Prague Papers on the History of International Relations (Jun 2015)
Italy and the Scandal of Saint Gotthard
Abstract
The Treaty of Trianon signed on June 4, 1920, limited not only the headcount of the Hungarian army, but also the number of weapons of war and armaments, and their import was prohibited by the peace treaty as well. The rearmament was a crucial condition of the treaty revision wanted by Hungary, so after signing the Italian–Hungarian Treaty of Friendship, the prime ministers of the two countries, Benito Mussolini and Bethlen István agreed that Italy would help rearming Hungary. A supply of weapons cloaked to be machinery was revealed on the Austro–Hungarian frontier of Saint Gotthard, and the States of the Little Entente — being afraid of a future Hungarian attack — decided to ask the League of Nations to examine the incident. The main question of my essay is the Italian attitude to the question: did Italy stand out for Hungary, and took responsibility for helping its rearmament? In my essay I would like to answer these questions after examning Italian documents as well.
