italian foreign policy

name 2 liberal foreign policy aims

• expand into africa to compete with britain and france

• irredenta lands back (southern austria)
  → (700,000 italian speakers in austria)

name 3 successes for liberal foreign policy

• vittorio veneto / ww1 win (relied on b+f)

• libyan war 1911-1912 (struggled to win)

• first colony in africa: eritrea

name 4 failures of liberal foreign policy

• caporteoo and izonso (600,000 dead)

• adowa 1896- first to lose to african country

• treaty of st german→ ppc → mutilated victory

• slap of tunis- france got to tunisia before italy

name 3 foreign policy aims for mussolini

1. restoration of prestige

2. mare nostrum (our sea)

3. empire

explain why national pride needs to be restored

• needs to fix liberal failures and make italy look proud, confident and aggressive

• can be done through diplomacy and non military alliances with people and performative actions like rallies and big buildings

explain why mare nostrum was an aim

• loved roman empire

• nationalists started to use term mare nostrum to refer to med (roman empire used to control)

• wanted med to be controlled by italian navy and army which would allow access to atlantic

• would need to expand size and power of navy

• wanted to make med an ‘italian lake’

name 2 reasons mare nostrum would be too hard to complete

• very difficult as h’d have to take out big empires like britain

• very poor navy → britain has empire in gebralta and france had morocco → AKA controlled entrance to med

why was empire an aim for mussolini

• m was an imperialist and wanted to expand italy

• 1922- empire was small compared to other european powers
  → no benefit from wwi

• 2 long sides of italy: 1st shore and 2nd shore

  • wanted 3rd shore: dalmatia, albania and montenegro

  • and 4th shore: libya and other north african colonies

• wanted to expand size, influence and power of italy

name 1 reason why and 2 reasons why empire was a feasible aim

STRENGTH: doesn’t have to be a massive empire. he can choose where to expand and can go to easiest places
→ but he keeps talking about roman empire

LIMITATIONS:

• africa is already heavily controlled by B+F+G and other european empires
  → aka destroying foreign relations and risking war

• military and economy aren’t prepared

what countries were the 3rd shore?

dalmatia, albania, montenegro

what countries were the 4th shore?

libya and other north african colonies

name 5 parts of early foreign policy in the 1920s

1. 1923: greece and corfu

2. 1924: annexation of fiume

3. 1922-1926: libya

4. 1925: locarno pact

5. 1928: kellog-briand pact

explain greece and corfu

• august 1923: italian and 4 of his staff were assassinated in greece

• m blamed greek gov and demanded a full apology and 50 mil lire in compensation

• greece refused

• m ordered bombardment and occupation of corfu on grounds that greece was responsible for murders

• caused an issue for LoN → britain (back by medittereanian fleet) demanded italy withdrew

• m did but he still got 50 mil lire (no apology)

name 2 consequences of the invasion of corfu

1. made italy look strong against smaller powers

2. couldn’t stand up to great powers → could lose south tyrol if there was a dispute

explain the annexation of fiume

• 1924- pact of rome → italy received fiume

• 65% of fiume was populated by people with italian descent

• this made mussolini think he could take yugoslavia

• he saw this oppourinity when zog took power in albania (yugoslavia’s southern boarder)

• fascist gov supported zog with money and encouraged italian businesses to invest in albanian economy

• also employed italian officers as advisers to albanian army

name 4 strengths of the annexation of fiume

1. diplomatic success in pact of rome made him look good

2. by the time the treaty of friendship was signed in 1926, albania was just a satellite state for italy

3. clearly a military threat to yugoslavia
   → yugoslavia tried not to antagonise italy
   → but refused to be bullied into subservience

4. mussolini stayed aggressive and eventually took yugoslavia during ww2

when was the pact of rome?

1924

how many italian descent in fiume?

65%

explain libya

• arab population still refused italian control (10 years after libya)

• m wouldn’t accept this and sent general groziani to force pacification

• 1925- m started to negotiate with britain to define a boarder between british egypt and italian libya

• forcibly removed arabs from libya in 1925 and built barbed wire fences around desert entrances to prevent arabs entering loyal cities like tripoli

• 100,00 put in concentration camps

• 1928: 80,000 killed

name 3 consequences of libya

1. britain wanted to have italy’s support and gave m boarder areas of egypt → showed respect for italy

2. rebels refused to be loyal

3. very cruel killing so many people

what general was sent in in libya?

general groziani

when were arabs removed from libya?

1925

how many libyans in concentration camps? how many killed?

100,000

80,000

explain the locarno pact

• signed with b+f+g to confirm western boarders but left eastern up for negotiations

• m wanted to ensure germany stayed weak through these negotiations

• germany has lost 13% of territory in ToV and wanted to retake some

name 2 consequences of the locarno pact

1. made him look like an international diplomat and a huge power for signing with b+f+g

2. locarno made no promises to protect italian land from austria which was gained in ppc

what % of territory did germany lose in tov?

13%

explain the kellog-briand pact

• 1928

• joined 60 other nations to renounce war including b+f+g

name a strength of kellog briand pact (and locarno)

both locarno and kellog briand made italy look strong, internationally powerful and m as diplomatic

PROPAGANDA!!!

name the 3 agreements at the stresa front

1. enforce locarno pact: settled boarders in western europe

2. support independence of austria

3. would resist any attempt by germany to go against ToV

agreements were made easily which suggests they had sharked concern over germany

who signed the stresa front? when?

