WW2 (1940-43) Flashcards

1
Q

What was Italy and Germany’s plan in the war?

A
  • They would fight a ‘parallel war’; Italy would fight in the Mediterranean and North Africa
  • The Germans would fight in northern, central and eastern Europe
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2
Q

How did the first stage of the war go for Italy? Give 4 details.

A
  • On the 21st June France announced they would sign an armistice with Nazi Germany
  • On the same day, Italy launched an offensive into the French Alps
  • They advanced a few kilometres into France before they were stopped by the French army
  • Hitler and Marshal Pétain signed an armistice on 22nd June
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3
Q

What were 4 issues/ consequences the invasion of France had?

A
  • Troops didn’t have the right clothing for an Alpine war
  • The Italian Air Force didn’t have the bombs needed to destroy French fortifications
  • Mussolini insisted on using tanks that were unsuitable for the terrain
  • 631 men died, of which many died from frostbite
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4
Q

What gains did the Italian army make from its attack on France?

A
  • They gained the 2 towns they had captured in their offensive
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5
Q

What had Mussolini hoped to gain from the invasion of France, and why didn’t he?

A
  • Tunisia, Corsica and south France
  • Hitler felt that Italy had not significantly contributed to the defeat of France, so they didn’t deserve more
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6
Q

What did Mussolini do as a result? Give 4 details about it.

A
  • He wanted to make his own gains in North Africa and Greece while Germany was busy fighting the Battle of Britain
  • He sent troops into British Somaliland, Sudan and Kenya
  • In September 1940 he ordered an invasion of Egypt and the Suez Canal
  • In October 1940 he delivered an ultimatum to the Greek government requesting the right to occupy key areas of Greece in return for being neutral
  • When Greece refused, Italy invaded 2 days later
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7
Q

How close did Mussolini get to his goal of controlling the Mediterranean? Why was this important?

A
  • Mussolini had not had a strategy to deal with British positions in the Mediterranean
  • The Italian navy had been crippled by a British air attack in November 1940
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8
Q

How did the British counter-attack in North Africa go? Give 3 details.

A
  • The Italian army was 4 times as large as the British force
  • By January 1941 125,000 Italians were taken prisoner
  • By April 1941 the British forces had taken Abyssinia
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9
Q

What happened after the defeat of Italy in Abyssinia?

A
  • Hitler sent German forces led by General Rommel to prevent a disorderly retreat from North Africa
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10
Q

What happened in North Africa during the rest of the war? Give 4 details.

A
  • Axis forces were on the retreat in North Africa in 1942
  • Rommel’s forces were halted at El Alamein in June 1942, which made it very unlikely for them to be able to seize the Suez Canal
  • In the second battle of El Alamein in October 1942 the Axis were forced to retreat
  • They surrendered in May 1943 (this allowed an Allied invasion of Sicily from Tunisia)
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11
Q

Give 3 details about the start of the invasion of Greece.

A
  • 70,000 troops were sent to Greece
  • They invaded from Albania
  • The Italian air force had complete air superiority
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12
Q

How was the invasion of Greece expected to go?

A
  • It was expected to take 2 weeks
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13
Q

List 5 issues the Italians faced when invading Greece.

A
  • The invading force was small since Mussolini believed there would only be 30,000 Greek troops, while in reality there was 300,000
  • It was poorly led
  • The Greek Army knew the terrain well
  • The Greek Army was determined, which kept the conflict going into the winter, which the Italians were not prepared for
  • Mussolini hadn’t coordinated the attack with the navy or the air force despite the fact that it was a seaborne invasion
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14
Q

What happened in Greece after the invasion of Italy? Give 3 details.

A
  • A Greek counter-attack in December 1940 pushed the Italians back into Albania
  • Although Marshal Badoglio was replaced and reinforcements were sent, the Greeks couldn’t be beaten by the Italians
  • In spring 1941 the Germans came and invaded Greece within weeks
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15
Q

What were 2 impacts of the failed invasion of Greece?

A
  • Mussolini’s dictatorship was shown to be weaker than Greece, which lost him popularity in Italy
  • It confirmed Italy’s subservience to Germany, and ended any hopes of a parallel war
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16
Q

List 3 ways in which Mussolini himself caused military weaknesses.

A
  • He had made himself Minister of War, Minister of the Navy, Minister of the Air Force, Supreme Commander of the Italian armed forces and head of 5 separate ministries, which limited Italy’s military effectiveness as he often took major decisions without consultation
  • Without his input, the government could not function as no major decisions could be made
  • He himself did not have a plan to defend Sicily, and asked one of his generals if one had been prepared after Sicily had already been invaded, and one hadn’t since he was in charge
17
Q

What 3 weaknesses had the military had even before the war had began?

A
  • There were 75 divisions, but only enough equipment to support 35 of them
  • There were language barriers between peasant conscripts and the officer class
  • Outdated tactics and equipment
18
Q

Give 4 examples of Italy having outdated tactics/ equipment.

