Stressa Front

The stressa 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 RamsayMacDonald, and Italian prime minister 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 theindependence 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. Most importantlyfor Benito Mussolini, it was another opportunity to cover the Italian masses in a thick veneer of Fascist propaganda as the 'Duce' was portrayed as an elder statesman and a keeper of the peace (afterthe failed Anschluss of 1934).
Background
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 (750,000men - much more than the amount prescribed by the Treaty of Versailles, the original figure set was 96,000 men) and to introduce conscription, in March 1935.
Mussolini believed that the signing of theStresa Front would mean Britain and France would not interfere in the Abyssinian crisis.
Even though the ever increasingly belligerent Germany dominated discussions within the conference room,Mussolini was at his cleverest when outside. He discussed with Britain plans to pursue his aim of making Italy 'great, respected and feared' through the invasion and conquest of Abyssinia and ultimatelycreate an all-powerful empire. Mussolini made sure not to discuss his expansionist plans within the confines of the conference itself due to the possible risk of the Western democracies issuing a vetoover it. Furthermore, Mussolini couldn't risk the conference being sidetracked from its main aim of reaffirming Locarno and opposing any more breaches of international agreements. With this said,...