Italy was among the victorious powers of the First World War. But the weakness of the state and very modest military successes did not make it possible to reap the benefits of victory. Part of the territories claimed by the kingdom went to the new state of Yugoslavia. There was discontent in Italian society. A humiliated sense of national dignity led extreme nationalists led by Benito Mussolini to power. The Duce declared the Mediterranean Sea his property. and Italian interests began to intersect with French ones. An arms race has begun. Restrictions on the construction of battleships under the Washington Agreement and the difficult economic situation of France and Italy led to the fact that this competition became a cruiser-destroyer competition.