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This is a very well-researched and well-written account of what Prof. Gabrielli of the la Sapienza University, Rome, once described as 'one of the briefest empires in the history of the world'. Fascism's short-lived European empire consisted of territories which were conquered or otherwise acquired between March 1939 and June 1941 around the Mediterranean - in south-eastern France, Corsica, parts of present-day Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzogovina, Montenegro, Albania, a part of Kosovo, and most of western and central Greece - and which Fascist Italy occupied until the fall of Mussolini in July 1943.
Rodogno convincingly argues the case that, despite its brevity, this should be seen as a period of imperial rule rather than a short-term military occupation, which is how it has largely been described by historians hitherto. In particular, he argues that Italian dominion over parts of France, Corsica, Albania, as well as Yugoslavia and Greece, was an aspect of a clear plan for a 'new order' in its spazio vitale (living space), which was strongly influenced by Fascist ideas of Italian racial superiority. Within this emerging 'Second Roman Empire', the various nations and peoples would each have their place according to clearly defined racial criteria, in varying degrees of subordination to the 'imperial race', the Italians. The Fascists had an integrated plan for the future of the Mediterranean, including countries not yet conquered, like Egypt, Spain, and Turkey. And their confidence that, despite defeats in North Africa, they would be able to stabilize their...