LE3 .A278 2014

2014

Doerr, Paul

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

History

History & Classics

The purpose of this thesis is to examine Britain’s foreign policy during the Spanish Civil War, paying close attention to how its policy shaped, and was shaped by, Italian action in Spain. Particular attention is paid to the Gentleman’s Agreement of 1937, the Nyon Conference of 1937, and the Easter Agreement of 1938. The first chapter of this work provides some background into the Spanish Civil War, and looks at various international reactions to the event, including that of Britain. The first chapter will also look at the historiography of British foreign policy during the Spanish Civil War, focusing on the myriad of reasons British policy makers had for choosing non-intervention. The historiography of the Nyon Conference of 1937 will also be considered. The second chapter briefly studies Anglo-Italian relations following the Abyssinian Crisis of 1935 and the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, before assessing how British policy towards the Italians played out during the first two years of the Spanish Civil War. The third chapter examines the Nyon Conference of September 1937 and how it represented the one break in the policy of conciliation towards Italy that Britain had been following. It also deals with the growing tensions between Neville Chamberlain and Anthony Eden that arose over how to deal with Italy, and how the resignation of Anthony Eden in 1938 affected Anglo-Italian relations for the rest of the Spanish Civil War.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:1077