France gave up their position as a great power in

France gave up their position as a great power in Europe
 CONSEQUENCES
o 1. Hitler now considered French and British as weak
 Now thought he’d get away with other violations
o 2. Belgians were getting concerned with French insistence on wanting
to fight Germany
 Second-guessed the reliability of the French
o 3. Hitler gave go-ahead of massive military buildup
 In June, Hitler recognized an agreement with the British about
naval restrictions: could build up to 35% of British naval army
 British signed  became co-responsible for violation of
Versailles Peace Treaty

 Hitler told British that they need to sign otherwise
they’ll fully violate the Peace Treaty and rearm their
navy entirely
Between March and June (BEFORE BRITISH NAVAL AGREEMENT)
 France called on British and Mussolini to respond against German
rearmament
o Mussolini proposed to meet at Stresa
o Weird meeting (two democracies + a dictatorship)
 Signed Stresa front in 1935
o Stated that the three of them would commit to the defense of the
borders agreed upon in the Versailles Peace Treaty
o Specifically guaranteed frontiers and integrity of Austria
 On the request of Mussolini, since he was still bitter from
Hitler’s coup
o When Britain signed naval agreement, they abandoned their
commitment to the Stresa front
 At the Stresa meeting, Mussolini asked Western partners if they had any
other pressing issues to discuss
o British knew Mussolini was preparing to attack Ethiopia, and they said
no
 Mussolini took this as a “green light” to attack
 So, Italy attacked the independent country of Ethiopia
o Politically, Mussolini misjudged the situation
 France and Britain reacted surprised and condemned Italy’s
attack at the League of Nations
 Imposed embargo on Italy
o Hypocritical because they didn’t do what was
needed to stop the war
o French and British populations were furious
o Mussolini was furious at this action and he
decided he could no longer trust his “Western
partners”
 Decided he had to turn to Hitler for
support (change in attitude towards
Hitler, which is what Hitler was waiting
for)
o By the end of ’35 Hitler had free rearmament and
was set up for an alliance with Italy
1936 Events

 German army occupied demilitarized Rhineland in March 1936
 Olympic games held in July 1936
 Spanish Civil War began in mid-July 1936
 Sep-Oct 1936: signing of anti-ComIntern act between Japan and Germany
 Versailles treaty had said that Germany could not move closer than 50km to
the Rhineland
o Hitler wanted to build parallel fortification line facing Maginot line in
France
o Doing so went against treaty, put France in danger
o Hitler’s closest collaborators (Minister of Foreign Affairs + army
officers) advised him against this, said it would end in Hitler
withdrawing troops from Rhineland
 French government said they would not tolerate Hitler’s move
o Army general advised government that their army was trained in
defense, not offense
o