MOSSOLINI. Un Dictateur en Guerre

We already know all about the « political » Mussolini, but nothing had been written until now about the Duce
at war. This is the first overview of the subject.

For many complex reasons, and despite his martial character and matador attitude, Mussolini is undoubtedly the politician at the helm during the Second World War who is the most scorned from a military point of view. Among the defeated, and without the benefit of a myth such as that surrounding the effectiveness of the Wehrmacht, Mussolini's actions never seemed worthy of serious study. Wrong.
Based on research in the Italian, French and American archives, Max Schiavon has set out to elucidate what was indeed crucial to the Italian dictator: his military ambition. In fact, the Duce had known war his entire life. Having fought and been wounded in the First World War, he would then develop his own strategic thinking
(focused on the Mediterranean) that he began to implement once he was in power. This is what Max Schiavon skillfully recounts, revealing on one hand the dictator's actions and his psychology, and on the other, how the warrior phenomenon was central to Fascism.

A historian and an army officer, MAX SCHIAVON was the head of research at the Service Historique de la Défense (SHD), the French government's military archives. Author of several books on military history, including Le Front d'Orient (The Eastern Front) (Tallandier, 2014).