Moguls and Mandarins

5

Guarding the Bandwagon:

Great Britain, Italy, and Middle Eastern Oil, 1920–1923

In the years following the First World War, when a Middle Eastern peace settlement was being negotiated, Italy was particularly anxious to secure the gains promised by its allies in return for entering the war on the Allied side. Increasingly it felt that it was being denied these gains, while its allies, Great Britain and France, collected their substantial winnings in the Middle East. Continually it tried to climb on the bandwagon, where it had been promised a place, only to have its knuckles rapped by its British driver. By the time it had worn down British resistance to its claims, it was losing interest in them, and when the reluctant offer was finally made, ...