SHOWDOWN IN THE DESERT

The Italian campaigns in Africa sought to end British rule over Egypt and control of the Suez Canal, strengthening Mussolini’s dominance over the Mediterranean

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By the time Benito Mussolini declared war against the Allies in June 1940, the Second World War looked like it would soon be over. Nazi Germany had already swept through most of Western Europe, France was teetering and once it fell Britain, isolated and alone, would surely capitulate too. Keen to exploit the situation by grabbing French and British possessions in North and East Africa, including the Suez Canal, Mussolini sent his armies across the Mediterranean to start a conflict that they were in no fit state to fight.

The Great Depression and decades of financial mismanagement under Mussolini had left Italy industrially and economically weak. His fascist crusades in East Africa and Spain, meanwhile, had burned through vast amounts of military materiel. As a result, his armed forces were ill-equipped, under-resourced and poorly trained. The shortcomings of his war machine were particularly evident when it came to Italy’s armoured army.