left Abyssinia with a more workable, national territory" but that the "common sense of the plan was, in the circumstances of the time, its vital defect". The military historian Correlli Barnett has argued that if Britain alienated Italy, Italy "would be a potential enemy astride England's main line of imperial communication at a time when she was already under threat from two existing potential enemies at opposite ends of the line [Germany and Japan]. If – worse – Italy were to fight in a future war as an ally of Germany or Japan, or both, the British would be forced to abandon the Mediterranean for the first time since 1798". Therefore, in Barnett's view, it was "highly dangerous nonsense to provoke Italy" due to Britain's military and naval weakness and that therefore the pact was a sensible option. See also Italo–Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 Notes Further reading Callahan, Mihael D. The League of Nations, International Terrorism, and British Foreign Policy, 1934-1938 (Springer, 2018). Davis, Richard. Anglo-French relations before the Second World War: appeasement and crisis (Springer, 2001). Henderson, B. Braddick, "The Hoare-Laval Plan: A Study in International Politics," Review of Politics (1962) 24#3 pp. 342–364 in JSTOR Holt, Andrew. "'No more Hoares to Paris’: British foreign policymaking and the Abyssinian Crisis, 1935," Review of International Studies (2011) 37#3 pp. 1383–1401. online McKercher, Brian JC. "National security and imperial defence: British grand strategy and appeasement, 1930–1939." Diplomacy and Statecraft 19.3 (2008): 391-442. online Robertson James C. "The Hoare-Laval Plan," Journal of Contemporary History (1975) 10#3 pp. 433–464 in JSTOR Schuman, Frederick L. Europe On The Eve 1933-1939 (1939) pp 128–152.online Strang, G. Bruce. "“The Worst of all Worlds:” Oil Sanctions and Italy's Invasion of Abyssinia, 1935–1936." Diplomacy and Statecraft 19.2 (2008): 210-235. Strang, G. Bruce, ed. Collision of Empires: Italy's Invasion of Ethiopia and its International Impact (2013)' 13 essays by scholars. contents Treaties concluded in 1935 1935 in the United Kingdom 1935 in Ethiopia 1935 in France 1935 in Italy Politics of France 1935 in international relations France–United Kingdom relations France–Italy relations Italy–United Kingdom relations 1935 in British politics Pierre Laval