Italy had a big part in World War II. Italy, Germany, and Japan made an alliance called the Axis and started to take over other countries. In 1930, Italy started fighting to get more land. Italy went to Africa to get more land. Italy went to Africa to more land. In 1942, another alliance of countries called the Allies stopped the Axis from taking over northern Africa, the Soviet Union, and the Pacific.

Italians used machine guns, tanks, and airplanes in Africa to beat Ethiopia’s weak army. By May 1936, Italy’s army had taken over the country. In 1936, Italy and Germany agreed to work together in the war. In 1940, Japan joined Italy and Germany.

As France was losing, Italy announced war on France and Great Britain on June 10. Before Italy attacked France, Germany stepped in and attacked France. When Italy started to attack Britain, Italy was winning, but at the end Britain won.

After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States, Canada, and Great Britain announced war on Japan on December 8, 1941. The next day, China announced war on the Axis on December 11. Germany and Italy announced war on the United States. World War II had become a worldwide fight.

In January 1943, Roosevelt, representing the U.S., and Churchill, representing England, met in Casablanca, Morocco. They agreed to invade the Mediterranean Island of Sicily after getting the Germans and Italians out of northern Africa. At the conference, Roosevelt said that the Allies would only accept a complete surrender from the Axis powers. Churchill agreed to Roosevelt’s decisions.

The leader of Italy at this time was Benito Mussolini. Mussolini lost his power over Italy on July 25, 1943, after the invasion of Sicily. The Italian government sent Mussolini to prison, but German paratroopers later rescued him. Italy’s new premier, Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio, began secret peace talks with the Allies. Badoglio hoped to keep them from battling in Italy. Italy surrendered on September 3, 1943. However, Field Marshal Albert Kesseiring, Germany’s commander in the Mediterranean region, wanted to keep fighting the Allies for control of Italy.

Allied forces led by Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark of the United States landed at Salerno, Italy, on September 9, 1943. They fought very hard just to get to the shore. Another Allied force had already landed farther south. It was hard for the Allies to fight against the Germans in Italy. By early November, the Allies had almost reached Cassino, about 75 miles south of Rome, but they were not able to get through the Germans. Some of the worst fighting of World War II occurred near Cassino.

In January 1944, the Allies landed troops in Anzio, west of Cassino, in an effort to attack the Germans from behind. However, German forces kept the Allies trapped on the beaches at Anzio for four months. Thousands of Allied soldiers were killed there.

The Allies finally got past the shores in Italy in May 1944. Rome was defeated on June 4. The Germans stayed in northern Italy through the fall and winter, but in the spring, the Allies went toward the Alps. German forces in Italy gave up on May 2, 1945. Mussolini had been caught and killed by Italy’s enemies on April 28.

Soon after World War II ended, the Allies began to write peace treaties with Italy and four other countries that had fought with the Axis, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, and Romania. The treaties kept them from building their armies of the defeated countries and required them to pay for what was damaged. Treaties also called for the countries to give up land. Italy had to give up land to France, Yugoslavia, and Greece. The country also lost its colonies in Africa.

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