Mussolini

There were other dictators in the world apart from Hitler and they encouraged each other. Mussolini, the dictator of Fascist Italy, showed Hitler how easy it was to defy the League of Nations as well as Britain, France and world opinion. In the same year that Hitler announced the introduction of conscription, Mussolini launched an unprovoked attack on a member of the League of Nations - Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). Mussolini claimed that the backward Abyssinians needed to be civilised by a European power. The 'benefits' of this new 'civilisation' included poison gas and the flame-thrower!

The League urged its members not to trade with Italy. This policy, known as imposing sanctions, made little impression, especially as League members were still allowed to sell oil to Italy. Without oil, the Italian invasion would have ground to a halt within a few months. Hitler offered to supply Italy with any raw materials that she needed, in defiance of the League's policy. Besides, Germany had left the League of Nations in 1934 and had no intention of supporting its policies. As a result, the two dictators grew closer. Mussolini's view of the League was: 'The League is all right when sparrows quarrel, it fails when eagles fall out'.

Neil Demarco: The era of the Second World War; Oxford University Press, 1993/2000, page 15