Hoare-Laval Agreement of 1935

(also Hoare-Laval Plan), a secret agreement on a means of settling the Italo-Ethiopian conflict (seeITALO-ETHIOPIAN WARS). The agreement was reached in Paris on December 8 by the British foreign secretary, S. J. Hoare, and the French prime minister, P. Laval. Ethiopia was to cede to Italy parts of the provinces of Tigre, Danakil, and Ogaden and to make available to Italy a vast area for economic expansion and colonization. Italy was to cede only a narrow strip of land in southern Eritrea with an outlet to the sea at Assab. The agreement was part of the disastrous policy of appeasement. Forwarded to the Ethiopian government through diplomatic channels, the plan was rejected by Ethiopia as a step toward ending its independence. The text of the agreement was published by the press and aroused profound indignation. Hoare was forced to resign, and Laval’s government fell soon thereafter.