Little Entente

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Little Entente , loose alliance formed in 1920–21 by Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Its specific purposes were the containment of Hungarian revisionism (of the terms of the World War I peace treaty) and the prevention of a restoration of the Hapsburgs. The three nations were drawn together by three bilateral treaties of defensive and economic alliance. This combination eventually became closely bound to France by financial and treaty obligations, and Poland sometimes cooperated with it but did not enter the alliance. Yugoslavia and Romania were also members of the Balkan Entente , formed in 1934.

The overall aims of the Little Entente and the Balkan Entente, taken together, were the preservation of the territorial status quo, established by the treaties of Versailles, Saint-Germain, Trianon, and Neuilly, against the efforts of Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Bulgaria to have those treaties revised; the prevention of Anschluss , or union, between Germany and Austria; and the encouragement of closer economic ties among its members. The Little Entente was successful in its aims until the rise of Hitler in Germany, when French prestige was gradually displaced by German economic penetration and political pressure. It began to break apart in 1936 and was effectively ended when Czechoslovakia lost its membership by the formation of the Munich Pact (1938).

Little Entente (1920–38) Alliance of Czechoslovakia, Romania, and the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later termed Yugoslavia). It was created by the Czech Foreign Minister Edvard BENEŠ, who in August 1920 concluded treaties (extended in 1922 and 1923) with both Romania and Yugoslavia. The principal aim of the Entente was to protect the territorial integrity and independence of its members by means of a common foreign policy, which would prevent both the extension of German influence and the restoration of the Habsburgs to the throne of Hungary. France supported the Entente, concluding treaties with each of its members. In 1929 the Entente pledged itself against both Bolshevik and Hungarian (Magyar) aggression in the Danube basin, while also seeking the promotion of Danube trade. In the 1930s, however, the members gradually grew apart. Romania under CAROL II (1930–40) leaned towards Hitler's THIRD REICH, Czechoslovakia signed a non-aggression treaty with the Soviet Union (1935), while in February 1934 Romania and Yugoslavia joined Greece and Turkey to form the so-called Balkan Entente. In 1937 Yugoslavia and Romania were unwilling to give Czechoslovakia a pledge of military assistance against possible aggression from Germany and, when the SUDETENLAND of Czechoslovakia was annexed (September 1938), the Entente collapsed.

Little Entente (1920–38) An alliance between Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia that emerged from a series of bilateral agreements made from 1920, and was formalized in 1929. It sought to protect the status quo in central Europe as established through the Treaties of St Germain and Trianon. In February 1933, a permanent council was established, and military consultations began soon afterwards. However, in concentrating on possible Hungarian and Austrian expansionism it failed to take into account the implications of the rise of Nazism. Hence it proved completely unable to respond to the German invasion of the Sudetenland or the Munich Agreement of 1938.