A military history of Italy / Ciro Paoletti.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [235]-246) and indexes.

Pt. I. The Sixteenth Century -- 1. Before the Deluge -- 2. The Italian Wars in the Early Sixteenth Century -- 3. Between France and the Muslims: 1565-1601 -- Pt. II. The Seventeenth Century -- 4. The Thirty Years' War in Italy -- 5. The Second Half of the Century -- 6. The League of Augsburg: 1690-1696 -- Pt. III. The Eighteenth Century -- 7. The Spanish Succession: 1700-1713 -- 8. The Second Morea War, the Quadruple Alliance, and the Corsican Troubles: 1715-1733 -- 9. The Polish Succession: 1733-1739 -- 10. The War of Austrian Succession: 1740-1748 -- 11. Italy from the Corsican Rebellion to the French Revolution through the First Cold War: 1748-1792 -- 12. The Revolutionary Hurricane: 1792-1799 -- Pt. IV. The Nineteenth Century -- 13. Napoleon Emperor and King -- 14. From the Restoration to the First War of Independence: 1816-1847 -- 15. The First War of Independence: 1848-1849 -- 16. From the Peace to the Second War of Independence: 1849-1859 -- 17. Garibaldi in Sicily -- 18. The New State -- 19. The Kingdom, Royal Policy, and the Colonies, from Rome to Peking: 1871-1900 -- Pt. V. The Twentieth Century -- 20. Before the Great War: 1900-1912 -- 21. The Great War: 1915-1918 -- 22. From the Great War to the Ethiopian War -- 23. "Overseas Spain" and "Overseas Tirana": 1936-1939 -- 24. The War with the Germans: 1940-1943 -- 25. The War Against the Germans: 1943-1945 -- 26. Italian Armed Forces from World War II to the End of the Cold War: 1946-1988 -- 27. Italy and NATO until the End of the Cold War -- 28. From the Cold War to the War on Terror: 1989-2005.

"This book follows Italy's military history from the late Renaissance through the present day, arguing that its leaders have consistently looked back to the power of Imperial Rome as they sought to bolster Italy's status and influence in the world. As early as the late 15th century, Italian city-states played important roles in European conflicts. After unification in 1861, the military became the nation's unifying force, the melting pot of the state. Italy's industrial and then colonial expansion brought it into the wars of the twentieth century. The rise of the fascist movement was the disastrous consequence of Italy's desire for colonial and military power, and it is a history the nation still confronts as it seeks to play a role in world politics."--BOOK JACKET.