Editing History of Italy (section)

===Foreign politics===
{{Further|Italian Empire|Italian irredentism}}
Lee identifies three major themes in Mussolini's foreign policy. The first was a continuation of the foreign-policy objectives of the preceding Liberal regime. Liberal Italy had allied itself with Germany and Austria, and had great ambitions in the Balkans and North Africa. Ever since it had been badly defeated in Ethiopia in 1896, there was a strong demand for seizing that country. Second was a profound disillusionment after the heavy losses of the First World War; the small territorial gains from Austria were not enough to compensate. Third was Mussolini's promise to restore the pride and glory of the [[Roman Empire]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Stephen J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-mm5UDlzBEC&pg=PA157 |title=European Dictatorships, 1918–1945 |date=2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-4154-5484-1 |pages=157–58}}</ref>

Italian Fascism is based upon [[Italian nationalism]] and in particular, seeks to complete what it considers as the incomplete project of ''[[Risorgimento]]'' by incorporating ''[[Italian irredentism|Italia Irredenta]]'' (unredeemed Italy) into the state of Italy.<ref name="autogenerated1922">{{Cite book |first=Aristotle A. |last=Kallis |title=Fascist ideology: territory and expansionism in Italy and Germany, 1922–1945 |location=London, New York City |publisher=Routledge |date=2000 |p=41}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated3">{{Cite book |first=Terence |last=Ball |first2=Richard |last2=Bellamy |title=The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political Thought |p=133}}</ref> To the east of Italy, the Fascists claimed that [[Italian irredentism in Dalmatia|Dalmatia]] was a land of Italian culture.<ref>Jozo Tomasevich. War and Revolution in Yugoslavia 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration. Stanford, California, US: Stanford University Press, 2001. P. 131.</ref> To the south, the Fascists claimed [[Italian irredentism in Malta|Malta]], which belonged to the United Kingdom, and [[Corfiot Italians#Corfiot Italians and the Risorgimento|Corfu]], which belonged to Greece, to the north claimed [[Italian irredentism in Switzerland|Italian Switzerland]], while to the west claimed [[Italian irredentism in Corsica|Corsica]], [[Italian irredentism in Nice|Nice]] and [[Italian irredentism in Savoy|Savoy]], which belonged to France.<ref>Aristotle A. Kallis. ''Fascist Ideology: Expansionism in Italy and Germany 1922–1945''. London, England; UK; New York, New York, US: Routledge, 2000. P. 118.</ref><ref>''Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War''. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986, 1999. P. 38.</ref>
[[File:Italy aims Europe 1936.png|thumb|Ambitions of fascist Italy in Europe in 1936.<br/>Legend:{{Legend|#073A09|Metropolitan Italy and dependent territories:}}{{Legend|#0F7612|[[Client state]]s;}}{{Legend|#083A39|Claimed territories to be annexed;}}{{Legend|#107776|Territories to be transformed into client states.}} [[Albania]], which was a client state, was considered a territory to be annexed.]]

Mussolini promised to bring Italy back as a [[great power]] in Europe, building a "New Roman Empire" and holding power over the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. In [[Propaganda in Fascist Italy|propaganda]], Fascists used the ancient Roman motto "''[[Mare Nostrum]]''" ([[Latin]] for "Our Sea") to describe the Mediterranean. For this reason the Fascist regime engaged in [[interventionism (politics)|interventionist foreign policy]] in Europe. In 1923, the Greek island of [[Corfiot Italians#Corfiot Italians and the Risorgimento|Corfu]] was briefly occupied by Italy, after the assassination of [[Enrico Tellini|General Tellini]] in Greek territory. In 1925, [[Albanian Republic (1925–1928)|Albania]] came under heavy Italian influence as a result of the [[First and Second Treaties of Tirana|Tirana Treaties]], which also gave Italy a stronger position in the Balkans.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-first=Marija |editor-last=Wakounig |editor-first2=Karlo |editor-last2=Ruzicic-Kessler |title=From the Industrial Revolution to World War II in East Central Europe |date=2011 |publisher=[[LIT Verlag]] |isbn=978-3-6439-0129-3 |pages=193}}</ref> Relations with France were mixed. The Fascist regime planned to regain Italian-populated areas of France.<ref name="Smith_3">Smith. 1983. p172</ref> With the rise of Nazism, it became more concerned about the potential threat of Germany to Italy. Due to concerns about German expansionism, Italy joined the [[Stresa Front]] with France and the United Kingdom, which existed from 1935 to 1936. The Fascist regime held negative relations with Yugoslavia, as it continued to claim Dalmatia.

