Massimiliano Fiore
Biographic Data
| ID | 5154274 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Massimiliano Fiore |
| GIVEN NAMES | Massimiliano |
| FAMILY NAME | Fiore |
| SIGNATURE | FIORE M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Rabdan Academy |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9744-1130 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Disrupting Arab arms
This article examines Israel’s clandestine campaign in Italy, where a Rome-based sabotage unit conducted a coordinated programme of maritime and industrial disruption. Drawing on newly declassified records, the study reveals how these operations, spanning ports, airfields, and diplomatic circles, became integral to the state’s military strategy. It argues that Italy, which functioned as a Mediterranean hinge, acted as active enabler whose strateg…
Arming a nation
This article examines Italy’s pivotal yet underappreciated role in the clandestine arms procurement and training networks that supported Jewish military preparation before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. While traditional historiography has emphasised Czechoslovakia, Italy emerged earlier and proved more versatile, serving as a critical external source of weapons, personnel, and logistical support. Drawing on multilingual research, this stu…
Mexico’s clandestine role in the arming of Israel, 1948
This article examines Mexico’s underexplored but consequential role in clandestine arms networks supporting Jewish forces before and during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. While scholarship has focused on European supplies and on the US-based procurement, Mexico functioned as a logistical and diplomatic conduit that helped circumvent US export restrictions and neutrality laws. Drawing on multilingual archives, declassified intelligence, and personal t…
Striking the Empire
This article examines the 1946 bombing of the British Embassy in Rome, the first Zionist attack in Europe, which marked a strategic shift in the Irgun’s tactics from localised resistance to an international campaign targeting British interests. By analysing the bombing’s causes, execution, and investigation through newly declassified Italian police records and British intelligence materials, this study situates the attack within the broader frame…
The Quiet Actor
U.S. intelligence assessments of Mexico during the Cold War largely frame the country as a security threat. Using an intelligence agenda framework to identify the nature of a threat, this analysis scrutinizes all the President’s Daily Briefs (pdbs) from 1961 to 1977, revealing that intelligence reports emphasized perceived threats connected with Mexico’s internal affairs nearly eight times more than threats related to Mexico’s connections with st…
The 1942 Garmisch Conference
On 14 and 15 January 1942, a German and Italian maritime strategy conference occurred in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in order to coordinate a joint plan of action for the ongoing conduct of naval warfare. Drawing upon extensive exploration in German and Italian archives, this article challenges coventional wisdom and argues that coordination improved as a consequence of the meeting and that strategic realities, not a lack of intent to coordinate the t…
Effective Naval Diplomacy
On 1 September 1940, the Italian Navy established the Command of the Atlantic Submarine Group in Bordeaux. Between that date and the signing of the armistice on 8 September 1943, 32 Italian submarines sank 109 ships, amounting to a total of 593,864 tons – representing 5.9 per cent of the successes achieved by U-boats in the Atlantic. While Italy’s overall contribution to the Battle of the Atlantic was peripheral, effective naval diplomacy between…
The 1941 Merano Conference
On 13 and 14 February 1941, a German and Italian maritime strategy conference, led by Großadmiral Erich Raeder, C-in-C of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy), and Admiral Arturo Riccardi, his equivalent in the Regia Marina (Italian Navy), occurred in Merano in order to coordinate the ongoing conduct of naval warfare. The Germans wanted more say in the conduct of the Mediterranean war. The Italians came with a shopping list, which included anti-aircraf…
Rome confidential
From 1924 until 1940, two chancery servants at the British Embassy in Rome, passed confidential documents to Italian and Soviet intelligence, and gave Rome and Moscow the ability to read British coded material for a long time. Based on a critical analysis of unpublished archival sources, this article seeks to reconstruct their spying activities and understand their place in the history of intelligence, and to provide an assessment of the prevaili…
The Wingate of the Israeli navy
This article tells the extraordinary story of Fiorenzo Capriotti, the man behind the sinking of the Egyptian flagship the Emir Farouk in October 1948 and the birth of the Israeli navy commando unit. Using the same unconventional technique that the Italian navy special assault unit Decima Flottiglia MAS had pioneered against the British in World War II, the embryonic Israeli navy was able to defeat Egypt’s superior numbers and weaponry. Not only d…
Crucial but Overlooked
Axis land forces overran most of the Crimea in October 1941, but were unable to capture Sevastopol. Realizing that sea power was now necessary, Hitler ordered that light boats be transferred to the Black Sea. However, the Germans did not have a sufficient number of small boats at their disposal and asked the Italians to supply them. Based on a critique of archival sources, this article analyses this little-known aspect of the Black Sea campaign a…
The Neglected Campaign
