Military Defeats 1940-43 and fall of M

Question 1

What raw materials had to be imported from Germany and why was this a problem ?

Answer 1

Coal and iron - Germany became increasingly reluctant as war went badly for them

Question 2

What does ‘steeped in the defensive traditions of ww1’ mean ?

Answer 2

Italy’s generals cannot adapt to Morden war

Question 3

How many men were ready to fight by 1940

Answer 3

Only 800,000

Question 4

Why was there low morale amongst Italian soldiers

Answer 4

Language barrier between officers and soldiers.
Lots taken prisoner in Africa- shows they have given up

Question 5

What type of war was Italy prepared for ?

Answer 5

Short war - M thought it would be over by 1940

Question 6

What fell by 1.5 million tonnes during the war ?

Answer 6

Wheat Harvest

Question 7

How many effective planes did the military have ?

Answer 7

Italy posed only 1000 effective planes of inferior quality

Question 8

Why was only having 1500 armoured cars a problem ?

Answer 8

WW2 supposed to be a mechanised war

Question 9

What percentage did Italian steel production decrease by between 1940-42 ?

Answer 9

20% between 1940-42

Question 10

Who was in charge of making all the strategic decisions during the war ?

Answer 10

Mussolini as minister of war, minister of navy and minister of air force.

Question 11

What percentage of national income had been spent on rearmament between 1925-38 ?
What had the money actually been spent on ?

Answer 11

11.8 %
Inadequate weaponry or even luxurious living quarters for officers.

Question 12

Why was there growing unrest in Italy by 1943 ?

Answer 12

Rationing - fell to just 1000 calories a day. Coffee, petrol, soap became virtually unatainable.
Longer working hours
Allied bombing raids

Question 13

How many workers went on strike in Turin in March 1943 ?

Answer 13

100,000
These strikes spread to Milan

Question 14

Which 2 leading facists began plans to dispose Mussolini in 1942 ?

Answer 14

Dino Grandi and Galeazzo Ciano

Question 15

How many votes was Mussolini ousted at the 1943 facist grand council ?

Answer 15

19 votes to 7

Question 16

When was the republic of Salo announced

Answer 16

15th Sep 1943

Question 17

When does Mussolini launch his attack on Greece ?

Answer 17

28th October 1940

Question 18

How many soldiers did Mussolini assume Greece had and how many did they actually have ?

Answer 18

30,000 so attacked from Albania with 60,000
Greece had 300,000

Question 19

What contributed to the inavasion of Greece failure ?

Answer 19

Attack not coordinated with the navy or air force

Poor date to attack as the weather condidtions were very wet and freezing temp in mountain regions.

Some Italian uniforms disintegrated in the rain.

Question 20

Who did Mussolini have to call on 6 months after the inavsion of Greece ?

Answer 20

Germany

They humiliated the italalina forces by defeating the Greeks within a few weeks

Question 21

What idea was Mussolinis entry into the war based on ?

Answer 21

The idea of ‘parallel war’ . Italy would concentrate on medeteranian and north africa while Germany would concentrate on northern central and eastern europe

Question 22

What did Mussolini demand from France in June 1940 when the armistice with Germnay was being signed ?

what did he receive ?

Answer 22

Various French terrotories eg corsica (meddeteranian) and somalia (North Africa)

Only received 2 small french towns

Question 23

When did Mussolini launch the Italian campaign to expand Italian empire into north Africa ?

Where did he attack

Answer 23

September 1940

Italian forces in Libya attacked British forces in Egypt. (border each other )

Question 24

What was the outcome of Mussolinis attempt to expand into north Africa ?

Answer 24

Had some early successes, crossing into Egypt and towards to suez canal.

However when the British counter attacked in January 1941, 30,000 well equipped British soldiers defeated almost 250,000 italian troops in Egypt.

By May 1941 Italy had lost Eritreia, Somalia and Abyssinia

In total 380,000 troops had surrenderd or been taken prisoner - blow to propaganda.

Question 25

Why was the British advance into Libya stopped in 1941 ?

Answer 25

German troops arrived under the command of General Rommel to reinforce Italian forces. This ended the idea of parallel war

BUT by 1942 they were in retreat after battle of El Alamein. In May 1943, the axis forces surrendered in North Africa ;Libya was lost and the allies were preparing for an invasion of Italy from Tunisia.

Question 26

Where were the important British bases in the meditteranian during the war ?

Answer 26

Malta, Gibraltar and Alexandria

They never came under sustained attack

Question 27

In July 1940 what did Italian planes do in the medditeranian which shows poor coordination between navy and airforce ?

Answer 27

Bombed their own ships

Question 28

When was the Italian navy crippled by a British air attack ?

Answer 28

Port of Taranto Nov 1940 meddeteranian, with half its battle fleet lost.

Question 29

What prevented Britian from having full control of the meddeteranian ?

Answer 29

The existence of the German navy

Question 30

What land did Mussolini refuse in 1940 ?

Answer 30

Hitlers offer of the French colony of Tunisia - feared a prolonged campaign with Frances colonial regions.

Question 31

What percentage of its capacity was the italian economy working under in 1942 ?

Answer 31

25 % of its capacity

Question 32

Who helped organise the strikes in Turin and what was the outcome?

Answer 32

Communists

Governemnt gave in and gave those forces to evacuate thier homes greater payments and showed the weakness of gov by 1943, with communists and socialists able to influence gov policy even after 20 years of facist rule.

Question 33

Which opposition groups emerged in the 1940s showing greater discontent with the governement ?

Answer 33

The still illegal communist newspaper L’unita remerged in 1942

A new group, including republicans, radicals and left leaning liberals called the ‘party of action’ was secretly formed

An anti facist group called the christian democrats made up by members of catholic action was formed with church backing until the middle of 1942

Question 34

What evidence is there of attitudes turning against facism ?

Answer 34

Anti facist slogans begin to appear on buildings

1400 political arrests took place between March and June of 1943 alone.

Many younger facists angry that older PNF members were exempt from military service.