Page 30 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

30 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

Authorities, Distinguished Professors, Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

bring the greetings of the Defense Minister and the entire Italian Government to the
i speakers and participants of this Congress. Personally, it is my honor to be here in an of-
ficial capacity, due to personal interests and passion that have always made me feel close to
those working on Military History.
I would also like to greet the City of Trieste particularly, where you have chosen to hold
this meeting. It seems to me that its history can give higher insight and meaning to the sub-
ject, which you have chosen to discuss, not only with regards to the Ninetieth Anniversary
of the end of the First World War, but also concerning more recent events, in which civil
populations have unfortunately been protagonists and victims of war and conflicts between
ideologies. This is what had taken place here in the past. Maybe it does not differ much from
what took place in remote places or in other times: let us hope that memories and most ma-
ture awareness of people’s action patterns, driven and enriched by the study of History, help
us make sure that such events do not take place again tomorrow and elsewhere.
Surely, I will not go into detail about subjects, which you are about to discuss in your
speeches, but I deem it opportune to point out how the subject that you have chosen for the
Congress perfectly fits the most interesting role and “current affairs” of Military History, in
other words, its ability to contribute to today’s World by analyzing the past. I think under-
scoring this ability and role in Italy, before many Italian scholars, is a due recognition that we
owe those who work so much in this field, when we see it every day that “Historia magistra
vitae”, but also very often, and maybe not only in our country, people experience that “Nemo
propheta in patria”
After the alleged “end of history,” today we live in an era of “asymmetric conflicts” and
“fourth generation wars.” Someone has even mentioned “zero-death wars,” maybe by over-
simplifying the analysis through limiting it to soldier deaths during a military operation only
and the desire not to involve civilians in the “new war,” as if it could be achieved only by the
will of one of the parties and technological development of weaponry.
But civil population has never been so much at the center of conflicts than before and the
more the conflicts are morally (rather than technologically) “asymmetric,” the more civilians
become explicit targets. The battlefield, the “center of gravity” of a war, which might seem
very novel to us, is actually very old. It has changed so much only to remain the same.
In conclusion, I hope that your endeavors help everybody and, particularly, those who
bear the responsibility of governments and civil and military command, so that they have a
better understanding to make better decisions.
Good luck in your work!