The Pope and the Duce: The International Impact of the Lateran Agreements

264 Pages·1981·23.51 MB·English

by  Peter C. Kent (auth.)

THE POPE AND THE DUCE
THE POPE AND
THEDUCE
The International Impact
of the Lateran Agreements
Peter C. Kent
©Peter C. Kent 1981
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1981 978·0-333-27774-4
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published 1981 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-1-349-16619-0 ISBN 978-1-349-16617-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-16617-6
Typeset in Great Britain by
REDWOOD BURN LIMITED
Trowbridge & Esker
Contents
List of Plates
Preface
List of Abbreviations
'A VERY DETERMINED ANTAGONIST' 1
Mussolini and the Roman Question 5
Pius XI and the Modern World 10
2 AREASOFCOOPERATIONBEFORE 1929 17
Italian Definition ofa Post-War Foreign Policy 17
The Holy See and Post-War Europe 21
The Hungarian Relationship 26
Rumania 31
Albania 32
Bulgaria 34
The Eastern Mediterranean to 1927 36
The Eastern Mediterranean in 1928 40
3 AREAS OF CONFLICT BEFORE 1929 44
Negotiations with the French 44
The Problem ofRelations with Yugoslavia 46
Yugoslavia: The Constitutional Question 48
Yugoslavia: The Religious Question 52
The Impasse with Austria 54
4 CHANGING PERSPECTIVES IN 1929 58
France, Italy and the Overseas Missions 58
Albania 63
Yugoslavia 64
Hungary 67
Austria 69
5 CRISIS OVER MALTA 73
6 THEONSETOFTHEDEPRESSION, 1929--30 97
Grandi 98
Vl CONTENTS
Rapprochement with Austria 98
Stalemate with France 102
Adjusting to the Yugoslav Dictatorship 102
Mussolini and the Yugoslav Negotiations 105
Germany and Austria 107
The Tide Turns 110
The Relationship with Moscow 112
7 CONFLICTOVERCATHOLICACTION, 1931-2 115
The Relationship with Berlin 115
Yugoslavia and the Catholic Action Crisis 116
The Habsburg Alternative 121
Lav al's Overtures of 1931 123
Loosening Ties with Albania 125
The Alexander-Mussolini Negotiations 126
Caritate Christi 127
8 THE SPANISH CATALYST 130
9 THEQUESTFORFOUR-POWER UNITY, 1932-3 146
Pius XI and European Polarization 146
Mussolini Returns to the Foreign Ministry 148
The Lika Raid and its Consequences 150
The Four-Power Pact and European Pacification 152
Dilemma over Anschluss: Rapprochement with
Yugoslavia 155
The Albanian Schools Question 157
10 THEANTI-NAZIALLIANCE, 1933-5 159
Dollfuss and the Defence ofA ustria 159
Yugoslavia between Germany and Italy 164
Barthou 166
Austria: The Corporate Constitution 167
Negotiations with Albania 169
The Return ofLaval 170
11 THE IMPACT ON ITALIAN FOREIGN POLICY 173
Appendices 181
Notes 197
Bibliography 227
Index 237
List of Plates
1. At the signing of the Italian Concordat on 11 February
1929. Cardinal Gasparri and Signor Mussolini in the
centre; Count Dino Grandi is on the right (The Times)
2. Pope Pius XI (Popperfoto)
3. Benito Mussolini, with his son Romano in 1931 (Popperfoto)
4. Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, Vatican Secretary of State,
1930--9 (BBC Hulton Picture Library)
5a. Count Dino Grandi (BBC Hulton Picture Library)
5b. King Alexander of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou, French
Foreign Minister, moments before their assassination in
October 1934 (BBC Hulton Picture Library)
6a. Lord Strickland, Prime Minister of Malta (Popperfoto)
6b. Father Ignaz Seipel, Christian Social Leader and Chancel
lor of Austria in the 1920s (Osterreichische Nationalbibliothelc)
7a. Count Stephen Bethlen, Prime Minister of Hungary,
1921-31 (Popperfoto)
7b. Englebert Dollfuss, Chancellor of Austria, 1932--4 ( Osterrei
chische Nationalbibliothelc)
Sa. King Zog of Albania (Popperfoto)
8b. Empress Zita and Archduke Otto of Austria-Hungary
(BBC Hulton Picture Library)
Preface
This is a study of the impact of the Lateran Agreements of 1929 on
Italian foreign policy and of the effect of Church-State relations
on the development of that policy between 1929 and 1935. It is
offered as a contribution to the historical debate on the nature of
Mussolini's governance of Italy. As it relates to Fascist foreign
