ABSTRACT
Before the First World War, Italy sought to exploit the multipolar environment of the Mediterranean to grow its influence in the region. But the war forced Italy to divide its resources between land and sea power, limiting Italy’s opportunities for expansion. During the interwar years, international naval disarmament agreements combined with the relative decline of the British and French empires and the rise of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan to offer Italy an unprecedented opportunity to gain primacy in the Mediterranean. The Fascist dictatorship put expansion in the Mediterranean at the forefront of its foreign policy. To achieve its goals, it needed a navy strong enough to gain control of the eastern and central Mediterranean and to influence medium and small Mediterranean powers. The chapter shows how a combination of internal institutional failures, caused by the nature of dictatorship, and the aggressive expansionism pursued by regime, hampered this project. The Fascist state failed to develop a navy capable of serving its grand strategic goals amidst the multipolar interwar Mediterranean, which paved the way for Italy’s defeat in the Second World War.
