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The term
"Axis," denoting the German-Italian alliance, was first
used by Mussolini in a speech he delivered in November 1938 in
Milan. In the first three years of Nazi rule, the two countries
avoided an alliance despite their ideological closeness, because
Italy feared German territorial expansion and because of political
interests.
Italy’s
invasion of Ethiopia in October 1935 ruptured Rome’s relations
with the democracies and prompted a rapprochement with Nazi Germany
that gathered strength when Italy and Germany sided with the
Fascists in the Spanish Civil War. At first, the Axis was based on
political interests. Mussolini still did not identify with
Germany’s anti-Jewish racism. However, in view of Germany’s
growing strength, Mussolini eventually issued anti-Jewish decrees
too.
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