The Royal Italian Army was the army of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1946. It had a strength of 5,000,000 soldiers in 1915 during World War I and 6,000,000 soldiers in 1943 during World War II.
History[]
The Royal Italian Army was founded in 1861 after the Kingdom of Italy was formed, and they fought against the Austrian Empire during the Italian Wars of Unification. They also fought in the Mahdist War against Sudanese Dervishes in the 1880s, against Ethiopians in the First Italo-Ethiopian War in 1896, against Chinese rebels in the 1900 Boxer Rebellion, and against the Ottoman Empire in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911. They were equipped with modern weapons and were initially a strong army, but in World War I they were defeated many times by Austria-Hungary and the German Empire and required British, French, and American aid to stand up to the Central Powers. Between the World Wars, the Royal Italian Army proved their superiority over Africans in the crushing of Omar Mukhtar's rebellion in Libya and annexing Abyssinia for themselves in 1936, and Italian forces were sent to Spain during the Spanish Civil War to uphold fascism. However, during World War II they were weak against other major European powers. Their rifle, the Carcano, was the most inaccurate weapon used in World War II, and they had poor training, other weapons, and generals. Italy lost all of its lands in Africa from 1940 to 1941, and in 1943 they required German help in order to defend Sicily. In September the Italians were forced to sign an armistice with the Allied Powers, and the Italians were divided into two camps. Some chose to fight alongside the Salo Republic (Italian Socialist Republic), while some surrendered. Germany disarmed Italian troops stationed in Italy, the Balkans, and southern France and replaced them, with few fighting alongside the Allies for the rest of the war. In 1946, they were replaced by the Italian Army of the new republic of Italy.
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