Mussolini and the British

392 Pages·1997·17.03 MB·English

by  Richard Lamb

AND THE BRITISH
RICHARD LAMB
This book, a revisionist account of Mussolini’s
relations with Britain, shows that, apart from his
atrocious bombardment of Corfu in 1923, Mussolini
aligned his foreign policy with that of Britain until the
Abyssinian crisis of 1935. Initially, Mussolini disliked
Hitler and despised his anti-semitism. Once Nazi
aggressive intentions were apparent he organized the
conference at Stresa in an effort to prevent German
rearmament.
Following his discussions with Ramsay MacDonald
and Sir John Simon at Stresa, Mussolini believed there
would be no British attempt to mobilize the League of
Nations against his invasion of Abyssinia. The League
had, in any case, made no move over his earlier
adventures in Corfu, or Japan’s in Manchuria, or
Germany’s illegal rearmament. But in 1935 the
political landscape was changed by the Peace Ballot,
overwhelmingly in favour of League of Nations action
to prevent member states attacking one another. The
British Cabinet felt obliged to take a lead in economic
sanctions against Italy, and Mussolini, surprised and
antagonized, halted his efforts to stop German
remilitarization.
Still mistrustful of Hitler, however, Mussolini soon
tried to re-establish good relations. The Foreign
Office was confident that he could be brought back to
the Stresa Front but Baldwin and Eden were readier to
work with Hitler. An agreement with him, said Eden,
‘might have a chance of a reasonable life whereas
Mussolini ... is a complete gangster’. Thus the
chance to bring Italy on to the Allied side was missed,
as it was again in 1943 when Italian attempts to make
a separate peace were rejected.
This book draws on a wide range of British and
Italian sources, including captured documents of
Mussolini himself, and new research into the
influence of Margherita Sarfatti, the Jewish
intellectual who was for several years Mussolini’s
mistress. It casts a very interesting new light on British
diplomatic handling of the threat of war.
HISTORY
£25

MUSSOLINI AND THE BRITISH
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Montgomery in Europe: Success orfailure
The Ghosts of Peace
The Failure of the Eden Government
Der Verfehlte Frieden. Englands Aussenpolitik, 1935—1945
The Drift to War, 1922-1939
Churchill as War Leader: Right or Wrong?
War In Italy: A Brutal Story
The Macmillan Years, 1957-1963: The Emerging Truth
MUSSOLINI
AND THE
BRITISH
RICHARD LAMB
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Albemarle , London
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© Richard Lamb 1997
First published in 1997
by John Murray (Publishers) Ltd,
50 Albemarle Street, London W1X 4BD
The moral right of the author has been asserted
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form
(including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or
not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the
written permission of the copyright owner, except in accordance with the provisions of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the
Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. Applications
for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication
should be addressed to the publisher.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0-7195-5592 2
Typeset in 12/12Vi pt Bembo by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Manchester
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
The University Press, Cambridge
Contents
Illustrations V11
Acknowledgements
Maps xi
Introduction 1
1. Early Days and Rise to Power 17
2. Lausanne, London and the Ruhr 28
3. The Dodecanese, Corfu, and Abyssinia 39
4. The Matteotti Murder and Dictatorship 59
5. Locarno, the Briand Plan, and the Austro-German Customs
Union 28
6. War Debts, Disarmament, and the Four-Power Pact 93
7. Mussolini and Austria 100
8. The Stresa Front 108
9. The Abyssinian War, and Sanctions 129
10. Mussolini Rejected by Eden 155
11. The Spanish Civil War 170
12. The Easter Agreement 205
13. Munich ^19
14. Prague, Albania, and War with Germany 239
15. Mussolini on the Brink ofWar 266
16. Mussolini at War ^89
17. Mussolini’s End 314
Notes 325
Bibliography 336
Index 341