ABSTRACT
The relationship between Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, who believed that they shared a common destiny of saving Europe from democracy and Judeo-Bolshevism, formed the heart of the Italian-German alliance of 1939-1943. Mussolini and Hitler began coordinating their foreign policies after both began supporting the Nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War in mid-1936. Since 1927, Fascist Italy and Hungary had been joined in de facto alliance which included support of the terrorist Croatian independence movement and desire for additional territory. However, Mussolini’s intelligence about Hitler’s intentions was matched by the Fuhrer’s knowledge of the Duce’s secrets. The August 22 announcement of the German-Soviet agreement they had expected elated Mussolini and Galeazzo Ciano, and excited other Italian war hawks. In late March the Duce affirmed Italian-German solidarity, while signaling a desire to pursue diplomatic solutions with the French and to alter the European balance of power in Italian favor, at the expense of France, Britain and Germany.
