San Marino is a landlocked micro-state on the Italian peninsula and shares borders only with Italy. Independent since 885, it is the oldest Republic in the world. In 1463, it declared its permanent neutrality. Even though it supported the Risorgimento in 19th century Italy, when the moment of a unified Italy came San Marino said no. Today, San Marino has no army and its defense is guaranteed by Italy.
In 1906, San Marino changed its constitution from a formerly oligarchic system to a more democratic one. The Great War left neutral San Marino virtually unscathed. 21 volunteers from San Marino had joined the Italian army of which two were killed. But otherwise the country and its population were not involved in the war. But the aftermath of the war left the country in a severe economic depression with widespread unemployment.
San Marino soon had to face the negative side of democracy, too, when the fascist party took a majority of votes in 1923 resulting in both Capitani Regenti being fascists. The Capitani Regenti are the joint heads of state for the Republic and are in power for only six months at a time. Due to a lack of internal cohesion within the fascist party the transformation of San Marino into a truly fascist state stalled from the beginning. The members of the party were too occupied in securing their own honey pots to work in unity.
Even the fascists adhered to the neutrality of San Marino, keeping the state out of the beginning of the Second World War. In 1941/42, the anti-fascist opposition was able to stage a comeback in the elections. The fascists tried to present themselves as the saviours of the country by securing a contract with Italy to build a railway line from Rimini to San Marino. This venture guaranteed full employment for the population of San Marino. Despite this time had run out on the fascists and mid 1943 the fascist party dissolved, three days after Benito Mussolini’s death.
Following this, San Marino was occupied by the Wehrmacht until British troops staged a friendly occupation in 1944. The British forces remained in San Marino to deal with the over 100,000 refugees San Marino had taken in during Operation Olive. During the war, San Marino had barely 10,000 inhabitants and this help was desperately needed. The refugees had been housed in palaces, churches, and the galleries of the railway.
Prior to British occupation, the RAF had bombarded San Marino despite its land being marked with large white crosses. The population and the refugees were completely unprepared for such an attack and nobody thought of going for cover (apart from which there wasn’t any available for so many people). There were 250 bomb hits and 63 people died during the attack. Like many other neutral countries, San Marino had been subjected to attacks from both sides during the war under one pretext or another. They later were offered a lame excuse by the British government.
Further reading
San Marino: The World's Oldest Republic
Monaco in World War II
Reincarnation or Vivid Imagination?
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