Nazi Germany: History Examined by Robert Smith Thompson & Alan Axelrod

Author:Robert Smith Thompson & Alan Axelrod
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781465475657
Publisher: DK

Despite almost universal condemnation of the raid on Guernica, Hitler reaped one great benefit from it. Up to this time, Benito Mussolini had regarded Hitler with a mixture of pity and contempt. He knew the Führer admired him and sought to emulate his success. Yet he saw Hitler as a clownish upstart, not to be taken altogether seriously. Now, at last, Mussolini (Il Duce, “The Leader,” as he referred to himself) was impressed—impressed and a little afraid. Hitler, it seemed, would stop at nothing.

As we have seen in Chapter 13, Mussolini had reacted with rage to the Dollfuss murder. He felt close to the Dollfuss family and, just as important, he regarded Austria as lying within Italy’s sphere of influence. After all, during its wars of unification in the 1860s, Italy had expelled the Austrians from Lombardy and Venetia; then, with the Paris peace talks of 1919, Italy had acquired Trieste, which had been the major Austro–Hungarian port on the Adriatic. Like a lot of other Italians, Mussolini had begun to regard Austria as almost an Italian colony.

But Guernica changed Mussolini’s thinking. Despite his imperial pretenses, Il Duce knew that, in battle, Italy would be no match for Germany. If Hitler wanted Austria, Mussolini would let it be known, he could have it—and, what’s more, he would welcome an alliance with the Führer.

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