The war in North Africa

When war broke out in September 1939, Mussolini decided that Italy should stay out of the conflict. Italy clearly was not ready for a major war at this time. However, after Hitler's stunning series of victories in 1940, Mussolini thought that the war was effectively over and that Germany would win it. On 10 June 1940 Italy declared war on Britain and the nearly defeated France. Now Italy could have a share in the German victory, Mussolini thought.

Mussolini's plan was to expand Italy's empire in Africa by invading British Somaliland and Egypt. To achieve this, a large army of 240,000 was assembled in Italian Libya. The Italian navy would supply it across the Mediterranean.

Italian forces drove the outnumbered British from Somaliland and made some progress with their attack on Egypt. A British counter-attack, though, quickly drove the Italians back and British troops entered Libya. The Italian fleet, in the meantime, suffered a serious defeat in November 1940 and was unable to keep Italian forces in North Africa well supplied. It soon became obvious that the Italian army lacked both the equipment and training to achieve much against the British forces, even though these were much smaller.

Neil Demarco: The era of the Second World War; Oxford University Press, 1993/2000, page 35