Turco-British Rapprochement on the Eve of the Second World War

Abstract

The First World War failed to resolve the basic conflicts among the European powers. The injustices inherent in the Versailles peace settlement only worscncd the complicated national questions which bedevilled the whole of Europe. The military, political and economic developments which followed i9 i8 drove the European world towards a new grouping of powers. At the bcginning of the i930s the countries of the Balkan Peninsula once more bccame the stage in an acute struggle among the largest nations in the world. The interests of Britain, France, Germany and ltaly clashed, as the Balkan countries occupied a crucial position on the East-West route. The confiicts among the greater European states, sharpened on the eve of the Second World War, aggravated the politicaI situation in the Balkans and impeded the realisation of the regional diplomatic plans of both Western countries and of Nazi Germany and Fascist ltaly. Hence a closer scrutiny of the distribution of power in southeastem Europe and the Ncar East during the Iate i930s, as well as the policy of the great powers vis-lı-vis this area may help to better grasp the complcx international configuration prevailing in Europc on the brink of war.