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Germany–Italy relations (German:Deutsch-italienische Beziehungen;Italian:Relazioni italo-tedesche) are thebilateral relations betweenGermany andItaly. Both countries are full members of theEuropean Union,Council of Europe,Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, andNATO. Germany has an embassy inRome and consulates inMilan andNaples, while Italy has an embassy inBerlin and consulates inCologne,Frankfurt,Freiburg,Hamburg,Hanover,Munich,Nuremberg,Saarbrücken, andStuttgart.
Relations were established after theUnification of Italy. The two countries historically enjoy a special relationship since they both formed theTriple Alliance along with theAustro-Hungarian Empire and fought together againstFrance, while parts of their respective territories belonged to theHoly Roman Empire and theGerman Confederation. Italy and Germany were both part of theTriple Alliance but they became enemies duringWorld War I. Both countries eventually became members of theAxis powers duringWorld War II, formed an alliance during theCold War (West Germany), were among theinner six and became two of theG6 nations after theireconomic miracle.
Prime MinisterGiulio Andreotti was not in favor of theGerman reunification but today the Italian government and the German one are full and leading members of theEuropean Union. In 2005, aGerman cardinal was electedBishop of Rome.
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In 57 BC,Julius Caesar began theGallic War; his successor EmperorAugustus and his successors extended the borders of theRoman Empire across theRhine (see alsoLimes andGermania superior). The rise of theFranks began with themigration Period and thefall of the Western Roman Empire.
Large parts of what would later become Italy and Germany were part ofCharlemagne'sFrankish Empire in the 8th and 9th centuries AD. Even after thedivision of the Frankish Empire (843), the connections did not break off: throughout theMiddle Ages, large parts of northern Italy were part of the Holy Roman Empire (even if in some cases only formally as theKingdom of Italy), while intensive – albeit rarely conflict-free – relations also existed between thePapal States in central Italy and thePope and theRoman-German Emperor. One example is the visit toCanossa (1077) by the Roman-German emperorHenry IV, who wanted to have hisexcommunication lifted by the pope who was staying there (Investiture Controversy). Although southern Italy was not part of the Holy Roman Empire, it was ruled by theHohenstaufen dynasty from 1194 to 1268, who also ruled the Holy Roman Emperors.Palermo was the capital and residence of EmperorFrederick II, who grew up in the south.
Starting in Italy in the late 14th century, the new intellectual movements (theRenaissance andHumanism) spread throughout Europe and also influenced theGerman-speaking world. WithCharles V (1516–1556 'Carlos I of Spain'), a German emperor once again attempted to become heavily involved politically and militarily in Italy. One consequence of this was theSacco di Roma of 1527, when a rebellious army, including Germanlansquenets, devastated and plundered the 'eternal city'.
Thecoalition wars began in 1792. In March 1796,Napoleon was given supreme command of the French Italian army by theFrench Directory and began theItalian campaign. In the preliminarypeace treaty of Leoben (signed on April 18, 1797 and ratified on May 24),Austria had to renounce theDuchy of Milan, among other things, and be prepared to settle the conflict with France that had been ongoing since 1792. Thetreaty of Campo Formio was signed on October 17, 1797; in it, Napoleon forced the end of theRepublic of Venice, which had existed since the 7th/8th century. In 1806, he forced the end of the Holy Roman Empire (which had existed since the 10th century) and the renunciation of the empire's imperial feudal rights in Italy. Although Europe was able to free itself from Napoleonic rule in 1814/1815, bothGerman andItalian unification was delayed after theCongress of Vienna in 1815 until around 1870. However, theItalian states were largely ruled by foreign powers, while the German lands were mostly ruled by native rulers. TheAustrian Empire ruledVeneto andLombardy.
