Mussolini and His Generals: The Armed Forces and Fascist Foreign Policy, 1922-1940

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 Italy's 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.

Author: John Gooch
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 12/24/2007
Pages: 651
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.58lbs
Size: 9.08h x 6.42w x 1.84d
ISBN: 9780521856027

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 08/01/2008 pg. 47
Choice 01/01/2009

About the Author
Gooch, John: - John Gooch is Professor of International History at the University of Leeds. His previous publications include Army, State and Society in Italy, 1870-1915 (1989) and, with Eliot A. Cohen, Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure in War (1990, 2006).