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The Bitter Sea: The Struggle for Mastery in the Mediterranean, 1935-1949
A gripping history of the Mediterranean campaigns from the first rumblings of conflict through the Second World War and into the uneasy peace of the late 1940s.
The Mediterranean Sea lies at the very heart of recent world history. To the British during the Second World War, the Mediterranean was the world’s great thoroughfare. To the Americans, it represented the answer to anti-imperialism. And to Mussolini, it encapsulated his violent vision of conquest. These three great powers attempted to overthrow the existing order in the Mediterranean, resulting in a collision of allies as well as enemies that hadn’t been seen before: the Germans fought against the Italians, the Americans against the Arabs, the Jews against the British, the French against nearly everyone. The Mediterranean was indeed ‘the bitter sea’.
In this masterly history, Simon Ball takes us through the tumultuous events set in motion by Mussolini’s lust for conquest that ended with the creation of Israel. Long drawn-out battles on land, sea and air – dominated by WWII’s most illustrious leaders, Churchill, Eisenhower and Rommel amongst them – resulted in Allied victory in the battle of El Alamein, the terrifying desert campaigns of Africa and the eventual defeat of Italy and then Germany.
The wars in the Mediterranean had huge consequences for all those who fought in them, but none more profound than those experienced by the lands, nations and peoples that lived around the sea itself. Based on entirely original research, ‘The Bitter Sea’ is expertly written, utterly compelling and unquestionably important.
The Mediterranean Sea lies at the very heart of recent world history. To the British during the Second World War, the Mediterranean was the world’s great thoroughfare. To the Americans, it represented the answer to anti-imperialism. And to Mussolini, it encapsulated his violent vision of conquest. These three great powers attempted to overthrow the existing order in the Mediterranean, resulting in a collision of allies as well as enemies that hadn’t been seen before: the Germans fought against the Italians, the Americans against the Arabs, the Jews against the British, the French against nearly everyone. The Mediterranean was indeed ‘the bitter sea’.
In this masterly history, Simon Ball takes us through the tumultuous events set in motion by Mussolini’s lust for conquest that ended with the creation of Israel. Long drawn-out battles on land, sea and air – dominated by WWII’s most illustrious leaders, Churchill, Eisenhower and Rommel amongst them – resulted in Allied victory in the battle of El Alamein, the terrifying desert campaigns of Africa and the eventual defeat of Italy and then Germany.
The wars in the Mediterranean had huge consequences for all those who fought in them, but none more profound than those experienced by the lands, nations and peoples that lived around the sea itself. Based on entirely original research, ‘The Bitter Sea’ is expertly written, utterly compelling and unquestionably important.
380 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 27, 2013
Prior to reading this book, I had regarded the value of the Mediterranean Sea in the early decades of the 20th century as mainly economic, but taking on a vital strategic importance between 1940 and 1943. During those critical years of the Second World War, the Mediterranean and the lands surrounding it constituted the one area (aside from the air war over German-occupied Europe) where the British (and after November 8, 1942, the Americans) could contest the supremacy of the Axis Powers. That was the range of my understanding and interest in the 20th century Mediterranean.
This book revealed to me a dramatic evolution that took place between 1935 (the year Italy invaded and subsequently conquered Ethiopia, thus beginning its quest to establish its own sphere of influence in the Mediterranean and North and East Africa) and the early 1950s in the way the Mediterranean figured in both regional and international geopolitics. Britain in the 1930s was still the dominant power in the Mediterranean. Italy, as mentioned earlier, wanted to carve out its share of power and influence (and become a counterweight to Britain). And the French simply wanted to maintain its control of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Taken together, those 3 colonies, along with French Equatorial Africa and French West Africa, served France’s broader strategic and economic interests. For in the advent of another World War, these lands would again provide the soldiers and raw materials needed to defend France itself.
Well, with the fall of France in June 1940 and Italy’s entry that same month into the war in league with Germany, the Mediterranean became a primary war zone. Were it to be made into an “Axis lake” as seemed very probable, Britain might lose the war. "THE BITTER SEA" relates a lot of, not only the military actions, but also the use of propaganda, espionage, and political subterfuge by both sides to win over the hearts and minds of the people in the region impacted by the war. And then, after 1945 with the emergence of the U.S. and Soviet Union as the 2 major contending powers on the world stage, “[t]he unity of the Mediterranean … no longer [had] anything to do with the old west-east route [once key to British economic and naval interests]. The Suez Canal was of little importance. Rather the Mediterranean … [became] the means by which a global war against the Soviet Union could be prosecuted.”
“In brief, the story of the Mediterranean in the mid-twentieth century had been that the Italian Empire challenged the British Empire for hegemony, to the ultimate benefit of the American Empire.” For anyone with a keen interest in history and politics, this book is a veritable treasure trove.