German and Finnish forces encircled Leningrad in the fall of 1941, but were unable to complete the siege. A passage across Lake Ladoga, through which the Soviets sustained the defence of the city, remained open. To enforce the siege, the German Maritime Warfare Command ordered that light naval forces be transferred to Lake Ladoga. However, the Germans did not have those boats at their disposal and asked the Italians to provide them. Based on a cr…
British Responses to Italian Non-Belligerence, September 1939–June 1940
This article provides an assessment of the British perception of Italy’s reality during the period of non-belligerence and of British political, diplomatic, and military responses from September 1939 to June 1940. It analyses the alternative options available to British political and military officials and evaluates the decisions they took during the period under consideration. It concludes that British political and military officials accurately…
Mission impossible
This article sheds light on a notable first in the history of air power. On 18 October 1940, four Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.82s took off from the Dodecanese Islands in the Eastern Mediterranean, attacked the refinery of Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf and landed safely in Eritrea on the Red Sea coast. It was the longest mission ever carried out in total autonomy of flight and the first three-continent mission in the history of air bombing. This rem…
Anglo-Italian Relations in the Middle East, 1922–1940
Between 1923 and 1934, Britain and Italy waged war by proxy in the Middle East. Behind the appearance of European collaboration, relations between London and Rome in the Red Sea were notably tense. Although realistically Mussolini could not establish or maintain colonies in the Arabian Peninsula in the face of British opposition, his regime undertook a number of initiatives in the region to enhance Italo-Arab relations and to pave the way for fut…
Anglo-Italian Armament Trade Competition in Iraq
This article seeks to shed light on a largely neglected episode in the history of Anglo-Italian imperial competition in the Middle East. Although reference has often been made to the military and commercial aspects of the Italian Air Force Mission to Iraq, very little research has been conducted to uncover the political and strategic consequences of this in the context of Anglo-Italian imperial competition. The Air Force Mission to Iraq was an im…
Arming a nation
This article examines Italy’s pivotal yet underappreciated role in the clandestine arms procurement and training networks that supported Jewish military preparation before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. While traditional historiography has emphasised Czechoslovakia, Italy emerged earlier and proved more versatile, serving as a critical external source of weapons, personnel, and logistical support. Drawing on multilingual research, this stu…
The Wingate of the Israeli navy
This article tells the extraordinary story of Fiorenzo Capriotti, the man behind the sinking of the Egyptian flagship the Emir Farouk in October 1948 and the birth of the Israeli navy commando unit. Using the same unconventional technique that the Italian navy special assault unit Decima Flottiglia MAS had pioneered against the British in World War II, the embryonic Israeli navy was able to defeat Egypt’s superior numbers and weaponry. Not only d…
Anglo-Italian Armament Trade Competition in Iraq
This article seeks to shed light on a largely neglected episode in the history of Anglo-Italian imperial competition in the Middle East. Although reference has often been made to the military and commercial aspects of the Italian Air Force Mission to Iraq, very little research has been conducted to uncover the political and strategic consequences of this in the context of Anglo-Italian imperial competition. The Air Force Mission to Iraq was an im…
Anglo-Italian Relations in the Middle East, 1922–1940
Between 1923 and 1934, Britain and Italy waged war by proxy in the Middle East. Behind the appearance of European collaboration, relations between London and Rome in the Red Sea were notably tense. Although realistically Mussolini could not establish or maintain colonies in the Arabian Peninsula in the face of British opposition, his regime undertook a number of initiatives in the region to enhance Italo-Arab relations and to pave the way for fut…
Mission impossible
This article sheds light on a notable first in the history of air power. On 18 October 1940, four Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.82s took off from the Dodecanese Islands in the Eastern Mediterranean, attacked the refinery of Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf and landed safely in Eritrea on the Red Sea coast. It was the longest mission ever carried out in total autonomy of flight and the first three-continent mission in the history of air bombing. This rem…
Rome confidential
From 1924 until 1940, two chancery servants at the British Embassy in Rome, passed confidential documents to Italian and Soviet intelligence, and gave Rome and Moscow the ability to read British coded material for a long time. Based on a critical analysis of unpublished archival sources, this article seeks to reconstruct their spying activities and understand their place in the history of intelligence, and to provide an assessment of the prevaili…
The Wingate of the Israeli navy
This article tells the extraordinary story of Fiorenzo Capriotti, the man behind the sinking of the Egyptian flagship the Emir Farouk in October 1948 and the birth of the Israeli navy commando unit. Using the same unconventional technique that the Italian navy special assault unit Decima Flottiglia MAS had pioneered against the British in World War II, the embryonic Israeli navy was able to defeat Egypt’s superior numbers and weaponry. Not only d…
