Islam”. (PDF) In: mediastudies.it. Retrieved April 26, 2020 (Italian).
  2. ^ Elisa D'Annibale, Veronica De Sanctis, Beatrice Donati: Il filoarabismo nero: Note su neofascismo italiano e mondo arabo (1945-1973). P. 13
  3. ^ Elisa D'Annibale, Veronica De Sanctis, Beatrice Donati: Il filoarabismo nero: Note su neofascismo italiano e mondo arabo (1945-1973). Pp. 15-17
  4. ^ Elisa D'Annibale, Veronica De Sanctis, Beatrice Donati: Il filoarabismo nero: Note su neofascismo italiano e mondo arabo (1945-1973). P. 21
  5. ↑ Enrico Galoppini: I rapporti tra il fascismo e il mondo arabo - Islamico. In: arab.it. Retrieved April 26, 2020 (Italian).
  6. ↑ Alberto Alpozzi: Mussolini e la spada di Protettore dell'islam. Quando il fascismo era amico dei musulmani. In: italiacoloniale.com. Retrieved April 26, 2020 (Italian).