# Italy signs the Pact of Steel, a military alliance with Nazi Germany

Date: 1939

## The fact

On 22 May 1939 Galeazzo Ciano, for [Mussolini](/people/benito-mussolini)’s government, signed the Pact of Steel with Germany, a military alliance that bound Italy to [Hitler](/people/adolf-hitler)’s next war.

It is one event.

## Context

Ciano later regretted it. Mussolini wanted it. 1940 entry is a separate act; 1939 is the legal chain.

Benito Mussolini’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death.

Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers date the row.

## Evidence and sources

Yale Avalon’s Pact of Steel text and Britannica independently date 22 May 1939.

Official or archival record: Avalon Project — Pact of Steel, 22 May 1939 (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/pactstee.asp; Yale Law School Avalon Project).

## Significance

Locking the Italian state to Nazi war plans is a polarisation and war-path instrument.

A pact is not the 10 June balcony. Keep 1940.

Locking the Italian state to Nazi war plans is a polarisation and war-path instrument.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Pact of Steel signed 22 May 1939. Not established: that it legally forced the June 1940 declaration without a further Italian decision.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Benito Mussolini.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date, signatory, or non-occurrence; a demonstrated forgery; or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of other causes.

Contribution type is direct. They are not a public rating.

## People

- Benito Mussolini: https://factrail.ai/people/benito-mussolini

## Drivers

- Political Polarization: https://factrail.ai/drivers/political-polarization

## Sources

- https://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/pactstee.asp
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benito-Mussolini

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/mu-pact-of-steel