ABSTRACT
The Abyssinian crisis of 1935-36 is widely perceived as a seminal development in the international history of the 1930s and a significant marker on the road to the outbreak of war in 1939. The consolidation of Germany's international position which was effected during the Abyssinian crisis is all the more striking in view of the precarious situation which had confronted the Reich in the spring of 1935. By contrast the prospects for any improvement in Italo-German relations at that juncture could hardly have been less auspicious. In contrast, the prospect of an Italo-German rapprochement weighed heavily on the minds of the authorities in London where the Foreign Office was deeply engaged on a detailed review of its policy towards Germany in the hope of finding a formula that might induce Adolf Hitler to make a meaningful contribution towards European pacification. Hitler was clearly intent on further consolidating his relations with London in pursuit of his broader anti-Soviet designs.
