Mussolini seeks status without the cost of naval expansion

Mussolini combined ambitions for Mediterranean predominance with personal control of the navy and air ministry. Naval construction could have served as a major employment program, yet treaty restrictions prevented such expansion at the moment Italy's fascist government might have used it. Mussolini valued attendance at international conferences as proof of Italian great-power status while remaining reluctant to pay the full price of his military aspirations. His imagery of a resurgent great nation may have influenced Hitler's later political theater.