Fascist Foreign Policy

Question 1

Aims of Mussolini’s Foreign Policy

Answer 1

Assert Italy’s position as a world power
Standing up for Italy’s territorial gains
Overcome the shame of Versailles / Mutilated Victory
Consolidate rule in Libya
Restore power in the Mediterranean Sea.
Aggressive pursuit of Irredentism

Question 2

Events of the Corfu Crisis

Answer 2

August 1923
Telleni murdered whilst drawing borders between Greece + Albania
Mussolini threatened to invade Corfu if the Greeks did not pay 50 million lire and attend a funeral.
Italy bombardered Corfu + occupied the island
LoN demanded that Mussolini withdrew from Corfu
Italy withdraw (Sep. 1923) from Corfu
Italy recieve 50 million demanded from Greece

Question 3

Significance of Corfu

Answer 3

Confrontation of Greece annoyed LoN
Mussolini began to negociate > aggressive fp (1920s)
Demonstrated that M was a dynamic / decisive leader

Question 4

Yugoslavia - 1924

Answer 4

Fiume recognised as a part of Italy
Popular achievement due D’Annunzio
Fiume was no longer needed by Yugoslavia - less significant
Not a significant achievement internationally

Question 5

Locarno Treaty

Answer 5

1925
Settled Germany’s western borders.
Mussolini attempts to achieves irredentism aims.
His invite was largely significant

Question 6

Italy / Albania

Answer 6

1925-8
Mussolini supports King Zog I’s accession
Albania becomes an Italian protectorate

Question 7

Italy / Africa

Answer 7

Continued brutal war against Libya
‘Pacification of Libya’ - poison gas, 1/3 of Libyan population killed or starved.
Put down Libyan Rebellion (1932)

Question 8

Evaluation of Mussolini’s FP before 1934

Answer 8

Successful in achieving its aims
Increased domestic popularity
Depicted Mussolini as a strong leader
Limited success with aggressive Mediteranean policy.

Question 9

Relations with Britain

Answer 9

Historically strong
Mussolini good relations with key politicans (eg. Churchill + A. Chamberlain).
Britain supported Italy in Albania (in return for help in Turkey)
Worked together at Locarno (1925)
British unwilling to compromise in Mediterranean
Italy could not stand up to B Navy in Corfu (1923)
Mussolini support pro-italian groups in Malta (British).
British govt. provided funds for Lira revaluation (1927)
Italian - British relations were friendly / ambigous

Question 10

Relations with France

Answer 10

Many antifascists settled in France (Paris).
French disliked OVRA operation in France
Mussolini viewed France as a rival to Mediterranean + African ambitions.
French fear Italian take over in Tunisia (larger italian population).
Worked with French at Locarno (1925)
Potential for anti-french alliance with Germany, Spain and Hungary.

Question 11

Relations with Germany

Answer 11

Mussolini disliked the Weimar - believed it was run by socialists.
Supported nationalist groups
Feared Anschluss
Supported a revision of the ToV
Hitler openly praised Mussolini / exchanged letters
Hitler promised a Italian-German alliance
Tensions rose when Dolfuss was killed by Austrian Nazis
Mussolini denounced Anschluss +mobilised troops on the Austrian Border
Hitler did not support the attempted Coup in Austria

Question 12

Four Power Pact

Answer 12

Signed 15th July 1933 - never ratified (Britian / France)
Mussolini hoped to appease / control Germany
Promised Germany parity of arms
Hoped to undermine LoN
Czechoslavakia / Polan feared German expansion

Question 13

Stressa Front

Answer 13

1935
March - Hitler declares rearmament
April - Mussolini meets w Britain + France

Outcome - statement from I + B + F = desire for peace + continued commitment to LoN.

Mussolini believed he had reached an implicit agreement with B+F to support Italy in Africa

Question 14

Motivation to invade Abyssinia

Answer 14

War-contracts / planning boosted the economy
Pursuit of Autarky
Southern Peasants could move to Abyssinia
Radicalisation
Add to Italian prestige

Question 15

Events in Abyssinia

Answer 15

October 1935
400,000 men invade Abyssinia, quickly seizing Adawa
Badogolio engaged in a brutal war eg. poison
5th May (1936) - Italians enter Addis Ababa, Mussolini makes a victory speech listened to by 20 million.

