Italy hopes war will bring new Roman Empire, 1940

This map, published on the eve of Italy's entry in the War, "presents a neutral if not actually sympathetic summary of Italy's war aims," and even refers to Mussolini by his preferred fascist honorific, "Il Duce." Both the text at the lower left and the bird's-eye view of the central Mediterranean create the impression of Italian goals limited to modest gains in North Africa and the Adriatic.