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1848 saw the beginning of theGerman revolutions of 1848–1849 in the German states and the Italian March Revolution in the Italian states, both of which failed. In 1861, theKingdom of Italy was formed, which in 1866 used theGerman War betweenPrussia and Austria on Prussia's side to gain Veneto andFriuli from Austria in theThird Italian War of Independence (after Lombardy had already been won in theSecond Italian War of Independence in 1859). The victory against Austria was an important stage in theGerman unification wars for Prussia and its Prime MinisterOtto von Bismarck, as Austria was ousted from German politics, enabling the North German state to win theAustro-Prussian rivalry. While the last German war of unificationagainst France in 1870/71 led to the foundation of theGerman Empire, the Italians took advantage of the war-related withdrawal of French protection troops to annex the Papal States and declare Rome the Italian capital, thus incorporating the papal domains into the newnation state.
However, Italianirredentism remained virulent. This ideology, which called for all Italians to be united in one state, was directed against Austria, which still ruled overTrentino andIstria, as well as other regions. As a result, theTriple Alliance between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and Italy had little political impact. When theFirst World War broke out, Italy initially remained neutral and then entered the war in 1915 on the side of Germany's and Austria's opponents, as it felt it could better pursue its irredentist interests in this way (seeTreaty of London (1915)).
The 1914Septemberprogramm authorized by German ChancellorTheobald von Bethmann Hollweg proposed the creation of a Central European Economic Union, comprising a number of European countries, including Germany and possibly Italy, in which, as the Chancellor secretly stressed, there was to bea semblance of equality among the member states, but in fact it was to be under German leadership tostabilize Germany's economic predominance in Central Europe, with co-authorKurt Riezler admitting that the union would be a veiled form of German domination in Europe (see also:Mitteleuropa).[1][2] The plan failed amid Germany's defeat in the war.
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In the 1919Treaty of St. Germain, the Kingdom of Italy was awarded the previously Austrian territories of Trentino,South Tyrol, the Channel Valley, the entire formerAustrian coastal region and part ofCarniola, the city ofZadar and some northernDalmatian islands. Nevertheless, Italy received less than it had expected (theEntente and Italy had negotiated territorial gains in 1915 as a "reward" for a change of front in the First World War). After all, South Tyrol, a territory traditionally populated by German speakers, was now part of the Italian state. In October 1922, theFascists led byBenito Mussolini took advantage of the political situation after the War tomarch on Rome and subsequently establish a dictatorship. As a result, the German-speaking South Tyroleans, along with other victim groups, suffered massively under the fascist policy ofItalianization (seeItalianization of South Tyrol). After theNational Socialist seizure of power in January 1933, Italy drew closer to Germany, although Mussolini sought to ally himself withGreat Britain andFrance as late as 1935 in the agreement known as theStresa Front in addition to theItalo-Soviet Pact[3] directed against Germany. The emerging Nazi state took Fascist Italy as a model in some areas.
Other important points in German-Italian relations in these years were the joint intervention in theSpanish Civil War (1936-1939), theannexation of Austria to Germany in 1938, which Mussolini ultimately accepted (South Tyrol remained with Italy; according to the Hitler-Mussolini Agreement, the German-speaking South Tyroleans could only choose between resettlement in theGerman Reich or giving up their culture and mother tongue) and the alliance treaty of May 22, 1939, known as thePact of Steel.
Before the eruption of World War II the Italian government, led by Benito Mussolini, established The Pact of Steel with Adolf Hitler's German government in efforts to establish a unified military entity to combat the Allied Powers. Although both sides established a governmental agreement, Italy and Germany remained fearful and distrustful towards one another. This distrust between the two governments would often contradict their military actions of unison to being ones aimed against one another.[4] In 1940 the original bipartite pact between Germany and Italy would be adding an existing member with Japan becoming theTripartite Pact. In June 1940, as the French government fled toBordeaux,Paris was declared anopen city. Mussolini felt that the conflict would end soon and thus declared war on Britain and France. He said to the Italian Army Chief-of-Staff,Pietro Badoglio:
I only need a few thousand dead so that I can sit at the peace conference as a man who has fought.[5]
Mussolini also set his own priorities, which often became a strategic problem for the GermanWehrmacht (for example the completely failedItalian attack on Greece in 1940 forcing Germany to intervene). After Italy entered the war, pressure from Nazi Germany caused the internment of some of Italy'sJewish refugees in theCampagna concentration camp.
