Talk:Assassination attempts on Benito Mussolini

Churchill

Collected some sources on the claim that Winston Churchill ordered Mussolini's assassination over some letters. Strikes me more as conspiratorial sensationalism, so planning to leave it out until the claims are affirmed by, you know, evidence. Until then:

Finally, there is the relatively minor matter of the possibility of the existence of a secret correspondence between Churchill and Mussolini. De Felice told me that he had heard the story from former President Francesco Cossiga, and that Cossiga had said he had personally returned the files to the British. When I asked him about it, Cossiga said very strongly that he had never said any such thing, and had no knowledge of any such documents. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding. In any event, we are not likely to find out about it from Knox's government, because the British don't declassify such things in a reasonable period of time. When I made inquiries in London, I was told that even if the documents existed, the British Government might not even admit it, let alone make them available to me. In the event, I got no substantive reply at all.
— Ledeen, Michael A. (May 1, 2001). "Renzo De Felice and the question of Italian fascism". Society. 38 (4): 75–77. doi:10.1007/s12115-001-1027-4. ISSN 1936-4725.

Most students of history know that Italian communist partisans killed Il Duce and his mistress, Clara Petacci. There is, however, another version that has always lingered on the fringes like the illegitimate offspring of proper history. In this theory, agents from the British Special Operations Executive, working with the partisans, killed Mussolini - on the orders of Winston Churchill.

This conspiracy theory has now been resurrected, thanks to two new books. One is called Les Derniers Jours de Mussolini (The last days of Mussolini) by Pierre Milza, a French historian and specialist in Fascist Italy. The other is titled Ben - a historical novel written by Hong Kong-based Italian novelist and journalist Angelo Paratico - which was published this summer in Milan. Both titles have the Italian and British press up in arms.

The Italian press is, by and large, sceptical about the books' thesis. However, Paratico says many Italians believe the story, including the late Renzo De Felice, the dean of studies of Italian Fascism and Mussolini.

...

What Paratico, Garibaldi, Milza and other more serious conspiracy-minded writers have in common is their apparent belief in circumstantial evidence.
— Lo, Alex (September 12, 2010). "Did Churchill order Mussolini's death, HK novelist asks". South China Morning Post. Retrieved October 13, 2018.

• "Did Churchill kill Il Duce?". Times Higher Education. October 13, 1995. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• Gumbel, Andrew (September 19, 1995). "Scholars in a spin over Churchill link to the death of Mussolini". The Independent. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
• Samuel, Henry (September 2, 2010). "Winston Churchill 'ordered assassination of Mussolini to protect compromising letters'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235.

czar 20:54, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Was Anteo Zamboni likely innocent?

1. YES ... according to this article (on the English language Wikipedia).

2. No ... according to the Anteo Zamboni article (on the Italian language Wikipedia).

Of course, it is not the duty of an encyclopaedia to determine guilt or innocence. But a brief statement derived from a consensus of reliable sources does seem to me to be appropriate. helpful and informative. But The two cited Wikipedia articles have diametrically opposing conclusions.

1. The only sentence on the matter in this [English] article states:

Terrorism specialist J. Bowyer Bell wrote that the boy was likely innocent.

2. The Italian article puts it slightly differently:

Anteo Zamboni was an Italian anarchist (and) the author of a failed attempt (to kill) Benito Mussolini. He died at the age of 15 when he was lynched immediately after the attempt to kill Mussolini.

I would expect the Italian article to be better informed, and I am inclined to at least quote the Italian article. But I have no obhective way of determining that.

Any thoughts? ChrisJBenson (talk) 17:20, 8 August 2022 (UTC)

Each language Wikipedia has its own rules and own stardards for quality. It's been commonly noted, for example, that some language Wikipedias carry the biases of its dominant culture. Not sure if that's the case here but to my eye both articles are underdeveloped. I'd encourage you to check out the sources and boldly edit with your findings. What matters most, though, is not quoting Wikipedia but directly checking the source for both its reliability and to confirm that the written claim matches the source. czar 12:48, 9 August 2022 (UTC)