14th april, 1935

britain, france and italy

who was the british diplomat and what did he believe?

vansitaart

very against appeasement which was a popular policy

appeasement was because they felt germany deserved compensation from ToV

what issue happened over ab with the stresa front?

m claimed he was told he could invade but vansitaart said he said AB was off limits

name 2 good consequences of stresa front

1. shows italy had allied with b+f

2. propaganda as he was with major powers

name 3 bad consequences of the stresa front

1. fell apart within 12 months
   → signed the rome berlin axis by 18 months (pushed closer to germany)
   

2. june 1935- signing of anglo-german naval agreement
   → b contradicted stresa as they were now allowing them to build a navy which was 35% as large as royal navy
   → angered m as he wasn’t consulted (felt betrayed)
   

3. october 1935- m invaded AB and knew LoN wouldn’t deal with aggression properly
   → however they did impose sanctions
   → crumbled stresa front

what % size could germany’s navy be?

35%

when had stresa front crumbled by?

early 1936

name 6 long term causes for war in AB

1. would make italy a great power and increase regime

2. public support to distract from failed battles like birth and grain

3. ethiopea was a long held nationalist dream

4. get empire they didn’t get in mutilated victory

5. held roman empire image (cult of personality- north africa was part of roman empire)

6. LoN proved to be ineffective at dealing with aggression

name 4 short term reasons for war in AB

1. dolfuss assassination
   

2. stresa front showed b+f were weak and allowed germany to rearm → sympathetic to expansion
   

3. b+f too occupied with germany to oppose
   → talks with foreign ministers in 1931 showed they’d allow them to have some control over ethiopea
   

4. stresa conference: m left with the impression he could invade allegedly

what is the trigger event for war in AB

wal wal

fighting took place between italian and ethiopean troops

30 italian soldiers killed

m demanded a fully apology and compensation

what countries supported war in ab? why?

1. germany
   hoped it would destroy anglo-italian relations and strengthen alliance with italy
   

2. france
   in return for not supporting germany, france wanted italy to have a ‘free hand’ in africa

what country was against the war in ab?

britain
eden (foreign minister) travelled to rome in 1938 to offer a compromise

corridor of land between ethiopea and somaliland

m declined

when was the gov told to prepare for ab? when was wal wal? then what happened

1934 (prepare)

1934 (after, wal wal)

began to stockpile chemical weapons to use against ab like mustard gas (goes against genova convention)

how many machine guns, tanks, aircrafts and bombers did italy have for ab?

machine guns: 6,000

tanks: 600

aircraft: 450

bombers: 200

how many soldiers did italy have? how many did ab have?

italy: 650,000

ab: 500,000

when did italy invade ab?

october 3rd 1935

explain the stages of the ab war (CROWBAR)

Conscripted in AB when fighting age- had spears

Restricted (sanctioned) Italy and condemns actions. Economic sanctions didn’t include oil (only one which would have a major effect)

Ousted (replaced) De Bono with Badgolio for being too slow

Withheld peace/ceasefire refused. Hoare-Leval Pact offered to give M 2 large regions of AB in return for ceasefire

Badolgio told to use chemical warfare

April 1936- last battle was won

Reached AB on 5th may

when was the last battle of ab won? when did they take ab?

late april 1936- last battle

5th may 1936- took ab

how many people celebrated in italy after win in ab?

30 million

name 5 ways people felt before the ab war

1. unemployment and food inflation were bigger concerns
   → minister of interior demanded all stories of poor living conditions are suppressed
   

2. 1935-1936: 5.5. million lire paid in fines for opposing the war

3. ciano and badoglio both thought the war couldn’t be won
   

4. king VE was against war as he didn’t want to go against britain.
   

5. intelligence reports from ORVA found that many people didn’t care for the war and thought it was just an example of european aggression in africa

who demanded stories of poor living conditions were supressed?

minister of interior

how much money paid in fines for opposing war in 1935-6

5.5 million lire

name 5 ways people felt during the ab war

1. soldiers often escaped ethiopea to go to french somalia

2. exiles sabotaged activities
   → e.g. fuel containers going from Fiume to Eritrea had water pour into them which ruined them

3. 370 exiles votes to raise 10m francs to give to ab to fight

4. sanctions impacted the public

5. as victories grew, public support grew too
   → e.g. after mai chew in 1936
   → orlando who was against the war ended up supporting it

how many exiles votes to raise money? how much?

370

10m francs

name 7 ways people felt after the ab war

1. propaganda was built around this to show m as a strong leader

2. sanctions didn’t include oil or coal so industry could continue

3. made LoN look weak

4. saw this as chance to expand further abroad

5. increase in taxation to make up for debt

6. sanctions damaged italy’s trade in europe

7. 19 billion spent on ab

name 6 good consequences of the ab war

1, they got ab

2. sanctions were removed at the end of 1937

3. respect from germany

4. 30 mil celebrated

5. appeasement from b+f which proved LoN as weak

6. closer to empire which consolidates authority
   

SHORT TERM SUCCESS!!!

name 6 bad consequences of AB war

1. took a long time despite how much more developed
   → italy looks weak

2. had to use illegal tactics which creates anger from ab and other countries

3. 9000 italians dead

4. had to increase soldiers from 600,000 to 1.2 million

5. forces him into relationship with AH

6. 19 billion lire in debt

LONG TERM FAILURE

how many italians dead in ab?

9000

how many soldiers did they have to increase to in ab?

600,000 → 1.2 million

how much in debt from ab war?

19 billion