A
  • Many of the rifles and the cannons the army was using dated from WW1
  • Naval ships had no radar
  • The airforce was outdated and they had no long-range bombers to attack British positions in Egypt or the Mediterranean
  • They were still using 19th-century charges that were practically suicidal in WW2
19
Q

What were 3 issues soldiers had?

A
  • They had low morale, which was shown by the fact that the British took 380,000 prisoner in North Africa
  • Rations were low
  • Clothing was worse than it had been in WW1
20
Q

What 3 issues did Italy’s war economy face?

A
  • Italy could only import half as much oil as they needed in times of peace, so they relied on Germany for coal, but Germany could only spare 1 million tonnes a month
  • Many factories lacked basic raw materials, so Italian steel production actually fell to 1.7 million tonnes in 1943, while Britain, for example, produced 14 million tonnes
  • When production had been improved in 1942, they were set back again by Allied bombing raids of Italy’s industrial cities
21
Q

In what 2 other ways did Italy’s war economy lag behind the rest of the powers in WW2?

A
  • Italy was the only country involved in the war that didn’t increase its GDP between 1940 and 1942
  • Italy still had tens of thousands of unemployed workers, while most other countries were at almost 100% employment
22
Q

What were 5 domestic impacts of the war?

A
  • Rations were very low; adults only had around 1000 calories a day
  • Coffee and soap became luxury items
  • Poorer Italians found it difficult to get bread or pasta
  • This led to the development of a black market, which in turn caused price rises (in 1943 eggs were sold at 15 times their original price, and bread 8 times)
  • Allied bombing raids caused mass discontent as at least 25,000 homes were destroyed in Turin by the end of 1942, and 500,000 workers fled Milan
23
Q

What did the poor living and working conditions in Italy cause?

A
  • A week of strikes in March 1943 that started with 100,000 workers in Turin, but then spread to other areas
  • The strikes were organised by communists
24
Q

What were 2 reasons why the strikes were so concerning?

A
  • They were the first within 18 years of fascist rule
  • It showed that communism and socialism were still able to influence workers
25
Q

How did the strikes end?

A
  • The government agreed to increase the money given to evacuees
26
Q

What other political development was there around the time of these strikes? Give 2 details.

A
  • Antifascist groups began to resurface
  • The illegal communist newspaper L’Unita reappeared
  • In April 1943, communists, socialists and Catholics all agreed to work together (for the first time in Italian politics) against fascism
27
Q

Give 2 examples of antifascist groups that were formed. List details on when they were formed, whose support they had and who they contained.

A
  • The ‘Party of Action’, which was a group of republicans, radicals and left-wing liberals
  • The Christian Democrats were formed with the Church’s backing in 1942
28
Q

What did the fascist regime do in response to the increasing amount of antifascist political activity?

A
  • Mussolini’s secret police arrested 1400 between the March and June of 1943
29
Q

Which other group turned against Mussolini, which was much more concerning for him?

A
  • Conservative elites
30
Q

What were the conservative elites attempting to do? What was the issue with this?

A
  • They wanted to depose Mussolini and remove Italy from the war
  • They wanted to do this without provoking the Germans into occupying Italy, so didn’t take action for 6 months
31
Q

What forced the conservative elites to act?

A
  • The Allied invasion of Sicily
32
Q

When did the Allies invade Sicily, and what were 2 reasons why?

A
  • July 1943
  • They wanted this to cause the fascist regime to collapse, so that Italy would withdraw from the war
  • They also wanted to open up another front to divert German troops from France
33
Q

Describe 4 aspects of the Allied invasion of Sicily.

A
  • It took them a week to conquer the western half of Sicily
  • Mussolini hadn’t put into place a plan to defend Sicily
  • German and Italian troops had been ordered to withdraw to defend the mainland when defeat became inevitable
  • The Allies had control of the island by mid-August
34
Q

Who had begun the plan to depose Mussolini, and when? Give 2 details.

A
  • Grandi, who also made contact with Ciano
  • Late 1942
  • They contacted the Allies, who made it clear that they would only offer an armistice if Mussolini was removed
  • Only the king could do this, so throughout early 1943 Grandi discussed this with the king
35
Q

How did Grandi respond to the invasion of Sicily? Give 5 details.

A
  • A week after it happened, he convinced Mussolini to call for a Grand Council meeting
  • He drew up a resolution calling for Mussolini to be removed and for the king to be in charge of the government
  • He tried to gain the support of other fascists so that the resolution would be passed
  • He also told the army and police, as without their support Mussolini could not be deposed
  • He convinced the king to support this
36
Q

When had been the last time the Grand Council had met up, and why?

A
  • September 1939
  • It was Mussolini’s organisation as he always had the final say anyway
37
Q

What happened at the Grand Council meeting?

A
  • They voted on Grandi’s resolution
  • It was 19:7 in favour of Mussolini’s removal
  • Mussolini was still calm
38
Q

Why was Mussolini unbothered by the result of the vote?

A
  • He believed the king wouldn’t dismiss him
39
Q

What happened after the Grand Council meeting?

A
  • The next day (25th July) Mussolini met with the king
  • The king told him that he had decided to dismiss him, and replace him with Marshal Badoglio
  • Mussolini was arrested and taken away as a prisoner