Lesson 2a – Italian Expansionism (1930s)

Essential Question
To what extent was there continuity in
Italian foreign policy in the 1930s?
Leave
Learning Outcomes - Students will: space
fo 2 lesso r
◦ Preview – Italian foreign policy? ns
◦ Learn about the shift in foreign policy
◦ Learn about the impact of the Spanish Civil War on Italian
foreign policy

Success Criteria
I can create my outline to answer the
essential question
 Preview
What are the messages of these
quotes by Mussolini

“My objective is simple. I want to

make Italy great, respected and
y ou feared.”
do uld
o w e co
H kh ?
i n i s
th do th “The Twentieth Century will be a
century of Italian power.”
Vocab
Four Powers Pact
Stresa Front
Hoare-Laval Pact
Rome – Berlin Axis Alliance
Anti-Comintern Pact
 Reading 3L
es so
ns
SL & HL – Pg. (Move to
Global War)
◦ Make sure you are adding to
 Notes
 Essential Question

◦ IB Math
 Notes only = max 5
 Textbook only = max 5
 Notes + Textbook = 6~7
  Originally, saw Hitler as a junior ally while
Mussolini had the goal of being a power in
Mussolini Europe
and Hitler ◦ June 1934 – Mussolini invited Br, Fr, and Ger to
sign the Four Powers Pact
 These powers came to Italy and Mussolini was giving
Europe leadership
◦ 1934 – meets Hitler in Venice calling him “a silly
little monkey”
 concerned with Hitler’s claim to Austria,
specifically the German speaking area of
Alto Adige
◦ 1934 – Leader of Austria, Dollfuss, is
assassinated by Austrian Nazis
◦ July 1934 – Italy placed troops on the Austrian-
Italian border to block the Anchluss
◦ Apr. 1935 – Stresa Front – he formed an
alliance with Britain and France to prevent
German expansion and protect Austrian
sovereignty
  Background: 1895-6 – Italy invades
Abyssinia Abyssinia but, despite superior
weapons, are defeated,
◦ the only European power to be defeated by
an African opponent in the colonial era
 1935 – over a local disagreement over
grazing rights, Mussolini sends
500,000 soldiers, with the latest
weaponry (tanks, poison gas) against
Ethiopians, many using spears
◦ 275,000 Ethiopians killed
 International reaction
◦ Britain and France were not to serious and
actually proposed giving Italy 2/3 of
Abyssinia, until it was leaked (Hoare-
Laval Pact)
◦ League of Nations condemned Italy,
declaring it the aggressor nation and
imposed sanctions, but not on oil
 Collapse of the Stresa front
Abyssinia -
◦ After the failure of (Hoare-Laval Pact, Br and
Impact Fr imposed an oil embargo in Mar. ’36, but not
implemented until May)
Nationalistsupport for Mussolini grew
Pushed Italy and Germany closer to one
another
 1936 – Mussolini tells Hitler that he does not oppose
an Anchluss with Austria
 1936 – agreed to join Hitler in the Spanish Civil War
League of Nations is seen as weak
◦ July – ends all sanctions against Italy
Mussolinihad the first steps of his “New
Roman Empire,” although it did not bring
him much economic benefit
◦ Continued guerilla warfare
◦ Italy spent 12.5% of its budget on East Africa
◦ “Ethiopia bled Italy dry” - Clark
Spanish Civil Italy supplies 70,000 troops (3x more that
War Germans) to support the nationalists
 Why?
◦ Confidence – success of Abyssinia
◦ Anti-communist – USSR sent troops to help
◦ Prevent France from gaining influence over the
Left
◦ Support of the Catholic Church – worried about
a communist takeover in Spain
 Impact
◦ Moved Hitler and Mussolini closer together
 Oct 1936 – Rome – Berlin Axis Alliance
 Nov 1937 – Anti-Comintern Pact (Ger, Jap)
 1938 – Italy accepts the Anschluss
◦ Italy withdraws from collective security
 Dec 1937 – leave the League of Nations
 To what extent was there
continuity in Italian foreign
policy in the 1930s?
 What is the question asking you?
 What questions must you answer?
you ◦ What was the foreign policy previously (1920s)?
sure ce
a ke spa t ◦ Did it stay the same in the 1930s?
M ave hou ill
le oug e w  Be specific – To what extent means was it a complete change or
thr se w later partial?
e c au ore
b dm ◦ Why did it change/stay the same?
ad
 How can you structure your answer?
Lesson 2b – Italian Expansionism (1930s)

Essential Question
To what extent was there continuity
in Italian foreign policy in the 1930s?
Learning Outcomes - Students will:
◦ Preview – Hitler and Mussolini
◦ Learn about the shift in foreign policy
◦ Learn about Italy’s move to war
Leave
space
3 lesso for
Success Criteria ns
I can create my outline to answer
the essential question
Preview
What do you think the
relationship is between
Hitler and Mussolini?
◦ Pre-1937 – Why?
 1934 – meets Hitler in
Venice calling him “a silly
little monkey”
◦ Post-1937 – Why does it
change?
Vocab
Munich Conference
Pact of Steel
 Reading 3L
es so
ns
SL & HL – Pg. 119-140
(Move to Global War)
◦ Make sure you are adding to
 Notes
 Essential Question

