Stresa Front

The Stresa Front was an agreement made in Stresa, a town on the banks of Lake Maggiore in Italy, between French foreign minister Pierre Laval, British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald, and Italian leader Benito Mussolini on April 14, 1935. Formally called the Final Declaration of the Stresa Conference, its aim was to reaffirm the Locarno Treaties and to declare that the independence of Austria "would continue to inspire their common policy". The signatories also agreed to resist any future attempt by the Germans to change the Treaty of Versailles.

The Stresa Front was triggered by Germany's declaration of its intention to build up an air force, to increase the size of its army to 36 divisions (400,000 men - four times the army allowed by Versailles) and to introduce conscription, in March 1935.

The Stresa Front could be seen as a failure due to its vague terms and the fact that it wasn't clear how its aims should be upheld Fact|date=August 2008. It ignored all references to Germany as Britain was adopting a dual policy and did not want to antagonise HitlerFact|date=August 2008. The hard line was provided by Mussolini, while Britain 'kept the door open' with Germany in order to obtain agreementsFact|date=August 2008. Hitler had used tactics that made Britain and France guess at what his next move would beFact|date=August 2008. However, because of the vague terms, it kept Hitler guessing at what Britain would doFact|date=August 2008. Britain didn't realize the advantage it had over Germany and this was lost with the signing of the Anglo-German Naval AgreementFact|date=August 2008.

Another reason for its failure was that neither Britain, France nor Italy wanted to invade Germany and the only real way in which German rearmament could be ceased was by a full scale invasion of GermanyFact|date=August 2008. However, the British government was unwilling to pursue this option as it perceived anti-war sentiment to be strong among the British publicFact|date=August 2008.

The Front was not successful. Within two months the UK had signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, by which Germany was given the green light to increase the size of its navy to no more than 35% (by tonnage) of the Royal Navy and to build submarinesFact|date=August 2008. The UK had not discussed this with its Stresa partners and the front was seriously damagedFact|date=August 2008. This highlighted the fact that the countries that made up the Stresa Front were pulling in different directions. It collapsed completely with Italy's invasion of AbyssiniaFact|date=August 2008.

Mussolini had harboured ambitions of controlling Abyssinia for a long timeFact|date=August 2008. He was enraged when Britain signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement without first informing him of its plansFact|date=August 2008. Mussolini had held back on his invasion plans as Abyssinia bordered French and British Somaliland and he didn't want to anger his alliesFact|date=August 2008. However, he felt Britain had betrayed him and this removed all doubts he had regarding the invasionFact|date=August 2008. He also believed that Britain's actions ended the conditions that were agreed in the Stresa FrontFact|date=August 2008.

On January 6, 1936, Mussolini told German ambassador Ulrich von Hassell that he would not object to Germany taking Austria as a satellite state so long as it maintained independence. Later, on the 22 February, Mussolini gave clearance for Hitler's remilitarization of the Rhineland, stating that Italy would not honor the obligations of the Locarno Treaty should Germany take such action. [Peter Neville. "Mussolini", pg. 135]

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