Italy entered World War I in 1915 on the side of the Allies after they were offered new territory taken from Austria-Hungary. The war proved to be extremely costly for the Italians, suffering 1,600,000 casualties and bringing the economy to near collapse.

With the signing of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of the war Italy did not receive all the territories that it had been promised, leading to the notion of a "mutilated victory" (vittoria mutilata).

With the economy struggling, social unrest and a string of workers strikes fueling fears of a possible communist revolution. Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist Party, promoting order, national pride, and anti-communism.

In October 1922, during a general workers strike Mussolini led his followers on a March to Rome to demand that King Victor Emmanuel III appoint him to Prime Minister. Faced with either accepting Mussolini's demands or allowing the Italian Socialist Party to take power the King sided with Mussolini.

With Germany's invasion of France in 1940 Mussolini saw another opportunity for expansion and declared war on France and Britain. Launching an invasion across the border into the south of France, Italian forces captured and occupied the coastal cities of Menton, Monaco and Nice.

With France defeated and Britain occupied with the Germans, the Italians turned there attention to North Africa. Italian forces launched an invasion of Egypt from their colony in Libya, with the goal to capture the Suez Canal and cut Britain off from its colonies in India and Asia.

The Italian forces advanced roughly 100km along the Egyptian coast, reaching the town of Sidi Barrani, where they fortified the area and prepared for the next push.

With the failure in Africa and now the loss of Sicily the Italian Grand Council of Fascism had lost faith in Mussolini and voted to have have removed from power and imprisoned. King Victor Emmanuel III appointed General Pietro Badoglio to replaced him as prime minister, who then began secret negotiations with the Allies to end the war.

An armistice between the Italian and Allied forces was signed on September 3rd. The Germans anticipating this have moved more troops into Italian territory and when the armistice was announced they moved to disarm there former allies, occupy the northern half of the country.

German forces rescued Mussolini from his prison and installed him as the leader of the German occupied zone. Many of the Italian forces adhered to the armistice but some didn't except the Badoglio government and decided to join Mussolini, sparking a civil war between fascist and royalist groups.

Allied forces now supported by Italian royalist fought their way up Italy and finally defeated the Axis forces inside Italy on May 2nd 1945, just days before Germany surrendered.