Italy and declaration of war

Discussions on all aspects of Italy under Fascism from the March on Rome to the end of the war.
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e.polis
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Italy and declaration of war

#1

Post by e.polis » 19 Apr 2005, 02:50

Why did Italy wait until 10 June 1940 to declare war on Britain and therefore involving the rest of the Commonwealth, to follow on from that what was the reason for the declaration and was Britain prepared for war with Italy.

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Kakita Harry
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Re: Italy and declaration of war

#2

Post by Kakita Harry » 19 Apr 2005, 13:26

e.polis wrote:Why did Italy wait until 10 June 1940 to declare war on Britain and therefore involving the rest of the Commonwealth, to follow on from that what was the reason for the declaration and was Britain prepared for war with Italy.
Germany urged Italy to declare the war earlier in 1939, but escpeially out of economic reasons (i.i.: Italy had been on war to Ethiopia in 1935/36 and been involweld in the Spanish Civil War), Mussolini had to declare Italy as "unfit for a war".
In June 1940, when France was on the edge of collapsing, it was hoped by the Italian government to earn some spoils of war and so they declared War primarly on France anf GB (wether they declard war on the whole Commonwealth I don't know).

I think GB was not prepared at first for this, but they made the best out of it. :wink:


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e.polis
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#3

Post by e.polis » 19 Apr 2005, 15:09

At that time if Britain went to war then so did the rest of the Commonwealth including Australia, this silly attitude and stupid allegiance changed during WW2 when Australia's Prime Minister, John curtin, stated that Australia will look to the US instead of Britain in the future. Churchill was against releasing Australian divisions from North Africa to defend Australia from the feared Japanese invasion in early 1942. Churchill was prepared to allow Australia to fall to the Japanese, so John Curtin defied Churchill and ordered the divisions to return home. Back on track, Australia must have been expecting war with Italy as two Italian ships were in Australian harbours and they were deliberately delayed so they could be seized as war prizes at the out break of war, the Remo was taken in Fremantle Harbour, the other, Remolo did escape and was chased by the Aussie navy and sunk out at sea from Brisbane. So I guess war was expected, it was just a matter of when.

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Kakita Harry
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#4

Post by Kakita Harry » 20 Apr 2005, 19:55

e.polis wrote: So I guess war was expected, it was just a matter of when.
That seems to be right. At least Italy was Germany's ally by the tripartite-pact and it was clear to everybody that they would go to war. And I think that the british intelligence was not that bad at this time and was able to get some hints and warnings. 8)

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#5

Post by Napoli II » 21 Apr 2005, 04:02

e.polis, you seem to say that the Commonwealth only went to war because Italy declared war on England in your first statement?? :|

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bearcat
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#6

Post by bearcat » 21 Apr 2005, 05:36

Italy declared war becuase france was on the verge of callapse and wanted to gain the territories of Nice, Savoy, Corsica, and Tunisia from any peace settlement but of course they needed to be involved in the war for that to happen. Mussolini told hitler that Italy would not be ready for war until 1943 ad that proved all too true.

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e.polis
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#7

Post by e.polis » 21 Apr 2005, 06:53

probably badly worded by myself, Australia declared war on Germany on 3 Sept 1939 following Britains declaration, same as the declaration of war on Italy.

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