◦ IB Math
 Notes only = max 5
 Textbook only = max 5
 Notes + Textbook = 6~7
Changing Relationship
 1937 – Mussolini visits Hitler
◦ Hitler produces a grand parade
showing the military might of
Germany
◦ It is apparent that the Mussolini has
become the junior partner in this
alliance
 In an alliance with Germany,
Italy would be the minor
member
◦ 1938 – signed a pact of friendship
with Br, but also prepared the
Italian navy for war against Britain
1938 Munich
 Mussolini wished to be seen as the
Conference “broker of peace,” therefore reaffirming
his powerful standing in Europe
◦ Like Chamberlain, he is seen as a hero of
Europe by preventing war
◦ Mussolini believes it as well
 Britain and France would do anything
to avoid war
◦ Mussolini took advantage of this to push his
own foreign policy in the Balkans and
Mediterranean
 Ex. Calls for the annexation of Corsica,
Nice and Tunis
 Invasion of Albania
i is  Mar 1939 – Hitler invades the rest of
n
oli g
s s
u yin Czechoslovakia, without informing
: M a itler
o i nt ly plH eirni
y P n t t : i t l Mussolini
Ke nsistePointo uHssol
co Ketychueps M ◦ Britain and France do nothing
ciagnor
 Apr. 1939 – invades Albania
◦ 1934 – Albania asserted some
independence signing trade agreements
with Yugoslavia and Greece
◦ 1939 – Mussolini sends an ultimatum
demanding Albania to allow Italian
occupation, which is refused
◦ Similar to Poland, Britain provides
guarantees to Greece and Romania to aid
if attacked
  May 1939 – Pact of Steel
Move to War ◦ Military alliance promising Italy would
fight on Germany’s side
◦ Mussolini informs Hitler that his army is 3
years away from being ready
 Aug – Nazi-Soviet Pact
◦ Mussolini is not informed
 Sept 1 – Hitler invades Poland
◦ Mussolini does not enter since he is not
ready + the country has fought wars over
the last 5 years (war weary)
 June 1940 – Italy declares war
◦ German success worried Mussolini that
nothing would be left for him
 To what extent was there
continuity in Italian foreign
policy in the 1930s?
 Return to your outline
◦ What information can you add?
 Ex. Munich Conference?
 Ex. Invasion of Albania?
 Ex. Pact of Steel?
 Ex. Hitler-Mussolini relationship?
Lesson 2c – Italian Expansionism (1930s)

Essential Question
To what extent was there continuity
in Italian foreign policy in the 1930s?
Learning Outcomes - Students will:
◦ Review – answer our essential question
◦ Learn about what historians say about the topic
Leave
s
Success Criteria for 3 l pace
essons
I can apply historian’s point of
views to my outline
Preview
Discuss our essential question

◦ To what extent was there

continuity in Italian foreign policy
in the 1930s?

What is your opinion

◦ Use your outline to help
Vocab
Renzo De Felice
AJP Taylor
Gerhard Schreiber
 Reading 3L
es so
ns
SL & HL – Pg. 119-140
(Move to Global War)
◦ Make sure you are adding to
 Notes
 Essential Question

◦ IB Math
 Notes only = max 5
 Textbook only = max 5
 Notes + Textbook = 6~7
 Italian Mussolini- Example: Why did
Historian
Foreign Policy Hitler Alliance Italy enter WW2?

Italian Right-
Wing

Leave 3 lines
British for each
category

German
Historiography
Italian Right-wing
◦ Italian foreign policy: before
1935, Mussolini sought France’s
approval for an Italian empire in
N. Africa
 Mussolini wished to be the power
that balanced Europe (Munich
Conference)
 Alliance with Hitler was not
imperialist in nature
◦ Historian: Renzo De Felice
(Mussolini’s official biographer)
Historiography
British
◦ Italian foreign policy:
Mussolini sought an
expansionist policy, but
sometimes conflicted with
Hitler
 Ex. Mussolini thought Hitler
agreed to leave Austria
independent, but this is in contrast
to the Anschluss
◦ Historian: AJP Taylor
Historiography
German
◦ Italian foreign policy: dependent
on the domestic policies within
Italy
 Foreign Policy was just a form of
propaganda to gain domestic
approval
 Had no strategy joining with Hitler
 More a product his own rhetoric
about his goal of an Italian empire
◦ Historian: Gerhard Schreiber
 Italian Mussolini- Example: Why did
Historian
Foreign Policy Hitler Alliance Italy enter WW2?

Italian Right-
Wing

Leave 3 lines
British for each
category

German
 To what extent was there
continuity in Italian
foreign policy in the
1930s?
 Return to your outline
◦ Tell me your answer to this question
T ip ans = ◦ Do any of the historians we looked
IB stori 5
i
0 h score = have a similar point of view?
x
ma more ll  Ex. Does your answer focus on the impact
u
2 or ible f
s
pos es of domestic factors?
r
sco  Which historian would agree with this?