A Different Role for Europe in the Middle East: Italy’s Experience

Abstract

In the summer of 1945, when war in Europe had just ended, Italy’s position on the international scene was, to put it mildly, extremely uncertain. As a former enemy and a too recent co-belligerent of the winners, Italy had enormous problems to solve and, apparently, very little hope of taking her place again among the European powers. Her two traditional areas of interest, Europe and the Mediterranean, were certainly going to be arranged according to the will of the Allies, with little consideration for Italy’s wishes. The Italians could count on the friendship of the United States but also on the hostility of Great Britain, which had fought a war with Italy for the Mediterranean and was now in a punitive mood over such issues as the Italian colonies, including Libya, and Trieste.