Abstract

The essay attempts to reassess the figures given by the most recent historiography on the total number of disabled veterans caused by the Great war in Italy. It aims at demontrating how misleading the equivalence between war pensions and disability can be if used to ascertain the number of permanent disabled. As soon as it went to power, Fascism claimed that it was willing to revise the legislation on war pensions. This statement was finally put into effect in July 1923, when the government issued the law n. 1491, which was originally drafted by the undersecretary of war pensions Alfredo Rocco. The priority given to reforming the legislation laid down by the liberal governments proves how politically significant was the matter of war pensions for the fascist government, that proclaimed itself the true moral and political heir of the "Italia di Vittorio Veneto", namely the part of the country that claimed the victory in the Great war.