Editing Axis powers (section)

====History====
The intention of the Fascist regime was to create a "[[Italian Empire|New Roman Empire]]" in which Italy would dominate the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]]. In 1935–1936 [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War|Italy invaded and annexed Ethiopia]] and the Fascist government proclaimed the creation of the "[[Italian Empire]]".{{sfn|Lowe|Marzari|2002|p=289}} Protests by the [[League of Nations]], especially the British, who had interests in that area, led to no serious action, although The League did try to enforce economic sanctions upon Italy, but to no avail. The incident highlighted French and British weakness, exemplified by their reluctance to alienate Italy and lose her as their ally. The limited actions taken by the Western powers pushed Mussolini's Italy towards alliance with Hitler's Germany anyway. In 1937 Italy left the League of Nations and joined the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]], which had been signed by Germany and Japan the preceding year. In March/April 1939 Italian troops invaded and annexed [[Albania]]. Germany and Italy signed the [[Pact of Steel]] on May 22.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-783-0104-38, Nordafrika, italienische Panzer M13-40.jpg|thumb|left|Italian [[Fiat M13/40]] tanks in the North African Campaign in 1941]]
Italy was ill-prepared for war, in spite of the fact that it had continuously been involved in conflict since 1935, first with Ethiopia in 1935–1936 and then in the [[Spanish Civil War]] on the side of [[Francisco Franco]]'s [[National faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalists]].{{sfn|McKercher|Legault|2001|pp=40–41}} 
Mussolini refused to heed warnings from his minister of exchange and currency, [[Felice Guarneri]], who said that Italy's actions in Ethiopia and Spain meant that Italy was on the verge of bankruptcy.{{sfn|McKercher|Legault|2001|p=41}} By 1939 military expenditures by Britain and France far exceeded what Italy could afford.{{sfn|McKercher|Legault|2001|p=41}} As a result of Italy's economic difficulties its soldiers were poorly paid, often being poorly equipped and poorly supplied, and animosity arose between soldiers and class-conscious officers; these contributed to low morale amongst Italian soldiers.<ref>[[Samuel W. Mitcham]]: ''Rommel's Desert War: The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps''. Stackpole Books, 2007. p. 16.</ref>

[[File:RNVittorio Veneto-Battle of Cape Spartivento.jpg|thumb|right|Italian battleships ''[[Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto|Vittorio Veneto]]'' and ''[[Italian battleship Littorio|Littorio]]'' during the war]]
[[File:A formation of Macchi C.200s escorting bombers.jpg|thumb|Italian [[Macchi C.200]] fighter aircraft during the war]]
By early 1940, Italy was still a non-belligerent, and Mussolini communicated to Hitler that Italy was not prepared to intervene soon. By March 1940, Mussolini decided that Italy would intervene, but the date was not yet chosen. His senior military leadership unanimously opposed the action because Italy was unprepared. No raw materials had been stockpiled and the reserves it did have would soon be exhausted, Italy's industrial base was only one-tenth of Germany's, and even with supplies the Italian military was not organized to provide the equipment needed to fight a modern war of a long duration. An ambitious rearmament program was impossible because of Italy's limited reserves in gold and foreign currencies and lack of raw materials. Mussolini ignored the negative advice.<ref>Stephen L. W. Kavanaugh. ''Hitler's Malta Option: A Comparison of the Invasion of Crete (Operation Merkur) and the Proposed Invasion of Malta'' (Nimble Books LLC, 2010). p. 20.</ref>

By 1941, Italy's attempts to run an autonomous campaign from Germany's, collapsed as a result of military setbacks in Greece, [[North Africa]], and [[Eastern Africa]]; and the country became dependent and effectively subordinate to Germany. After the German-led invasion and occupation of [[Yugoslavia during World War II|Yugoslavia]] and Greece, that had both been targets of Italy's war aims, Italy was forced to accept German dominance in the two occupied countries.<ref name="pp284">Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War. pp. 284–285.</ref> Furthermore, by 1941, German forces in North Africa under [[Erwin Rommel]] effectively took charge of the military effort ousting Allied forces from the Italian colony of [[Italian Libya|Libya]], and German forces were stationed in [[Sicily]] in that year.<ref name="knight"/> Germany's insolence towards Italy as an ally was demonstrated that year when Italy was pressured to send 350,000 "guest workers" to Germany who were used as forced labour.<ref name="knight">Patricia Knight. ''Mussolini and Fascism''. Routledge, 2003. p. 103.</ref> While Hitler was disappointed with the Italian military's performance, he maintained overall favorable relations with Italy because of his personal friendship with Mussolini.<ref>Davide Rodogno. ''Fascism's European Empire: Italian Occupation during the Second World War''. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2006. p. 30.</ref><ref name="John Lukacs">John Lukacs. ''The Last European War: September 1939 – December 1941''. Yale University Press, 2001. p. 364.</ref>

On 25 July 1943, following the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]], King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini, placed him under arrest, and began secret negotiations with the Western Allies. An [[armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces|armistice]] was signed on 8 September 1943, and four days later Mussolini was rescued by the Germans in [[Gran Sasso raid|Operation Oak]] and placed in charge of a puppet state called the [[Italian Social Republic]] (''Repubblica Sociale Italiana''/RSI, or ''Repubblica di Salò'') in [[northern Italy]]. In order to liberate the country from the Germans and Fascists, Italy became a [[Co-belligerence|co-belligerent]] of the Allies; as result, the country descended in [[Italian civil war|Civil War]], with the [[Italian Co-Belligerent Army]] and the [[Italian resistance movement|partisans]], supported by the Allies, contended the Social Republic's forces and its German allies. Some areas in Northern Italy were liberated from the Germans as late as May, 1945. [[Death of Benito Mussolini|Mussolini was killed]] by Communist partisans on 28 April 1945 while trying to escape to Switzerland.{{sfn|Shirer|1960|p=1131}}