Crucial but Overlooked
Axis land forces overran most of the Crimea in October 1941, but were unable to capture Sevastopol. Realizing that sea power was now necessary, Hitler ordered that light boats be transferred to the Black Sea. However, the Germans did not have a sufficient number of small boats at their disposal and asked the Italians to supply them. Based on a critique of archival sources, this article analyses this little-known aspect of the Black Sea campaign a…
The Neglected Campaign
German and Finnish forces encircled Leningrad in the fall of 1941, but were unable to complete the siege. A passage across Lake Ladoga, through which the Soviets sustained the defence of the city, remained open. To enforce the siege, the German Maritime Warfare Command ordered that light naval forces be transferred to Lake Ladoga. However, the Germans did not have those boats at their disposal and asked the Italians to provide them. Based on a cr…
British Responses to Italian Non-Belligerence, September 1939–June 1940
This article provides an assessment of the British perception of Italy’s reality during the period of non-belligerence and of British political, diplomatic, and military responses from September 1939 to June 1940. It analyses the alternative options available to British political and military officials and evaluates the decisions they took during the period under consideration. It concludes that British political and military officials accurately…
The 1942 Garmisch Conference
On 14 and 15 January 1942, a German and Italian maritime strategy conference occurred in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in order to coordinate a joint plan of action for the ongoing conduct of naval warfare. Drawing upon extensive exploration in German and Italian archives, this article challenges coventional wisdom and argues that coordination improved as a consequence of the meeting and that strategic realities, not a lack of intent to coordinate the t…
Effective Naval Diplomacy
On 1 September 1940, the Italian Navy established the Command of the Atlantic Submarine Group in Bordeaux. Between that date and the signing of the armistice on 8 September 1943, 32 Italian submarines sank 109 ships, amounting to a total of 593,864 tons – representing 5.9 per cent of the successes achieved by U-boats in the Atlantic. While Italy’s overall contribution to the Battle of the Atlantic was peripheral, effective naval diplomacy between…
The 1941 Merano Conference
On 13 and 14 February 1941, a German and Italian maritime strategy conference, led by Großadmiral Erich Raeder, C-in-C of the Kriegsmarine (German Navy), and Admiral Arturo Riccardi, his equivalent in the Regia Marina (Italian Navy), occurred in Merano in order to coordinate the ongoing conduct of naval warfare. The Germans wanted more say in the conduct of the Mediterranean war. The Italians came with a shopping list, which included anti-aircraf…
Striking the Empire
This article examines the 1946 bombing of the British Embassy in Rome, the first Zionist attack in Europe, which marked a strategic shift in the Irgun’s tactics from localised resistance to an international campaign targeting British interests. By analysing the bombing’s causes, execution, and investigation through newly declassified Italian police records and British intelligence materials, this study situates the attack within the broader frame…
The Quiet Actor
U.S. intelligence assessments of Mexico during the Cold War largely frame the country as a security threat. Using an intelligence agenda framework to identify the nature of a threat, this analysis scrutinizes all the President’s Daily Briefs (pdbs) from 1961 to 1977, revealing that intelligence reports emphasized perceived threats connected with Mexico’s internal affairs nearly eight times more than threats related to Mexico’s connections with st…
Disrupting Arab arms
This article examines Israel’s clandestine campaign in Italy, where a Rome-based sabotage unit conducted a coordinated programme of maritime and industrial disruption. Drawing on newly declassified records, the study reveals how these operations, spanning ports, airfields, and diplomatic circles, became integral to the state’s military strategy. It argues that Italy, which functioned as a Mediterranean hinge, acted as active enabler whose strateg…
Arming a nation
This article examines Italy’s pivotal yet underappreciated role in the clandestine arms procurement and training networks that supported Jewish military preparation before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. While traditional historiography has emphasised Czechoslovakia, Italy emerged earlier and proved more versatile, serving as a critical external source of weapons, personnel, and logistical support. Drawing on multilingual research, this stu…
Mexico’s clandestine role in the arming of Israel, 1948
This article examines Mexico’s underexplored but consequential role in clandestine arms networks supporting Jewish forces before and during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. While scholarship has focused on European supplies and on the US-based procurement, Mexico functioned as a logistical and diplomatic conduit that helped circumvent US export restrictions and neutrality laws. Drawing on multilingual archives, declassified intelligence, and personal t…
Political science (13 works) · History (11 works) · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society (10 works) · Ancient history (9 works) · History (8 works) · Law (8 works) · European history and politics (6 works) · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Politics (6 works)