I bought this book from a second-hand store. It is full of historical data and references. I was only interested in the story of Curzio, this Italian writer who lived during the Second World War and was persecuted by Mussolini himself, the leader of the country of which he was a part, Italy, for being brought to the public’s attention how to stage a coup d’état.
There is some data in the book that we do not find anywhere else, data about the great leaders of the past, political people, who tried over time, some succeeded, to change regimes and leaders.
Even Hitler is included, who used a technique that was as simple as it was ingenious, and that didn’t involve much risk of failure. This after the brewery punch.
This article is not promoting the book, it just wants to raise some questions about what is happening these days. The book is political.
The book includes many references, facts and historical figures from different places and in various time periods. It is more of a handbook for leaders, and to avoid a possible coup d’état.
A few words from the book cover:
“The coup d’état is not the result of a certain political or social conjuncture, but is, first of all, a “technical” action: it does not require triggering of a state of necessity or the intervention of the masses, but the existence of a group of determined people, able, even under normal conditions, to paralyze the nerve centers of national life. The role models in this regard are, in the opinion of the author, Trotsky and Mussolini.
Malaparte’s brilliant book, written in Turin in 1930, was banned in Italy until 1948. It first appeared in France in 1931, then in Germany in 1932, where its prophecies soon came true: in January 1933, when Hitler took power, but also later, in June 1934, when Hitler also exterminated the extremist wing of his own party. Here is therefore a reference work for any coup, past or future.”
The book lists the following historical figures who attempted or staged coups:
(I list them not necessarily in chronological order)
Bela Kun (1886-1938), Hungarian revolutionary. He established in Hungary, in 1919, the Republic of Councils, based on the Soviet model, which could not withstand the Romanian troops. The tactics followed by him have nothing in common with the Bolshevik one.
Wolfgang Kapp (1858-1982), Prussian politician who tried to overthrow the young Weimar Republic and establish a right-wing dictatorship in the coup of 1920). The revolutionary attempt of the KPP is not a military uprising. Kapp deludes himself that he can repeat the blow of 18 Brumar against the Weimar Assembly.
Miguel Primo de Rivera (1870-1930), Spanish general and politician, author of the coup d’état in Spain in 1923. The coup d’état of Primo de Rivera and that of Pilsudski seem to have been conceived and carried out according to the rules of a traditional tactic, which does not resemble the fascist one. Primo de Rivera and Pilsudski imagine that in order to seize power in a modern state, they end up overthrowing a constitutional government with weapons.
Jozef Pilsudski (1867-1935), Polish marshal and politician. In 1926, following the coup d’état, he became Minister of War and the true master of the country. Pilsudski let himself be guided by the maxim followed by Maria Theresa in her policy towards Poland: “To act in the Prussian manner, maintaining the appearances of honesty.”
Napoleon
Trotsky
Mussolini
Hitler
Catiline
Caesar
The main techniques in the book revealed by the author are: the Catilinarian technique and the Bonapartist technique, the Bolshevik technique, etc.