ABSTRACT
In August 1933, when it still seemed possible to contain Nazi Germany by a united front of the ex-Entente powers, the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, Vansittart, had surmised that if the Western Powers did not strike an agreement with Italy before Germany reached the Brenner, Italy would line up on the wrong side. Five years later, this forecast had been proved correct. The German absorption of Austria was the turning-point of postVersailles Europe: Germany now had control of Central Europe; the subjugation of Czechoslovakia was a mere question of time. So was the Pact of Steel.
