Post by Diarist on Feb 21, 2016 14:35:27 GMT 1
The League Council meeting scheduled for this morning was postponed until 15:00 in the afternoon due to developments in NE Italy and the joint communication received from France and the United Kingdom. The Italian delegation had also received a new dispatch from Rome. The Council is very concerned that the Abyssinian Crisis could turn into an all-out European war. Key members of the League had recently left; Germany two years ago then Britain and France earlier this week. The other mainstay of peace in Europe, the Locarno Treaties, is also threatened. The Germans consider the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance on 2 May 1935 to be in violation of the Treaty and now the two guarantors, Britain and Italy are at war with each other.
The Italians rejected the joint communication outright despite being informed that the French would annex Aosta, Imperia, Cuneo and Piedmont if Torino were captured.
The Italians left the Council to meet a German delegation at their embassy. However, the Germans made it unmistakably clear that they would only support Italy after this war concluded and Italy supports Austria becoming part of the German Reich, despite the fact that a defeated Italy would have little say in European politics. It would be a German puppet-state.
At 15:00 the Italians informed the League Council that they are awaiting fresh instructions from Rome and requested that the Council meeting be further postponed. This was granted.