Fascist Italy - C9 ww2 and fall of M

when did Italy join ww2

when did Italy join ww2

june 1940

why did Italy join ww2

thought it would be over soon as GB and FR looked to be soon overwhelmed by GER

how much of the national income 1935-38 was spent on armed forces

11.8%

what condition was the Italian Armed forces in

very inadequate supplies, mostly for show with most of the money going to provide luxury homes for top officials

how many riffles did M say the army had compared to how many did they actually have

said there was 8,000,000, but didn’t have enough to supply their 800,000 men

what was the strategies of the officials and how effective was it

army sceptical of tanks and air support so returned to old ww1 strategies, Navy was scared to ruin their new fleet of battleships so remained very defensive against GB throughout the war

what were Italy’s economic weaknesses

not self-sufficient by 1940, required coal and iron from GER who were reluctant to give it away to Italy when the war started going badly for Axis powers

what was steel production like 1940-42

dropped 20%

how was food production affected by the war

wheat harvest dropped by 1.5 million tonnes as farmers were drafted

what happened on the Italian North African front

Sep 1940 - Italy pushed from Libya into Egypt but were unable to remain offensive as they ran out of men and resources because were fighting in Balkans at the same time, pushed back into Libya

what happened in the Balkans for Italy

Oct 1940 - invaded from Albania into Greece only a month after push in North Africa, so flopped cause couldn’t do both at once, pushed back into Albania

what happened to the Italian Navy Nov 1940

attacked by GB air raid, lost half of battle fleet

what was the GER opinion of Italians

thought they were weak, put GER commander in charge in North Africa, pissed off M

Helped Italy out in the Balkans, easily sweeping through Yugoslavia and Greece in less than 2 weeks

what happened to Italy’s African colonies in the war

Abyssinia and Somali land were taken by GB April 1941

Jan 1943, Libya abandoned by Italy

what happened in Sicily March 1943

English and American troops landed in Sicily, preparing to invade mainland Italy

what were Italian opinions at the start of the war

very split, those who supported mostly did so because of the belief it would be a quick victory and believed the propaganda of having amazing army supplies

when did Italian opinions begin to become more negative towards the war

when men started to come home on leave after Greece, recounting the lack of adequate clothing and shortge of supplies

what happened with the food shortages in italy

rationing was not introduced until 1941, far too late, prices were inflated and by the time rationing started, there was very little supply b/ rich had eaten most of it before rationing was introduced.

rations introduced were lowest in any combatant country apart from USSR, only 1000 kcals

who did Italians turn to during the war to war to get information from

BBC

what began to emerge in the 1940s in Italy

opposition groups, including Communist and Catholic

what happened at home in Italy in 1943

shortages and anti-war sentiments led to waves of strikes in industrial Italy

what was M’s reaction to growing public discontent

refused to back out of war

what were the opinions of other Fascist officials (not M)

believed that to save Fascism from failing completely and allowing Italy to fall into a ‘Communist revolution’ must remove M as a sacrifice

what was the response to the GB and USE invasion of Sicily

Farinacci (ex-squad leader) and de Bono (Abyssinia campaign) persuaded M to call Grand Copuncil

what did the Grand council vote on 24 July 1943

voted 19:7 to have KVEIII remove M and restore power to P.

how was M dismissed

bloodless coup. didn’t do much when he was told of the vote, went the next day to the King’s palace to talk about the war and continue as usual, where he was arrested

who was replaced as PM after M

Marshal Badoglio

what was the public response to the removal of M

no public protests, fascist regime collapsed

how did Fascist react to the dismisal of M

tried to gain support with new PM, removed M’s headshot on Il opolo d’Italia with a picture of Badoglio the next day.

what did Germany when Italy signed an armistice with GB and FR

8th September 1943 - Germany couldn’t afford to have GB (from Sicily) take Italy so German troops rescued Mussolini from the Ski resort he was captive at to fly him to meet with Hitler

what was the relationship like between Hitler and Mussolini when he was rescued, before the formation of the the RSI

M very much saw Hitler as the leader in control, saying “i am here to take my orders” when he got to Germany

what was the Italian Social Republic (RSI) also known as the Salo Republic

announced 15th Sep - new Fascist State to be run in Italy by the Germans, with M as their figure head

where did the Salo Republic control

had control over North and Central Italy, where as the Kingdom of Italy controlled the South

what was the kingdom of Italy

southern govt, controlled by KVEIII as a puppet leader but was ran by the Allies

what kind of policies were proposed by the new RSI

very old 1922 style Fascist polices that isolated the industrial elite supporters of 1922-45 by promoting workers rights

what was the RSI’s military like

surprisingly strong with more than 500,000 men, but much of their men, such as the black brigades, spent much of their time fighting partisans

who made up the partisans influence over the salo republic

Communinst - most organised and with more that 30,000 troops

Catholics - mostly made up of old PPi members, 20,000 troops, willing to cooperate with the left despite not being left themselves

Socialists - members of the old PSI, only represented a small amount of the partisan fighters

Actionists - moderate, middle class became active in 1940 and offically became the Party of Action in 1943, 25,000 partisans fighters

what were the strengths of the RSI at its creation

could make a new manifesto

Squads reformed in Black Brigades that could be used to intimidate once more

what were the weaknesses of the RSI at its creation

alienated elites by returning to 1919 manifesto

had to fight both Allies and Axis (and later Partisans) all at the same time

Fascism was never truly able to be believed by the majority of Italians so most didn’t follow it like they had done with M 22-45

m had become ill and recluse

German control caused mixed loyalties for many Fascists

how strong were the Partisans

small in number in reality but many of the pubic were pushed to support them as the RSI was horrifically strict on their punishments to the partisans (most of public were neutral though)

caused much of the German/RSI troops to be occupied, not allowing them to fight the allies, grew to numbers of 250,000

had some strong brigades that were genuinely very good at fighting, killed 5000 Germans

knew the terrain of the Alps (where most battles were fought) much better than the Germans so had the advantage of knowing how to escape when in danger

were the people to eventually execute M

how did poor leadership cause the fall of the RSI

M was shadow of former shell, didn’t want to lead until forced to by Hitler and was too ill to do anything

republic divided heavily between die-hard, war-happy Fascists and those who wanted to be peacemakers

removed support from most powerful when re-branding

Black brigade too cruel, tuned public support away