Hitler and Mussolini met on ten occasions (see below) during the war, though usually only for individual meetings of a few hours each. As a result, the highest political echelons of both countries never fully coordinated their war goals, strategy and force distribution, and military, political, and ideological jealousies and rivalries persisted between 1939 and 1943.[6]
The first wartime conference between Hitler and Mussolini took place on 18 March 1940, during Italian neutrality and before Germany had accelerated the Italian entry with its May/June 1940 progress against France.[7] A second meeting took place on 18 June 1940 to discuss the peace terms for theArmistice of 22 June 1940 and theFranco-Italian Armistice.[8] A third meeting, this time at theBrenner Pass on 4 October 1940, included discussions about the potential future roles ofFrancoist Spain andVichy France in the Axis Powers.[9] The two dictators met a fourth time soon after, on 28 October, discussing theGreco-Italian War which had been unleashed by the Italian army on the same day.[10]
A fifth conference, and the first of the year 1941, took place at theBerghof on 19 January 1941 to further adjust joint action to relieve the Italian peril in the Mediterranean theater, though the Germans did not yet inform their Italian partners of their acute preparations for their June 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union.[11] A sixth meeting happened on 2 June 1941. Although the Italian intelligence agencies had in the interim become definitively aware ofBarbarossa, the Germans still chose to not disclose it officially to the Italian leaders.[12] This step was only conducted on the night of 21/22 June, i.e. the morning of the invasion, whenOtto Christian von Bismarck transmitted Hitler's lengthy explanation by letter toGaleazzo Ciano.[13]
In 1942, the two leaders met for the seventh time inSalzburg on 29/30 April 1942, discussing the process of the joint war effort in North Africa and the prospect ofUnternehmen Herkules, the planned invasion ofBritish-controlled Malta.[14]
An eighth meeting was conducted at Salzburg-Klessheim between 7 April and 10 April 1943. Hitler instructedHeinrich Himmler to provide the Italians advisory assistance in the creation ofSchutzstaffel-esque formations in the Italian military, whereas Mussolini unsuccessfully attempted to influence Hitler to seek a negotiated peace with the Soviet Union.[15] Hitler and Mussolini met for a ninth conference in Feltre on 19 July 1943. With the final defeat of the Axis in May 1943 and the Allied process in the ongoing invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky), the prospect of an Allied invasion of mainland Italy had turned acute.[16]
Shortly after the ninth meeting of 19 July, Benito Mussolini was arrested on the decision of theGrand Council of Fascism and interned at theGran Sasso d'Italia, from where he was subsequently freed by German commandos in theGran Sasso raid. For the tenth and final conference between the two dictators at Salzburg-Klessheim on 22/23 April 1944, Mussolini had already been installed as the leader of theItalian Social Republic (see below).[17] The two men saw each other for a final time on 20 July 1944 in the immediate aftermath of theStauffenberg assassination attempt, when Mussolini paid the injured Hitler a consolation visit, though this did not constitute a diplomatic conference. Between July 1944 and their deaths in April 1945, Hitler and Mussolini did not see each other again.[18]
In 1943, members of the Grand Council voted against Benito Mussolini's political power and demanded his resignation. The decline in support from Mussolini's government was viewed as being rooted in the betrayal of his closest advisers and aides. During this time Victor Emmanuel stripped the Prime Ministerial powers of Mussolini and demanded his arrest.[19] While arrested Mussolini was forced to the island of Ponza and placed as a political prisoner. Soon after Mussolini was sent to the Mt. Gran Sasso where German soldiers made a daring attempt in rescuing him and bringing him toAdolf Hitler.[citation needed] During this time Hitler sought to regain Mussolini's political support back into Italy's government. Just after a short time of Mussolini's demise those that allied against and caused his fall from power were trialed and executed. In efforts to regain a hold on the Italian government Hitler sought to establish theItalian Social Republic, a puppet republic in the town of Salo, in which he encouraged Mussolini to rally political support in efforts to fight against allied forces. Being a reinstalled leader Mussolini who was once a sovereign leaders was now seen as a puppet that was in the hands of the German government.[citation needed] Germany committedwar crimes in occupied Italy.
