Entry into WW2

Question 1

Italy’s entry into the war was based on the idea of a …….. war

Answer 1

parallel

Question 2

What was Mussolini’s parallel war

Answer 2

• Italy would concentrate and Mediterranean and northern Africa,
• while Germany would concentrate on northern, central and eastern Europe.

Question 3

Mussolini hoped for a ……………….. that would provide Italy with the …………..

Answer 3

Mussolini hoped for a short war that would provide Italy with the spoils of war for very little cost

Question 4

By June 1940, Most Italians were not..

Answer 4

supportive of a war and neither was Hitler as he knew Italy wanted to gain territory at the expense of Germany taking all the risk

Question 5

What happened on the 17th June 1940

Answer 5

• France requested an armistice with Germany, even before Italian troops had attacked French territory (although they tried to launch an offensive along the Alpine front out only got a few miles).

Question 6

How did Mussolini react to French requests of an Armistice with Germany

Answer 6

• Mussolini demanded various French territories (e.g. Corsica and Somalia), but was wary of pushing Italian claims without having done any actual fighting

Question 7

How is Mussolini linked to the Armistice

Answer 7

• The armistice was eventually signed on 22 June but Mussolini was not invited and only received two small French towns.

Question 8

What did Mussolini do on the 10th May 1940

Answer 8

• Hitler launched hi Blitzkrieg against France and the low-countries, catching the allied forces by surprise and throwing them into disarray

Question 9

What was Rome’s view on neutrality

Answer 9

• if Italy remained neutral it would be faced with a Europe dominated by Germany, a Germany angry at Italy’s refusal to honour its treaty obligations
• Italy would have gained nothing would lack great power status and would be under physical threat from the Nazis.

Question 10

What was Rome’ view on if Italy committed herself to the Rome Berlin Axis

Answer 10

• Germany would be a friend and not a potential enemy
• Italy and Germany would share Europe, with the Italians possibly having a free hand in the Mediterranean

Question 11

In June 1940 therefore, Mussolini decided to seize what he thought was the……………………….. He declared war on ………….

Answer 11

• opportunity to win military glory and redeem lost honour
• Britain & France

Question 12

What did Mussolini do in September 1940

Answer 12

• Mussolini launched a campaign to expand the Italian Empire in North Africa - Italian forces in Libya attacked the British in Egypt

Question 13

Early success in North Africa for Mussolini?

Answer 13

• They had some early successes, crossing into Egypt and towards the Suez Canal

Question 14

How did fighting in North Africa go wrong for the Italians

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Describe the failure of the North Africa campaign by May 1941

Answer 15

• Italy had lost Eritrea, Somalia and Abyssinia
• In total, 380,000 Italian troops had surrendered and been taken prisoner,
• a huge blow to fascist propaganda that proclaimed the transformation of the Italian people into a militant nation willing to die for il Duce

Question 16

How was the British advance into Libya stopped

Answer 16

• when German troops arrived under the command of General Rommel to reinforce Italian forces in February 1941

Question 17

What did the arrival of German troops to prevent the British advance into Libya represent

Answer 17

• This ended the idea of the ‘parallel war’, as Germany had to engage in areas where fifier had hoped the Italian army would do the fighting

Question 18

Was Rommel’s intervention to help the Italian’s successful

Answer 18

• Rommel’s Italian and German forces had some early victories over the Allies,
• but by October 1942 they were in retreat after defeat at the 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 19

The Mediterranean

In the Mediterranean, which had been a dominant focus for Mussolini all the way through his dictatorship, Italian strategy proved …………. & ………..

Answer 19

confusing and inadequate

Question 20

The Mediterranean

Describe the failings of Italian strategy

Answer 20

• Mussolini had no consistent strategy for attacking key British positions;
• the important British bases at Malta, Gibraltar and Alexandria never came under sustained attack

Question 21

Describe the Italina confusion among different forces

Answer 21

• There was poor coordination between the navy and the air force, with Italian planes bombing their own ships in July 1940

Question 22

What happened at the Battle of Taranto

Answer 22

• The Italian navy was crippled by a Brifish air attack on the port of Taranto in November 1940, with half its battle fleet lost

Question 23

How did Germany prevent the outcome of the Battle of Taranto being horrific

Answer 23

• the existence of the German navy did prevent Britain from having control of the Mediterranean,
• and Italian shipping to North Africa increased in the months after Taranto

Question 24

In 1940 Mussolini refused Hitler’s offer of…

Answer 24

the French colony of Tunisia, fearing a prolonged campaign with France’s colonial regions

Question 25

When did Mussolini launch an attack on Greece

Answer 25

28 October 1940

Question 26

Why did Mussolini launch an attack on Greece

Answer 26

* Despite Greece never having been a focus for Italian territorial claims before, he was worried about Hitler's interest in the Balkans so looked to solidify Italy's position in the region * He did not even tell Hitler that he was launching the attack

Question 27

Mussolini assumed that Greece had only ............... soldiers, and so attacked from Albania with ............... men. Greece actually had ........... soldiers.

Answer 27

Mussolini assumed that Greece had only **30,000** soldiers, and so attacked from Albania with **60,000** men. Greece actually had **300,000** soldiers.

Question 28

# Greece Mussolini did not coordinate the attack with....

Answer 28

* the navy or air force

Question 29

# Greece How did the timing make this worse

Answer 29

* The 28 October was also a poor date to invade as the weather conditions were very wet and there were freezing temperatures in the mountain regions * Some Italian uniforms disintegrated in the rain

Question 30

# Greece Territorial gain?

Answer 30

* Not only did the Greek forces hold up the invasion, but, when the Greeks counterattacked they invaded a quarter of Albania - a satellite state of Italy

Question 31

What were the casualty losses and soldiers deployed into Greece

Answer 31

* Eventually half a million Italian soldiers were deployed at the cost of 32,000 killed and 100,000 wounded

Question 32

How did the Germans intervene in Greece

Answer 32

* After six months, Mussolini had to call on the help of Germany who humiliated the Italian forces by defeating the Greeks within a few weeks

Question 33

What was the outcome of Greece campaign for Italian image

Answer 33

* The Royal Navy sunk three Italian cruisers and two destroyers proving their dominance in the Mediterranean - not the Italians * The Greek campaign made Italy a laughing stock around Europe and in Spring 1942 it was the Germans not the Italians who invaded and took over Greece and Yugoslavia in April 1941

Question 34

By 1943, Italy had failed to achieve.....

Answer 34

* any of the aims set out in Mussolini's 'parallel war'

Question 35

What was the domestic impact of all these defeats

Answer 35

* The Italian military had been shown to be weaker than Greece, which was not considered a major European power * Fascist propaganda was unable to disguise the truth from the Italian people * This had a major impact in undermining their faith in fascist rule and Mussolini himself

Question 36

Following all these defeats, the Germans now viewed Italy with...

Answer 36

even more contempt