The Collapse of Fascism and the Return to Political Democracy The fall of Fascism, which had come to power in Italy in 1922 with the `March on Rome', the resignation of the Facta Cabinet and Vittorio Emanuele III's invitation to Benito Mussolini to form a new government, was determined in July 1943 by the military defeat that became certain following the Anglo-American landings in Sicily. At a dramatic meeting on 25 July 1943, the Gran Consiglio del fascismo approved a motion of criticism and lack of confidence in Mussolini both for the conduct of the war and Fascist policies. This was moved by Dino Grandi and supported by important members of the regime. The King took this opportunity to act on a motion of the Gran Consiglio that was merely advisory, an initiative which he had failed to exercise on several previous occasions. Taking advantage of the Fascist conspiracy, the King therefore forced Mussolini to resign and appointed Marshal Badoglio as head of Government. The King resumed effective command of the armed forces, according to the powers of article 5 of the Statuto albertino and this explains both the choice of Badoglio - based exclusively on his loyalty to the crown - and the subsequent ambiguous events: the Government's declaration of `continuing war', the 8 September armistice, the flight of the King from the capital and the abandonment of the army and country in its most tragic moment. Between 1943 and 1945 Italy saw the Allied military presence in the South and the German occupation of the Centre and North, where with the Germans' release of Mussolini the Fascist movement recovered and the Repubblica sociale was created with German military support. The disintegration of an army left without orders or political direction did not permit an immediate and general reaction to the German occupation; many Italian soldiers were deported to Germany, while others fled into the mountains to join the first partisan groups. In these years while in the south Badoglio's Government, after its declaration of war against Germany on 13 October 1943, tried to reorganize the slender means at its disposal, the antiFascist political forces formed the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale (CLN) on 9 September 1943. The latter's immediate objectives were the liberation of Italy from the German forces, the armed struggle against the Fascist Repubblica sociale and the return to political democracy. The support of the Communist Party, with the ``svolta di Salerno'' led by Togliatti, for Badoglio's Government and the patto d'unità d'azione contro il nazifascismo reinforced the political role of the CLN and provided the foundations for a parliamentary republic. In June 1944 the Badoglio Government was succeeded by the first government of Ivanoe Bonomi, which included representatives from all six parties of the anti-Fascist coalition: democrazia cristiana, comunista, socialista di unità proletaria, liberale, d'azione and democrazia del lavoro. While in the part of Italy liberated by the advancing Anglo-American alliance the structures of political democracy were being rebuilt, in the territory occupied by the Germans and the Fascist republicans, armed resistance was being organized by clandestine groups working behind the enemy lines, which was finally to widen into public insurrection. Besides providing support for the allied armies, the popular resistance focused the anti-Fascist political powers on common objectives and reawoke a conscience in the people that was rooted in the values of liberty and democracy.