Italy entered the war far weaker industrially than Britain

Evidence

Britain and Italy faced a similar problem, albeit from completely diff erent positions. Britain was the world’s fi rst industrial power; Italy was still a largely agricultural country that had only recently begun industrializing, and its young capitalism was still highly dependent on foreign capital and imports. On the eve of the war, Italy’s GDP (only a quarter of which was industrial) was less than half of Britain’s. In 1913 Britain produced nine times more steel than Italy, and for other raw materials the disproportion was even greater. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 119

Categorization

• XREF: Sets up the two-nation comparison that anchors the whole book; connects to Mattei’s core ‘capital order’ thesis about austerity deployed from different starting positions. — connects to: Italian wartime nationalization produced military output surpassing Britain’s cannon production. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 197; Industrial production decided WWII in favor of developed economies over fascist regimes — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1641; World War I turned British and Italian states into their economies’ chief producers — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 215 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Industrial production decided WWII in favor of developed economies over fascist regimes #expands (0.75) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1641