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Italy > Mussolini's foreign policy > Flashcards

Mussolini's foreign policy Flashcards

1
Q

what position did Mussolini start in?

A
  • needed strong foreign policy to overcome the shame of the mutilated victory
  • Italy’s military position was weak
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2
Q

What were Mussolini’s aims?

A
  • opportunistic, often focusing on his own prestige
  • assert position as a world power
  • consolidate rule and expand imperialism in Africa
  • sphere of influence in balkans/Mediterannean
  • Spazio vitale
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3
Q

how did Mussolini’s approach develop?

A
  • 1920s: cautious while he consolidated power
  • early 1930s: concerned by Hitler’s power
  • late 1930s: more aggressive
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4
Q

What happened in Greece/Corfu?

A
  • 1923
  • 27 August: Italian general Tellini and 4 staff assassinated in Greece
  • Mussolini blamed Greek gov and demanded full apology and 50m lire compensation

-31 August: bombarded Corfu without warning

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5
Q

How was Greece/Corfu a success?

A
  • celebrated by nationalists
  • received 50m lire
  • M showed self as decisive leader
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6
Q

How was Greece/Corfu a failure?

A
  • LoN forced him to leave Corfu on 27 December
  • Did not receive apology
  • forced to accept Italy’s position
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7
Q

What happened in Yugoslavia and Albania?

A
  • January 1924 - Yugoslavia recognized Fiume as part of Italy
  • 1924: Italians sponsored Ahmed Zog takes power in Albania. Is a satellite state by 1926.

-1934, Croation terrorists assassinate Yugoslavian king

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8
Q

How was Yugoslavia a success?

A
  • Diplomatic success

- achieved what the liberal government could not

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9
Q

How was Yugoslavia a failure?

A
  • Fiume’s significance was merely symbolic
  • Italy had to recognize Yugoslavian rule at Susak
  • no material gains
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10
Q

What were the Locarno treaties? Were they a success?

A
  • 1925
  • Br, Fr, Gr and Italy settle border disputes
  • Italy appears a major power (propaganda)

-Failed to get concessions on border with Austria. Unimportant in meeting

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11
Q

What was the ‘pacification of Libya’?

A
  • poison gas, mass execution and concentration camps killed 1/3 of Libya’s population
  • slow progress, but Italy put down Libyan rebellion in 1932
  • details kept quiet in the press
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12
Q

what were Mussolini’s goals regarding relations?

A

-wants good relations with great powers, but still wants to challenge them and show his own power

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13
Q

How were Mussolini’s relations with Britain successful?

A
  • good terms with Chamberlin and Churchill

- Revaluation of the lire depended on funding from Br

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14
Q

How were Mussolini’s relations with Britain a failure?

A
  • Br back LoN during corfu incident
  • They dominate Mediterannean
  • -> tried to undermine them by funding pro-Italian groups in Malta
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15
Q

How were Mussolini’s relations with France successful?

A

-worked together on Locarno pact

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16
Q

How were Mussolini’s relations with France a failure?

A
  • open hostility/ambivalence
  • OVRA ran agents and operations in France
  • France controlled Tunisia and was worried about Italian intentions
  • unsuccessful anti-french alliance attempt with Gr Spain and Hungary
17
Q

How were Mussolini’s relations with Germany successful?

A
  • funded nationalistic groups in WR (including the Nazis)

- in early years, wanted good relations

18
Q

How were Mussolini’s relations with Germany a failure?

A
  • initially hostile and worried about Anschluss
  • helped Austrian Nazi coup fail
  • little respect for WR
19
Q

What was the Stresa front? Were they a success?

A
  • Italy, Fr and Br meet to declare a desire for peace and commitment to the LoN
  • M claimed they met an agreement on his goals in N Africa but they deny this
  • Abyssinia caused conflict…
20
Q

Why did desire for Prestige drive Mussolini to invade Abyssinia?

A
  • needed victory to avenge humiliating defeat at Adwa in 1896 and to boost cult of Il Duce
  • believed that colonies were part of Italy’s historic destiny (Roman empire)
21
Q

How did economic matters drive Mussolini to invade Abyssinia?

