Mussolini Unleashed 1939-1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War
Cambridge University Press
Edition: New Ed, 8/21/2008
EAN 9780521338356, ISBN10: 0521338352
Paperback, 400 pages, 23.4 x 15.6 x 2.3 cm
Language: English
This book explores the motives, preparation, objectives, contact and consequences of Italy's war of 1940, which ended the country's role as a great power and reduced it to the status of first among Germany's satellites. What Professor Knox demonstrates more clearly than any previous biographer or historian is the limits of Mussolini's power. In particular, thanks to exhaustive research in the relevant archives, he has been able to throw important new light on Mussolini's relations with his military advisers and commanders. His scholarship is first-class, and for once a publisher's blurb does not exaggerate in claiming that his book is 'superbly written'.
Preface
List of maps
Introduction
1. 'There has been much bluff'
2. Bellicose nonbelligerent
3. 'The most impatient of all Italians'
4. June-September 1940
Duce strategy in the shadow of Sea Lion
5. The attack on Greece
6. To the Berghof
Italy's end as a great power
Conclusion
The meaning of Fascist Italy's last war
Appendices
Abbreviations
Notes
A note on sources
Frequently cited works
Index.