The Second World War and the Fall of Mussolini Flashcards
(17 cards)
Why were Italy in a good position for WW2?
Appeared ready due to strong aggression in Abyssinia and Spain
1939 satellite state of Albania extended influence
1933 Four Powers Pact
Mussolini told Italians he had “enough planes to block out the sun”
Why were Italy not in a good position before WW2?
Ciano said they were not ready
Could not prevent Anschluss in 1938
Autarky failed - 500 million tonnes of grain imported
3,500 Italians fought against him in Spain
Needed 9 billion a year but only had 4
Rifled used were from 1891
What was the period between September 1939 and September 1940 called?
Phoney War
What was the Phoney War?
Hitler took most of Europe, looked like he was winning the war
Why did Italy join the war?
Fear
Ideology
Greed
What happened in June 1940?
Battle of the Alps
What happened at the Battle of the Alps?
Italy had 700,000 troops
French opened fire on Ligurian coast and port of Genoa
Italian Libya was attacked and Livorno in mainland Italy
Italy ‘succeeded’ and occupied Corsica
What was the average calorie intake around 1940?
1/5 of pre war levels
What was happening with rationing?
Mismanaged and shortages got worse in 1942 and 1943
Rationing at the same levels as Nazi occupied Poland
What were the consequences of rationing?
Growing social unrest
Major strike in March 1943 that involved 100,000
What happened due to Allied bombing?
Industrial production was cut by 20%
Over 200,000 displaced in Milan in 1943
Over 150,000 homes destroyed
What did Mussolini fail to do?
Keep morale high
Did not visit bomb sites and only made 4 big speeches between June 1940 and December 1942
Why did Propaganda fail?
Many Italians were listening to radio London, abroad defeats were widely known
Bombings of cities and food was scarce
Italians believed they were fighting for Hitler
Vatican newspaper was read by around 200,000
What happened in April 1941?
Abyssinian and Italian war in East Africa was lost to the Allies and Selassie was re-crowned
What happened in the winter of 1941?
Mussolini sent 200,000 troops to help Hitler in Operation Barborossa - nearly all killed
What happened in December 1940?
Taranto
3 battleships lost
