Editing Axis powers (section)

====War justifications====

[[File:Benito Mussolini portrait as dictator (retouched).jpg|thumb|left|upright|The ''[[Duce]]'' [[Benito Mussolini]] in an official portrait]]
''[[Duce]]'' [[Benito Mussolini]] described Italy's declaration of war against the Western Allies of Britain and France in June 1940 as the following: "We are going to war against the [[Plutocracy|plutocratic]] and [[reactionary]] [[Democracy|democracies]] of the [[Western world|West]] who have invariably hindered the progress and often threatened the very existence of the [[Italians|Italian people]]".<ref>John Whittam. ''Fascist Italy''. Manchester, England; New York: Manchester University Press. p. 165. {{ISBN?}}</ref> Italy condemned the Western powers for enacting sanctions on Italy in 1935 for its actions in the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]] that Italy claimed was a response to an act of Ethiopian aggression against tribesmen in [[Italian Eritrea]] in the [[Abyssinia Crisis#Walwal incident|Walwal incident]] of 1934.<ref>Michael Brecher, Jonathan Wilkenfeld. ''Study of Crisis''. University of Michigan Press, 1997. p. 109. {{ISBN?}}</ref> Italy, like Germany, also justified its actions by claiming that Italy needed to territorially expand to provide ''[[spazio vitale]]'' ("vital space") for the Italian nation.<ref name="rodogno46">{{Cite book|first=Davide|last=Rodogno|authorlink=Davide Rodogno|title=Fascism's European Empire: Italian Occupation During the Second World War |location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|pages=46–48|isbn=978-0-521-84515-1}}</ref>

In October 1938 in the aftermath of the Munich Agreement, Italy demanded concessions from France to yield to Italy in Africa.{{sfn|Burgwyn|1997|pp=182-183}} Relations between Italy and France deteriorated with France's refusal to accept Italy's demands.{{sfn|Burgwyn|1997|pp=182–183}} France responded to Italy's demands with threatening naval manoeuvres as a warning to Italy.{{sfn|Burgwyn|1997|pp=182–183}} As tensions between Italy and France grew, Hitler made a major speech on 30 January 1939 in which he promised German military support in the case of an unprovoked war against Italy.{{sfn|Burgwyn|1997|p=185}}

Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940. Italy justified its [[Greco-Italian War|intervention against Greece in October 1940]] on the allegation that the [[Kingdom of Greece]] was being used by Britain against Italy, Mussolini informed this to Hitler, saying: "Greece is one of the main points of English maritime strategy in the Mediterranean".<ref name="John Lukacs 1941. P. 116">John Lukacs. ''The Last European War: September 1939 – December 1941''. p. 116.</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-783-0104-09, Nordafrika, italienische Soldaten auf dem Marsch.jpg|thumb|Italian soldiers in the [[North African Campaign]] in 1941]]
Italy justified its [[invasion of Yugoslavia|intervention against Yugoslavia in April 1941]] by appealing to both Italian irredentist claims and the fact of [[Albanian nationalism|Albanian]], [[Croatian nationalism|Croatian]], and [[Macedonian nationalism|Macedonian separatists]] not wishing to be part of [[Yugoslavia]].<ref name="Jozo Tomasevich P. 30-31">Jozo Tomasevich. War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945: Occupation and Collaboration. pp. 30–31.</ref> Croatian separatism soared after the assassination of Croatian political leaders in the [[Parliament of Yugoslavia|National Assembly of Yugoslavia]] in 1928 including the death of [[Stjepan Radić]], and Italy endorsed Croatian separatist [[Ante Pavelić]] and his fascist [[Ustaše]] movement that was based and trained in Italy with the Fascist regime's support prior to intervention against Yugoslavia.<ref name="Jozo Tomasevich P. 30-31"/>