While Mussolini was concerned with Hitler’s interest in Austria, Britain and France were worried about his disregard for the Treaty of Versailles. By 1935, he had introduced conscription and was ignoring the limits placed on Germany’s armed forces. The consequence of the country’s concern was the Stresa Front in April 1935 which occurred at a conference between Britain, France and Italy and consisted of the 3 countries expressing a strong protest towards Hitler’s actions. However, the Stresa Front did not last long and another change in European alliances occurred.
Soon after it was signed, the Stresa Front broke up and Italy was once again a lone power within Europe. The main reason for this was Mussolini’s decision to invade Abyssinia in order to begin building up an Italian Empire. His actions were condemned by Britain, France and the League of Nations as a whole but no action beyond economic sanctions was taken although oil was excluded from these sanctions which aided Mussolini greatly. In reaction to the League’s condemnation, Mussolini withdrew the Italian guarantee of Austrian independence and officially left the Stresa Front and in 1936, he stated that he would not resist a German attempt to remilitarise the Rhineland.
The ineffective economic sanctions and lack of military action placed on Mussolini by the League of Nations encouraged Hitler to pursue more action against the Treaty of Versailles. Consequently, he defied the Treaty and remilitarised the Rhineland in March 1936.
Following these incidents, Germany and Italy began to move closer together as both were now left without allies. It was during the Abyssinian crisis that a formal alliance, known as the Rome-Berlin Axis occurred. Hitler sacrificed the ex-Austrian territories in Northern Italy for the chance of a formal alliance between Germany and Italy. This reassured Mussolini and he knew he had to move closer to Germany because he was aware he needed an ally and this allowed him to back Hitler’s plan to unite with Austria. This was the first formal alliance between the two countries.
Not long after the Rome-Berlin Axis was signed, the Spanish Civil War broke out. Both Hitler and Mussolini supported the fascist, Franco which brought the two countries closer together. Both Mussolini and Hitler had similar reasons for sending help to Franco, including aiming to increase their influence in Spain. The success of Franco meant that there was now a third fascist leader in Europe who also had influence over the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, Italy and Germany saw it as very important that they were the only two countries willing to intervene in the war. This first phase in close Italian-German relations culminated in the October Protocols, 1936. These effectively agreed a common front between the two countries encompassing anti-communist feelings and hostility towards Britain.
In September 1937, Mussolini visited Hitler and this visit strengthened the Rome-Berlin Axis. This gave Hitler more confidence and a few weeks later, he stated his intention to pursue a more aggressive foreign policy at the Hossbach Conference. Not long after Mussolini’s visit to Germany, Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact in which Germany, Japan and Italy declared their hostility to international communism as organised by Soviet Russia. This was not a formal alliance but did further cement relations between Italy and Germany.
It was not automatic that the axis of 1936 became the alliance in 1939, Italy was not willing to be an unconditional ally while their was still a threat to Italian territory in South Tyrol. However, Mussolini’s attitude towards an Anchluss between Germany and Austria was ambivalent. This, coupled with the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations, encouraged Hitler that an Anchluss would be successful. Although, Mussolini was worried about the attitude of the Italian people if he condoned Hitler’s takeover of Austria. Hitler did not communicate his plans for Austria with Mussolini, and over the next few months there was a cooling in relations between the two nations. When Hitler finally did invade he attempted to reassure Mussolini in a hope to prevent Italian intervention. By this time, Mussolini realised that any attempt to resist German invasion would be unsuccessful.
After the Anchluss, Mussolini was much more willing to follow Hitler and even an alliance with Britain in April 1938 failed to draw him away from Hitler. In May 1938, Hitler visited Rome to reiterate the value of the Rome-Berlin Axis and propose a military alliance, although this was turned down because it was felt the Italian people would not approve of this. Following this visit, Mussolini adopted the German goosestep and introduced anti-Semitic legislation eventhough it lost him fascist support. Once he had strengthened the alliance with Italy, Hitler put pressure on Czechoslovakia to hand over the Sudetenland which Mussolini was very much involved with. In spring 1939, both countries began pursuing aggressive foreign policies in the East with Germany invading Czechoslovakia and Italy invading Albania in April. The invasion of Albania forced Italy further away from Britain and France and closer to Germany.
Germany and Italy were now ready for a military alliance; the Pact of Steel was agreed in May 1939. This was essentially an aggressive treaty although it did include mutual defence clauses. Mussolini believed there was no need for a defensive treaty as it was unlikely that either of the Axis powers would be attacked. Hitler hoped the treaty would reduce the resolve of Britain and France to defend Poland if it was attacked. The Pact of Steel allowed Hitler to “attack Poland and to plunge into the Second World War” (Wiskemann).
The main factors drew Italy and Germany into a military alliance by 1939 from being hostile towards each other in 1933 were shared ideological beliefs and lack of other powers to ally with. Hitler was able to manipulate Mussolini into a military alliance which enabled him to pursue his aggressive foreign policy.
