Description: Mussolini in Ethiopia, 1919-1935 looks in detail at the evolution of the Italian Fascist regime's colonial policy within the context of European politics and the rise to power of German National Socialism. It delves into the tortuous nature of relations between the National Fascist Party and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), while demonstrating how, ultimately, a Hitler-led Germany proved the best mechanism for overseas Italian expansion in East Africa. The book assesses the emergence of an ideologically driven Fascist colonial policy from 1931 onwards and how this eventually culminated in a serious clash of interests with the British Empire. Benito Mussolini's successful flouting of the League of Nations' authority heralded a new dark era in world politics and continues to have its resonance in today's world.
Brief description: Robert Mallett is an experienced academic researcher and author of six books on Fascist foreign and strategic policy, ideology, and political religion theory. He has researched and taught at City University of New York, the University of the West of England, Bristol, and the Universities of Hanyang, Seoul, Leeds, Cambridge, Birmingham, Rome La Sapienza and Wisconsin, Madison, as well as the United States Naval Academy. He founded and edited the political science journal and book series Totalitarianism Movements and Political Religions (now Politics, Religion and Ideology) and has organized major international conferences in the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the United Kingdom. He has appeared on various radio and television programs.
Review Quotes: "Historians who have been anxiously waiting for a successful updated history of the lead-up to Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 need wait no longer. Robert Mallett's meticulously researched account skilfully ties together Italy's diplomacy, military strategy and political calculation. Professor Mallett carefully guides us through Mussolini's tortured manoeuvrings in holding Hitler at bay from seizing Austria while proceeding with his own overseas invasion plans. The Duce's aggression was no bizarre flight of fancy but integral to Fascism's way of doing business. Resting his narrative on solid archival sources, Professor Mallett, in marvellous prose, gives us an eminently readable narrative that at the same time is an historical tour de force of research and creative thought."
H. James Burgwyn, West Chester University