Casualties. Nearly four million Italians served in the Italian Royal Army during the Second World War. Nearly half a million Italians (including civilians) died between June 1940 and May 1945. The Royal Army suffered 161,729 casualties between 10 June 1940 and 8 September 1943 in the war against the Allies.
The Italian military was weakened by military conquests in Ethiopia, Spain and Albania before World War II. Their equipment, weapons and leadership were inadequate which caused their numerous defeats.
Although considered a great power, the Italian industrial sector was relatively weak compared to other European major powers.
In the Province of Ljubljana, alone, the Italians sent some 25,000 to 40,000 Slovene civilians to concentration camps, which equaled 7.5% to 12% of its total population. The Italians also sent tens-of-thousands of Croats, Serbs, Montenegrins and others to concentration camps, including many women and children.
Second World War: fatalities per country 1939-1945. Estimates for the total death count of the Second World War generally range somewhere between 70 and 85 million people. The Soviet Union suffered the highest number of fatalities of any single nation, with estimates mostly falling between 22 and 27 million deaths.
World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Germany attacked Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Despite the Pact of Steel, Italy at first remained neutral. On June 10, 1940, shortly before Germany defeated France, Italy joined the war as Germany's ally.
Who defeated Italy in ww2? Italy was defeated by a joint effort of the Allies. American forces captured Sicily, but throughout the war they were aided by British, Canadian, French, and even Brazilian allies.
In August, the Royal Army obtained the only Italian victory in World War II without German intervention when it carried out the conquest of British Somaliland. In the first six months of war Italy obtained only minor conquests, as Mussolini mistakenly waited for a quick end of the war.
Italy's weakness and structural problems include: internal political instability, a large public debt, a diminishing economic productivity, low economic growth, especially in the last ten years, and a significant Centre-North/South socio-economic divide.
Only in June 1940, when France was about to fall and World War II seemed virtually over, did Italy join the war on Germany's side, still hoping for territorial spoils. Mussolini announced his decision—one bitterly opposed by his foreign minister, Galeazzo Ciano—to huge crowds across Italy on June 10.
Italian Allied Victory:
Destruction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Italy wanted to gain the territory of Turkey and Africa but they didn't get what they wanted at end of WWI. Also, they were unhappy with the treaty of Versailles, they thought that injustice had been done to them. So it joined the side of Japan and Germany to get its territories back.
Life in Italy during World War II didn't differ much from that of other civilians around Europe. It was characterized by restrictions. Living under a dictatorship, such restrictions didn't simply take the form of limited amounts of non-National goods, fuel, and even items of clothing, but also of censorship.
The Ethiopian army's victory checked Italy's attempt to build an empire in Africa. The victory had further significance for being the first crushing defeat of a European power by African forces during the colonial era.
And just to add some spice, the Italians had betrayed their German partner and surrendered to the Western Allies, placing the entire German position in Italy in jeopardy.
The first bombing raid occurred on July 19, 1943, when 690 aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) flew over Rome and dropped 9,125 bombs on the city.
Further bombing raids were carried out by the CAI, mainly on the Harwich and Ipswich areas. By the end of December, shortly before its redeployment, the CAI had flown 97 bomber sorties, for the loss of three aircraft. The Italian planes had dropped 44.87 tonnes of bombs in 77 night sorties, most of them over Harwich.
By joining the war later, Italy had formally established herself as the junior and inferior partner of the Rome-Berlin Axis. Thus, it is evident that Italy joined the war to exploit and profit from German success, and thus maximise Italian interests.
Ever since Mussolini began to falter, Hitler had been making plans to invade Italy to keep the Allies from gaining a foothold that would situate them within easy reach of the German-occupied Balkans. On the day of Italy's surrender, Hitler launched Operation Axis, the occupation of Italy.
On Oct. 13, 1943, one month after Italy surrendered to Allied forces, it declared war on Nazi Germany, its onetime Axis powers partner. Italy was led into the war by Benito Mussolini, the fascist prime minister who had formed an alliance with Nazi Germany in 1936.
The Soviet Union is estimated to have suffered the highest number of WWII casualties.
In September 1939 the Allies, namely Great Britain, France, and Poland, were together superior in industrial resources, population, and military manpower, but the German military, or Wehrmacht, because of its armament, training, doctrine, discipline, and fighting spirit, was the most efficient and effective fighting ...
American war production — its ability to churn out astounding numbers of bombers, tanks and warships — was possibly the key war-winning factor, say some historians, who point out American factories produced more airplanes than all of the other major war powers combined.
In this poll, Germany led the list of Italy's enemies, at 45 percent. China and Russia have attempted to exploit the opportunity created by Italy's increasing disillusionment with its traditional partners, though their clumsy efforts have sometimes backfired.