Question 16

Consequence of Abyssinia (Positive)

Answer 16

Limited sanctions by LoN, did not close Suez
Sanctions provided good propaganda for Fascism
Dec 1935 - Gold for the country
High point in Mussolini’s dictatorship - new Caesar

Question 17

Consequences of Abyssinnia (Negative)

Answer 17

Abyssinia was not fully conquered (2/3 not)
Large costs involved with maintaining 250,000 men
Only 130,000 Italians settled in Abyssinia
Lacked raw materials - limited autarky progress
Export markets did not develop
Lira devalued by 40%
16 billion lira budget deficit
Harmed international reputation - brutal warfare
Weakness of LoN
Trade shifted away from B + F to G.

Question 18

Reasons for intervention in Spanish Civil War

Answer 18

Nazism + Fascism fighting together
Potential strategic ally (Franco)
Naval bases in Spain
Spread authoritarian nationalism
Repeat domestic support gained from Abyssinia
Add to Cult of il Duce.

Question 19

Actions in Spanish Civil War

Answer 19

1936
Mussolini sent 50,000 soldiers + 1,400 pilots into Spain
In 1939, Franco was victorious

Question 20

Effect of Spanish Civil War

Answer 20

3,200 soldiers killed + 11,000 wounded
Longer war than expected
Costed 14bn Lira
Foreign currency reserves halved
No Naval concessions
Italian army was defeated by volunteer forces at the Battle of Guadalajara (1937).
Britain and France became less likely allies
Growing tendency towards Germany

Question 21

Evaluation of Spanish Civil War

Answer 21

Costly
Unneccessary
Failed to make significant gains from Franco’s victory

Question 22

Why did Nazis + Fascists become closer ?

Answer 22

Shared ideological traits
Informal Berlin-Rome Axis announced in Nov. 1936
German economy capitalised on Italian failure
Italy became largely reliant on German exports
1937 - Mussolini visits Germany, 800,000 attend speech
Nov 1937 - Anti-Commitern Pact (also anti-british ideas)
Dec. 1937 - Mussolini withdraws from LoN
Anschluss demonstrated that Hitler was stronger
Munich conference, Mussolini puppet to Hitler

Question 23

Growing Domestic Tensions

Answer 23

Triumph of Abyssinia wore off
Between 1935-39, 80% of Italian Govt. spending was on military - unpopular.
Autarky had made consumer products more expensive
Battle for Grain - worsening diet
1939 - commerical treaty w Germany = 1/2 mil Italian workers in Germany by 1945 - hated policy
1938 anti-semetic decree + ‘customs reform’, such as the goosestep - unpopular.
Mussolini was growing older - 55, not youthful dynamic

However Mussolini was still largely popular - many young people had only lived within fascism.

Question 24

Invasion of Albania (motivation + events)

Answer 24

1939
Albania had attempted to become less dependent upon Italian support - eg. investment from Japan
It was believed that invading Albania would support the Italian economy.
In April - Mussolini invaded Albania, King Zog fled

Question 25

Significance of Albanian Invasion

Answer 25

Showed weakness of the Italian army - unorganised between army/navy/airforce + unfamiliar weapons
Italy was percieved as an aggressive military nation

Question 26

Pact of Steel

Answer 26

May 1939
Mussolini agrees to previously declined full alliance with Nazi Germany.
The pact was drafted by the Germans
Key Point - Italy would provide full support if Germany chose to go to war.

Question 27

Significance of Pact of Steel

Answer 27

Ciano made it clear to Germany that Italy would not be ready for war until 1943 + Ribbentrop agreed to this.

On August 11th, Hitler announced his plans to invade Poland.

Question 28

Issues with declaring neutrality

Answer 28

Italy was not ready to enter war in 1939
Hitler signs the Nazi-Soviet Pact, breaking the anti-commitern pact.
Declaring neutrality contradicted Fascist ideology.
Reptition of WW1 intervention crisis - unpopular

Question 29

Mussolini’s response to Hitler’s invasion of Poland

Answer 29

Demanded 170 million tonnes of goods eg. coal / steel
As this was an urreasonable demand, Hitler allowed Italy to break the Pact of Steel (August 1939).
Mussolini declares ‘non-belligerence’ - essentially neutrality.

Question 30

Declaration of War

Answer 30

On 10th June 1940, Mussolini announces that Italy shall enter WW2 on the side of Nazi Germany.
Mussolini believed that Italy would need a few thousand dead in order to justify territorial gains in post-war agreements.