Malta’s impact on Anglo-Italian relations, 1934-1939

Abstract

When it came to choosing a topic for the dissertation, the choice was quite clear from the start. I am, and always have been, deeply interested in the more contemporary history. The past one hundred years or so were certainly trying times for the European continent, as it was characterised by conflicts, scattered throughout the century. One may argue that the most famous of these conflicts was indeed the Second World War, which consumed the majority of Europe, and by extension, the world, into a most deadly quarrel. However, while most of the attention is normally granted to either the Axis or the Allied forces, there is often little mention of the Maltese islands. Despite this, aside from being a formidable British stronghold in the Mediterranean, most history books rarely venture beyond this point. Malta was a hot point of contention, however subtle, between two major players: Britain and Italy. This dissertation, therefore, aims to explore Malta’s influence and impact on the relations between these two powers. While it is impossible to cram such a vast subject into a mere dissertation, I divided this work into three main topics which, to my mind, stood out the most. The first chapter is dedicated to the influence of language and culture, which proved to be especially zealous for the two camps who essentially battled for dominance: the Italian camp who argued that their sentiments had been long-established, and therefore deserved a position worthy of its supposed superiority, and the British sphere, which was intent of bringing a change which better suited their status as colonisers. The second chapter deals with the elements of the press, which was also a sensitive subject during the time, as often times it became an issue of wariness due to the damage it could have between the camps, much less the possible censorship which was considered. That chapter also delved into the elements of propaganda, which became more and more pronounced towards the end of the period under this study. Finally, the third chapter concerns the espionage activities of both the Italian and the British sides. Much attention is given to the strict measures imposed by the Defence Security Officer at the time, which fuelled a sense of uneasiness by the two camps. In a way, this chapter is very much representative of the degradation of relations between the two sides, especially towards the end of the 1930s. Despite all this, however, I feel that this is merely a drop in the bucket in terms of the potential future research one may undertake surrounding this subject.