Mussolini had the immediate war aim of expanding the Italian colonies in North Africa by taking land from the British and French colonies.
On June 10, 1940, shortly before Germany defeated France, Italy joined the war as Germany's ally. In addition to invading France, Italian forces attacked British interests in North and East Africa.
Annexing territory along the two countries' frontier stretching from the Trentino region in the Alps eastward to Trieste at the northern end of the Adriatic Sea was a primary goal and would “liberate” Italian speaking populations from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while uniting them with their cultural homeland.
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.
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.
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.
On October 13, 1943, the government of Italy declares war on its former Axis partner Germany and joins the battle on the side of the Allies.
The Allies built up forces for another major assault on the Gustav Line beginning May 11, 1944, intending to link up with a breakout from the Anzio beachhead. The breakthrough and the breakout both succeeded, and the Allies drove north to liberate Rome on June 4, 1944.
The invasion of Sicily in July 1943 led to the collapse of the Fascist Italian regime and the fall of Mussolini, who was deposed and arrested by order of King Victor Emmanuel III on 25 July. The new government signed an armistice with the Allies on 8 September 1943.
Italy's main issue was its enmity with Austria-Hungary, Germany's main ally. That made Italy the "odd man out" in the so-called Triple Alliance with the other two. Italy had joined (reluctantly) with Germany out of a fear of France.
On September 8, 1943, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies. Germany reacted with Operation Axis, the Allies with Operation Avalanche.
They had left an Italy where their job prospects were poor, and they believed that in their new life they would be able to advance in status to become an independent proprietor, and perhaps even an employer of labour.
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 route through Sicily
And it sounded easy. But by the end of the campaign, veterans called it the “tough old gut of Europe”. Although the Allies had decided upon an invasion of Italy from North Africa, it wasn't possible to do that directly. There wasn't enough shipping or enough aircraft to cover an assault.
On December 11, 1941, Italy declared war on the United States in response to the latter's declaration of war upon the Empire of Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor four days earlier. Germany also declared war on the U.S. the same day.
Vatican City maintained an official policy of neutrality during the war. Both Allied and Axis bombers made some effort not to attack the Vatican when bombing Rome. However, Vatican City was bombed on at least two occasions, once by the British and once by the Germans.
In this treaty, the two countries agreed to support each other in the fight against communism. Italy joined the pact a year later. In 1939, Germany and Italy expanded their cooperation in the Pact of Steel: they promised to help each other if one them went to war with another country.
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.
There was minimal fighting. Japan already had a military alliance with Britain, but that did not obligate it to enter the war. It joined the Allies in order to make territorial gains. It acquired Germany's scattered small holdings in the Pacific and on the coast of China.
This army was called the National Republican Army (Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano, or ENR). While it lasted until April 1945, the RSI never amounted to being more than a puppet state of Nazi Germany.
Italian Allied Victory:
Destruction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Annexation of Trentino-Alto Adige, Gorizia and Gradisca, Istria, Trieste, Zara and the Julian March to the Kingdom of Italy. Armistice of Villa Giusti.
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.
The Great Powers, recognized as such, were Austria- Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States.
For almost two years during the Second World War (1939-45), the Allies fought an attritional campaign in Italy against a resolute and skilful enemy. Far from being the 'soft underbelly of Europe', Italy became one of the war's most exhausting campaigns.