La geopolitica tedesca e il tramonto dell'asse Roma-Berlino

In spring 1944 Karl Haushofer drafted a manuscript entitled «Italien als wehrpolitisches Führungsproblem» (Italy as a problem of political and military leadership). It was the first and only analysis of the Italian military situation and the ending of the Axis made by German geopolitics during the war. Between digressions on the features of the Italian landscape and reconstructions of military campaigns from the battle of Fornovo to Napoleonic Wars and the Risorgimento, Haushofer dealt with the most thorny issues at stake, such as the Italian betrayal and German strategic opportunities in the occupied country. Eventually, the Nazi censors did not permit publication, and the manuscript remained buried in the archives of the German Ministry of foreign affairs. This so far unpublished work of Haushofer is here translated in Italian and commented, offering an unusual view on the attitude of German geopolitics towards both Italy and Fascism.