4. Impact of the Second World War 1940–43 Flashcards
Concept of a ‘parallel war’
Italy would concentrate on the Mediterranean and Nothern Africa whilst Germans would concentrate on northern, central and eastern Europe - failed by 1943
When did France request an Armistice with Germany?
17 June 1940
When did Italian troops launch an offence in France?
20th June 1940: Italian troops launched offensive along the Alpine front
The events of Italy’s offense into France
Italy only advanced a few miles: troops lacked the clothing for an alpine war, air force lacked the bombs needed to destroy french fortifications and Mussolini insited on using tanks inqadequate for the terrain
The result of the invasion of France
22 June 1940: The French government sigmed an armistice with Germany - Facist papers claimed italy’s intervention had been critical to this decision when in reality it saved the army from further embarassment
Italy was not invited to the armistice and only gained a small amount of territory
Events in North Africa
October 1940: Italian forces in Libya were asked to attack British positions - some early sucesses crossing into Egypt (a tactical retreat by the british) until Britain counter attacked and italian Forces fell into mass retreat
The result of the events in North Africa
An italian force of 250,000 in the first few weeks of 1941 were defeated by much better equipped 30,000 birish troops
May 1941: Italy had loss Eritrea, Somalia and Abyssinia a total of 380,000 italian troops had surrendered and been taken prisoner - blow to propaganda that proclaimed the italian people were willing to die for il Duce
German intervention in Africa
British advane into Libya halted by German troops until they were on the retreat in October 1942 but by May 1943: German-Italian Axis surrendered North Africa
ended war in parallel as h
Objectives of the battle of the Mediterranean
- attack the supply lines of the other side
- keep open the supply lines to their own armies in North Africa
- destroy the ability of the opposing navy to wage war at sea
Why the battle of the Mediterranean was a failure
Mussolini had no consistent strategy for attacking key British positions
There was poor coordination between the air force and navy - In july 1940, the air force bombed it’s own ships
Italy lacked aircraft carriers without which they could not hope to mount a serious attack on British positios
Why did Italy invade Greece
Germans occupied Romanian oil fields - seen as an attempt by Hitler to push German influence into the Balkans (disregarding the argreement they had come to spheres of influence) - moving into Greece would increase Italy’s strategic position and was part of apower game (with Mussolini not telling Hitler about the invasion)
When was the invasion of Greece
October 1940
Mussolini’s mistakes in the invasion of Greece
Mussolini assumed Greece only had 30,000 troops and therefore Italy would attack with 60,000 when infact the Greek army had 300,000
Assumed that Bulgaria would join the italian invasion - unfounded
He did no coordinate the attack with the navy or airforce - crucial for a seaborne invasion
Choice of date was poor - weather conditions were wet and freezing - Italians were bogged down in difficult conditions and their uniforms disintegrated in the heavy rains
Result of the invasion of Greece
The Greeeks counter-attacked taking over a quarter of Albania
Half a millon italian soldiers deployed at the cost of 32000 killed and over 100,000 wounded
After 6 months Mussolini had to call on help of Germany who humiliated the italians by defeating the Greeks within weeks
Why was the invasion of Greece a blow to fascist propaganda
Mussolini’s dictatorship had been shown to be weaker than Greece (not considered a European power) - Fascist propaganda were unable to disguise the truth which undermined the faith in fascist rule and Mussolini
Reasons for Italy’s poor performance in WW2
Mussolinis leadership
Military preparation
The economy
Positions held by Mussolini
Minister of War, Minister of Nacy, Minister of the Air Foce and Supreme Commander of the Italian armed forces
Took all major decisions without consultation from military ecperts
Failure’s of Mussolini’s leadership
Unable to distinguish between trivial points and major decisions e.g. in May 1940, focussed on what should be include in the Rome opera season instead of the War
Unable to coordinate the navy, army and armed forces or transform the economy to fulfil the priorities of war
Military preparation - equipment
taly had enough equipment to adequately arm 35/75 of it’s divisions
Lacked the tanks and vehicles required for the mechanised fighting in Africa - about a 1/3 of tanks and 1/4 of artillery being supplied to Africa was being destroyed British attacks in the meffiterranean
Did not not have resources to enter the war in 1940
Military preparation - outdated techniques
Tactis were outdated - italians still employed 19th century charges against enemy positions - which by WW2 were virtually suicidal
Many of the rifles and cnnons supplied to the army dated from WWI
Economy - lack of materials
Italy lacked fuel and raw materials - it imported 1.4 million tonnes of oil from Romania (less than half of what was required during peacetime)
Steel production fell to 1.7 millon tonnes in 1943 compared to Britain producing 14 millon tonnes a year
Economy - lack of resources
By 1942, the industry in the USA could produce more aircrafts in a week than Italy could produce in a year
Germany estimated that the italian economy was only operating at around 25% of its potential and italy was the only conyntry engaged in WW2 that did not increase its GDP between 1940-42
Food was rationed with adults only allowed 1000 calories a day
Strikes in 1943
5 March 1943 (first strikes for over 18 years): 100,000 workers went on strike in Turin which spread to Milan - Communist workers demanded better pay for people forced to evacuate their homes - ended when government agreed to increase the money for evacuees
Industrial action demonstrated the political weaknesses of the regime and alarmed Mussolini that communism/socialism were still able to influence italians despite 20 years of facist rule
Antifascist groups
- illegal communist newspaper L’Unita reappeared in 1942
- The ‘Party of Action’ including republicans, radicals and left-leaning liberals was secretly formed
- Christian Democrats formed with Church backing in 1942
These groups were covert and illegal but represented the re-emergence of political antifascism
Threat of the growth of antifascist groups
In April 1943: all groups except republicans agreed to work together against facism - it was the first time in italian politics that the communists, socialists and and catholics agreed to collaborate
None had the potential to overthrow mussolini but antifacist politics was remeging
Conservative Elites
By the end of 1942, the vatican, military leaders, industrialists and the police all began to consider how mussolini might be deposed and italy be removed from the war
Mussolini was weakened best by illness/stress
Allied invasion of Sicily 1943 Events
9 July: the allies landed on Sicily, facing little opposition from italian forces and conquered the western half of Sicily within a week
19 july: Mussolini asked Hitler to transfer troops from Russia to the Mediterranean to help Italy but this was refused + Allied planes bombed Rome for two hours killing 1500 people
17 August: Allies had control of the island
Mussolini deposed
Grandi’s resolution was passed by 19 votes to 7 - Mussolini had little concern for the vote and met with the king for his normal meeting on the 25th July - king dismissed M and replaced with Badologlio -
Plans for Mussolini’s dismissal
The plan had begun in 1942 when Grandi and Ciano raised the idea of Italy seeking peace the allies who made it clear they would not offer an armistice if Mussolini remained in power
16 July: fascists met Mussolini and convinced him to call a Grand Council meeting for 24 July - Grandi spent the 8 days drafting a resolution that demanded for the removal of Mussolini and the government to be placed in the hands of the king