During the [[Spanish Civil War]] between the socialist [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republicans]] and [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalists]] led by [[Francisco Franco]], Italy sent arms and over 60,000 troops to aid the Nationalist faction. This secured Italy's naval access to Spanish ports and increased Italian influence in the Mediterranean. During the 1930s, Italy strongly pursued a policy of naval rearmament; by 1940, the {{Lang|it|[[Regia Marina]]}} was the fourth-largest navy in the world.

Mussolini and [[Adolf Hitler]] first met in June 1934, when Mussolini opposed German plans to annex Austria to ensure that Nazi Germany would not become hegemonic in Europe. Public appearances and propaganda constantly portrayed the closeness of Mussolini and Hitler and the similarities between Italian Fascism and German [[Nazism|National Socialism]]. While both ideologies had significant similarities, the two factions were suspicious of each other, and both leaders were in competition for world influence.

[[File:Hitler and Mussolini June 1940.jpg|thumb|Mussolini and Hitler in June 1940]]
In 1935 Mussolini decided to invade [[Ethiopian Empire|Ethiopia]]; 2,313 Italians and 275,000 Ethiopians died.<ref>Clodfelter 2017: 355</ref> The [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]] resulted in the international isolation of Italy; the only nation to back Italy's aggression was Germany. After being condemned by the [[League of Nations]], Italy decided to leave the League on 11 December 1937.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Gilbert |chapter=Introduction |date=1939 |title=The Illustrated London News: Marching to War, 1933–1939 |location=Toronto, Canada |publisher=Doubleday Canada |pp=137}}</ref> Mussolini had little choice but to join Hitler in international politics, thus he reluctantly abandoned support of Austrian independence. Mussolini later supported German claims on [[Sudetenland]] at the [[Munich Conference]]. In 1938, under the influence of Hitler, Mussolini supported the adoption of anti-semitic [[Manifesto of Race|racial laws]] in Italy. After Germany annexed [[Czechoslovakia]] in March 1939, [[Italian invasion of Albania|Italy invaded Albania]] and made it an [[Italian protectorate of Albania (1939–1943)|Italian protectorate]].

As war approached in 1939, the Fascist regime stepped up an aggressive press campaign against France claiming that its Italian residents were suffering.{{Sfnp|Mack Smith|1997|page=397}} This was important to the alliance as both regimes mutually had claims on France: Germany on German-populated [[Alsace-Lorraine]] and Italy on the mixed Italian and French populated [[Nice]] and [[Corsica]]. In May 1939, a formal alliance with Germany was signed, known as the [[Pact of Steel]]. Mussolini felt obliged to sign the pact in spite of his own concerns that Italy could not fight a war in the near future. This obligation grew from his promises to Italians that he would build an empire for them and from his personal desire to not allow Hitler to become the dominant leader in Europe.{{Sfnp|Mack Smith|1997|page=401}} Mussolini was repulsed by the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] agreement where Germany and the [[Soviet Union]] agreed to partition the [[Second Polish Republic]] into German and Soviet zones for an impending invasion. The Fascist government saw this as a betrayal of the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]], but decided to remain officially silent.{{Sfnp|Mack Smith|1997|page=401}}