To avoid war in the years 1935 to 1938, Britain and France turned a blind eye to small acts of aggression and expansion, the United States went along with this policy. Even though Roosevelt knew of the threat the Fascist proposed he was still worried about the majority of the isolationist throughout the country. Testing the waters in 1937 he spoke about the democracies teaming up and trying to “quarantine” the problem. The public did not take to well on this idea, and he quickly dropped the subject. Even though that speech failed Roosevelt somehow managed to argue for neutrality but at the same time convince Congress to start building up the arms and increase the military and naval budget by nearly two-thirds in 1938.
Growth of support for facism was a reason for Mussolinis appointment as Prime Minister,however there were many other reasons for Mussolinis appointment as PM, but growth of support was very important for him. The war and the mutilated victory, had an affect on Mussolinis appointment as PM. The main reason wad that the nationalists were bitterly disappointed that italy didn’t make any gains during the war. The nationalists claimed that Italy had been betrayed by the Liberal government, this shows that the nationalists might have wanted to overthrow the Liberal government and therefore supported Mussolini before he was appointed. This links into the title point that Mussolini had a wide support base and that it was growing.
His first move was to test the other European powers by inserting troops into Germany’s coal mining area next to France. This was ofcourse forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles and Hitler wanted to see how far he could push his adversaries before they would strike back. If Britain had not been so passive to Hitler they might have stopped this war before it ever started. They, however, allowed Hitler to do this because they did not want to start another war. Hitler then pushed the European powers further and further until he invaded Poland and Europe had no choice but to react.The results of the vote were fixed and showed that 99% of Austrian people wanted Anschluss (union with Germany).
Cavour did many things and has many contributions to Italy. But the main aim was not unified Italy. He hoped that Piedmont would be strong enough to assume the leadership of Italy in the event of another wars with Austria, France and the House of Hapsburg of Austria. Many facts and evidence could see that Cavour did not want a unified Italy. He tried to prevent it and the "unification" was only Piedmontization (tried to extent the influence of Piedmont).
Britain had recently removed its troop from the area around the canal, so Nasser decided to nationalise the canal and impose a toll which he could use to fund the dam. Many countries would be influenced by how Britain reacted to this and relied upon Anthony Eden and the conservative party to make the decision. Anthony Eden became prime minister as a member of the conservative party after serving as foreign secretary during World War II. He decided firm action was needed against Nasser’s nationalisation of the Canal and decided to act independently against him, this decision was bound to annoy the USA who were currently involved in the Cold War with Russia, Eisenhower was furious at Britain and at the start of November America pressure fuelled a run on the pound, so that 15% of Britain’s gold and dollar reserves quickly disappeared. As Eden made this decision, many blamed him directly for the outcome rather than the conservative party.
The Abyssinian crisis was in the 1930’s and took place in Abyssinia (known as Ethiopia today) in Africa. Italy sent in soldiers to conquer the country to increase its colonial empire. The leader of Abyssinia appealed to the League of Nations for help. The League proved in effective in dealing with the crisis. This had serious consequences for not only Abyssinia but also the survival of the League itself and its principle of “collective security” In April 1935 the Stresa Front was formed, it was triggered by Germany's declaration of its intention to build up an air force, to increase the size of its army.
Benito Mussolini was an extremely influential figure in Europe in the 1930s. Many argue that Mussolini was responsible for the downfall and eventual failure of the League of Nations. Mussolini wanted to regain the Roman Empire to it's former glory, and initiated his nationalistic plan with the invasion of Abyssinia in 1935. Both Italy and Abyssinia were members of the League, meaning that it fell to them to deal with this, and could possibly help the League regain respect and credibility which it had recently lost. Instead, the situation in Abyssinia seemed to spark the end of the League.
Peacemaking and the League of Nations 1) The French leader, Clemenceau, saw the oppportunity at the Treaty of Versailles to cripple Germany so it could not attack France again. Describe how the Treaty of Versailles weakened Germany. (4marks) It weakened Germany through the loss of territory, restricted armed forces and economics such as the loss of the Saar and the reparations Germany had to pay. 2) 'I do not suppose that in the history of the Assembly there was ever a more difficult moment for a speech and a discussion. The world is worried about the Abyssinian Crisis and there are strong feelings on both sides.
“To what extent was the unification of Italy due to the weakness of Austria?” Throughout Europe between 1815 and 1848 swept feelings of nationalism and a desire for unification, including the states collectively known as Italy. This lack of identity was underlined when Count Metternich said “Italy is just a geographical expression.” Nationalism promoted the belief in one language, one culture and the pride in one’s identity. Before unification, life in Italy was frustrating for those who wanted unification. The North and the South states were economically different; the pope influenced the central states. Nevertheless, the process began from 1861 and by 1871 boundaries had been settled.
The second world war was different as it had ideological (Nazism v Communism) as well as racial (Aryan v Slav) elements, but even many other countries were involved, the 'central' theme of both World Wars is Russo-German conflict. It seems strange to say it, but the result of the WWI was unsatisfactory for both Russia (revolution, political withdrawal from the conflict) and Germany (defeat, internal political turmoil that stopped short of revolution) and so it's almost like they ended up having a rematch. * The failure of the League of Nations as an organisation, principally over aggressive Italian imperialism in Ethiopia in the mid 1930s but also during the Spanish Civil War later in the decade. Because the League of Nations failed to act in those cases, Italy and Germany thought they could do what they liked: that lesson wasn't lost on Russia and Japan either. * Along the same lines as the failure of the League of Nations, the short term failure of the appeasement policy of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in the late 1930s was a contributory factor, especially after Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938/39.