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The Four-Power Pact, also known as the Quadripartite Agreement, was an international
treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...
between the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, and
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
that was initialed on 7 June 1933 and signed on 15 July 1933 in the
Palazzo Venezia The Palazzo Venezia (; "Venice Palace") or Palazzo Barbo, formerly Palazzo di San Marco ("Saint Mark's Palace"), is a large early Renaissance palace in central Rome, Italy, situated to the north of the Capitoline Hill. Today the property of the ...
,
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. The Pact was not ratified by the
French Parliament The French Parliament (, ) is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the French Fifth Republic, consisting of the Senate (France), Senate (), and the National Assembly (France), National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessi ...
.


Background

The creator and chief promoter of the pact was
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
, who completed its original manuscript during one of his short stays at
Rocca delle Caminate Rocca delle Caminate is a Middle Ages, medieval castle located in Meldola, around from Predappio in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. It functioned as the summer home of Benito Mussolini, who was born in Predappio. History The ''Rocca delle Ca ...
, in March 1933. Against the backdrop of the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
and the Nazi rise to power, Mussolini called for the creation of the Four-Power Pact on 19 March 1933 as a better means of ensuring international security. Under the plan, smaller nations would have less of a voice in great power politics. Representatives of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
signed a diluted version of Mussolini's Four-Power Pact proposal. Mussolini's chief motive in suggesting the pact was his wish for closer relations with France. Though Mussolini's purpose may have been to calm Europe's nerves, the pact actually caused the opposite result. It reaffirmed each country's adherence to the
Covenant of the League of Nations The Covenant of the League of Nations was the charter of the League of Nations. It was signed on 28 June 1919 as Part I of the Treaty of Versailles, and became effective together with the rest of the Treaty on 10 January 1920. Creation Early ...
, the
Locarno Treaties The Locarno Treaties, known collectively as the Locarno Pact, were seven post-World War I agreements negotiated amongst Germany, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, Second Polish Republic, Poland and First Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovak ...
and the Kellogg-Briand Pact. The pact was intended to be the solution to the issue of sovereign powers coming together and operate in an orderly way, which had been the purpose of the League of Nations. Mussolini's goal was to reduce the power of the small states in the League of Nations by a bloc of major powers. The Four-Power Pact had little significance but was not completely devoid of merit. The Four-Power Pact was supposed to be a solution to the exploitation of the balance of power, which was of interest to Italy and also appealed to the British. However, the pact faced speculation in France and Germany. Since
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
were close enough to mediate between
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, France was alarmed.


Negotiation, initialing and signing

The pact was ultimately supported by all the four great powers, as well as other states. MacDonald was the first to come to Italy to discuss the pact, anticipating Mussolini, according to Salata, evidently informed of the ''Duces idea. France ultimately approved the pact, and in April 1933 Daladier and Paul-Boncour expressed their support for the continuation of negotiations of the pact. Likewise, the
Grand Council of Fascism The Grand Council of Fascism (, also translated "Fascist Grand Council") was the main body of Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy, which held and applied great power to control the institutions of government. It was created as a body of the ...
gave its strong support to the "action of the head of the Fascist government." In April 1933 Rome was informed that Belgium hailed Mussolini's idea of a pact among the four powers, only pointing out that it expected to be included in the discussions when these touched upon Belgium's interests, especially when discussing the colonies in Africa, receiving assurances from Italy in this regard. In the same month von Papen hailed the "genial idea of Mussolini", while Hitler, in his 17 May speech, reiterated his support and approval of the pact.


The Pentecost incident

During the negotiations occurred what came to be known as the "Pentecost incident". When it was thought that the four powers had reached an agreement, with the 31 May issue of the '' Times'' even giving for granted the publication of the pact for the following day, it turned out that France had agreed by negotiating on a previous version of the treaty, different from those considered at the moment by the other countries, and everything had to be started over again. The last text, which was thought to have been approved by everyone, was not known in Paris, from which the French government had negotiated on the basis of a different text. The text on whose basis the French were negotiating was a previous version, proposed by the French themselves. The
telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...
, which had substituted letters and telegrams in the last part of the negotiations, was deemed responsible; further, suspicions of a scheme were raised. The French ambassador de Jouvenel, a strong supporter of Mussolini's pact, took the blame on himself, adding that any mistakes must have happened in good faith. The negotiations had quickened in the last days, after having been very sluggish in the beginning. Salata notes that the "modern tools had played a bad trick". He further notes that the extensive use of the telephone in the last part of the negotiations will make it difficult for future historians of the Four-Power Pact, who won't find written documents for all phases of this negotiation.


