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Italy; 1911-46 > Foreign Policy 1 > Flashcards

Foreign Policy 1 Flashcards

1
Q

Why was having a strong foreign policy so important for Mussolini?

(4)

A
  • to distance himself from previous liberal governments
  • to enchance the Cult of Il Duce; key aspect was regaining Italy’s pride
  • to distract the population from domestic problems
  • to promote fascism abroad
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2
Q

What were Mussolini’s foreign policy aims?

(3)

A

** - to assert Italy’s position as a world power **
- to maximise his prestige
–> difficult to define as his actions were often opportunistic and erratic

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3
Q

What had to be achieved to establish Italy as a world power?

(6)

A
  • build prestige abroad; overlooked at ToV, taken seriously in international politics
  • address WWi’s ‘mutilated victory’; not recieved all irredente lands, revise some of the ToV
  • establish Italian dominance in the Mediterranean; dominated by Britain, Italy as a ‘prisoner of the sea’, ‘Mare Nostrum’ (our sea)
  • extend influence into the Adriatic/Balkans; large empire, irredente lands
  • conquering territory abroad; previously failed to conquer Abissinya, still pacifying Libya, comparatively small empire
  • spreading fascism abroad; show it was a strong, militaristic, political ideology
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4
Q

What was Italian foreign policy like between 1922 and 1935?

A

Mussolini alternated between negotiation and aggression; ‘testing the waters’

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5
Q

What event triggered the Corfu Incident?

A
  • 17th Aug 1923, General Tellini + 4 of his staff were killed in Greek territory (they had been working on the Inter-Allied International Boundary Commission to draw up the new Greek-Albanian border)
  • Mussolini accused the Greek government of financing the assassination
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6
Q

Why did Mussolini bomb Corfu?

(5)

A

Greek government refused to meet his demands for;
- full apology
- Greek gov. to attend funeral service at a Catholic Church in Athens
- Greek gov. to publicly honour the Italian flag
- pay 50 million lire in compensation
- men responsible to be arrested in 5 days and put to death

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7
Q

When was the Corfu Incident?

A

31st Aug 1923
- Italy bombed Corfu without warning
- unnecessarily killed many civilians
- occupied the island
–> suggested that attack was preplanned, Mussolini was just waiting for an excuse

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8
Q

What was the response to the Corfu Incident?

A
  • some sympathy for Mussolini
  • LoN; encouraged Greece to pay 50million lire
  • Britain; demanded that Italy withdraw from Corfu, supported by Mediterranean fleet + LoN
  • Italians; Mussolini’s popularity greatly increased, distanced from liber government through strong, dynamic actions
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9
Q

How was the Corfu Incident concluded?

A
  • Head of the Italian Navy, Theon di Revel, said that Italy would barely last 48hrs is Britain decided to act
  • 27th Sept 1923, Italy withdrew from Corfu and recieved 50 million lire from the Greek government
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10
Q

How successful was the Corfu Incident?

(6)

A
  • increased Mussolini’s popularity in Italy
  • propaganda success
  • recieved 50mil lire compensation
  • established that Italy could bully smaller powers through military might
  • showed weakness of LoN
  • BUT Italy still failed to stand up to Europe’s great powers (Britain)
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11
Q

What deal was made between Yugoslavia and Italy?

A
  • 1922, Mussolini negotiated for Italy to take over Fiume
    –> Yugoslavia willing as new port of Split had been developed
  • Italy agreed to formally recognise Yugoslavia’s claim to Susak (small island in Adriatic)
  • 1924, Treaty of Rome; Italy officially annexed Fiume
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12
Q

What was the response to the Italian annexation of Fiume?

A
  • no country prevented it from happening
  • France too busy with the Ruhr crisis
  • Italy; the ‘return of Fiume’ was very popular among nationalists
  • Fiume itself went into permanent economic decline
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13
Q

How did Italian-Yugoslavian relations continue?

(4)

A
  • success in Fiume convinced Mussolini that he could dominate all of Yugoslavia
  • Relations with Albania threatened Yugoslavia; vulnerable to attack from west and south
  • Mussolini tried to destabilise Yugoslavia by supporting separatist Croation groups (eg. Ustasha)
  • 1934, Croation terrorist group assassinated Yugoslavian King Alexander; financed by fascists and allowed to set up a training camp in Italy
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14
Q

How did relations between Italy and Albania develop?

A
  • 1924, Ahmed Zogu took power in Albania
    –> Mussolini offered him political and economic support (encouraging Italian companies to set up business there)
    –> 1928, Mussolini heloed Zogu become king
  • 1926, signed Treaty of Friendship; Albania became an Italian protectorate
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15
Q

What were the Locarno Treaties?

