Evening star., 1926-01-17
ITALY SEEKS EXPANSION j..
TO HOLD PLACE AS POWER
Mussolini's Goal Is to Replace Turks
in Anatolia and Build Up Great
Colonial Empire.


France or Britain, as very Old coun-
try inhabited by people who have
shared In common history for many,
| many centuries. Certainly in art, III
erature, science. the Italian contribu-
| ton has been verv great. but politt
! cally Italy has never existed in mod
ern times. Remember, too, II we fight
socialism today, It is precisely for the
same reason our grandfathers quar-
relied with the church; not because Of
| religion, for we are and remain Cath
ole, but because the church In Italy
two generations ago was anti
| national"
Now, without seeking 10 submit this
! estimate to a quantitative analysis tC
| determine how far IL represents per
sonal and how far a general belief, II
| Is at least clear that # it is but par
| TALLY accurate, one must still expect
| something significant and disturbing
from the Italy which will presently
emerge from the cotemporary phase
Invariably the period of perfect fusion
has led to the overflow of the newly
nationalized people across It's from
tiers. Spain, France, Germany, not
to mention Britain, have all passed
through the stage.
Position Intolerable.
1t Is clear. too, that most Italians
regard the present position Of Italy In
the world as intolerable. Italy is e
great power. given her population
She Ia too strategtcaIly in the center
OF the Mediterranean, and toward the
east she faces the part of Europe and
of Africa and Asia as well where the
most striking developments In inter
national affairs may come In the next
two generations.
What, then, is the newly united
Italy, driven alike by the spur Of
! national sentiment and by the goad Of
national necessity, going 70 strive for
The question is difficult TO answer, be
cause the Italian future is marked
not by one obvious possibility but BY
several. But quite rs clearly across
all pathways there lie certain patent
barriers. The lands which Italy would
take are nowhere vacant; the roads
she would follow are not alone barred,
but are also indicated as the lines Of
expansion Of other ambitious peoples,
To begin with, Italy may decide TO
contest with France the position occu,
pied by France in the western Medj-
terranean and on the north coast o.
Africa. Corsica, Tunis, Algeria, ever
Morocco. not to mention Nice, are re
gions which belong to Roman history
| They offer, particularly the African
elements, the field for considerable
colonization. Moreover, while Oran.
Algiers and BiZerta remain French
the Italian outlet to the open oceans
is blocked. Italy. then, with a popu-
lation increasing more rapidly than
that Of France, might challenge
French dominance here. Yet inevt
tably the challenge would extend -
Britain. for Britain at Gibraltar, suez
and Malta similarly controls Italian
| sea lanes.
Italian Domination Unlikely.
Italians resent this French and Brit
ish position In the western Mediterra-
mean. The feeling between France
and Italy is seldom kindly and fre-
quently bitter III the extreme. But to
fight France, to attempt to conquer
Tunis or Algeria, this would be to
run frightful risks elsewhere, and 81
would involve ultimate struggle With
the Arabs and Berbers of north Africa
If the French garrisons and colonists
were driven out. Above all, just az
Germany would find Britain at the
back Of France If now or hereafter
she sought to come west across the
Rhine. Italy would find Britain at tbs
back of the French if she sought to-
revolutionize the situation in the west
ern Mediterranean. Italian domina-
ton Of the Mediterranean would be as
dangerous for Britain as German ap
pearance at the channel
One the whole. then, an Italian con
test with FranCe-the adoption b,
Italy OF d definite line of policy which
would insure ultimate collision with
yrance and could only succeed as
italian power was erected on the ruins
of French-is unlikely. It Is unlikely
because OF the reasons | have cited
1t Is the more unlikely because OF the
dangers which would flow from such
policy elsewhere, particularly be-
cause of the Slav allies France would
instantly acquire. To seek TO retalte
Nice from France would risk the loss
Of Trieste. II not to the Jusoslavs'
then to the Germans.
Near Eastern Policy.
The SECOND Tine of Italian policy Is
plainly 10 seek the dominant position
in the Near East-to become the con
trolling influence all the way from
Vienna to Constantinople and at the
same time in the Aegean and on the
coasts of Asia Minor to seek to build
up a real Italian colonial empire
But first of all it is essential to the
Italians that Germany shall not come
south. The union OF Austria with
Germany would at one moment
threaten Trieste On the Adriatio ana
destroy Italian influence in the Da
nubian area.
Once Austria were Joined TO Ger
many the Reich would touch from
tiers with Hungary. 1t would be able
by throwing its support to the Hun
garian demand for a restoration or
the old Magyar millennial empire. to
insure the support or 1U,UUU,UUU Hun
garians. Its territory would alnosr
surround CZechoslovaka. 1t nIighr
then again take up the march to Hs-
loniki and to Trieste, to the restore-
ton Of the Mitteleuropa which the
war for u moment created.
Italy must then, to bar the way to
German expansion southwark, draw
into her orbit the two Slav states OF
lJugoslavia and CZechoslovakia. She
must in reality become the basic
power In some new alliance which
shall have as its central object this
defense Of the status quo. If she is
to bar German advance along the
Danube she must have French sup
port. That, after all, is the logic and
the solid reason why Italy signed the
Locarno agreement.
Explains Treaty of RapslIO Also.
1t is the reason, too. why Italy nads
the treaty Of RapaIlo with the Jugo-
slavs. Nothing i'll all Mussolini's
policy has been more surprising to the
Western nations than his deliberats
avoidance Of q break and a quarrel
with the Jugoslavs and his ultimats
agreement with them in the treaty
of Rapallo and the later agreement
Of Rome. Italy must recognize GER
tain aspirations Of the southern SlavD
or reckon on their permanent hos
tility-reckon on their being ulti-
| mately drawn into the German orbit
! 1t Is a bitter thing to have to re
nounce Observation-Disclosures than &c
have to renounce Nice-but to regain
Nice, to acquire Dalmatia, Italy would
! have to surrender her freedom of