The Red Brigades

The explosive story of a terrorist group, the Red Brigades, who brought Italy to a standstill in the 1970s.

In March 1978, the Red Brigades kidnapped former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, murdering his bodyguards. For nearly two months, they held him hostage while a shocked world looked on, before eventually killing him and dumping his body in the middle of Rome.

But who were this terrorist group? What did they want? And how did they continue to operate for almost twenty years, terrifying a nation from 1970 to 1988? In John Foot’s remarkable new book, we learn how they became the most formidable left-wing terrorist organisation in post-war Western Europe.

Drawing their support from the student protest movements of the 1960s, activists and workers radicalised by the ‘hot autumn’ of 1969, the Red Brigades were inspired by terrorist groups from across the world, especially in Latin America. They recognised no rules and authority other than their own, and launched a campaign of murder, kidnap, kneecapping and intimidation that paralysed Italy’s justice system and reshaped the political landscape. For a time, they were admired as freedom fighters by the Italian left and commemorated as martyrs.

Through meticulous research, Foot uncovers the true story behind the myths that have grown around the Red Brigades, highlighting the human costs of their actions, as well as their impact on Italian society. He explains how the contradictions inherent in their actions eventually led to their downfall in a series of high-profile mass trials. The Red Brigades sheds new light on the shadowy world of the brigatisti, and highlights their legacy of conspiracy, distrust and bitterness that still lingers in Italy to this day.