Paper 3 Europe: Analyse the successes and failures of Mussolini's foreign policy

IB HL History exams are mostly essay based, as both paper 2 and 3 require students to write only essays, therefore the question above is an essay question. I will provide a short summary.

If looked at Mussolini’s foreign policy from point of view of a Fascist, it can be said that he was quite successful because not only did he help to establish a Fascist regime in Spain but also expanded the territory of Italy by conquering both Albania and Ethiopia. However, it has to be shown that the expansion into Albania did not result in a lot of benefits but rather limited Italy’s influence over Greece due to foreign intervention. Mussolini’s policy did lead to many tensions, which ultimately led to Italy fighting in the Second World War alongside Germany. Failure to recognize the moment to stop territorial expansion and settle with what was gained caused Mussolini's Italy political problems. It can be said that the invasion of Albania was too much since it has angered Britain and France so much that Mussolini felt obliged to sign a military alliance with Germany. The signing of the pact of steel in 1939 led to Mussolini being obliged to fight a war alongside Germany if it was started by Hitler, even if Italy was inadequately prepared.