Editing Victor Emmanuel III (section)

====Pact with Germany====
Under the terms of the [[Pact of Steel]] signed on 22 May 1939, which was an offensive and defensive alliance with Germany, Italy would have been obliged to follow Germany into war in 1939.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 136}} As the Pact of Steel was signed, the German Foreign Minister, [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]], told Mussolini that there would be no war until 1942 or 1943, but the Italian ambassador in Berlin, Baron [[Bernardo Attolico]], warned Rome that the information he was hearing from sources in the German government suggested that Hitler was intent on seeing the Danzig crisis escalate into war that year.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 136}}  Between 11 and 13 August 1939, the Italian Foreign Minister, Count [[Galeazzo Ciano]], visited Hitler at the Berghof, and learned for the first time that Germany was definitely going to invade Poland later that same summer.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 137}}  Mussolini at first was prepared to follow Germany into war in 1939, but was blocked by Victor Emmanuel.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 137}}  At a meeting with Count Ciano on 24 August 1939, the king stated that "we are absolutely in no condition to wage war"; the state of the ''Regio Esercito'' was "pitiful"; and since Italy was not ready for war, it should stay out of the coming conflict, at least until it was clear who was winning.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 137}}  More importantly, Victor Emmanuel stated that as the king of Italy he was the supreme commander-in-chief, and he wanted to be involved in any "supreme decisions", which in effect was claiming a right to veto any decision Mussolini might make about going to war.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 137}}  On 25 August, Ciano wrote in his diary that he informed a "furiously warlike" Mussolini that the king was against Italy going to war in 1939, forcing ''Il Duce'' to concede that Italy would have to declare neutrality.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 137}}  Unlike in Germany where officers from 1934 onward took an oath of personal loyalty to Hitler, officers of the ''Regio Esercito'', ''Regina Marina'' and the ''Regia Aeronautica'' all took their oaths of loyalty to the king, not Mussolini.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 139}}  The vast majority of the Italian officers in all three services saw Victor Emmanuel as opposed to Mussolini as the principal locus of their loyalty, allowing the king to check decisions by Mussolini that he disapproved of.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 139}}

Italy declared neutrality in September 1939, but Mussolini always made it clear that he wanted to intervene on the side of Germany provided that this would not strain Italy's resources too much (the costs of the wars in Ethiopia and Spain had pushed Italy to the verge of bankruptcy by 1939).{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | pp = 146–148}}  On 18 March 1940, Mussolini met Hitler at a summit at the Brenner Pass and promised him that Italy would soon enter the war.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 148}}  Victor Emmanuel had powerful doubts about the wisdom of going to war, and at one point in March 1940 hinted to Ciano that he was considering dismissing Mussolini as Ciano wrote in his diary: "the King feels that it may become necessary for him to intervene at any moment to give things a different direction; he is prepared to do this and to do it quickly".{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 151}}  Victor Emmanuel hoped that a vote against Italy entering the war would be registered in the Fascist Grand Council, as he knew that the ''[[Gerarca|gerarchi]]'' [[Cesare Maria De Vecchi]], [[Italo Balbo]] and [[Emilio De Bono]] were all anti-war, but he refused to insist upon calling the Grand Council as a precondition for giving his consent to declaring war.{{Sfn | Mack Smith | 1989 | p = 287}}  On 31 March 1940, Mussolini submitted to Victor Emmanuel a long memorandum arguing that Italy to achieve its long-sought ''spazio vitale'' had to enter the war on the Axis side sometime that year.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | pp = 149–150}} However, the king remained resolutely opposed to Italy entering the war until late May 1940, much to Mussolini's intense frustration.{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | pp = 150–151}}  At one point, Mussolini complained to Ciano that there were two men, namely Victor Emmanuel and [[Pope Pius XII]], who were preventing him from doing the things that he wanted to do, leading to state he wanted to "blow" the Crown and Catholic Church "up to the skies".{{Sfn | Kershaw | 2007 | p = 153}}