Italy in World War II played an important role for the both the Axis Powers and the Allied Powers. Italy entered the war on June 10th, 1940, as an Axis Power alongside Nazi Germany, driven by the imperial ambitions of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. However, a series of military disasters and growing public opposition to the war led to the removal of Mussolini from power in July of 1943. As a result, Italy signed an armistice with the Allied Powers on September 8th, 1943, and eventually declared war on Nazi Germany on October 13th, 1943, fighting alongside Allied side for the remainder of the conflict. In total, Italian military deaths during World War II are estimated at approximately 319,000, while Italian civilian deaths are estimated at approximately 153,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World War II began on September 1st, 1939, when Nazi Germany, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, invaded the country of Poland. However, Italy did not immediately enter the war alongside its Nazi German ally. Mussolini recognized that Italy’s military was not prepared for a major conflict. It was not until June 10th, 1940, as France was on the verge of defeat, that Mussolini brought Italy into the war on the side of Nazi Germany. He calculated that the war was nearly over and that Italy could gain significant territorial rewards by joining what appeared to be the winning side at minimal cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mussolini’s decision was driven by his ambition to establish a new Italian empire in the Mediterranean region and in Africa. In fact, he hoped to expand Italian territory in North Africa, East Africa and the Balkans. As such, Italy’s entry into the war was guided by these imperial ambitions rather than by any deep ideological commitment to fighting alongside Nazi Germany, although the two nations had been aligned through the Rome-Berlin Axis since 1936.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time Italy entered the war in June of 1940, the Italian armed forces were significantly weaker than Mussolini’s public posturing suggested. The Italian military suffered from serious shortages of modern equipment, including tanks, anti-tank guns, vehicles and modern aircraft. Industrial production was limited, and the supply of fuel, coal and steel was insufficient to sustain prolonged military operations. As a result, Italian forces frequently relied on Nazi German support in the campaigns they undertook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In total, Italy mobilized approximately 3.4 million men in its armed forces during World War II. Italian forces fought in multiple theaters across the war, including: North Africa, East Africa, the Balkans, Greece, the Soviet Union, and eventually on Italian soil itself after the Allied invasion of 1943.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italy participated in World War II initially as one of the three main Axis Powers alongside Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. After the armistice of September of 1943, Italy changes its status to align with the Allied Powers, meaning that Italian forces fighting under the new government joined the Allies against Nazi Germany, while the Italian Social Republic in the north continued to fight on the Nazi German side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The major campaigns and battles that Italian forces participated in included: the North African campaign, the invasion of Greece, the East African campaign, operations on the Eastern Front, and the Italian Campaign following the Allied invasion of 1943.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of Italy’s most important and costly theaters of the war was North Africa. Italian forces in Libya invaded British-controlled Egypt in September of 1940 with the goal of capturing the Suez Canal and establishing Italian dominance over the eastern Mediterranean. The initial Italian advance made progress but was halted and then pushed back deep into Libya by a British counteroffensive in late 1940 and early 1941. The defeat of the Italian forces was so severe that Mussolini was forced to request Nazi German assistance, and in February of 1941 the German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel was sent to North Africa to support the Italian position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The North African campaign continued as a back and forth struggle across the deserts of Libya and Egypt for the next two years. For instance, Italian and German forces advanced as far as El Alamein in Egypt in the summer of 1942, coming close to threatening the Suez Canal. However, the Second Battle of El Alamein in October and November of 1942 resulted in a decisive Allied victory and drove Axis forces back into Tunisia. Allied forces closed in from both east and west, and on May 13th, 1943, the remaining Axis forces in North Africa, including approximately 130,000 Italian soldiers, surrendered. The loss of the North African campaign was a serious blow to Italian military strength and public morale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It should also be noted that Mussolini launched an invasion of Greece from Italian-controlled Albania on October 28th, 1940, without informing Hitler in advance. The campaign was intended to demonstrate Italian military independence and expand Italian influence in the Balkans. However, the invasion quickly turned into a disaster. Greek forces repelled the Italian attack and launched a counteroffensive that drove Italian forces back into Albania. The Italian military struggled throughout the winter of 1940 and into 1941 to hold its position, suffering approximately 102,000 casualties including approximately 13,755 killed during the campaign. In April of 1941, Nazi Germany was forced to intervene with its own invasion of Greece to rescue the Italian position, which embarrassed Mussolini and exposed the weakness of Italian military planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italy also sent a significant military force to fight alongside Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union. The Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia, later expanded into the Italian Army in Russia known as the ARMIR, eventually numbered approximately 235,000 soldiers. Italian forces suffered severely in the harsh conditions of the Russian winter, particularly during the Soviet counteroffensive that followed the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942 to 1943. Italian forces were overrun during the Soviet attack in December of 1942 and January of 1943, suffering approximately 114,000 casualties including killed, wounded, and prisoners. The remnants of the Italian force were withdrawn from the Eastern Front in the spring of 1943.