Stresa Conference

Stresa Conference, meeting held in April 1935 between Britain, France, and Italy at Lake Maggiore in Italy in reaction to Hitler's defiance of the peace settlements negotiated at the Treaty of Versailles (1919-1923). The prime ministers of the respective countries, Ramsey Macdonald, Pierre Flandin, and Benito Mussolini, issued a collective formal protest at Hitler's restoration of conscription and expansion of Germany's peacetime army. They also formed the “Stresa Front”, an alliance which aimed to counter growing German militarism.

The conference, however, was the last show of unity between the former World War I allies against their former enemy and the “Stresa Front” quickly crumbled as they pursued different diplomatic strategies. In May 1935 France signed the Franco-Soviet Pact with Stalin. Then, in June 1935, Britain began a policy of appeasement, and unilaterally signed a treaty with Germany (Anglo-German Naval Treaty). Mussolini invaded Abyssinia and then allied with Hitler, signing the Rome-Berlin Axis in November 1936.