| Show background for the coming crisis cr isis france r rance vs italy in mediterranean rebel victory in spain leaves 11 II duce free to press demands by JOSEPH W labine As the first month of 1939 drew to a painful close all europe sat watching bombs burst over spain barcelona the loyalist capital fell by inches before rebel broo troops PS who claimed to be spaniards but came largely from italy and germany one of the closest observers of this holocaust was edouard deladier Da ladier premier of france for M deladier Da ladier knew that once barcelona fell italis hands would be freed from their spanish obligation then benito mussolini would be ready to press the program of expansion which he hopes will make italy the dominant nation of the mediterranean france would be the chief victim of this expansion because french and italian interests clash at several key points in northern africa each wishes to rule the mediterranean france because she has done so tor for 20 years and italy because her fascist government believes this is italis destiny what of the future moot questions are therefore pushed to the front as chiv civil ia war draws near its inevitable rebel victory will the romantic mediterranean be Eu ropes next battleground will france and italy come to blows over proprietorship of tuni sia corsica nice and savoy will their conflict over suez canal proprietorship and the addis ababa djibouti railroad draw great britain ito into the battle and where will germany stand the background tor for this crisis to come dates to 1915 that year in the treaty of london england and france won italis aid against the central powers by promising to split germanys germanas Germ anys african colonies should the allies win article XIII of that treaty specifically states that france and britain agree in principle that italy Is entitled to some equitable compensation after the world war that italy once had a grievance is the opinion of most european observers at versailles the treaty 0 ot f london was completely overlooked not until 1924 did great britain get around to ceding italy the unimportant territory of baland Ju and that under protest stubborn france held out until 1935 when premier pierre laval agreed to give italy a worthless strip of desert south of libya another between french Soma liland and and italian eritrea and the island of treaty never ratified the mussolini laval treaty had few merits and even less honor it was never ratified and therefore the ceded terri terr iries have never been turned over to italy no mention was made of it at the time but now italy claims she withdrew territorial claims against france because M laval agreed to give rome home a free hand in the ethiopian conquest then about to start if laval made this pro promise mise it was never kept france took a vigorous lead in imposing sanctions against italy in its drive against emperor haile selassie since 1936 italy has been busy consolidating her mediterranean gains and fighting the spanish civil war if the past two years have nurtured imperialistic aims aims in the fascist breast they went unspoken because mussolini knew he was too weak to fight but last years german czech crisis changed that one of its most outstanding results was the shift of european domination from france and britain to italy and germany resulting in a subsequent parade of franco british appeasement offers today mussolini is in a position to dictate the outcome of the spanish war moreover he can afford to stick out his neck on territorial demands against france knowing powerful germany stands behind him dictators must drive this is not only privilege but his duty as well for almost two years the italians have watched enviously while daring adolf hitler plucked territorial plums at the other end of the rome berlin axis mussolini has al always ways given the his moral support but in return italy has received nothing if mussolini wishes to retain his dictatorship he must soon begin asserting himself tor for new colonies germany Is willing that this should happen it would be advantageous tor for hitler to have world attention focused on a mediterranean conflict during the next few years while he proceeds quietly to carve a nazi dominated republic out of the vast southeastern Ukraine meanwhile berlin could convenient conven conveniently ien aly send nazi naz i volunteers to aid italy without risking official involvement italis campaign thus far has been very crude it began last november 30 an especially bleak day when france was quaking in fear of A a complete labor strike and when premier deladier Da ladier was clawing tooth and nail to stay in power after france began feeling the disastrous backwash of the czech crisis for the first ti time me since 1936 a french ambassador was in rome andre francois poncet having been shifted from germany to italy after paris belatedly recognized italian conquest tunisia nice corsica M francois poncet celebrated his arrival by attending a session of the italian chamber of deput deputies les where foreign minister count galeazzo ciano son in law was to make a speech hardly had bad his address started before two deputies jumped to their feet and began yelling tunisia TUNISIA rU NISIA from the galleries came cries too not only for Tun tunisia isial but also for corsica cal nice Savo savoy though he sat quietly through the demonstration M francois poncet lost no time demanding an explanation italian officialdom disowned all responsibility but the controlled fascist press picked up the echo from the chamber of deputies and has been amplifying it ever since under direction of propagandist virginio gayda there have been daily threats there have been insults such as france EUROPE FRENCH ITALIAN ITALY i I 1 TUNISIA ASIA MOROCCO EGYPT FRENCH SUDAN FR EGYPTIAN R GUINEA NIGERIA SUDAN BR OMAL IVORY COAS N r NS TOGO KENYA CONG bedy THE mediterranean map showing how france and italy now dominate north african lands also how italy by gaining control of tunisia could easily shut off commerce through the sea by a blockade that in the rome newspaper n which pictured italians spitting on france while the third republic france is patiently wiping her face with newspapers there have been well substantiated stant reports of italian troop concentrations on the west frontier of french Soma liland the net result has been to defeat italis purpose purpose ie france only a few months ago torn by strikes and ready to oust premier deladier Da ladier is today better united than at any time in the past live five years desperately Z iao 10 V k 3 M FRANCOIS PONCET frances new ambassador to italy the first since mussolini invaded ethiopia who was greeted in the rome chamber of deputies by demands for french territorial conc concessions sessions es he listened quietly then left proud the french now dislike to discuss the settlement proposals paris first made last summer because such discussions would leave the impression that france yielded to force france may yield these proposals incidentally are substantially what many observers think italy is hinting tor for today in her undiplomatic fashion they include italian participation in administration of the suez canal italian control of the railroad leading from it alys addis ababa to frances dil adji bouti on the red hed sea and more privileges tor for italian residents ol of tunisia savoy nice and corsica though bawled from the chamber of deputies are in little danger of italian I 1 attack butia but if mussolini presses his advantage after barcelona and if 11 germany wins not only the ukraine but her african colonies lost during the world war the mediterranean will almost positively be the scene of Eu ropes next fireworks arlt britain n would be drawn in because she could not afford to have her lifeline of broken by italian capture of tunisia si a this would enable mussolini to throw a blacka blockade de from tunisia to pantelleria Pant ellaria island to sicily completely controlling traffic from gibraltar to the suez canal such possibilities are admittedly more theoretical than practical but within a few weeks the story of peace or war on the mediterranean may be told IS 0 western newspaper union |
