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The Hoare-Laval Pact was a plan concocted by Samuel Hoare and Pierre Laval in December 1935 for the partitioning of Ethiopia, as a means of ending the Italo-Ethiopian War. It aimed to satisfy Italy's demands to make the independent nation of Abyssinia (as Ethiopia was then called) an Italian colony.
According to the Pact, the old kingdom of Abyssinia was to remain independent but most of the country would belong to Italy. Mussolini was ready to agree with this, but the plan was leaked and denounced as a sell-out of the Ethiopians. The British government dissociated itself from the Pact and both Hoare and Laval were forced to resign.
This event was significant in the build up to World War Two as it showed the weakness of Britain and France in combatting agressive fascist actions.
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