This book revealed to me a dramatic evolution that took place between 1935 (the year Italy invaded and subsequently conquered Ethiopia, thus beginning its quest to establish its own sphere of influence in the Mediterranean and North and East Africa) and the early 1950s in the way the Mediterranean figured in both regional and international geopolitics. Britain in the 1930s was still the dominant power in the Mediterranean. Italy, as mentioned earlier, wanted to carve out its share of power and influence (and become a counterweight to Britain). And the French simply wanted to maintain its control of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Taken together, those 3 colonies, along with French Equatorial Africa and French West Africa, served France’s broader strategic and economic interests. For in the advent of another World War, these lands would again provide the soldiers and raw materials needed to defend France itself.
Well, with the fall of France in June 1940 and Italy’s entry that same month into the war in league with Germany, the Mediterranean became a primary war zone. Were it to be made into an “Axis lake” as seemed very probable, Britain might lose the war. "THE BITTER SEA" relates a lot of, not only the military actions, but also the use of propaganda, espionage, and political subterfuge by both sides to win over the hearts and minds of the people in the region impacted by the war. And then, after 1945 with the emergence of the U.S. and Soviet Union as the 2 major contending powers on the world stage, “[t]he unity of the Mediterranean … no longer [had] anything to do with the old west-east route [once key to British economic and naval interests]. The Suez Canal was of little importance. Rather the Mediterranean … [became] the means by which a global war against the Soviet Union could be prosecuted.”
“In brief, the story of the Mediterranean in the mid-twentieth century had been that the Italian Empire challenged the British Empire for hegemony, to the ultimate benefit of the American Empire.” For anyone with a keen interest in history and politics, this book is a veritable treasure trove.
February 6, 2024
Not an easy read
"The Bitter Sea" tells the story of the struggle for control of the Mediterranean Sea and its shores in de 1930s and 1940s. Although the Second World War plays a major role, Simon Ball gives in my opinion, an overview of the attempts and struggles of all parties involved to define the Mediterranean geographically and geo-strategically in order to organize it militarily and politically. The military campaigns of the Second World War function as the glue in a story with secret services, propaganda departments, guerilla leaders, politicians, diplomats and generals taking centre stage.
"The Bitter Sea" is a fascinating but difficult read. With an enormous scope, "The Bitter Sea" tells many stories: French - English tensions in the Middle East, the Greek civil war, sabotage actions in the Balkans, Italian special forces, the relationship between Hitler and Mussolini, London Home Office and English Headquarters in Cairo, Arab nationalism and Berlin, the decline of colonialism, American containment of Communism, Zionism and ultimately the rise of the United States as the dominant regional power and the Middle East as oil supplier. In addition, the fluid loyalties of many parties involved, driven by low motives and compensating (military) incompetence with politics, further adds to the complexity.
This book is well researched, and Ball has used numerous less known sources. In addition, the writer seems to revel in discrediting carefully constructed myths and generally accepted perceptions of events and persons. "The Bitter Sea" therefore assumes the reader has (a wide) knowledge of the history of the Mediterranean and the Second World War, making it not suitable for a novice looking for an introduction of the topic.
"The Bitter Sea" tells the story of the struggle for control of the Mediterranean Sea and its shores in de 1930s and 1940s. Although the Second World War plays a major role, Simon Ball gives in my opinion, an overview of the attempts and struggles of all parties involved to define the Mediterranean geographically and geo-strategically in order to organize it militarily and politically. The military campaigns of the Second World War function as the glue in a story with secret services, propaganda departments, guerilla leaders, politicians, diplomats and generals taking centre stage.
"The Bitter Sea" is a fascinating but difficult read. With an enormous scope, "The Bitter Sea" tells many stories: French - English tensions in the Middle East, the Greek civil war, sabotage actions in the Balkans, Italian special forces, the relationship between Hitler and Mussolini, London Home Office and English Headquarters in Cairo, Arab nationalism and Berlin, the decline of colonialism, American containment of Communism, Zionism and ultimately the rise of the United States as the dominant regional power and the Middle East as oil supplier. In addition, the fluid loyalties of many parties involved, driven by low motives and compensating (military) incompetence with politics, further adds to the complexity.
This book is well researched, and Ball has used numerous less known sources. In addition, the writer seems to revel in discrediting carefully constructed myths and generally accepted perceptions of events and persons. "The Bitter Sea" therefore assumes the reader has (a wide) knowledge of the history of the Mediterranean and the Second World War, making it not suitable for a novice looking for an introduction of the topic.
November 27, 2025
Good analysis of a very complex, and in my opinion underdiscussed, geopolitical environment in a crucial historical period.
strongly recommend
strongly recommend
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews