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Military History Of Italy During World War II
The participation of Italy in the Second World War was characterized by a complex framework of ideology, politics, and diplomacy, while its military actions were often heavily influenced by external factors. Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy joined the war as one of the Axis Powers in 1940 (as the French Third Republic surrendered) with a plan to concentrate Italian forces on a major offensive against the British Empire in Africa and the Middle East, known as the "parallel war", while expecting the collapse of British forces in the European theatre of World War II, European theatre. The Italians Italian bombing of Mandatory Palestine in World War II, bombed Mandatory Palestine, Italian invasion of Egypt, invaded Egypt and Italian conquest of British Somaliland, occupied British Somaliland with initial success. As the war carried on and German and Japanese actions in 1941 led to the entry of the Soviet Union and United States, respectively, into the war, the Italian plan of fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Italian Military Intervention In Spain
The Italian military intervention in Spain took place during the Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ... in order to support the nationalist cause against the Second Spanish Republic. As the conquest of Ethiopia in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War made Italy confident in its power, Benito Mussolini joined the war to expand the Fascist sphere of influence in the Mediterranean. Italy supplied machine guns, artillery, aircraft, tankettes, the Aviazione Legionaria, and the Corpo Truppe Volontarie (CTV) to the Nationalist cause.Beevor (2006). p. 199. The Regia Marina, Royal Italian Navy () played a substantial role in the conflict and Italian warships took part in breaking the Republican navy's blockade of Nationalist-held Spanish Morocco and took part in nava ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Governorate Of Dalmatia
The Governorate of Dalmatia (; ) was an administrative division of the Kingdom of Italy that existed during two periods, first from 1918 to 1920 and then from 1941 to 1943. The first Governorate of Dalmatia was established following the end of World War I, given the London Pact (1915), and was disastablished following the Treaty of Rapallo. The London Pact also promised Italy part of Dalmatia (for the presence of Dalmatian Italians). However, both the peace settlement negotiations of 1919 to 1920 and the Fourteen Points of Woodrow Wilson, who advocated self-determination, took precedence, with Italy being permitted to annex only Zadar from Dalmatia, with the rest of Dalmatia being part of Yugoslavia. Enraged Italian nationalists considered the decision to be a betrayal of the promises of the London Pact, so this outcome was denounced as a "mutilated victory". The second Governorate of Dalmatia was established following the military conquest of Yugoslavian Dalmatia by General Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Province Of Ljubljana
The Province of Ljubljana (, , ) was the central-southern area of Slovenia. In 1941, it was annexed by the Kingdom of Italy, and after 1943 occupied by Nazi Germany. Created on May 3, 1941, it was abolished on May 9, 1945, when the Slovene Partisans and partisans from other parts of Yugoslavia liberated it from the Nazi Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral. Its administrative centre was Ljubljana. Background During World War II, the Drava Banovina was in a unique situation. Whereas Greece was trisected, this territory (roughly present-day Slovenia) experienced a further step—absorption and annexation into neighboring Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy, Hungary, and the Independent State of Croatia.Gregor Joseph Kranjc (2013To Walk with the Devil, University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division, p. 5 After Yugoslavia was invaded by Axis Powers on 6 April 1941, Germany and Hungary occupied and annexed the northern part of the region. The ethnic German Gottscheer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invasion Of Yugoslavia
The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a Nazi Germany, German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was put forward in "Führer Directive No. 25", which Adolf Hitler issued on 27 March 1941, following a Yugoslav coup d'état that overthrew the pro-Axis government. The invasion commenced with an overwhelming Operation Retribution (1941), air attack on Belgrade and facilities of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force (VVKJ) by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and attacks by German Army (Wehrmacht), German land forces from southwestern Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria. These attacks were followed by German thrusts from Kingdom of Romania, Romania, Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946), Hungary and the Ostmark (Austria), Ostmark (modern-day Austria, then part of Germany). Italian forces were limited to air and artillery attacks until 11 April, when the Royal Italian Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Compass
Operation Compass (also ) was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British metropolitan, Imperial and Commonwealth forces attacked the Italian and Libyan forces of the 10th Army (Marshal Rodolfo Graziani) in western Egypt and Cyrenaica, the eastern province of Libya, from December 1940 to February 1941. The Western Desert Force (WDF) (Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor) with about advanced from Mersa Matruh in Egypt on a five-day raid against the Italian positions of the 10th Army, which had about in fortified posts around Sidi Barrani in Egypt and in Cyrenaica to the west. The WDF swiftly defeated the Italians in their fortified posts and at Sidi Barrani, forced the rest of the 10th Army out of Egypt and captured the ports along the Cyrenaican coast in Libya. The 10th Army was cut off as it retreated towards Tripolitania at the Battle of Beda Fomm, the remnants being pursued to El Agheil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afrika Korps
The German Africa Corps (, ; DAK), commonly known as Afrika Korps, was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa, under various appellations, from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943. The unit's best known commander was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, whose reputation as one of the ablest tank commanders of the war earned him the nickname ''der Wüstenfuchs'', "the Desert Fox". History Organization The Afrika Korps formed on 11 January 1941 and one of Adolf Hitler's favourite generals, Erwin Rommel, was designated as commander on 11 February. Originally Hans von Funck was to have commanded it, but Hitler loathed von Funck, as he had been a personal staff officer of Werner von Fritsch until von Fritsch was dismissed in 1938. The German Armed Forces High Command (', OKW) had decided to send a "blocki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mare Nostrum
In the Roman Empire, () was a term that referred to the Mediterranean Sea. Meaning "Our Sea" in Latin, it denoted the body of water in the context of borders and policy; Ancient Rome, Rome remains the only state in history to have controlled the entire Mediterranean coast. The phrase would have been pronounced in Classical Latin, while it is pronounced in Ecclesiastical Latin. The concept of "Mare Nostrum" is noteworthy for having risen to political significance after the unification of Italy in the 19th century, particularly among Italian nationalism, Italian nationalists and Italian fascism, classical fascists, who attempted to revive the term with the connotation of Italy (and the Italian Empire shortly thereafter) being Succession of the Roman Empire, Rome's successor.Lowe (2002), p.34 Original usage The term ''Mare Nostrum'' originally was used by the Romans to refer to the Tyrrhenian Sea after their conquest of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica during the Punic Wars with An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the west almost by the Morocco–Spain border. The Mediterranean Sea covers an area of about , representing 0.7% of the global ocean surface, but its connection to the Atlantic via the Strait of Gibraltar—the narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates the Iberian Peninsula in Europe from Morocco in Africa—is only wide. Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely desiccation, desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years during the Messinian salinity crisis before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3 million years ago. The sea was an important ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of effective sole rule in 27 BC. The Western Roman Empire, western empire collapsed in 476 AD, but the Byzantine Empire, eastern empire lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. By 100 BC, the city of Rome had expanded its rule from the Italian peninsula to most of the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and beyond. However, it was severely destabilised by List of Roman civil wars and revolts, civil wars and political conflicts, which culminated in the Wars of Augustus, victory of Octavian over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, and the subsequent conquest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt. In 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian overarching military power () and the new title of ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
