World War Two (1940-43)

Question 1

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

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

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

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

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

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

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

Answer 4

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

Question 5

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

Answer 5

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

Question 6

What did Mussolini do as a result of the lack of gains after the invasion of France? Give 4 details about it.

Answer 6

• 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

Question 7

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

Answer 7

• 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

Question 8

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

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What happened after the defeat of Italy in Abyssinia?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

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

Answer 10

• 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)

Question 11

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

Answer 11

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

Question 12

How was the invasion of Greece expected to go?

Answer 12

• It was expected to take 2 weeks

Question 13

List 5 issues the Italians faced when invading Greece.

Answer 13

• 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

Question 14

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

Answer 14

• 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

Question 15

What were 2 impacts of the failed invasion of Greece?

Answer 15

• 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

Question 16

List 3 ways in which Mussolini himself caused military weaknesses.

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

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

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

Give 4 examples of Italy having outdated tactics/ equipment.

Answer 18

• Many of the rifles and the cannons the army were using dated from WW1
• Naval ships didn’t have 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

Question 19

What were 3 issues soldiers had?

Answer 19

• 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

Question 20

What 3 issues did Italy’s war economy face?

Answer 20

• 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

Question 21

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

Answer 21

• 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

Question 22

What were 5 domestic impacts of the war?

Answer 22

• 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

Question 23

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

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What were 2 reasons why the strikes were so concerning?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

How did the strikes end?

Answer 25

- The government agreed to increase the money given to evacuees

Question 26

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

Answer 26

- 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

Question 27

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

Answer 27

- 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

Question 28

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

Answer 28

- Mussolini's secret police arrested 1400 between the March and June of 1943

Question 29

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

Answer 29

- Conservative elites

Question 30

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

Answer 30

- 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

Question 31

What forced the conservative elites to act?

Answer 31

- The Allied invasion of Sicily

Question 32

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

Answer 32

- 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

Question 33

Describe 5 aspects of the Allied invasion of Sicily.

Answer 33

- It took them a week to conquer the western half of Sicily - Mussolini hadn't put into place a plan to defend Sicily - Hitler was asked to help, but he refused - 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

Question 34

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

Answer 34

- 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

Question 35

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

Answer 35

- 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

Question 36

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

Answer 36

- September 1939 - It was Mussolini's organisation as he always had the final say anyway

Question 37

What happened at the Grand Council meeting?

Answer 37

- They voted on Grandi's resolution - It was 19:7 in favour of Mussolini's removal - Mussolini was still calm

Question 38

Why was Mussolini unbothered by the result of the vote?

Answer 38

- He believed the king wouldn't dismiss him

Question 39

What happened after the Grand Council meeting?

Answer 39

- 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