The Regia Marina faced a Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet that could exceed it, a French fleet of comparable strength, and smaller powers capable of resistance. Italy's long cultural history but recent political unification intensified the desire to demonstrate great-power status. The mismatch encouraged claims of Mediterranean mastery that the available fleet could not securely enforce. Mussolini's short-term instincts and factional competition inside the Fascist system then made foreign and defense policy volatile rather than strategically consistent.
Chapter · 1:01:28-1:11:29
Mare Nostrum ambition exceeds coherent policy
Mussolini's claim to Mediterranean mastery confronted rival fleets and a foreign policy that shifted with factional influence.