MUSSOLINI AND HIS GENERALS
The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922 - 1940
Item Description: Cambridge 2007, John Gooch, Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 651 pages.
This is the first authoritative study of the
Italian armed forces and the relationship between the military and
foreign policies of Fascist Italy from Mussolini's rise to
power in 1922 to the catastrophic defeat of 1940. Using extensive new
research, John Gooch explores the nature and development of the three
armed forces, their relationships with Mussolini and the impact of his
policies and command, the development of operational and strategic
thought, and the deployment and use of force in Libya, Abyssinia and
Spain.
He emphasizes Mussolini's long-term expansionist goals
and explains how he responded to the structural pressures of the
international system and the contingent pressures of events. This
compelling account shows that while Mussolini bore ultimate
responsibility for Italys fateful entry into the Second World
War, his generals and admirals bore a share of the blame for defeat
through policies that all too often rested on irrationality and
incompetence.