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166 The first act of Allied joint propaganda against the enemy was the Rome Congress in April, which was due largely to the concord and the friendship of the most enlightened and intelligent elements of public opinion in England and in Italy. As a result of that Congress, great consequences had followed in Austria-Hungary, and generally in the world of the enemy; and the principal task was to pursue the way that had thus been opened by the Rome Congress. The peculiar position of Italy as the enemy of Austria naturally entered largely into the motives that inspired Italian action. The declarations of Lord Northcliffe—whose influence upon the question of enemy propaganda was immense—and the declaration of M. Klobukowski were entirely anti-Austrian in tendency.

As regards the Italians, they had been enemies of Austria not only because Austria was their enemy, but also because they felt that it was the most direct and sure way of being the enemies of Germany and of Germanism. Those Italians who had understood the true position since the beginning of the war had always been enemies of Austria in this sense, and had sought the best means of attacking and annihilating German