A

1925
- effort to ease tensions across Europe
- conference in Switzerland attended by ‘Great Powers’ of Europe
- attended by Austen Chamberlain, Aristide Briand, Gustav Stresemann, Dino Grandi

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16
Q

How successful were the Locarno Treaties?

(4)

A
  • Germany accepted its western borders; greatly pleased France and indicated a peaceful future with western Europe
  • BUT, Germany did not affirm its eastern borders
  • Italy’s requests to revise her northern borders with Austria were repeatedly ignored and dismissed
  • success in Italian press; showed Mussolini collaborating and taken seriously by other powers, press also claimed Mussolini had been a mediator and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize (false)
17
Q

How did Mussolini involve himself in the Locarno Treaties?

A
  • before the conference ended Mussolini arrived by speedboat, flanked by an aggressive fascist bodyguard
  • Mussolini only attended one session of the conference
18
Q

What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

A

Aug 1928
- signatories vowed to outlaw war as a means to resolve conflict, but it allowed for self-defence
- initially signed by 9 countries, but around 50 in the years to come
- US secretary of state (Kellogg) and French foreign minister (Briand)

19
Q

What impact did the Kellogg-Briand Pact have?

A
  • nothing major; eased some tensions across Europe
  • Mussolini wanted it to be signed in Rome, but request was denied
  • evidence of Italy being considered as a large power of Europe = used as propaganda
20
Q

What was the Pacification of Libya?

A

1928-1933, the brutal occupation of Libya which aimed to end rebellion and reassert Italian rule

21
Q

Were Mussolini’s goals for resettling Italians in Libya met?

(statistics!!)

A

No;
- Mussolini aimed for 1/2 million Italians to have settled in Libya by 1928
- 1928, only 25,000 Italians lived in Libya

22
Q

What was the nature of Libyan rebellion?

(5) + key dates

A
  • Libyans began to rebel against Italian rule in WWI
  • much smaller than the Italian army but very well organised = required a large Italian force to control them
  • Libyans had no rights or freedoms under Italian rule (especially if they didn’t comply with Italian life)
  • 1931, Omar el Mukhtar (rebel leader) captured and publicly hanged
  • 1932, Libyan rebellion put down
23
Q

Through which mehtods was the Pacification of Libya carried out?

(8)

A

1930s
- widespread use of concentration camps
- barbed wire fencing used to cut off supply route from Egypt
- chemical warfare; poisonous gas used to bomb rebels
- mass execution; ethnic cleansing
- starvation
- displacement
- mercenaries bought, mainly from other African countries, to support Italian army
- –> conflict hidden from Italian public due to embarrassingly slow progress of Italian army

24
Q

Libyan casualties statistics

A
  • 1/3rd of the Libyan population killed or starved to death
  • 40,000 died in/being transported to concentration camps
25
Q

What was the theory of encirclement?

A

Mussolini was paranoid that Italy was completley surrounded by enemy powers, or potential enemy powers, on all sides
–> led to his conflicting and erratic early foreign policy

26
Q

How did Italy form allies 1922-1935?

A

Mussolini felt that Italy had no loyalties to other countries = would ally with whoever presented the best deal

27
Q

Evidence of cooperation between Britain and Italy

A
  • allies in WWI
  • good relationship with Churchill and Austen Chamberlain
  • worked cooperatively during Locarno Treaties talks; Britain helped Italy claim Albania, Italy convinced Turkey to give Britain Mosul
  • friendly until 1936
28
Q

Evidence of tension between Britain and Italy

(4)

A
  • 1923, Britain proved she was still more powerful in the Corfu Incident
  • Italy couldn’t challenge Britain’s power in the Mediterranean
  • Mussolini tried to establish pro-Italians in Malta to undermine British rule
  • 1927 reevaluation of the lira = Italy dependent upon a financial system dominated by Britain and the USA
29
Q

Evidence of cooperation between France and Italy

(2)

A
  • allies in WWI
  • through Britain, Ftanco-Italian relations remained stable
30
Q

Evidence of tensions between France and Italy

(5)

A
  • many exiled antifascists settled in France
  • France annoyed at constant OVRA intervention to kill antifascists
  • Italy saw France as an obstacle to her claims for land in North Africa and the Balkans
  • France worried that Mussolini would move a large Italian population into Tunisia
  • rising possibility between an anti-French alliance between Germany, Spain, Hungary, and Italy
31
Q

Evidence of cooperation between Germany and Italy

(3)

A
  • Locarno Treaties
  • Kellogg-Briand Pact
  • Italy had supported German nationalist groups that tried to overthrow the Weimar Republic
32
Q

Evidence of tensions between Germany and Italy

(2)

A
  • 1934, Mussolini had prevented anschluss between Germany and Austria
  • Mussolini intially felt threatened by a growing, nationalist power in Germany

Italy; 1911-46 (13 decks)

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