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fall of Italy as an Axis Power began with the Allied invasion of Sicily on July 10th, 1943. The rapid Allied advance across Sicily, combined with the accumulated failures of the war and the heavy Allied bombing of Italian cities, produced a political crisis within the Italian government. On July 25th, 1943, the Fascist Grand Council passed a vote of no confidence in Mussolini, and King Victor Emmanuel III had Mussolini arrested and removed from power. He was replaced as Prime Minister by Marshal Pietro Badoglio, who immediately began secret negotiations with the Allied Powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italy’s armistice with the Allied Powers was signed on September 3rd, 1943, and publicly announced on September 8th, 1943. The announcement triggered an immediate and decisive response from Nazi Germany. German forces rapidly disarmed the Italian military and occupied northern and central Italy. Of the approximately 615,000 Italian soldiers who refused to join the German side after the armistice, most were transported as forced labor to Germany. Mussolini was rescued from captivity by German paratroopers on September 12th, 1943, and was installed by Hitler as the leader of a new German-backed puppet state in northern Italy known as the ‘Italian Social Republic’, based in the town of Sal\u00f2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Italian government in the south, now under Allied protection, declared war on Nazi Germany on October 13th, 1943. Italian forces fighting under the new government were organized into the Italian Co-Belligerent Army, which fought alongside Allied forces in the Italian Campaign. At the same time, the Italian Resistance, consisting of approximately 350,000 partisans, fought against the German occupation in northern and central Italy throughout 1944 and into 1945. On April 28th, 1945, Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans while attempting to flee to Switzerland and was executed by firing squad. Nazi German forces in Italy formally surrendered on May 2nd, 1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Italian home front during World War II was shaped by the severe economic and military strain that the conflict placed on a country that was ill-prepared for prolonged warfare. Food shortages were widespread from an early stage in the war, and the standard of living declined steadily for ordinary Italians as the conflict dragged on. Allied bombing of Italian industrial cities and ports became increasingly intense from 1942 onward, causing significant destruction in cities including: Genoa, Turin, Milan, Naples, and Rome. For instance, an Allied air attack on the San Lorenzo district of Rome in July of 1943 killed more than 3,000 civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Public support for the war and for Mussolini’s fascist regime collapsed rapidly as the military failures mounted. By the time of the Allied invasion of Sicily in July of 1943, civilian morale across Italy was very low and opposition to the regime was growing. The removal of Mussolini in July of 1943 was greeted with relief by much of the Italian population, and the subsequent German occupation of northern Italy produced a strong Italian Resistance movement. After the armistice, Italy experienced a period that some historians describe as a civil war, with Italian partisans fighting against both German forces and the forces of the Italian Social Republic in the north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The period of German occupation brought the full impact of the Holocaust to Italy. Before 1943, Mussolini’s government had passed anti-Semitic laws and placed restrictions on Jewish people, but had generally not cooperated with Nazi German deportation policies. After the German occupation of September of 1943, however, German authorities began rounding up and deporting Italian Jews to death camps. Approximately 8,500 Jewish people were deported from Italy and Italian-occupied territories, the majority of whom did not survive. More than 40,000 Jewish people in Italy survived the Holocaust, in part because many were hidden by Italian civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World War II was one of the most important events in the modern history of Italy. First, Italy’s experience of the war was uniquely complex among the major nations involved. Beginning as an Axis Power, suffering a series of military disasters, losing its fascist government, and ending the war fighting alongside the Allied Powers gave Italy an experience of the conflict that was shared by no other major participant. This complexity contributed to deep and lasting divisions within Italian society about responsibility, collaboration, and resistance that took many decades to process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second, World War II brought about the end of both fascism and the Italian monarchy. The defeat of Mussolini and the discrediting of the fascist regime created the conditions for a fundamental transformation of Italian government. In a constitutional referendum held on June 2nd, 1946, the Italian people voted to abolish the monarchy and establish a republic. This was a direct result of public anger at King Victor Emmanuel III for his role in supporting Mussolini’s rise and his decision to flee Rome at the time of the German occupation. As such, World War II produced a complete transformation of Italy’s political system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Third, the Italian Resistance played an important role in shaping Italy’s postwar national identity. The approximately 350,000 Italians who fought as partisans against the German occupation provided the country with a narrative of active resistance that helped counterbalance the earlier history of fascist collaboration. The liberation of northern Italy by partisan forces on April 25th, 1945, known as the ‘Liberation Day’, became one of the most celebrated events in Italian national memory and continues to be commemorated as a national holiday in Italy to the present day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Italy in World War II began as one of the main Axis Powers under the fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini before surrendering to the Allied Powers in 1943 and eventually fighting alongside them against Nazi Germany. This article details the history and significance of Italy in World War II.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":14,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[15,22],"class_list":["post-7186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-war-ii","tag-history","tag-world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7186"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7192,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7186\/revisions\/7192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}