After WW2 the CIA and NATO set up armed cells of fascist insurgents that would fight against a “possible invasion by Warsaw countries.” These groups performed tons of awful terrorist attacks and killed a lot of civilians, and tried to blame a lot of them on left wing groups.
Technically Gladio was only the name for the ones in Italy, but it’s generally used to refer to the whole system in Europe
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Gladio
After WW2 the CIA and NATO set up armed cells of fascist insurgents that would fight against a “possible invasion by Warsaw countries.” These groups performed tons of awful terrorist attacks and killed a lot of civilians, and tried to blame a lot of them on left wing groups.
Technically Gladio was only the name for the ones in Italy, but it’s generally used to refer to the whole system in Europe