Military Defeats 1940-43 and fall of M Flashcards
What raw materials had to be imported from Germany and why was this a problem ?
Coal and iron - Germany became increasingly reluctant as war went badly for them
What does ‘steeped in the defensive traditions of ww1’ mean ?
Italy’s generals cannot adapt to Morden war
How many men were ready to fight by 1940
Only 800,000
Why was there low morale amongst Italian soldiers
Language barrier between officers and soldiers.
Lots taken prisoner in Africa- shows they have given up
What type of war was Italy prepared for ?
Short war - M thought it would be over by 1940
What fell by 1.5 million tonnes during the war ?
Wheat Harvest
How many effective planes did the military have ?
Italy posed only 1000 effective planes of inferior quality
Why was only having 1500 armoured cars a problem ?
WW2 supposed to be a mechanised war
What percentage did Italian steel production decrease by between 1940-42 ?
20% between 1940-42
Who was in charge of making all the strategic decisions during the war ?
Mussolini as minister of war, minister of navy and minister of air force.
What percentage of national income had been spent on rearmament between 1925-38 ?
What had the money actually been spent on ?
11.8 %
Inadequate weaponry or even luxurious living quarters for officers.
Why was there growing unrest in Italy by 1943 ?
Rationing - fell to just 1000 calories a day. Coffee, petrol, soap became virtually unatainable.
Longer working hours
Allied bombing raids
How many workers went on strike in Turin in March 1943 ?
100,000
These strikes spread to Milan
Which 2 leading facists began plans to dispose Mussolini in 1942 ?
Dino Grandi and Galeazzo Ciano
How many votes was Mussolini ousted at the 1943 facist grand council ?
19 votes to 7
When was the republic of Salo announced
15th Sep 1943
When does Mussolini launch his attack on Greece ?
28th October 1940
How many soldiers did Mussolini assume Greece had and how many did they actually have ?
30,000 so attacked from Albania with 60,000
Greece had 300,000
What contributed to the inavasion of Greece failure ?
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.
Who did Mussolini have to call on 6 months after the inavsion of Greece ?
Germany
They humiliated the italalina forces by defeating the Greeks within a few weeks
What idea was Mussolinis entry into the war based on ?
The idea of ‘parallel war’ . Italy would concentrate on medeteranian and north africa while Germany would concentrate on northern central and eastern europe
What did Mussolini demand from France in June 1940 when the armistice with Germnay was being signed ?
what did he receive ?
Various French terrotories eg corsica (meddeteranian) and somalia (North Africa)
Only received 2 small french towns
When did Mussolini launch the Italian campaign to expand Italian empire into north Africa ?
Where did he attack
September 1940
Italian forces in Libya attacked British forces in Egypt. (border each other )
What was the outcome of Mussolinis attempt to expand into north Africa ?
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.
Why was the British advance into Libya stopped in 1941 ?
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.
Where were the important British bases in the meditteranian during the war ?
Malta, Gibraltar and Alexandria
They never came under sustained attack
In July 1940 what did Italian planes do in the medditeranian which shows poor coordination between navy and airforce ?
Bombed their own ships
When was the Italian navy crippled by a British air attack ?
Port of Taranto Nov 1940 meddeteranian, with half its battle fleet lost.
What prevented Britian from having full control of the meddeteranian ?
The existence of the German navy
What land did Mussolini refuse in 1940 ?
Hitlers offer of the French colony of Tunisia - feared a prolonged campaign with Frances colonial regions.
What percentage of its capacity was the italian economy working under in 1942 ?
25 % of its capacity
Who helped organise the strikes in Turin and what was the outcome?
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.
Which opposition groups emerged in the 1940s showing greater discontent with the governement ?
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
What evidence is there of attitudes turning against facism ?
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.