policy, this debate has centred on the question of whether Mus
solini was completely opportunistic or whether he operated in
accordance with a policy of some consistence and coherence. Did
Mussolini only respond to crises and opportunities as they arose,
seeking transitory propaganda victories, or did he develop and
act on any conception of a more long-range Italian interest? The
current study contends that Mussolini certainly had a coherent
foreign policy between 1927 and 1935 and, moreover, that he
would not permit this policy to be deflected for the momentary
political advantages offered by such a major international
phenomenon as his reconciliation with the Vatican.
I have also sought to examine the impact of the Great De
pression on the policies of Pope Pius XI, especially the way in
which the papacy's anti-Communist crusade did not develop so
much as a direct result of the 1917 Russian revolution as of the
breakdown ofEuropean society in the early 1930s. This onset of a
holy 'Cold War' in 1930 meant that the concordat signed with
Hitler in 1933 was conceived in a totally different context from
that which had been concluded with Mussolini in 1929; it also
helps to explain the ambiguities in the relationship of the Vatican
with the Fascist and Nazi regimes in the 1930s and 1940s.
The study was originally written as a doctoral thesis for the
University of London. Esmonde M. Robertson of the Depart
ment oflnternational History of the London School of Economics
was my supervisor. Not only did he suggest the original topic of
my research but, through his continued guidance and encourage-
PREFACE lX
ment, he saw me through to its completion. I am very much
indebted to him.
My research was made possible by grants from the Canada
Council, the William Lyon MacKenzie King Scholarship Trust,
the Province ofNew Brunswick and the University ofNew Bruns
wick.
In the course of my research, useful assistance, information
and advice has been gratefully received from the following indi
viduals: Gordon Brook-Shepherd, Alan Cassels, Paul Corner,
Renzo De Felice, Peter Edwards, Father Robert Graham, James
Joll, Monsignor Kasteel and Father Lizzoli of the Congregation
of the Propaganda Fide, Hilda Lee, Adrian Lyttelton, Jens Peter
sen, Sir Alec Randall, Anthony Rhodes, Father Michael
Richards, Christopher Seton-Watson, Hon. Mabel Strickland
and Dr Otto von Habsburg.
I also wish to acknowledge the help of the staffs of the Public
Record Office in London, the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in
Rome, St Antony's College, Oxford, and the Library of the Uni
versity of Birmingham.
I received assistance with translations from Valli Persello,
Mariano Piquer, Rosaria Quartararo and R. Steven Turner.
Several of my colleagues in the History Department of the Uni
versity of New Brunswick, and particularly D. M. Young and
T. W. Acheson, have read and commented on parts of the manu
script. I wish to thank both my colleagues and my students at the
University of New Brunswick for their encouragement in this
project, and also Sherry Woodman and Catherine Orchard who
helped with typing the manuscript.
Finally, I wish to record my gratitude to my in-laws, Doris and
Worthy Preece, for their support, especially during our years in
England and, of course, to my wife, Wendy, who has put up with
all this and has read the manuscript.
Fredericton, New Brunswick P.C.K.
July 1979
List of Abbreviations
ACS Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Rome
De Felice III Renzo De Felice, Mussolini il fascista, val. 11,
L 'organizzazione della stato fascista, 192~1929
De Felice IV Renzo De Felice, Mussolini il duce, vol. 1, Gli
anni del comemo, 1929-1936
DDF Documents diplomatiques franfais
DDI Documenti diplomatici italiani
DGFP Documents on German Foreign Policy
FO Papers of the British Foreign Office, Public
Record Office, London
Opera Omnia Edoardo and Duilio Sus mel ( eds), Opera
Omnia di Benito Mussolini
SPD Segreteria Particolare del Duce, Carteggio
Riservato
StA Collection of Italian Documents, St
Antony's College, Oxford