Initials and signature

The difference between the texts, and the root of the disagreement, was linked to the article three of the proposed Pact, which had to do with the question of the disarmament, which especially interested Germany. After the Pentecost incident, the French then proposed to simply suppress the article 3, an idea which was immediately rejected by the other powers. Eventually the four great powers agreed on an apparently more generic version of the article 3, proposed by the British, and close to the original draft by Mussolini. At half past five PM, after the consent from Berlin, the four powers agreed on initialling the pact. Mussolini then reached Palazzo Madama, where he pronounced to the
senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
his speech regarding the pact, whose central part he had composed in the past few days, retouching it till the last moment, perhaps even during his trip to Palazzo Madama. His speech was warmly praised, with Salata calling it the greatest speech ever pronounced by any Italian head of state or minister, and the greatest interpretation of the "feelings and life's purpose of the others and of the universality". After Mussolini's speech at the senate, the pact was initialed at Palazzo Venezia at half past seven in the evening that same day. The pact would eventually be signed on 15 July in Palazzo Venezia. In the protocol of the initials it was agreed that, whatever the day of the signature, the pact would bear the date of 7 June 1933, an expressive act of the will of the governments.


Outcome

The document that was signed bore little resemblance to the initial proposal. In practice, the Four-Power Pact proved of little significance in international affairs, but it was one of the factors contributing to the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact of 1934.Mazur, Z. "Pakt Czterech." The American Historical Review, Vol. 86, No. 4. (October 1981), p.880 It has been argued that the Four-Power Pact could have safeguarded the European balance of power with the hope of balancing peace and security in Europe. However, the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
was abundant in Europe, and the rise of Hitler to power also makes the idea unlikely.
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
's reliance on France had been weakened, and differing attitudes emerged of the pact between Poland and
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''ÄŒesko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
. Opposition to the revision of the Four-Power Pact was expressed by Poland and the
Little Entente The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia from 1929 on) with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revisionism and the prospect of ...
, as apparent in the French dilution of the pact in this final form. It is apparent that the Four-Power pact had a negative impact of France's allies in
Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Baltic region, Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltic states, Baltics), Central Europe (primarily the Visegrád Group), Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (primaril ...
.


Role of Hitler

The rise of
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
to power was an adequate reason to propose alternative power arrangements. However, what had started as an alternative to the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
ended as a reassertion of devotion to that failing institution. Hitler was willing to accept the gratuitous triumph of the League of Nation's death.Wallace, W. V. "International Affairs" ''Royal Institute of International Affairs,'' Vol. 43, No. 1. (Jan. 1967), pp. 104-105 The pact soon failed, but the United Kingdom, in particular, did not easily throw away the Pact's idea. Germany's withdrawal from the League put the Pact on hold. The Pact had major impact on modern law. For six years, the United Kingdom would make vain attempts to make it work at nearly any cost, but the failure of the Four-Power Pact served as a warning of Germany's continued withdrawal from diplomatic relations with France and the United Kingdom in the buildup to the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.


Literature

*
Francesco Salata Francesco Salata (17 September 1876 – 10 March 1944) was a Dalmatian Italian senator, politician, journalist, historian and writer. Salata was an irredentist, although he had a more legalistic approach than other contemporaries, as well as bei ...
: Il patto Mussolini, Milan, Mondadori, 1933.


Gallery

File:Picture from Francesco Salata's Il patto Mussolini 04.jpg, Simon, MacDonald, Mussolini at the British Embassy in Rome on 19 March 1933 File:Picture from Francesco Salata's Il patto Mussolini 05.jpg, Mussolini initialling the Four-Power Pact on 7 June 1933 File:Picture from Francesco Salata's Il patto Mussolini 01.jpg, Hassel, Mussolini, Graham, and de Jouvenel after the initialling of the pact, 7 June 1933 File:Picture from Francesco Salata's Il patto Mussolini 03.jpg, Mussolini and the ambassadors at Palazzo Venezia, after the signing of the pact, 15 July 1933


Notes


References


Sources

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External links


League of Nations in 1933
{{Authority control Treaties concluded in 1933 Treaties of Nazi Germany Treaties of the United Kingdom 1933 in France 1933 in Italy 1933 in the United Kingdom Interwar-period treaties Treaties of the French Third Republic Treaties of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946) Italy in World War II