Quote:
Originally Posted by Theobald
His foreign policy and territorial demands were quite inspired by the Roman era though : his will to dominate the Mediterranean sea (la nostra mare),
|
In Italian it would be
il nostro mare, or as it was often called in the era
mare nostrum in Latin.
Quote:
|
and to annex all French and British colonies in this area (Egypt, Palestina and Malta; Syria, Tunisia, Eastern Algeria, Corsica and Provence),
|
The case for Malta and Corsica was not imperialistic bur irredentist. Their populations were both considered Italian. I cannot speak for the Corsicans obviously.
I've talked to old Maltese people who were in Italy during Fascist rule and during the war (one even joined the Italian war effort and was subsequently charged with high treason in Malta because he was a subject of the British monarch, his life was saved because the trial was by popular jury) and I was told that Italians back then viewed the Maltese with sympathy, and the authorities actually subsidised heavily Maltese University students in Italy (Italy historically being, the place were further University and artististic studies after their studies in Malta).
I don't know about Corsica, but as far as Malta is concerned in the late 19th century a law was passed in Italy stating the Maltese were
italiani non regnicoli (Italians not belonging to the Kingdom), during fascist rule the King of Italy promulgated a decree specifying that the Maltese were not to be considered as foreigners in relationship to the racial laws forbidding Italians to marry non-Italians. Actually, the law I mentioned before is still in force in Italy (I checked with reputable sources) although the test has been changed to
italiani non appartenenti alla repubblica (Italians not belonging to the republic). The law in question was popularly called
Legge Crispi, after the Italian prime minister that enacted it.
Taking Malta over from the British was also an act of reaffirming the legitimate Italian legal right over Malta, as the British took Malta over by usurpation for the legitimate sovereign was the King of the Two Sicilies betraying their word to return Malta to mentioned kingdom, their supposed allies.