Narrating the Enemy during the Great War: The Role of Correspondents in Describing Otherness

This presentation investigates how the ‘enemy’ is portrayed through correspondence published in Italian and German newspapers (Il Secolo and Berliner Tageblatt) at the time of Italy's entry into the war in 1915 and the declaration of hostility to Germany in 1916.

At the outbreak of the Great War, while Austria began to doubt Italian loyalty, the German Reich continued to trust the Allied Kingdom, leaving many of its correspondents there. These still lived in main Italian cities, enjoying the climate of ‘apparent’ neutrality and participating in cultural and social life (such as Hans Barth for the Berliner Tageblatt). In contrast, many Italian journalists living in Germany were often defenseless victims of the Germans' harassment and abuse due to the declaration of neutrality.

After Italy joined the conflict on the side of the Entente forces, Italian-German relations soured, also involving the press. On the one hand, numerous Italian correspondents decided to enlist to support the cause of the homeland against the abuses of ‘German barbarism’ (for example, Mario Mariani for Il Secolo); on the other hand, German journalists retreated to the Habsburg territories, continuing to write about what was happening in Italy from the German perspective.

With the declaration of war on Germany on 27 August 1916, the feelings already emerged became more acute. The Italian journalist fought in defense of «Humanitas» (Mariani), without ever really distinguishing the ‘enemy’ between Austrians and Germans, while the German correspondents felt the weight of the former ally’s ‘betrayal’ and poured it into their articles.

The presentation intends to underline how the different descriptions of the ‘enemy’ between Italy and Germany, inevitably conditioned by historical events, were valid instruments to influence public opinion and the perception of the former ally.