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italy > unit 4 > Flashcards

unit 4 Flashcards

1
Q

why was mussolini focused on foreign policy?

A
  • italy was perceived as weak after the paris peace conference
  • wanted to be seen as supreme nationalist who wanted italy to regain pride as a nation
  • boost popularity/distract from domestic issues
  • if successful, then boost fascism
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2
Q

why was it difficult to define foreign policy aims?

A
  • erratic and opportunistic
  • maximised his own prestige rather than achieving material gain for italy
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3
Q

what were mussolini’s foreign policy aims?

A
  • building prestige abroad
  • remove shame of mutilated victory and criticise liberal government
  • establish dominance around the med - unfairly dominated by britain, prisoners of the sea, mare nostrum
  • extending influence in adriatic sea/balkans - want dodecanese islands + fiume, sphere of influence
  • gain a strong empire
  • spread fascism abroad
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4
Q

what caused corfu?

A

enrico tellini + 4 of his stuff assassinated in greece on august 27 1923 during negotiations on greek/albanian border
- mussolini blamed greek gov and demanded 50m lire penalty, full apology, funeral service in catholic church in athens, execution of those guilty
- demands not met, so mussolini bombarded and occupied corfu on august 31 1923

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5
Q

what was the direct aftermath of the bombardment of corfu?

A
  • league of nations demanded that he leave corfu but encouraged greece to pay 50m lire
  • pulled out on 27 september 1923
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6
Q

what were the victories of corfu?

A
  • boosted prestige
  • restored good relations with britain
  • received 50m lire
  • shows italy’s power over smaller countries
  • propaganda success
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7
Q

what were the defeats of corfu?

A
  • showed mussolini couldn’t stand up to greater powers (britain)
  • revel said navy couldn’t last 48 hours against britain, showed weaknesses
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8
Q

what caused fiume?

A
  • mussolini negotiated with yugoslavia to take over fiume after becoming pm in 1922
  • prepared to agree because new port Split had been developed since ww1 so fiume no longer necessary
  • italy agreed to recognised yugoslavias claim to susak
  • treaty of rome 1924 - fiumes annexation by italy formally agreed
  • popular among nationalists
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9
Q

what were the consequences of fiume?

A
  • albania - convinced mussolini he could go on to dominate the whole of yugoslavia
  • didn’t want france to exert more influence in the balkans
  • 1924 - zog takes power and mussolini provides political and economic support
  • 1926 - treaty of friendship with albania, making them a satellite state
  • 1928 - zog becomes king
  • italy finances croatian terrorist groupe to assassinate yugoslavian king in 1934
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10
Q

when were the locarno treaties signed and what happened?

A
  • october 1925
  • germany accepts its eastern borders
  • mussolini seen as an equal among the leaders of the great powers
  • however - wanted to talk about italian borders but was denied
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11
Q

when was the kellogg-briand pact signed and what was it?

A
  • august 27 1928
  • french and american foreign ministers
  • invited them to join other nations in outlawing war
  • ineffective - ww2 11 years later, no way to ratify the pact and enforce it
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12
Q

what caused the pacification of libya?

A

ww1 - libyan rebels (berber rebels) started rebelling against italian rule

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13
Q

how did mussolini respond to the rebels in libya?

A
  • badoglio used poison gas, torture, starvation, concentration camps in order to pacify the rebels
  • hid conflict from italian population due to slow progress of the army
  • rebels were well organised despite being small - used guerilla tactics
  • mussolini hired african mercenaries from other countries to deal with this
  • killed/starved 1/3 of population
  • omar el mukhtar - rebel leader, captured + hung in 1931
  • 1932 - rebellion put down
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14
Q

why did italy invade abyssinia?

A
  • avenge defeat in adowa 1896
  • consolidate position in east africa
  • boost prestige/develop cult of il duce
  • war related contracts helped fuel industry
  • would provide materials for autarky
  • room for agricultural expansion - hope peasants from the south would move there to farm
  • unoccupied
  • surrounded by eritrea + italian somaliland
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15
Q

what were the negative consequences of the invasion of abyssinia?

A
  • drain on military/economic resources
  • budget deficit rose from 2.5bn to 16bn
  • 1939 - only 2% of trade was with abyssinia
  • lira devalued by 40%
  • had to fight guerilla war until 1941 when britain took over
  • only fully controlled 1/3 by may 9
  • sanctions forced trade shift to germany
  • allowed germany to remilitarise without foreign influence
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16
Q

what were the positive outcomes of the invasion of abyssinia?

