Show t. t Rome Survives Another War ROME OME the Eternal City has fallen faIlen to the allies the allies the first axis capital to be he captured in the war Fortunately the city was taken ken with relatively little fighting The ancient metropolis filled with monuments of historic and cultural significance and site Bite of the Vatican suffered small damage according to allied r ports reports p There was some fighting however Allied armored troops fought for a number of hours against stiff German resistance in inthe inthe the southern suburbs of the city and the last German rear guard unit was smashed in the heart of the city right in front of the Bank of Italy German demolition squads did some damage also b before fore the fi final al capture As fighting goes in Romes Rome's history however it was of little moment Warfare is n n nothing thing new to the capital of Italy Time TitheS and again through the centuries Rome has has' been fought over conquered looted and devastated In IIi the early days of the Roman empire empire- of course ourse the city was as frequently the scene of bloody fighting But even si since ce Rome became the religious center of ot Christianity it has often been a battleground In A. A D. D it was sacked by the Goths a and d in by the e Vanda Vandals s. s Later Rome came under the rule of the he and it was taken and retaken n a half a dozen times in wars between the and the Byzantines In IIi the tenth century and later feuds between leading families in Rome raged intermittently In 1084 much of the city was devastated in fighting between army an under Robert Guiscard and an army under H Henry IV of Germany who had besieged d Pope Gregory VII in the castle of Sa Sant' Sant t Angelo In 1527 the city was sacked by an army of the Holy Roman empire In 1798 Rome was occupied by the French fo for a short time I In 1809 Napoleon seized the city anc and the the apal papal states and held them for five years A revolution in 1848 I set t up lip p a a republic in Rome nd the pope was driven out of the city Neapolitan n and French re ch forces regained the city for the pope pope in 1850 after a bitter si siege ge The last time war flared in Rome Rom was in 1870 when the city elty was seized by an Italian all army from the pope after a hour five-hour att attack ck Since then the cit city has been in the possession of f Italy and has been the capital of united Italy This year 75 reign of peace peace for the Eternal l City can hardly be said to have been broken by Sundays Sunday's s fighting The German decision not to defend the city street by street permitted permitted per per- per per- the Italian capital to come come ome through this latest Roman experience with warfare almost unscathed As wars go for Rome mc this w was a mild experience and the capacity of the Ithe Eternal l City to survive co conflict t after conflict for some 2500 years is once again cl clearly arIy demonstrated I |