Mussolini on the Riviera — 21 June

Eleven days after entering the war, Benito Mussolini must set the terms of the armistice Italy will impose on France. The offensive launched on 20 June in the Alpes-Maritimes is turning into a fiasco: Olry's army holds its positions, and the Italian troops barely advance despite crushing numerical superiority, in the snow and cold of the high valleys.

The Duce had dreamed of a great prize: Nice, Savoy, Corsica, Tunisia, Djibouti. But two constraints rein him in. His son-in-law Ciano pleads for moderation, so as not to drive the French fleet and Empire into British arms. Above all, Hitler has let him know that he must not demand too much: the Reich wants to spare the future Vichy government in order to make it a docile partner. Hitler, who has just signed his own armistice with France, intends to retain mastery of the settlement and not let his ally compromise his calculations.

Mussolini must arbitrate between the maximalist display that would satisfy his propaganda and a more measured line — between his ambitions for spoils, the failure of the Alpine offensive, and Berlin's position.