Italy's Mediterranean role

Abstract

Italy's foreign policy is traditionally linked to both continental Europe and the Mediterranean. After unification and throughout the fascist period, however, Italy's policy could be described as an attempt to develop a policy. This am bition to join the European concert as a big power ignored the limitations imposed by economic and social realities. Both the Liberal governments and, later, the fascist rulers engaged in colo nial ventures in Africa and in the Mediterranean, and intervened in the Balkans, in Turkey, and in Spain. But to carry through these actions, which were often rash, frequently unsuccessful, and al ways more difficult and costly than expected, the Italian govern ment had always to seek support from more powerful in Europe. Thus, Italy's Mediterranean policy was devoted to a search for diplomatic room and benevolent allies in Europe, rather than an attempt to round out the national boundaries by acquiring the irredentist territories. Very briefly, then, the situation was this: when a Mediterranean policy prevailed in Italy, it did so under conservative governments who wished to stress national power and were generally well dis posed towards Germany which they regarded as the new power capable of helping to break up the encirclement of the old powers (France, Great Britain, Russia). When social forces and governments more inclined to the left prevailed at home, stress