Mussolini's War

Oct 3, 2024 11:24 AM

Author:John Gooch

Mussolini's War

WINNER OF THE 2021 DUKE OF WELLINGTON MEDAL FOR MILITARY HISTORY

A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020

From an acclaimed military historian, the definitive account of Italy's experience of the Second World War

While staying closely aligned with Hitler, Mussolini remained carefully neutral until the summer of 1940. Then, with the wholly unexpected and sudden collapse of the French and British armies, Mussolini declared war on the Allies in the hope of making territorial gains in southern France and Africa. This decision proved a horrifying miscalculation, dooming Italy to its own prolonged and unwinnable war, immense casualties and an Allied invasion in 1943 which ushered in a terrible new era for the country.

John Gooch's new book is the definitive account of Italy's war experience. Beginning with the invasion of Abyssinia and ending with Mussolini's arrest, Gooch brilliantly portrays the nightmare of a country with too small an industrial sector, too incompetent a leadership and too many fronts on which to fight.

Everywhere - whether in the USSR, the Western Desert or the Balkans - Italian troops found themselves against either better-equipped or more motivated enemies. The result was a war entirely at odds with the dreams of pre-war Italian planners - a series of desperate improvizations against Allies who could draw on global resources and against whom Italy proved helpless.

This remarkable book rightly shows the centrality of Italy to the war, outlining the brief rise and disastrous fall of the Italian military campaign.

'It is hard to imagine a finer account, both of the sweep of Italy's wars, and of the characters caught up in them' Caroline Moorhead, The Guardian

Reviews

John Gooch knows more about 20th-century Italy than perhaps anyone else in Britain ... He paints a record of appalling brutality, epic incompetence ... There are echoes of the madness of Benito Mussolini in outpourings that we hear daily from several world capitals, among them Washington. Listen, and be afraid.

—— Max Hastings , Sunday Times

A meticulous, skilful account ... it is hard to imagine a finer account, both of the sweep of Italy's wars, and of the characters caught up in them.

—— Caroline Moorhead , Guardian

An important book, adding much to our knowledge of Italy's baleful contribution to the conflicts of the 1930s and 1940s ... a work of meticulous scholarship.

—— Saul David , The Times

Lucid ... diligently researched ... an exceptionally detailed portrait.

—— Ian Thomson , The Spectator

Excellent ... This detailed military history shows the long arc of strategic ineptitude.

—— Richard Overy , Times Literary Supplement

An impressive achievement . . . a fast-paced, gripping read

—— Julia Boyd, author of 'Travellers in the Third Reich'

A great read . . . he brings Barbarossa very vividly to life, as if you are there

—— Robert Kershaw, author of 'War Without Garlands: Operation Barbarossa 1941-1942' and 'Borodino Field 1812/1941'

Thought-provoking . . . a captivating eye-opener

—— Prof Dr Gerhard Hirschfeld, University of Stuttgart, former President of the International Committee for the Study of the Second World War

Superbly well-written . . . the most comprehensive study of Hitler's invasion of the USSR in years

—— Keith Lowe, author of 'Savage Continent'

Expertly narrated and written with piercing clarity

—— Frederick Taylor, author of '1939: A People's History'

A chilling account of war at its worst

—— Bear Grylls

Superb . . . stays with you long after you have finished

—— Henry Hemming, bestselling author of 'Our Man in New York'

Brilliant . . . a wonderful piece of history

—— Robert Fox

Epic . . . captures all of Barbarossa's drama and magnitude

—— Martin Sixsmith

Brings to life the sheer, staggering scale of these events... with great skill, care and attention to detail

—— Keith Lowe , Sunday Times

[An] encyclopedic new account... a vivid, meticulous tapestry, densely weaving the threads of German and Soviet military strategy, political calculation from Washington and London to Moscow, and war's pitiless human cost

—— Julian Evans , The Telegraph

[Dimbleby] skilfully tracks the shifts and turns of the campaign, sparing no detail . . . a riveting account

—— Tony Rennell , Daily Mail, Book of the Week

Dimbleby tells the story of strategic miscalculation and (self-)deception on all sides, and then Hitler's 'war of extermination', magnificently

—— Allan Mallinson , The Spectator

Amazing . . . fascinating

—— Jeremy Vine

My best history book of 2021 -- a masterful account of maybe the biggest event ever . . . essential!

—— Lee Child

A very open and honest account of a centenarian's life . . . You cannot help but be amazed

—— Who Do You Think You Are?

Embark on an enchanting journey into our country's past hundred years through the remarkable life of Captain Sir Tom Moore

—— Eastern Daily Press

This minute-by-minute retelling tackles the big questions, but also - by drawing on the letters and diaries from the Dresden City Archive - never loosed sight of the experiences of people who witnessed, and suffered, the attach first-hand

—— BBC History Revealed, Book of the Month

It's a wonderful book, so absorbing, thoughtful and thought provoking, I didn't want it to end

—— Maureen Waller, author of London 1945: Life in the Debris of War

The story of the Allied bombing of Dresden in 1945 is well known, but McKay's searing account is in a league of its own. His research is first-class, his writing elegant and emotive. He is brilliant at portraying the city's prewar beauty, grimly powerful on the horror of the firestorm, and moving and thoughtful about Dresden's rise from the ashes. By the end, I was itching to jump on a flight to Germany. That tells you about the skill and spirit of this terrific book

—— Dominic Sandbrook , The Times/Sunday Times Books of the Year

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