A
  • sanctions rallied the nation - gold for the patria campaign
  • praise from church
  • high point of dictatorship
  • avenged loss of adwa
  • consolidated territory in east africa
  • 20m people listened to mussolini’s public radio broadcast on may 9
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17
Q

what was the nature of fighting like during the invasion of abyssinia?

A

400k men sent to abyssinia in october 1935
- de bono replaced by badoglio in november
- used mustard gas/aerial bombing
- abyssinians only had vintage rifles against italian machine guns
- lasted 7 months but should’ve taken weeks
- order for 10 abyssinians to be killed for each italian casualty
- 500k abyssinians killed

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18
Q

examples of positive relations with britain?

A
  • worked together in locarno treaties
  • helped italy with albania after italy pressured turkey into giving up mosul to britain
  • agreements over borders in libya and egypt
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19
Q

examples of negative relations with britain?

A

italy didn’t want britain to have so much control over the mediterranean
- supported pro-italian groups in malta to undermine the british
- economically dependent on britain - revaluation of the lira in 1927 could only be achieved with help from british government

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20
Q

examples of positive relations with france

A

stresa front/locarno treaties

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21
Q

examples of negative relations with france?

A
  • antifascist exiles had settled in france, mussolini concerned about their activities in paris
  • france disliked that ovra agents had infiltrated antifascist organisations in france
  • france afraid that italy might take tunisia due to its large population of italian settlers
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22
Q

examples of positive relations with germany

A

hitler praised mussolini
- promised to pursue italy-germany alliance in early 1930s if hitler became chancellor

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23
Q

examples of negative relations with germany

A
  • supported nationalist groups during weimar
  • moved troops to austrian border to discourage hitler from anschluss
  • protested rearmament at stresa
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24
Q

when was the four power pact and what was it?

A
  • july 15 1933
  • britain, france, italy, germany
  • promised hitler parity of arms with germany + alluded to territorial changes from versailles
  • wanted to undermine league of nations
  • never ratified by france and britain
  • czechoslovakia and poland protested out of fear of german expansion
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25
Q

what role did austrian nazis play in foreign relations?

A
  • july 1934
  • assassinated austrian chancellor - dolfuss, close friend of mussolini
  • tried to take over and pursue anschluss
  • mussolini mobilised four divisions and moved equipment to austrian border
  • hitler refused to back coup and it failed
  • seen internationally as mussolini refusing to allow anschluss, but hitler just wanted to maintain good relations with italy
26
Q

when was the stresa front and what was it?

A
  • 11-13 april 1935
  • prompted by hitler announcing rearmament in march
  • mussolini + french/british foreign and prime ministers
  • mussolini believed there was an implicit agreement made that he could invade abyssinia without consequence
  • british gov said they didn’t understand significance of ‘in europe’ and laval said he only approved economic penetration
27
Q

when was the hoare-laval pact and what was it?

A
  • december 1935
  • britain and france secretly offered 2/3 of abyssinia to italy in return for keeping the stresa front
  • offer was leaked and had to be withdrawn due to public pressure
  • hoare was forced to resign and was replaced by eden
28
Q

how did mussolini involve italy in the spanish civil war?

A
  • july 1936 - mussolini commits troops on the side of franco, so had hitler
  • franco led right wing forces against republic government
29
Q

why did mussolini involve italy in the spanish civil war?

A
  • wanted to put pressure on britain and france to gain foreign policy concessions
  • if franco won, would gain ally in the mediterranean
  • weaken communism and socialism
30
Q

what did mussolini send into spain in terms of military?

A
  • 50k soldiers
  • thousands of artillery and tanks
  • 1.4k pilots
  • 400 planes
  • 200 bombers
31
Q

what were the consequences of italy’s involvement in the spanish civil war?

A
  • casualties high - 3k italian soldiers killed and 11k wounded
  • took longer than expected
  • cost 14bn lire
  • lira devalued
  • foreign currency reserves halved
  • unpopular with the people
  • army became weaker
32
Q

when was the battle of guadalajara?

A

march 1937

33
Q

what happened during the battle of guadalajara and what followed?

A
  • 50k troops had been committed so spain, ordered to push towards to madrid
  • fascists were defeated 50km from madrid in battle of guadalajara
  • opposing army included italian antifascist volunteers - garibaldi brigade, organised by rosseli brothers
  • rosseli brothers assassinated june 9 1937
34
Q

what consequence did the spanish civil war have on relations with britain?

