unit 4 Flashcards
(62 cards)
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
12
Q
what caused the pacification of libya?
A
ww1 - libyan rebels (berber rebels) started rebelling against italian rule
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
20
Q
examples of positive relations with france
A
stresa front/locarno treaties
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
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
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
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
25
what role did austrian nazis play in foreign relations?
- 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
when was the stresa front and what was it?
- 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
when was the hoare-laval pact and what was it?
- 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
how did mussolini involve italy in the spanish civil war?
- july 1936 - mussolini commits troops on the side of franco, so had hitler
- franco led right wing forces against republic government
29
why did mussolini involve italy in the spanish civil war?
- 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
what did mussolini send into spain in terms of military?
- 50k soldiers
- thousands of artillery and tanks
- 1.4k pilots
- 400 planes
- 200 bombers
31
what were the consequences of italy's involvement in the spanish civil war?
- 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
when was the battle of guadalajara?
march 1937
33
what happened during the battle of guadalajara and what followed?
- 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
what consequence did the spanish civil war have on relations with britain?
- 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
when was the rome-berlin axis signed and what was it?
- 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
what consequence did the spanish civil war have on relations with germany?
- brought them closer
- italian exports became more reliant on germany from 1936 onwards
- mussolini visited germany in september 1937 and was impressed
37
what was the anti-comintern pact and when was it?
- between germany, japan and italy
- italy joined in 1937
- mutual support against soviet union
- mussolini accepted annexation of austria
38
when did italy withdraw from the league of nations and what effect did this have?
- december 1937
- confirmed italys place alongside germany
39
when did germany begin the process of anschluss and what effect did this have in italy?
- 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
when was the munich conference and what effect did this have on mussolini?
- 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
what domestic tensions were there in the 1930s?
- 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
when did italy invade albania
april 1939
43
why did italy invade albania?
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
what effect did the invasion of albania have?
- 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
when was the pact of steel and what was it?
- 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
how did italy end up entering the war?
- 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
what failures did italy have in france?
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
what failures did italy have in north africa?
- 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
what failures did italy have in the mediterranean?
- no sustained attack against britain
- poor coordination - italian airforces bombed itself in july 1940
- nov 1940 - crippled by british air attack
50
what were the weaknesses of the military?
- 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
what was the state of the economy like during the war?
- 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
what domestic political tensions were there during the war?
- 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
when was the allied invasion of sicily and what happened consequently?
- 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
how was mussolini deposed?
- 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
how was the allied invasion carried out?
- 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
how and when was the republic of salo established?
- 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
what did mussolini carry out under the republic of salo?
- 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
what was the kingdom of the south?
- 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
when and how did italian surrender occur?
- 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
how and when was mussolini executed?
- 27 april 1944 - partisans stopped convoy mussolini was travelling in and arrested him + clara petacci
- 28 april - executed by machine gun
61
what was the outcome of the 1946 referendum and election?
- 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
what were the postwar numbers in italy?
- 500k italians dead
- 17k antifascist fighters
- 13k rsi soldiers
