The least agreeable of the Roman emperors, and mad at that: the role of intelligence in the formation of the British policy toward fascist Italy, 1935-1940
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2012
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Abstract
Britain pursued a form of appeasement with Italy in the late 1930s. This has not be sufficiently studied, nor adequately integrated into the historiography of British diplomacy in the interwar period. This work examines the role of intelligence within the formation of British policy toward Italy from 1935-1940. It does so by using for the first time the intelligence record that influenced policy-makers. In particular, it analyzes the circumstances of Foreign Minister Anthony Eden's resignation from Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's government in 1938 in opposition to Italian appeasement. It argues that Eden's position was based not on dislike of Mussolini or antiÂItalian feeling, but on his reasonable interpretation of open evidence and his careful reading of good but ambiguous intelligence. Chamberlain was convinced of his course and abilities, read intelligence incorrectly, circumvented the Foreign Office, forced Eden's resignation, and thereby undermined British diplomacy in pursuing his doomed efforts at appeasement.
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Bibliography: p. 151-155
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Hefler, H. M. (2012). The least agreeable of the Roman emperors, and mad at that: the role of intelligence in the formation of the British policy toward fascist Italy, 1935-1940 (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/4905