Mare Nostrum Mediterranean Fleet, with bases in UK-controlled Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Egypt, and Mandatory Palestine remained the only threat to Italian naval power in the Mediterranean. The invasions of Albania, Greece and Egypt, and the Siege of Malta sought to extend Axis control over the Sea. This policy was so far-reaching and potentially intrusive, that it threatened neutral nations like Turkey, a threat that İsmet İnönü, the president of Turkey at the time of war, countered by promising to enter the war only if the Soviet Union joined the Allies. Mussolini dreamed of creating an Imperial Italy in his "Mare Nostrum" and
Bernard Romans Troubles in the Netherlands", and the first volume was in the bookstores in January 1779. The second volume did not appear until 1782. On January 28, 1779, Romans married Elizabeth Whiting of Wethersfield, Connecticut, who was just 19 years old. A son, Hubertus Romans, was born on October 23, 1779. Romans joined the Southern Campaign in 1780. It is not clear what Romans's assignment was to be, but an application for a pension filed by Elizabeth Romans in 1848 states that Romans "was ordered to go to the State of South Carolina, there to join the Southern Army". The ship