Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War

Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War by Knox, MacGregor. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780521239172.

This book explores the motives, preparation, objectives, contact and consequences of Italys war of 1940, which ended the countrys role as a great power and reduced it to the status of first among Germanys satellites. What Professor Knox demonstrates more clearly than any previous biographer or historian is the limits of Mussolinis power. In particular, thanks to exhaustive research in the relevant archives, he has been able to throw important new light on Mussolinis relations with his military advisers and commanders. His scholarship is first-class, and for once a publishers blurb does not exaggerate in claiming that his book is superbly written.