Italy

• Hitler could see that he had many things in common with Fascist Italy, yet Mussolini had opposed Hitler invading Austria after the Dollfuss Affair of 1934
• By 1936 things had changed. Hitler and Mussolini

  signed the Rome-Berlin Axis, saying they would work more closely together
• Mussolini was pleased to gain an ally that would help him to continue to rebuild a 'new Roman Empire'
• This was later developed in the Pact of Steel, a military alliance between the countries signed in 1939
• Unlikely to stand up to Hitler