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After the two world wars, Italy underAlcide De Gasperi and Germany (1949 to 1963 underKonrad Adenauer) were among the founding fathers of aunited Europe (1951/52: European Coal and Steel Community), which was also intended to serve the reconciliation of the two peoples. Although there was aneconomic miracle in both countries in the post-war period, thesouth of Italy in particular remained underdeveloped; after a recruitment agreement (1955), many Italians tried their luck inWest Germany as immigrants. For the German-speakingSouth Tyroleans, the 2nd Statute of Autonomy from 1972 created a viable solution by giving South Tyrol extensive autonomy within Italy. Today, South Tyrol sees itself as a bridge between the German-speaking and Italian-speaking Europe. During theCold War, Italy and West Germany wereNATO allies.
The modern relationship between Germany and Italy is largely characterized by friendship and mutual European partnership. During theeuro crisis from 2009/10, which also massively affected Italy, tensions arose in bilateral relations. At a press conference in 2011,Angela Merkel andNicolas Sarkozy only responded with a smile when asked whether they still trusted Italian Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi, who resigned in November 2011, under pressure from other EU countries.[20] Since 2012, the German-Italian relationship has been rather clouded by the euro crisis. After Merkel called on Italy and France to undertake more economic reforms in December 2014, various politicians from both Italy and France refused to give Germany either criticism or advice. After Germany forced southern European states to a hard economicausterity policy, one German business correspondent reporting from Rome since 1992 wrote in 2015:
In the barrage of Italian media, the Germans are nevertheless portrayed as power-hungry and as obsessed with austerity that is making Italy poor. It is no wonder that in a recent survey, 54 percent of Italians described Germany as their greatest enemy. [...] [T]here is no interest in the concerns of German savers, and economic data is deliberately ignored. What was promised to the Germans in order for Italy to be accepted into the monetary union has long been forgotten. Italy is pleased to see theECB'snew flood of money as a triumph over Germany - and is demanding even more. There is no understanding of the German frustration that the Euro-Mark has now finally been exchanged for the Euro-Lira. In Germany, faith in treaties is being shattered by the cynical pragmatism of Italian day-to-day politics.[21]
Der Spiegel pointed out in April 2020 that many Germans had a false perception of Italian fiscal policy.[22]Germany's reputation in Italy tanked with theCOVID-19 pandemic, and thus accusations of a lack of European solidarity on Germany's part became louder.Die Zeit wrote in May 2020:
If [...] Germany then imposes a ban on the export of medical supplies to Italy, even though the death toll there has already skyrocketed, or if there is a dispute for weeks about whether the rich north of Europe should help the poorer south financially with reconstruction or not, then there is not much left of the idea of European values and European solidarity. At the moment, at least, according to surveys, Italians see China as their greatest friend and Germany as their greatest enemy. We will have a lot to do to repair the serious damage. Reconstruction must also be cultural and political, not just economic.[23]
During 2017, Italy's economy was valued as being the seventh largest exporting country in the world, while being ranked tenth among all imports around the world. In 2017, Italy's top importing and exporting partner was Germany at $72.2 billion in imports, while exporting $58.5 billion.[24] At 7.1%, the largest product that Italy imports are cars, while its leading exports are packaged medicaments (medicines) at 4.5%. These being Italy's largest imports, 33% are imported from Germany and 12% are from Spain. Whereas Italy's leading exports in medicines are to Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland at a combined 32%, exports to Germany alone are at 9.6%.[24]
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Most Italians who have settled in Germany over the years left their home country in search of work. There are 587,167 (2020)Italian nationals living in Germany, making Germany the country with the most Italian nationals outside Italy after Argentina. Around 800,000 people in Germany have Italian ancestry.[25]
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