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The ‘Northern Dominator’ and the Mare Nostrum: Fascist Italy's ‘Cultural War’ in Malta

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Claudia Baldoli
Claudia Baldoli*
Affiliation:
School of Historical Studies, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
*
∗Email: claudia.baldoli@ncl.ac.uk
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Abstract

Within the wider attempt to transform Italian communities abroad into Fascist colonies, the Italian Fasci Abroad sought to build nationalist propaganda in the Mediterranean. The irredentist activities and the propaganda of the Fasci in Malta alarmed the British governors on the island, the British government and MI5. This article analyses the cultural conflict organised in Maltese schools, bookshops and universities by the Italian nationalists against the British protectorate–a conflict the British suspected could be followed by military activity, in particular when Italy began building its empire in Ethiopia. The nationalist offensive was supported in the 1920s and, more vigorously, in the 1930s by the Fasci, the Italian consulate on the island and, ultimately, the Italian government. Not even the Second World War and the bombing of Malta by the Italian air force concluded the conflict between Italian and British imperialism on the island.

Keywords

Italian fascismMaltaBritish imperialismCatholic religion
Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , February 2008 , pp. 5 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

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