A
  • raw materials from Abyssinia could aid autarky
  • military glory on the cheap
  • would need to produce arms, equipment and transportation for war
22
Q

How did domestic problems drive Mussolini to invade Abyssinia?

A
  • satisfies PNF members who want a more fascist direction

- domestic policies so far had disappointing results

23
Q

How did the desire to achieve a great power status drive Mussolini to invade Abyssinia?

A
  • rise in power of the Nazis had transformed the European situation
  • wants a growing empire
  • -> already has colonies in eritrea and Somaliland (convenient location)
24
Q

what was the pretext for the Abyssinian war?

A
  • 1929: Italian soldiers began to occupy disputed land
  • 1930: built a fort on Abyssinian land
  • Dec 1934: Skirmish left 30 Italian troops killed
  • Mussolini demanded a full apology and compensation
25
Q

When did Mussolini invade Abyssinia and what happened?

A
  • October 1935: launched invased of 400,000 men
  • Badoglio was brutal - mass aerial bombings, illegal use of chemical warfare
  • 500,000 Abyssinians killed
26
Q

When did the invasion of Abyssinia end?

A

-5th may 1936: victorious army enter Addis Ababa

27
Q

How was the Abyssinian invasion a success?

A
  • Dec 1935: Gold for Patria
  • sanctions were propaganda coup
  • M looked like the new Ceaser establishing empire (20m listen to his radio broadcast)
  • weak sanctions: still has Suez canal
28
Q

How was the Abyssinian invasion a failure?

A
  • lira devalued by 40%
  • autarky failed
  • many Italians were unenthusiastic
  • brutal war changed perception overseas
29
Q

what was the effect of the Abyssinian invasion on the international situation?

A
  • highlighted the weakness of the league of nations
  • -> M saw it as a sign that Br and Fr were weak

-move closer to Gr began

30
Q

What happened with the Spanish civil war in 1936?

A

-In July, Mussolini committed 50,000 troops and 600 planes to the war on the side of Franco

  • long war. 3,266 Italian soldiers killed
  • cost 14b lire, so taxes had to be increased
31
Q

What was the effect of the Spanish civil war (1936)?

A
  • pushed Italy closer to economic dependence on Germany
  • Italian army were even weaker by 1939, shown by defeat at Guadalajara (by antifascist volunteers)

-damaged prestige

32
Q

What was the Hoare-Laval pact’s significance?

A
  • caused public outcry in Br, and the new foreign secretary openly disliked M
  • 1938: Italians sunk 11 British ships
  • 1937: gentlemen’s agreement showed diplomacy with Br still
33
Q

How did Italy drift closer to Germany 1936-1937?

A
  • Rome-Berlin axis 1936
  • Anti-cominterm pact 1937
  • Withdrew from LoN December 1937 (stresa front collapses)
34
Q

What was the effect of Anschluss 1938?

A
  • Hitler did not consult the Duce first, damaging M’s prestige
  • Is clearly the submissive partner

-in 1938 M is still rejecting a full scale military alliance with Hitler, wanting to remain in Britain’s good books

35
Q

Why is the Munich conference significant?

A
  • turning point
  • afterwards, M made it clear to parliament that he wanted to dominate the Mediterranean
  • Nice, Corsica and Tunis were to be annexed from France
36
Q

What was happening at home by 1938?

A
  • people were increasingly disillusioned
  • quest for autarky was lowering standard of living
  • invasion of Albania in 1939 was meant to restore reputation
  • -> victory with very little fighting
  • ->But pushed Italy further from GB and Fr
37
Q

What was the pact of steel, May 1939?

A
  • between Gr and Italy
  • clause that committed Italy to support Germany if it CHOSE TO go to war
  • Ciano expressed concern that Italy would not be ready until 1943, but Ribbentrop claimed Gr would not go to war before then anyway
38
Q

When was Ciano told that Germany planned war with Poland?

A
  • 11 August 1939

- Italy were trapped

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