Race, Nationality, and Citizenship

Abstract

As a relatively new nation-state, which considered itself to be territorially incomplete, Italy faced a challenge in defining Italian identity. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, italianità—Italianness—became understood in increasingly racialized terms. Eugenics thrived in Italy and race theory underpinned attitudes not only to colonialism and colonial subjects but also to the conduct of war, among the general public and particularly in military circles. The results can clearly be seen in the conduct of the Italian army in Libya, both in 1911–12 and during the First World War, and in Italy’s treatment of Slav and German civilians under military occupation. Racial definitions of italianità also shaped attitudes to the rights, duties, and delimitation of Italian citizenship, especially under the pressures of war.