Why did Italy 'Betray' the German Empire? | Animated History

Our Twitter:
@ArmchairHist

Our Discord:

Sources:

Music:
Breathing Planet - Doug Maxwell
Trieste - Josh Lippi
Desert Caravan - Aaron Kenny
Epic Battle Speech - Wayne Jones

[XScorpionXful]

"Italy was led by Victor Emmanuel III"
*shows Victor Emmanuel II*
_Jesus_

[HistoryMarche]

Beautifully presented, great work! Love the illustrations. Literally can't wait for the History of Venice video!!

[mr.hammond]

Couple things...the video makes it seem like Italy got the territories it was promised, but that is not the case. Italian nationalists complained that the Treaty of London was not actually fulfilled. Additionally, Italy suffered severe economic hardships after the war, which was the primary reason for the rise of Mussolini and fascism (not to mention communism). The end of the video doesn't seem to reflect the realities of the post-war period. I do enjoy your channel, though!

[jamesbalmer]

Italy was unified in 1861, not 1871, that was Germany

[K__T_S_U_N_E]

Now the funny part of the story.
The allies betrayed Italy after the war and didnt give them the promist territory.

[Papawill]

This is wrong. The UK promised so much more to Italy, basically every land touching the Adriadic Sea as well as parts of Austria. In essence all the UK gave Italy was land they had took from Austria, that tyrol section.

Also you understate the Animosity between Italy and Austria. THAT is the real reason Italy choose the Allies.

[luigin]

Gabriele D'Annunzio called it "the wounded victory" because the italian kingom didnt obtained all the territories, that was the cause of the raise of fascism, plus, keep in mind how much northern italians hated the austrians at that time, if you look back at the various indipendence and unification wars~

[junior]

Why is Italy great at football?









Because they switch sides at half time

[colinwolf]

Hotenzdorf and Cadorna on the same side. Imagine Indy narrating it. I guess the Rumbles on the Isonzo would have been on some river in southeast france, and against Haig!

[Ermagron]

someone:"italy betray"

me: someone dosent know the difference between defensive alliance and military alliance.

[ElBandito]

Was half a million deaths really worth the captured territories for Italy?

[khronostheavenger]

"Siding with the Entente proved to be a safer and more valuable action". Tell that to the men under Cadorna.

[giacomomercandelli]

Thank you for clarifying that the alliance was defensive. People seem to forget it. Plus, Austria didn't consult Italy before declaring war.
Important to consider the fact that Fascism and Nationalism took over thanks to the fact that many of the promised land was then NOT given to Italy (due to the fact that America opposed it, as a non-signatory of the Treaty of London", creating the myth of the "Mutilated Victory")

[mickmickymick]

Why did Spain never become a power again after the initial seizure of its colonies?

[itespablade]

It was a good description about events happened before war, but during war there were many more stuff.

Treaty of London actually said Italy would have go, actual Croatian coast and actually greek islands in front of Turky (none of them as well as Tirol and Total control of Istrian peninsula) has been given, this caused a huge dislike of France and England in Italy.

Many on every social level thought they have fought for nothing, this in Italy is called "vittoria mutilata" (amputee victory) as we actually won but didn't get what promised, this caused the rise of totalitarisms, as well as Mussolini (who was a socialist before being fascist).

Greek islands has been gifted to greece and all territories in Balcanic area had been given to newly created Jugoslavia. This has been made because of France who feared an aggressive expansion of Italy in balcanic area and fear of England of rising marittime power of italy and control of eastern borders and eventually threatening Egypt (english colony).

As last i wish to point out: none betrayed Germany or Austro-Hungarians (to be precise you should have written Austr-hungarians as they began the war), treaties talked about defensive pact, the Kaiser declared war on Serbia, it was an obvious offensive war.

At last considering Italy intervention made war much less expensive (this is why Entente pushed italy into war) and thanks to victory of italy agaunst Austro-hungarian empire war lasted a year and a half less, listening to what italian historics says.

