What did the CIA do in Italy?

What did the CIA do in Italy?

The CIA provided an average of $5 million annually in covert aid to Italy from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. This aid went towards financially supporting centrist Italian governments and using the awarding of contracts to weaken the Italian Communist Party’s hold on labor unions.

What plagued most of Italy in 1947?

The Cold War
In 1947 the Cold War began to influence Italian politics. De Gasperi visited the United States in January 1947 and returned with $150 million in aid.

What was happening in Italy in the 1950s?

In the 1950s, several important reforms were launched: e.g. agrarian reform (legge Scelba), fiscal reform (legge Vanoni), and the country enjoyed a period of extraordinary economic development (miracolo economico, economic miracle).

Who won the 1948 election in Italy?

Christian Democracy won a sweeping victory, taking 48.5 percent of the vote and 305 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 131 seats in the Senate. With an absolute majority in both chambers, DC leader and premier Alcide De Gasperi could have formed an exclusively DC government.

Does Italy have a CIA?

The Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (in Italian: External Intelligence and Security Agency), commonly known as AISE and formerly known as SISMI, is the foreign intelligence service of Italy.

What side was Italy on in the Cold War?

Italy can be described as having been on the front line during the cold war. Additionally, it can be described as having contributed to the war in two ways. To start with, it was the Southern end of Churchill’s ‘iron curtain’ referred to as Trieste.

Why did Italians leave Italy in the 1950’s?

In the early migration, most came from the southern regions of Italy, driven here by famine, unemployment, natural disasters, and, yes, discrimination from their own. They hoped for a better way of life.

What is the Italian FBI called?

Italian Organized Crime/Mafia In the United States, La Cosa Nostra originated with Cosa Nostra, and there are several Mafia groups operating in the United States under the La Cosa Nostra name.

Does Italy have special forces?

The Italian Special Forces include special forces units from several branches of the Italian Armed Forces: the Esercito Italiano (Army), the Marina Militare (Navy), the Aeronautica Militare (Air force) and the Arma dei Carabinieri (Gendarmerie).

Who is Italy’s biggest ally?

Located in Europe, Italy has been considered a major Western power since its unification in 1861. Its main allies are the NATO countries and the EU states, two entities of which Italy is a founding member.

What was the Constitution of Italy in 1948?

THIS IS A DIRECTORY PAGE. Britannica does not currently have an article on this topic. In Italy: Constitution of 1948 The Italian state grew out of the kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, where in 1848 King Charles Albert introduced a constitution that remained the basic law, of his kingdom and later of Italy, for nearly 100 years.

Why was Italy important in the Cold War?

That was partly because of Italians’ traditional bent for conservatism and, even more importantly, the Cold War, with the US closely watching Italy, in their determination to maintain a vital NATO presence amidst the Mediterranean and retain the Yalta-agreed status quo of western Europe.

What was the issue of the day in Italy?

Pressing domestic needs in Italy, such as agricultural and economic reform, the absence of which produced abysmal extremes of wealth and poverty, were not to be the issues of the day. The lines of battle would be drawn around the question of “democracy” vs. “communism” (the idea of “capitalism” remaining discreetly to one side).

When did the US use the atom bomb against Italy?

The menace to use the atom bomb against towns or regions” that voted pro-communist. The US government’s Voice of America radio began broadcasting anti-communist campaign pleased Italy on March 24, 1948.