| Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy | |
|---|---|
 Galeazzo Ciano, Adolf Hitler and Joachim von Ribbentrop at the signing of the Pact of Steel in the Reichskanzlei in Berlin | |
| Type | Military - Political |
| Signed | 22 May 1939 |
| Location | Berlin, Germany |
| Expiration | 1949 (effectively in 1943) |
| Signatories |  Joachim von Ribbentrop Galeazzo Ciano |
| Parties | |
| Languages | German, Italian |
| Events leading to World War II |
|---|
The Pact of Steel (German: Stahlpakt, Italian: Patto d'Acciaio), formally known as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy (German: Freundschafts- und Bündnispakt zwischen Deutschland und Italien, Italian: Patto di amicizia e di alleanza fra l'Italia e la Germania) was a military and political alliance between Italy and Germany.
The pact was initially drafted as a tripartite military alliance between Japan, Italy and Germany. While Japan wanted the focus of the pact to be aimed at the Soviet Union, Italy and Germany wanted the focus of it to be aimed at the British Empire and France. Due to this disagreement, the pact was signed without Japan and as a result, it became an agreement which only existed between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, signed on 22 May 1939 by foreign ministers Galeazzo Ciano of Italy and Joachim von Ribbentrop of Germany.
Together with the Anti-Comintern Pact and the Tripartite Pact, the Pact of Steel was one of the three agreements forming the main basis of the Axis alliance.[1] The pact consisted of two parts. The first section was an open declaration of continuing trust and co-operation between Germany and Italy. The second section, the "Secret Supplementary Protocol", encouraged a union of policies concerning the military and the economy.[2]
- ^ Cooke, Tim (2005). History of World War II: Volume 1 – Origins and Outbreak. Marshall Cavendish. p. 154. ISBN 0761474838. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
- ^ Gibler, Douglas M. 2008. International Military Alliances, 1648–2008. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. pp. 326–327.