Why did fascist Italy suffer military defeats, 1940-43? Flashcards
Despite all Mussolini’s talk of war in the years leading up to 1940, there had been no…
- determined effort to prepare Italy for a long conflict
What were the 3 reasons for issues with the Fascist military in WW2
- Military unpreparedness
- Inadequate leadership of Mussolini & the military
- Economic weakness
Economic Weaknesses
How was money spent on rearmamanet
- Large sums of money had been spent on rearmament between 1925-38 - 11.8% of national income (compared to 5.5% in GB)
- However, much of this was spent on inadequate weaponry, or even luxurious living quarters for officers
Economic Weaknesses
……….. had not been achieved and Italy was not ………….
Autarky had not been achieved and Italy was not self-sufficient
Economic Weaknesses
What happened with food production
- Food production fell
- Wheat harvest dropped by 1.5 million tonnes as a result of many peasant farmers being drafted into the army
Economic Weaknesses
What happened with rations
- Rations fell to just 1,000 calories a day; bread rations were the lowest of any combatant country other than the USSR
- Coffee, petrol and soap became virtually unobtainable
Economic Weaknesses
The Italian economy was only working at …% of its productive capacity during WW2
25%
What was the state of steel production 1940-42
- Italian steel production went down by 20% between 1940-42
- This, along with shortages of other raw materials, meant that losses, particularly in tanks and aircraft, could not be replaced
- Fiat and Spa could only produce 2,550 vehicles a month in 1941, when they had produced 4,883 a month in 1938.
Military Unpreparedness
How did Italy struggle with securing resources
- Strategic materials like coal and iron ore had to be imported from German occupied territories
- Germany became increasingly reluctant to divert to resources to Italy as the war began to go badly for them
Military Unpreparedness
describe the scale of the Italian army
- The army was small and outdated
- In June 1940, fewer than 800,000 men were ready to fight and these were largely equipped with rifles and artillery dating back to WWI
Military Unpreparedness
No thought had been put in to ………………….. during wartime
large-scale armaments production
Military Unpreparedness
Why was WW2’s mechanisation a struggle for Italy
Italy only had 1,500 armoured cars and light tanks
Military Unpreparedness
The USA could produce…
more aircraft in a week than Italy could in a year
Military Unpreparedness
Describe Italian planes
- Italy possessed only 1,000 effective planes, and these were of inferior quality
- The Fiat CR42 was slow and under armed compared to British and German planes
Military Unpreparedness
Italy was only prepared for a………… - Mussolini thought it would be over by……………..
Italy was only prepared for a short war - Mussolini thought it would be over by September 1940
What were the beliefs/strategies of Italian military generals
- The generals were steeped in the defensive traditions of WWI and were unsure of the usefulness of air support
- The navy also adopted a defensive strategy, reluctant to risk their new battleships against the British fleet
Why was there low morale amongst Italian troops
- As during WWl, there were language problems between the officer class and peasant conscripts
- This led to low morale, as seen in the massive numbers of Italian prisoners taken in Africa
Describe Mussolini’s military leadership role in WW2
- As Minister of War, Minister of Navy and Minister of the Air Force, Mussolini made all strategic decisions e.g. where and when to attack
- He often made decision without consulting military experts
- He promoted officers more for their obedience and powers of flattery than for their merit
List the reasons why was there growing unrest in Italy by 1943?
- Rationing
- Food and clothing shortages
- Allied bombings
- Defeats
- Military chaos
- Propaganda undermined
- Mussolini’s infallibility shattered
- Fear of subservience to Germany
What are the 3 examples of growing discontent towrads WW2
- Strikes
- Anti-fascist groups
- Conservative elite
Strikes
When were the strikes
March 1943
Strikes
Describe who and where the anti-ww2 strikes took place
- March 1943-100,000 workers went on strike in Turin and these strikes spread to Milan
What was the effect of the strikes
- Communists helped organise the strikes and the government gave in and gave those forced to evacuate their homes greater payments
- this showed the weakness of the government by 1943 with communists and socialists able to influence government policy even after 20 years of Fascist rule
Anti-fascist groups
What new ways did the anti-fascists appear
- The illegal Communist newspaper L’Unita reappeared in 1942 and a new group called “party of action” were formed to oppose the regime
Anti-fascist groups
How did groups cooperate
- Although 1400 political arrests were made between March and June 1943,
- Communist’s, Socialists and Catholics all joined forces (in secret) to oppose the Fascist regime and Mussolini
Anti-fascist groups
What was the effect of their action
- While this group did not have the numbers or influence to topple the government its existence in a fascist dictatorship shows Mussolini’s dwindling power and influence
Describe the opposition from the conservative elite
- The Vatican, Military leaders, industrialists and the police all considered possible ways of removing Mussolini and possible Fascism from Italy
- The problem was they would then have to deal with Hitler and Germany - something Italy was not in a position to do by herself
- The allies Invasion of Italy in September 1943 forced their hand
