Mussolini and the Origins of the Second World War, 1933-1940

The Making of the Twentieth Century

by Robert Mallett

This new study re-examines the controversial debate on Fascist Italy's road to international conflict that has raged for six decades. The author's privileged access to until now unseen archival materials allows him to assess the ideological, geopolitical, domestic and strategic considerations that shaped Mussolini's alliance with Hitler, and his subsequent decision to wage war against Great Britain and France in June 1940.

Genres: History

266 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Robert Mallett is Teaching Fellow in Modern History at the University of Birmingham.

Reviews

[Brian]

This is an interesting book that gives an overview of how Italy fit into the make up of World War II. There are many books like this one that chart how World War II broke out and this brings an interesting perspective by looking at Italy instead of Germany. The book tracks Mussolini's progress from around 1933-41 and shows how the country was set on a course for war. The factors of what caused Italy to head to Germany from Britain could have been flushed out further and while this was well researched it suffered from a lack of detail. The bibliography is one of the most valuable pieces of this book. I would recommend this book to those wanting a brief overview of diplomacy during the world war II era.