New Scholarship on Austria, Germany, and Italy in the International Arena during the 1930s

Denis Mack Smith, MacGregor Knox, and Brian Sullivan have argued that an aggressive and thoroughly Fascist Benito Mussolini determined no later than 1924 that Italy would ally itself with Germany. Such a coalition could "correct" by force the vittoria mutilata imposed on Italy by Britain and France after First World War and build a world class empire. After the Saarland voted for reunion with Germany, many in South Tyrol became more assertive vis-a-vis the Italian government in Rome while, at the same time, looking more to Germany, and less to Austria, for their salvation from Italian dominion. Gerald Steinacher, Nicola Labanca, Ulrich Beuttler, Leopold Steurer, Martin Hanni, and Aram Mattioli seem oblivious to the fact that their agreed upon interpretation of Italian imperial goals under Mussolini does not follow Italian- or German-language scholarship, but that of the Italian and English language scholars G. Salvemini, Smith, Knox, Sullivan, and their protegees.