On La Méditerranée fasciste

This is an excellent study of Fascist Italy’s relationship with France over Tunisia. Although Italy made claims to Tunisia well before the French Protectorate was formed in 1881, the Fascist state was transformative in defining Tunisia as the lynchpin to Mussolini’s “fourth shore,” while using both Tunisia’s large Italian settler population and Tunisian nationalists against the French state. Ultimately, Mussolini hoped to win over “philo-fascists” within the French government. Yet, its relationship with Nazi Germany forced Italy to abandon good relations with France, eventually leading to the conquest of Tunisia by Italy during the Second World War and the near-immediate collapse of the Italian colonial empire.

Bessis’s book is essential to understanding Italian foreign policy between the Wars.