Why did italy change its foreign policy after 1934?
(To the point and medium, ,not too long, not too short)
Answers
Answer:
Mussolini gradually dismantled the institutions of democratic government and in 1925 made himself dictator, taking the title 'Il Duce'. He set about attempting to re-establish Italy as a great European power. The regime was held together by strong state control and Mussolini's cult of personality.
Answer:
As time passed, Fascist foreign policy became more expansionist. In particular, Mussolini aimed at acquiring territory in Africa and in the Mediterranean, for which he adopted the ancient Roman term mare nostrum (“our sea”). Even in 1923, in his first year in office, he briefly invaded the Greek island of Corfu to avenge the murder of four Italian nationals forming part of an international boundary delegation. During the next decade he played the European statesman, and in 1924 he reached an agreement with Yugoslavia that gave Fiume to Italy. He also continued to strengthen the Italian hold on Libya, to build up the armed forces, and to plan further expansion in Africa—particularly in Ethiopia, where the defeat at Adwa in 1896 still needed to be avenged. In October 1935 Italy finally invaded Ethiopia—one of the first conquests was Adwa—and by May 1936 had conquered the country and proclaimed the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel III, emperor of Ethiopia. Ethiopia had been the only remaining country in Africa to escape colonization. Nearly 400,000 Italian troops took part in the conflict. The army employed brutal methods, including massacres and poison gas bombs. After an attempt in February 1937 on the life of the “viceroy” of Ethiopia, General Rodolfo Graziani, Italian forces arrested and shot hundreds of Ethiopians. However, the war was popular at home and among Italians abroad, especially in the Italian American community. Racist propaganda depicted the Ethiopians as backward barbarians “civilized” by the Italian army. The colonial wars coincided, not by chance, with the period when the regime enjoyed its maximum popularity.