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Articles

• Sfika-Theodosiou, Angeliki

Italy’s fundamental concern when it agreed to take part in theAllied military operation in Macedonia was to implement initiatives inAlbanian territory in order to secure itself a springboard in the Balkans.A limited Italian force was sent to Thessaloniki so that Italy would notbe excluded from the post-war distribution of territory, but the countryplayed a more substantial part in facilitating Allied transport and communicationsvia its own territory. The Italian presence in Thessaloniki was marked by concerted efforts to win over the city’s large Jewishcommunity with a view to future commercial infiltration of the area.Not surprisingly, Rome’s policy in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterraneanin general brought it into conflict with Greek interests, andwith Venizelos in particular, whom Rome regarded as an obstacle to itsown expansionist plans.

• History and Archaeology

• Ιστορία

Ιταλική παρουσία στα Βαλκάνια

This article is a revised version of a paper delivered at the XVIth Panhellenic HistoryConference of the Hellenic Historical Society (Thessaloniki, May 1995).