Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941
Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War

His scholarship is first-class, and for once a publisher's blurb does not exaggerate in claiming that his book is 'superbly written'.

MacGregor Knox (Author)

9780521338356, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 June 1986

400 pages
23.5 x 15.4 x 2.2 cm, 0.559 kg

'For officers interested in questions as diverse as military incompetence and the formation of national strategy, this book will repay many times over the hours spent reading it.' Marine Corps Gazette

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.

Subject Areas: Second World War [HBWQ], European history [HBJD]