The Italian ‘Stay-Behind’ network – The origins of operation ‘Gladio’

This essay is based on an analysis of the official documentation made available to the Italian Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry on the origins and development of the stay-behind network in Italy. It tries to use these materials and integrate them with those of historical research on some related subjects in order to sketch out a tentative outline of the chronology and of the reasons for the creation of ‘Gladio’, as the stay-behind network was officially denominated. The article concludes that the documents released to the Parliamentary Committees do not permit the assumption that Operation ‘Gladio’ was involved in any illegal activities connected with the terrorism of the late 1960s and of the 1970s. The documents, in other words, do not help solving any of the mysteries which beleaguered Italian post-war history for more than a decade. On the other hand, the parliamentary reports tell a story which fits very well with the results of historical research on Italy''s foreign and security policy after World War II, and confirm some of its key assumptions. -