A
  • italian submarines pretended to be spanish and sunk submarines in mediterranean, angering the british
  • january 1937 - gentleman’s agreement - limited italian intervention in spanish civil war, ignored by italy
  • 1938 - italian bombing raid on spain sunk 11 british ships
35
Q

when was the rome-berlin axis signed and what was it?

A
  • october 1936
  • ciano negotiated informal agreement nazi gov
  • germany had freedom of action in eastern europe + baltic while supporting italian attempts to change balance of power in the mediterranean
36
Q

what consequence did the spanish civil war have on relations with germany?

A
  • brought them closer
  • italian exports became more reliant on germany from 1936 onwards
  • mussolini visited germany in september 1937 and was impressed
37
Q

what was the anti-comintern pact and when was it?

A
  • between germany, japan and italy
  • italy joined in 1937
  • mutual support against soviet union
  • mussolini accepted annexation of austria
38
Q

when did italy withdraw from the league of nations and what effect did this have?

A
  • december 1937
  • confirmed italys place alongside germany
39
Q

when did germany begin the process of anschluss and what effect did this have in italy?

A
  • march 1938
  • unpopular in italy - demonstrated that germany was more powerful than italy
  • made italy seem more like a satellite state
  • italy rejected full scale military alliance
40
Q

when was the munich conference and what effect did this have on mussolini?

A
  • september 1938
  • mussolini brokered deal betweeen germany and britain/france over right to annex sudetenland
  • confirmed his dislike of western democracies, pushed him closer to hitler
41
Q

what domestic tensions were there in the 1930s?

A
  • 1935-39 - 80% of increase in state deficit was for military spending
  • decrease in income and savings to pay for government expenditure - highly unpopular
  • battle for grain caused decline in living standards
  • transfer of italian workers to germany, 500k by 1945 - highly unpopular
  • treated poorly by germans
  • fear of anschluss + relations with germany
  • antisemitic policy in 1938 + reform of customs unpopular
42
Q

when did italy invade albania

A

april 1939

43
Q

why did italy invade albania?

A

economic motive - king zog encouraged investment from other countries to be less reliant on italy
- ciano proposed taking albania as compensation for letting hitler take austria

44
Q

what effect did the invasion of albania have?

A
  • invasion showed weakness of army, troops unorganised and untrained with weapons
  • overcame albanian forces and victor emmanuel was crowned king of abyssinia and albania
45
Q

when was the pact of steel and what was it?

A
  • may 1939
  • italy and germany - military and economic cooperation
  • article 3 - italy would support germany if it went to war
  • not a defensive alliance
46
Q

how did italy end up entering the war?

A
  • september 3 1939 - britain and france declare war on germany, mussolini avoided intervention with ‘non-belligerence’
  • 26 may 1940 - mussolini met with badoglio and said he thought germany would win
  • 10 june 1940 - mussolini announced italy is joining the war
  • parallel war
47
Q

what failures did italy have in france?

A

18 june - mussolini meets with hitler and sets out territorial demands
- 20 june - italian troops advanced into french alps. troops lacked proper clothes/bombs/adequate tanks
- slow advance - only capture 13 unimportant villages and lost 631 men
- 22 june - german gov signs armistice with france

48
Q

what failures did italy have in north africa?

A
  • late october - italians in libya asked to attack british troops but retreated in december after countattack
  • early 1941 - 250k italian troops defeated by 30k british troops
  • may 1941 - lost eritrea, somalia and abyssinia, 380k soldiers taken as pows
  • may 1943 - german-italian axis surrendered in north africa, lost libya
49
Q

what failures did italy have in the mediterranean?

A
  • no sustained attack against britain
  • poor coordination - italian airforces bombed itself in july 1940
  • nov 1940 - crippled by british air attack
50
Q

what were the weaknesses of the military?

A
  • mussolini held 9 key positions - hampered effectiveness of army
  • fascist ministers couldn’t make decisions without him
  • spent more time with his mistress/having meetings about the opera
  • 75 divisions, only 35 well equipped
  • 1/3 of tanks and 1/4 of artillery for africa destroyed by brits in the med
  • dated rifles and canons
  • language barrier between officers and peasant conscripts
  • outdated tactics
51
Q

what was the state of the economy like during the war?

A
  • dependent on german coal + romanian oil
  • steel production fell to 1.7m by 1943, compared to 14m in britain
  • factories lacked raw materials
  • 2.5k armoured vehicles produced in 1941 vs 4.8k in 1938
  • unemployment high compared to other countries in wartime
52
Q

what domestic political tensions were there during the war?

A
  • march 5 - 100k workers on strike in turin, spread to other cities
  • first strikes since 1920s + first mass protests in axis controlled europe
  • antifascist groups - l’unita back, party of action + christian democrats in 1942
  • 1.4k political arrests march-june 1943
  • april 1943 - all groups except republicans agreed to work against fascism
  • end of 1942 - vatican, military leaders, industrialists and police considered how to depose mussolini and leave war
53
Q

when was the allied invasion of sicily and what happened consequently?

A
  • 9 july 1943 - allies landed in normandy
  • little opposition, conquered western half in under 1 week
  • 19 july, mussolini asked hitler for help, allies kill 1.5k people in rome
  • 17 august - allies had control
54
Q

how was mussolini deposed?

A
  • begun late 1942 - grandi and ciano
  • 29 may 1943 - usa said they would negotiate peace deal if mussolini deposed
  • 24 july - grand council met, grandi had drafted resolution for dismissal, 9 hours of discussion led to vote of 19;:7 in grandis favour
  • 25 july - king told mussolini he wanted to dismiss him and replace him with badoglio. mussolini taken to prison in an ambulance
55
Q

how was the allied invasion carried out?

A
  • allies would acquire more airfields in italy to attack germany + open up a second front
  • 3 september 1943 - badoglio surrendered, guaranteed airfields, ports and 60k troops
  • 8 september - none of this had been done
  • greek islands - german v italian troops, 1.2k italians dead and 5k captured, clear the 60k troops wouldn’t show up
  • 13 september - italy declared war against germany
  • took 9 months to capture rome, war of attrition due to apennine mountains
  • 4 june 1944 - allies captured rome
56
Q

how and when was the republic of salo established?

A
  • 12 september 1943 - mussolini rescued from gran sasso by germans
  • 13 september - met with mussolini who told him to lead new italian gov otherwise he would destroy milan genoa and turin
  • 25 september - returned to italy in gargano, gov buildings spread out over 100 miles so germans could control + wouldn’t function effectively
  • foreign ministry + ministry of pop culture set up in salo
  • republic had to pay germany 7b lire a month
  • controlled richest parts of italy
57
Q

what did mussolini carry out under the republic of salo?

A
  • 14 november - verona manifesto, socalist, anticlerical republic
  • 12 feb 1944 - private companies with 100+ workers managed equally by workers and employees
  • didn’t have support from germans to put policies in place
  • january 1944 - 5 fascists including ciano arrested for deposition of mussolini + 13 others who couldn’t be found
  • 11 january 1944 - executed
  • 7.5k jews taken from italian camps and sent to nazi death camps where 7k were executed
  • formed gnr and recruited 140k men, also had army of 100k + navy and airforce
  • fought with partisans
  • march 1944 - partisans killed 33 soldiers, led to 335 italians execured
58
Q

what was the kingdom of the south?

A
  • little change to local government even though allies discussed mass purge
  • conservative elites in positions of power, afraid of communism and socialism due to lack of fascism
  • badoglio removed as head of gov due to proximity to fascism, replaced by bonomi
  • gov tried to conscript 100k, the people resisted
  • 50k men fought with the allies, but showed clear divide between north and south
59
Q

when and how did italian surrender occur?

A
  • 1944 - clear germany was losing
  • majority of italians didn’t join rsi or partisans
  • april 1945 - allies captured major parts of northern italy
  • 2 may 1944 - war ended in italy
60
Q

how and when was mussolini executed?

A
  • 27 april 1944 - partisans stopped convoy mussolini was travelling in and arrested him + clara petacci
  • 28 april - executed by machine gun
61
Q

what was the outcome of the 1946 referendum and election?

A
  • division felt - rsi ignored kingdom of the south, where little fighting occurred
  • 2 june 1946 - italians voted for constituent assembly to draw up new constitution + referendum for republic or not
  • king abdicated and replaced by umberto ii
  • people voted for establishment of republic 12.7m votes to 10.7m
  • constituent assembly vote - christian democrats won with 207 seats, followed by pci and psi
  • liberal democracy, civil and political freedom
  • difficult to break from fascism - most prefects chiefs etc had worked for fascist gov
62
Q

what were the postwar numbers in italy?

A
  • 500k italians dead
  • 17k antifascist fighters
  • 13k rsi soldiers

italy (4 decks)

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