IB History Changing Diplomatic Alignments in Europe Notes

Italy's Shifting Alliances in the 1920s and Early 1930s

1. In the 1920s, Italy positioned itself as a responsible European power. Mussolini signed the Locarno Treaties (1925) as a guarantor power alongside Britain, positioning Italy within the Western diplomatic system while secretly harbouring expansionist ambitions.
2. Italy's foreign policy was constrained by economic and military weakness. Italy depended on Britain, France, and the USA for imports of food, fuel, and raw materials. An embargo on fuel from the USA or Britain would have crippled Italy's economy entirely.
3. Mussolini desired southeastern France and Corsica since their populations spoke Italian dialects. However, France was far more powerful than Italy, so these ambitions were "simply tabled for the future." France was not concerned with Italy's weak military.
4. The Great Depression (1929) transformed Italy's position. Western trade partners raised protectionist barriers, so Italy redirected trade toward Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. This reduced economic dependence on Britain and France, giving Mussolini greater freedom to pursue aggressive policies.
5. In July 1934, when Austrian Nazis assassinated Chancellor Dollfuss, Mussolini sent Italian troops to the Austrian border (the Brenner Pass). Germany's army was "extremely weak" and Hitler "did not fully control his military." Mussolini demonstrated that Italy was a significant military power willing to oppose Germany.
6. Italy wanted Austria to remain in its sphere of influence and to limit German influence in central and southeastern Europe, where Italy's trade interests had increased since the Depression. At this stage, Italy was clearly aligned against Germany.

The Stresa Front and Its Destruction (1935)

1. The Stresa Front (April 1935) was the last alignment between Italy and the Western democracies. Britain, France, and Italy jointly condemned German rearmament and pledged to defend Austrian independence and uphold the Treaty of Versailles.
2. The Front collapsed within months. The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (June 1935) saw Britain negotiate directly with Germany without consulting Italy or France, "demonstrating that the Stresa Front countries were not as united as their public statements indicated."
3. Italy's invasion of Abyssinia (October 1935) destroyed the Front entirely. League sanctions alienated Mussolini from Britain and France. Italy and France had been discussing mutual military cooperation, but "these talks went absolutely nowhere as a result of the Abyssinian Crisis."
4. The USSR imposed a full trade embargo on Italy (unlike Britain and France who excluded oil), condemning Italy "in the strongest of terms" at the League Assembly. The Soviet representative harangued Italian delegates publicly.
5. Italy was "diplomatically isolated by its annexation of Abyssinia" and refused to participate in the London Naval Treaty conference (December 1935). This was partly a protest over sanctions, but also because Italy wanted to build a larger fleet to challenge France in the Mediterranean.
6. As relations with Germany improved, Italy envisioned a joint navy capable of challenging Britain and France. The Stresa Front had collapsed completely, and Italy began to see its future alongside Germany rather than the Western democracies.

Italy's Realignment with Germany (1936-1938)

1. The Spanish Civil War (July 1936) accelerated Italy's realignment. Both sent military support to Franco's Nationalists: Germany provided the Condor Legion (aircraft and pilots) while Italy sent approximately 75,000 troops plus naval support.
2. Mussolini hoped France would become involved in Spain, which would allow Italy to seize Corsica and parts of southeastern France. This did not happen. "Money, troops and supplies that Italy could not afford were wasted" on an intervention that brought no territorial gains but drained Italy's already weak military.
3. Britain and France pursued non-intervention in Spain, refusing to support the Republican government despite Italian and German involvement. This further convinced Mussolini and Hitler that the democracies would not fight.
4. In October 1936, Mussolini and Hitler signed the Rome-Berlin Axis. In his Milan speech (1 November 1936), Mussolini declared: "This Berlin-Rome line is... an axis around which can revolve all those European states with a will to collaboration and peace."
5. The Axis was a diplomatic and ideological agreement, not a binding military alliance. Both declared opposition to liberal democracy and communism. However, "Germany's economy was far greater than that of Italy" and Italy was "soon reduced to a junior partner in their relationship. This meant that Germany, not Italy, determined the course of their mutual foreign policies."
6. In November 1936, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact opposing the Soviet-led Communist International. Italy joined in 1937, creating a three-power bloc of revisionist states challenging the post-war order.
7. Italy's realignment was driven by three factors: resentment over League sanctions during the Abyssinian Crisis, shared ideological opposition to communism and liberal democracy, and practical cooperation forged in the Spanish Civil War.
8. Mussolini accepted the Anschluss (March 1938) as part of the Axis partnership. He "stated that he did not oppose German annexation of Austria, a key issue for Germany's Hitler." This was a complete reversal from 1934, when Mussolini had sent troops to prevent exactly this outcome.

The Pact of Steel and the Road to War (1939)

1. The Pact of Steel (22 May 1939) transformed the Axis into a full military alliance. If either country went to war, the other was obligated to join. Mussolini had warned Hitler that Italy would not be ready until 1943. Hitler had promised there would be no war before then.
2. The Pact was originally intended to include Japan, but Japan wanted it directed against the USSR while Italy and Germany aimed it against Britain and France. Japan withdrew from negotiations.
3. Italian Foreign Minister Ciano was deeply sceptical. He recorded in his diary that Germany treated Italy as a "junior partner" and that Italy was being dragged into a war it was unprepared for. "In time, Italy's opinions were of little importance to Hitler."
4. The Nazi-Soviet Pact (23 August 1939) shocked Mussolini, who was informed only two days before signing. Hitler made this major decision without consulting his ally, exposing the deeply unequal nature of the Axis partnership.
5. When Germany invaded Poland (1 September 1939), Italy declared "non-belligerency" rather than joining. Mussolini sent Hitler a deliberately impossible list of 17 million tonnes of supplies needed to enter, knowing Germany could not provide them.
6. Italy only entered the war on 10 June 1940 after the Fall of France convinced Mussolini the war would be short. He told his Chief of Staff: "I need only a few thousand dead to sit at the peace conference as a belligerent."

The Erosion of France's Alliance System

1. Italy's realignment was part of a broader collapse of the post-war diplomatic order. France's security depended on a network of alliances with Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia to encircle Germany from the east. By the late 1930s, this system was systematically dismantled.
2. The German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact (January 1934) detached Poland from France's alliance system. Poland had been a key part of France's encirclement strategy; now it appeared to side with Germany.
3. Belgium renounced its military pact with France (1936) and declared neutrality after the Rhineland remilitarisation, leaving the Franco-Belgian border exposed. The Munich Agreement (September 1938) abandoned Czechoslovakia, France's most important eastern ally.
4. Britain's policy of appeasement further weakened France. By negotiating directly with Hitler (Anglo-German Naval Agreement, Munich), Britain undermined the collective approach France advocated. France followed Britain's lead rather than acting independently.
5. The Nazi-Soviet Pact (August 1939) was the final realignment. Stalin, excluded from Munich and distrustful of the democracies, agreed to non-aggression with Hitler. The secret protocols divided Poland and eastern Europe into spheres of influence, making war inevitable.
6. By September 1939, the diplomatic landscape had been completely transformed: Italy and Germany were allied through the Pact of Steel, the USSR had agreed to neutrality, France's alliance system had collapsed, and the League of Nations was irrelevant. The post-war order established at Versailles had been systematically destroyed.

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