ABSTRACT

In order to understand the Italian Navy's reaction to the Soviet Navy's presence in the Mediterranean, one should first weigh what such a presence might portend for Italy in the near future and then-and only then-try to assess the Italian reaction to determine if it is adequate. All this must be done in the context of Italy's primary naval problems. Very different situations exist on the two wings of this front, where in the Baltic and Mediterranean seas, pressure can be applied. In both cases, the Soviet Navy appears to have been assigned a major role in bringing pressure to bear. Since its unification in the latter half of the 19th century, Italy has suffered from a "younger brother complex" to the extent that, while it was conscious of being a great power, it was also aware that it was one of the least of these.