Common Destiny: Dictatorship, Foreign Policy, and War in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany

278 Pages·2000·2.038 MB·English

by  MacGregor Knox

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COMMON DESTINY
This book offers a genuinely comparative analysis of the dictatorships
that launched the Second World War: their origins, nature, dynamics,
and common ruin. It seeks to understand their similarities and differ-
ences historically, without recourse to failed generic concepts such as
“fascism.” The result is an unconventional and compelling analytical
overview from territorial unification in the 1860s to national catastro-
phe in 1943/45 that places Fascism and Nazism firmly in the tradition
of revolutionary mass politics inaugurated in the French Revolution.
Set within that overview are three chapters that interpret and explain
Mussolini’s poorly understood foreign policy and the character and
performance of the military instruments upon which Fascist and Nazi
success chiefly depended – the Italian and German armies. The chap-
ter on the German army and the conclusion – which dissects the caus-
es of the notable disparities between the two dictatorships in expan-
sionist appetite, fighting power, and staying power – argue that a
unique synthesis of Prusso-German military tradition and Nazi revo-
lution propelled Germany’s fight to the last cartridge in 1944-45.
MacGregor Knox is Stevenson Professor of International History at
the London School of Economics and Political Science, and is writing
a comparative history of the Italian and German dictatorships. His
other works on Fascist and National Socialist foreign and military
policies include Mussolini Unleashed, 1939-1941: Politics and Strategy in
Fascist Italy’s Last War.
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COMMON DESTINY
Dictatorship, Foreign Policy, and War in
Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany
MacGregor Knox
TheLondonSchoolofEconomicsandPoliticalScience
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi
Cambridge University Press
32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521747172
©MacGregor Knox 2000
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2000
First paperback edition 2009
Printed in the United States of America
Acatalog recordfor this publication is available from the British Library.
Libraryof Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Knox, MacGregor.
Common destiny: dictatorship, foreign policy, and war in
Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany / MacGregor Knox.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0 521 58208 3
1. Fascism – Italy – History. 2. Italy – Foreign relations – 1922–1946.
3. Italy – Politics and government – 1922–1945. 4. National socialism –
History.5. Germany – Foreign relations – 1933–1945. 6. Germany – Politics
and government – 1933–1945. I. Title.
DG571.K63 2000
943.08–dc21 99-16896
CIP
ISBN 978-0-521-58208-7 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-74717-2 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in
this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Information regarding prices, travel
timetables, and other factual information given in this work are correct at
the time of first printing, but Cambridge University Press does not guarantee
the accuracy of such information thereafter.
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for Tina
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments page ix
List of abbreviations xiii
Introduction: War and revolution in Europe, 1789–1945 1
Part I. Origins and dynamics
1 Italy and Germany from unification to militant
dictatorship, 1860–1933 7
2 Conquest, foreign and domestic, in Fascist Italy and
Nazi Germany 53
Part II. Foreign policies and military instruments
3 Fascism and Italian foreign policy: Continuity and break 113
4 The Italian army at war, 1940–43: A study in
combat effectiveness 148
5 The Prussian idea of freedom and the “career open to
talent”: Battlefield initiative and social ascent from
Prussian reform to Nazi revolution, 1807–1944 186
Conclusion: Expansionist zeal, fighting power, and
staying power in the Italian and German dictatorships 227
Frequently Cited Works 240
Index 247
vii
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