Why was the little entente ineffective?

Answer 1

The Little Entente's largest benefactor was France. It was in France's interests to prevent either Germany or the former Austria-Hungary (now the independent states of Austria and Hungary) from expanding their power back into the Slavic and Balkan nations, notably the three nations who formed the Little Entente (Romania, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia). An alliance of the three countries prevented German and Austrian meddling in these places, but was dependent on French support to continue. The Little Entente was signed in 1920, when French power in the region was high. But by 1930, France was suffering from the Great Depression and fending off political instability at home, and was in no position to interfere in Balkan and Slavic affairs. Germany, on the other hand, saw the rise of Hitler and Nazism, which gave the nation more power and completely undermined the French in Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Hungary. Without the French to support them, the accords between the three countries fell apart in 1938. Romania and Yugoslavia realized, after the Germans took Czechoslovakia, that the combined forces of Nazi Germany, Nazi Austria, and Fascist Italy were far superior to their own, and (in a complete reversal of the spirit of the Little Entente) allied themselves with the Nazis.