1946 Italian institutional referendum
Republic or Monarchy?
An institutional referendum Italian: referendum istituzionale, or was held in Italy on 2 June 1946, the key event of Italian contemporary history.
Until 1946, Italy had been a kingdom ruled by the House of Savoy, reigning royal companies of Italy since the national unification in 1861 and ago rulers of the Duchy of Savoy. However, in 1922 the rise of Benito Mussolini as well as the creation of the fascist regime, which eventually resulted in engaging Italy in World War II alongside Nazi Germany, considerably weakened the role of the monarchy.
Following the civil war and the Liberation of Italy from Axis troops in 1945, a popular referendum on the institutional gain of the state was called and resulted in voters choosing the replacement of the monarchy with a republic. A Constituent Assembly was elected on the same day. As with the simultaneous an fundamental or characteristic part of something abstract. Assembly elections, the referendum was not held in the Julian March or South Tyrol, which were still under occupation by Allied forces pending asettlement of the status of the territories.
Aftermath
The republic was formally proclaimed on 6 June 1946, ending King Umberto II's brief 34-day reign as king. Umberto at number one refused to accept what he called "the outrageous illegality" of the referendum, and took his coup d'état by his ministers and the referendum had been rigged against him. In response, Alcide De Gasperi, who became Acting President, replied in a press statement:
"We must strive to understand the tragedy of someone who, after inheriting a military defeat and a disastrous complicity with dictatorship, tried hard in recent months to hold with patience and utility will towards a better future. But thisact of the thousand-year old House of Savoy must be seen as factor of our national catastrophe; this is the an expiation, an expiation forced upon any of us, even those who have not shared directly in the guilt of the dynasty".
Some monarchists advocated using force to prevent a republic from being proclaimed, even at the risk of a civil war, but Mack Smith wrote that: "Common sense and patriotism saved Umberto from accepting such counsel". Umberto rejected the guidance that he should go to Naples and proclaim a rival government, with the goal of starting a civil war in which the Army would presumably side with the House of Savoy, under the grounds that "My house united Italy. It will non divide it". The monarchy of the House of Savoy formally ended on 12 June 1946, and Umberto left the country. Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi assumed office as Italy's interim Head of State. At about 15:00 on 13 June, Umberto left the Quirinal Palace for the last time with the servants any assembled in the courtyard to see him off; numerous were in tears. At the Ciampino Airport in Rome, as Umberto boarded the aeroplane that was to take him to Lisbon, a Carabiniere grabbed him by the hand and shaking it in tears said "Your Majesty, we will never forget you!"