The Pact of Steel
Italy was faced with an outdated Air Force and WWI grade artillery. She was outgunned in military might by Germany in a number of ways. First, Germany had a vast amount resources to pull from, ranging from iron ore to petroleum. Second,
Italian Foreign Minister Ciano with German Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop
they started their military buildup from scratch. Germany was severely beaten in World War I, so when Hitler started the German re-militarization, his war machine was modern and efficient. In a strange way, it is easier to start over than attempt to maintain or refurbish obsolete weaponry.
When Italy annexed Albania, Greece began to feel threatened. It was believe that Italy would make Greece her next target. Italian bases were already in the vicinity with their installations on the Dodecanese Islands and Greece was well aware that Italy would soon install bases in Albania. There was a fear that Italian bombers would soon land at the airports of Maleme and Crete and Italian submarines would soon infest the waters of the Suda Bay, the port of Alexandria and Suez Canal. In an attempt to curb German as well as Italian expansion, Paris and London furnished Greece the same guarantee given to Poland; any aggression on your nation will be met with all the military help possible. This statement forced Italy to look at the Axis alliance with Germany and try to incorporate it into a military pact. Mussolini was prepared to forge a military alliance with Germany and even to go to war with France. He felt his only need would be economic and material aid.
At this point in history, France was more likely to go into war with Italy than with Germany. Setbacks occurred on the 12 March, 1939 in Franco-Italian negotiations dealing with the Red Sea and Spain. Italian naval vessels in the Mediterranean as well as military installations in occupied Libya put a stranglehold on the French Mediterranean fleet. To make matters worse, Mussolini would taunt the French Ministry of Council, President Edouard Daladier, in front of his news reporters.
There were a few problems in concluding a military pact with Germany. First was the issue of Japan. Mussolini wanted Japan in this alliance, but Hitler distanced himself from having Japan involved. He felt that allowing Japan in this military alliance would pull the United States out of its isolationist stance and towards the allies. The second problem was the issue of the Nazi attack of Catholicism, in order for the people of Italy to feel comfortable with an Italo-German military alliance, they would have to soften their stance against the Catholic religion. This was accepted by German foreign minister Von Ribbentrop without question. The final issue was Conte Ciano’s fear of an alliance with Germany. In his diaries, Conte Ciano writes about the dangers of a military alliance with Germany.
“(Ribbentrop) has in his head the idea of war…he wants war, his war. He doesn’t have a precise direction to go, or at least he doesn’t mention it. He mentions no enemy or no objective But he wants a war in 3 or 4 years. I am being reserved, but I did make it clear to him that we have other problems to resolve and other concessions that may have to be made.”
Conte Ciano admitted in his diaries that Mussolini was given an inflated number of men in the army, and the amount of divisons were multiplied. The artillery is old and the anti-aircraft and anti-tanks weaponry left much to be desired. The Major General of Aviation declared that Italy had 3,006 available aircraft, but the Informational Services declared only 982 ready aircraft…a gross exaggeration. It was a bluff to Mussolini, and a tragic bluff. Needless to say, Mussolini was upset at the lack of preparedness of the Italian Esercito (Army) and the Regia Aeronautica (Air Force).
Raeder, Ribbentrop, Ciano, Hitler and Goring after the signing of the Pact of Steel
Mussolini concluded that a period of peace was needed for Italy in order to incorporate the following agendas.
- Organize Libya and Albania and settle the unrest in Ethiopia to the point of obtaining 500,000 army volunteers.
- Complete construction and modernization of 6 Battleships
- Modernize existing medium and large caliber artillery pieces.
- Repatriate all Italians working in France for military and moral reasons.
- Terminate the transference, already in progress, of all wartime industries from the Po Valley to Meridial Italy.
- Bring Germany and Italy closer together, not just in government, but also as a people. A existence between Church and Nazism.
Italy knew that war in Europe was inevitable, but Ciano convinced Mussolini not to hurry the timing. It was also possible that war between Japan and China may be over by the time these agendas are completed. If war with Germany and Poland would start before the 3-4 year time period, and if it was localized between those two countries, Italy would supply Germany with all the political and material aid it could muster. But if France and England should come to defend Poland, Italy would have to claim neutrality until its forces are prepared for a lengthy war.
Ribbentrop agreed to this new Italian policy and stated that Germany had no intentions of starting a war for 3-4 years. On May 21, 1939, Ciano flies to Berlin and the Pact of Steel is signed the next day.
In September of 1939, Germany invades Poland and Europe goes to war.
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