Italian Aggression
To understand Italy's involvement in the war, you must look back to the aftermath of WW1. World War 1 was disastrous for the Italian Empire, Italy had not gained nearly as much land as it wanted to by the end of the first world war. The people were beginning to regret their decision of betraying the Central Powers during WW1. So just like in post war Germany, they listened to radical revolutionaries. In particular, they listened to a seemingly ambitious Fascist who spoke of returning Italy to the long lost glory of the Roman Empire. His name being- Benito Mussolini. Soon enough his popularity flourished, and he managed to become the right hand man of Italia's withering king. He would assume political and military control of the country. The first thing he decided to do with his new powers, was to annex a neighboring neutral country sitting next to his Somalian colony, a country by the name of Abyssinia (or Ethiopia today). This victory for the Italians had raised nationalism and firm belief in the reconstruction of the Roman Empire. Before the start of the second world war, Mussolini had attacked Albania- one of his south European enemies. He had successfully gained some land against the Albanian army, but he had failed in the grand scheme of things. As world war two broke out, Mussolini was also faced with three more enemies than he couldn't deal with, which were; Yugoslavia, The United Kingdoms and Greece. As more time passed, his defeats and retreats became more and more embarrassing. The had lost the initiative in southern Europe and was on the retreat, while in North Africa the British were on the offensive. The people of Italy became demoralized, and Mussolini's words had lost their magic.
To deal with this problem, Mussolini's fascists were planning to launch a counter-offensive to beat back the British and re-gain morale. For Mussolini's next conquest, he had desired British controlled Egypt. The Italian counter offensive was a surprising success. The incompetent British leadership under Marshal Auchinleck had cost the British their initiative and had forced them on the defensive. At first when he began his invasion, it was a success. He had gained ground, and had the British and their colonial troops in retreat. But like on all other fronts, this would not last. The British had soon beat back the Italians and took back their territory. The Italians were demoralized and disappointed. The Italian hierarchy was impressed by the recent gains in Europe made by the Germans, so the Italians had thought to use their alliance to their benefit, and bring the Germans into their wars. It had worked, the Germans were soon on their way with fresh and experienced troops, the fait of their enemies had been sealed.
To deal with this problem, Mussolini's fascists were planning to launch a counter-offensive to beat back the British and re-gain morale. For Mussolini's next conquest, he had desired British controlled Egypt. The Italian counter offensive was a surprising success. The incompetent British leadership under Marshal Auchinleck had cost the British their initiative and had forced them on the defensive. At first when he began his invasion, it was a success. He had gained ground, and had the British and their colonial troops in retreat. But like on all other fronts, this would not last. The British had soon beat back the Italians and took back their territory. The Italians were demoralized and disappointed. The Italian hierarchy was impressed by the recent gains in Europe made by the Germans, so the Italians had thought to use their alliance to their benefit, and bring the Germans into their wars. It had worked, the Germans were soon on their way with fresh and experienced troops, the fait of their enemies had been sealed.
The Fox and the Rat
Southern Europe was already the underdog against the Italians, but against the new Axis coalition, they had no chance. The remainder of the European resistance was destroyed in a matter of months. After this success, the German Reich had switched gears towards North Africa. The next year can be summed up in one sentence 'A conflict between the Desert Fox and the Desert Rats' - but I will elaborate. The name of the general in charge of the German front was Erwin Rommel. He had distinguished himself in World War 1 as storm trooper, famously leading a charge into a British trench with only a few men, which he managed to capture. He defeated British forces of greater power on many occations and quenched all Arab Revolts that had stood in his way. Later on after the African Campain, he would visit and inspect the defences on the eastern front, and he would also secure the costal fortifications on the coast-line of the western front. For this, Rommel is widely considered one of the greatest generals of the war, and would be nicknamed by the British 'The Desert Fox'. As the British advanced, he was responsible for blocking their invasion of Triopoli (the Lybian capital), and his greatest achievement in the war was taking the British city of Gazala (which had embarassed the Brits). Soon enough, British forces under the general Bernard Montgomery and the 7th armoured division (The Desert Rats) launched a couter offensive that pushed them into the battle of El Alimein. Here the British would redeem themselves, and would help turn the tide of the African conflict.
American Entry
As Germany declared war on the USA, December 10, 1941, the US had imediatly promised both economic and lend-lease aid to the allies, as well as an iminent landing in Africa. The landings, were largely successful. The city of Casablanca welcomed the landing Americans with open arms, and had supported them with their militia to overcome the German occupiers, but advancing with such ease would not last for the Americans. The US army was soon bogged down and demoralized by Rommel's elite army. Rommel had exposed the American lack of experiance, and had taken full advantage of it. In a lucky shift of command, however, the current leadership of the US African army would be handed to the generals Omar Bradely and George Patton. In a turn of events, Patton would reform the army and tank core, and he would inflict a number of crushing defeats on the Germans, restoring the initiative to the Allies. Patton was a very controversial man, the fact that he was a brilliant and necesary general for the US is certain, but due to several factors he was forced to sit out the coming invasion of Normandy (he would, however, join later). There were many reasons why people found him controversial. He ruled his army with an iron fist, and one even smacked a shell-shocked soldier in a hospital for 'cowardace'. On top of that, he would openly and publicly critisize and antagonize his allies such as the UK and the USSR, he had even once stated that America should have sided with the axis to defeat the Soviets at one point. As part of 'Operation Torch', the allies had made a breakthrough after several victories, and had surrounded the remainder of the French, Italian, and German Afrika Korps in the countries of Algeria, Tunisia, and Lybia. At this point, Rommel was terrified. He had made a request to the Fuhrer that either he grants the Afrika Korps more oil and supplies, or that they should imediatly evacuate Africa. Hitler, in all of his arrogance, declined Rommel's request for supplies and forbade any retreat. Rommel had to work with what he had, which was a few day's worth of oil to win the entire campaign against a giant allied coalition. As French forces mutinied and joined the allies, Rommel made one last ditch effort to prevent collapse during the Tunisia campaign. It was a disaster, and his army was defeated at El Guettar. What was left of his army now was simply a shadow. Following the success of the allied Tunisia campaign, around 250,000 axis soldiers surrendered to the allies, marking the end of the African campaign.
Sicily
Once the allies have secured the defeat of the Axis in North Africa, they sought to deal a crushing blow to Italy's crippled army. The allies were planning a joint invasion of the island of Sicily. After some arguments between the British and Americans on who would play the lead role in the invasion, they finally settled on the British. The allies met little resistance on the island at first but then the Italians threw in all they had to protect the pride of their nation. The invasion lasted about a month before a total allied victory. This had taken the small remains of Italian pride, and it had crushed them. The Italin people began to riot and revolt, while Mussolini fled the country. The Italian people had overun the government and surrendered their mainland, and their East African colonies to the allies. Before the allies could occupy Italy, however, Hitler had sent an invading force to capture northern and central Italy. He had then created a new Italian government with Mussolini at it's head. The allies would soon be bogged down in another horrible conflict, once again.
1. George S. Patton 2. Bernard L. Montgomery 3.Erwin E. Rommel