The Anglo-Italian Agreements of 1938 were a series of agreements concluded between the British and the Italian governments in Rome on April 16, 1938 in order to facilitate the cooperation of the Italian government in keeping the existing world order and to prevent its alliance with the Third Reich. These agreements were registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on March 15, 1939.

Background

Since 1935, the British and French governments were courting the Italian government under Mussolini in the hope of preventing the formation of an alliance between Italy and Germany, already under Hitler. As part of that effort, they turned a blind eye to the Italian conquest of Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

 and its involvement in the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

. This policy lasted until the Italian entry into the Second World War in June 1940.

Terms of the agreements

In the several agreements signed on the same day, the British and the Italian governments undertook to observe the order in the Mediterranean, to refrain from any actions against the sovereignty of the kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, where the British government had a foothold in Aden while the Italian government controlled Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

across the Straits of Aden. They undertook to uphold the freedom of navigation in the Suez Canal, and to preserve the peace between their colonial possessions in East Africa. Ethiopia was not named in the agreements, but it was clear the British government intended to ignore the Italian control over that country. The Italian government undertook to withdraw its forces from Spain in order to facilitate the restoration of peace in that country.

Aftermath

The appeasement policy towards the Italian government did not prevent the formation of a German-Italian alliance, and in May 1939 a treaty to that effect was actually concluded.