Why Did Italy Invade Abyssinia? Essay, Research Paper

??????????? Mussolini

was looking for land where he could get more resources to help recover from the

depression and also land where unemployed Italians could go and settle.? Also other countries had built up their

Empires using force and the league had done nothing so Mussolini decided that

he wanted to build up his empire as well. ??????????? Mussolini

had already built up his armed forces so he was itching to try them out.? He looked to Abyssinia.b) How did the invasion affect relations between

Italy and Germany? ??????????? Before

Italy invaded Abyssinia, Germany and Italy were very suspicious of each other.? But when Italy invaded, Hitler realised that

it would be a good thing if he made friends with Mussolini.? So, when the league imposed some economic

sanction, Hitler took the chance to get on the right side of Mussolini and gave

him some of the things imposed even though Germany could not afford this, but

in the long term I think it paid off. ??????????? While

everyone was mixed up in the Abyssinian affair Hitler took the chance to remilitarize

the Rhineland.? Although now in

Hindsight we realise that Hitler was not so sure of himself because he gave

orders to his troops that if the French tried to intervene they should

retreat.? This meant that Hitler felt

grateful to Mussolini and gave him more reason to be friends. ??????????? Soon

in 1936 Hitler and Mussolini made a pact called the "Rome Berlin

Agreement".? This wasn’t really

very important but just established a friendship or respect between them.? Later they went to war to fight for Franco, this

gave Hitler a lot of experience and certainly more confidence.? This also brought them together more.? In 1937 they formed the "Anti Comintern

Pact" with Japan, this was anti-communism, hence the name.? Finally in 1939 the three of them formed the

"Pact of Steele".? This truly

was a strong pact.c)

"The

most important result of the invasion of Abyssinia was to encourage Hitler to

be more aggressive" Do you agree with this statement? Yes, the encouragement of

Hitler by the invasion was very important, however there were other results; ??????????? When

Italy invaded the League was struck with horror that one of its founder members

was breaking the rules whilst still in the League.? This happened in 1936, just after it was made a fool of by Japan

invading Manchuria, so by now the League was just about dead on its feet.? And when it was found to do nothing of value

people lost all faith in it.? Instead

people resorted to, so by now the League was just about dead on its feet.? And when it was found to do nothing of value

people lost all faith in it.? Instead

people resorted to appeasement. ?The

Hoare Laval Plan said that if Mussolini accepted a second third of Abyssinia

then one third would remain part of Abyssinia.?

Perhaps a very major result of the invasion was that the relationship

between Hitler and Mussolini grew from being very suspicious of each other to

being on good terms, this relationship grew to be incredibly strong. ??????????? Some

more minor results were that if the League was up to anything before well now

it was certainly dead.? It encouraged

Mussolini to puppet Zogg with Albania.?

Despite one failed example of appeasement the British especially

continued to take this line of ideas.?

Another quite important result was that now Mussolini and Hitler

realised that the League had no teeth and the became more ruthless. ??????????? In

conclusion I am sure that the most important result of the invasion of

Abyssinia was to encourage Hitler to be more aggressive.