Explain how the failure to prepare for war in the period 1940-43 contributed to Italy's failure in the Second World War

by erinruth99gmailcom (student)

EXPLAIN HOW THE FAILURE TO PREPARE FOR WAR IN THE PERIOD 1940-43 CONTRIBUTED TO ITALY'S FAILURE IN THE 2WW. (8)

It is undeniable that Italy was in no way prepared for the reality of war in 1940. Mussolini decided to enter war with the full knowledge that the Italian Commission on War Production had warned that Italy could not sustain a single year of warfare until 1949. No co-ordinating ministry was established to organise a future war effort with the result that the three armed forces competed against each other and no attempt was made to standardise equipment.

Despite pre-war claims that Italy would have an army of up to 12 million, the armed forces in practice never reached even the size of the Italian army in the First World War. The army, navy and air force were ill-supplied, barely any defences existed against aerial bombing, Italy’s intelligence network was inadequate and all branches of the armed forces competed against each other in ordering supplies.

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Large sums had been spent on rearmament, and 11.8% of national income had been spent on armed forces, but much of it had been squandered on purchasing inadequate weaponry and on providing luxurious living quarters for officers. The Air force possessed only 1000 effective planes with which to 'blot out the sun’ and these were also of inferior quality. Army was also outdated, lacking tanks and they had virtually no anti-aircraft guns. The Chief of army staff complained to Mussolini but he assured him that there was no need for concern as the army was mainly intended for show and ...

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Furthermore, Italy was not economically prepared. The impact of the Abyssinian War and the Spanish Civil War had massively increased Italian levels of debt and Mussolini had failed to achieve autarky with the country still dependent on foreign imports of oil and fertilisers. This meant he did not have the money to properly equip the army.

Mussolini also failed to formulate a realistic strategy, he was geographically too ambitious. In order to try to establish Italy as an equal partner in the war, Mussolini pursued a ‘parallel war’, i.e., an Italian sphere was to be established in the Balkans, the Med and North Africa. In addition to this, Mussolini insisted on ‘assisting’ Germany on the Eastern Front – this was despite the fact that German military leaders would have preferred for these resources to be directed for use in the Balkans and North Africa.

Mussolini’s ignorance of the strengths of the USA and the USSR also demonstrated a lack of preparation. It was clearly an error to commit Italy so lightly and with so little thought of the consequences against the world’s two military giants, the USA and the USSR. The former played a key role in the defeat of the Axis in North Africa, whilst the latter drained off troops that could have been used to prevent this.

Overall, Mussolini’s failure to prepare Italy both militarily and economically for the war was a major contributing factor to Italy’s defeat.