The term "Axis," denoting the German-Italian alliance, was first used by Mussolini in a speech he delivered in November 1938 in Milan. In the first three years of Nazi rule, the two countries avoided an alliance despite their ideological closeness, because Italy feared German territorial expansion and because of political interests.
Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in October 1935 ruptured Rome's relations with the democracies and prompted a rapprochement with Nazi Germany that gathered strength when Italy and Germany sided with the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War. At first, the Axis was based on political interests. Mussolini still did not identify with Germany's anti-Jewish racism. However, in view of Germany's growing strength, Mussolini eventually issued anti-Jewish decrees too.