[fuzzydunlop]

Because these comments will invariably lead to WWII discussions I'd like to present a few things:

1) It's commonly said that Italy left the war wholesale in 1943 - this isn't true. How do armies of occupation in the Balkans just disappear? They didn't, they (and most of the Italian forces) were left with a very confused situation and a very tough choice. Fight for the Germany, surrender your arms and get force-marched Bataan-style into a POW camp in Germany (without a POW designation, making you right about slightly better than Soviet-level mistreatment, depending on how resentful your German guards happen to be), some had the option of doing localized forced-labor wherever they happen to be, and fight it out with your former-allies. The Acqui Division on Cephalonia chose the absolute latter, and though they fought well for about three days the Germans had air-support and reinforcements and the resulting massacre was one of the largest of the entire war, dwarfed only by Katyn and (likely, though I know of no singular instance which surpasses) the executions of Soviet prisoners. As many as 5, 000 were killed outright, and just to add insult to injury nearly the rest of the division found itself on improperly-marked ships and promptly schwacked by Allied anti-shipping efforts. Others in the Balkans joined the Partisans, most became POWs and refused to fight for the Germans.

Those Italian units that fought were mainly on the Italian peninsula and seeing the Germans as hostile occupiers they fought back, most of these being reconstituted into the "Italian Co-Belligerent Army" and from the Battle of San Pietro Infine onward (supposedly they did well enough to earn some trust with the Allies, idk much about that, though) fought with the Allies. On the other hand, Mussolini soon escaped captivity (more like plucked from captivity by Otto Skorzeny and his merry band of miscreants) and was put at the head of the "Italian Social Republic" - which was largely a German rump-state but it did have its own industry (which is how we end up with those sexy, but under-produced fighters towards the end of the war) and an armed component that (*supposedly*) numbered in the hundreds of thousands (find it dubious but there were a decent amount of the douchebags either way) including elements of the infamously cool "Decima Flotigglia MAS, which leads me to my next point.

2) "Italy changed sides" - this is basically true, but it's much more nuanced than can really be covered in such a short phrase. There was a coup, Mussolini gets a 'vote of no confidence' in the form of a polite imprisonment and King Victor Emmanuel and (Cadorna look-alike) Badoglio go running to the Allies (which they apparently had been meaning to do for a bit but just never got around to it). Mussolini is freed and now we have two opposing sides - one still very much in bed with Germany - and what's known as the "Italian Civil War" ensues. In between both sides we have a veritable smorgasbord of militias and partisans comprised of everything from Communists, returned exiles, and good-ole fashioned Catholic Democrats to hardcore blackshirts, Germanophiles, and people who just happen to be on the wrong side of the Gothic line, with the obligatory banditry in play as well. So, my point is that about half of Italy changed sides.

3) Concerning the righteous indignation felt by people concerning Italy changing sides - that's not just an 'Italy' kinda thing. Not a lot of people remember but a couple Axis 'allies' turned-coat.


And since all good things come in threes (or fours or fives if you count Thailand or Spain - which didn't even bother to really pick a fucking side and just went with the whomever won) - there's one more Axis power with a perfidious diplomatic streak -

[lugie]

Actually it was austria who betrayed italy, they did not respect the treaty attacking without consulting its allies, when asked for the promised territories with a majority of italian speakers they refused. The only goal of italy was to unificate.

[armincal]

im actually Iranian myself and since we didn't fight in either of the two world wars i have a completely neutral point of view. Let's begin with the title which i think is wrong. why? cuz Italy did not betray anyone in fact it were the allies who betrayed Italy. Italy's pact with Germany was a DEFENSIVE ONE and even though morally speaking it WAS a defensive war for the German empire it was a DE JURE offensive one since the Germans declared war on France first after Russia declared war on Austro-Hungary and thus Italy was not obliged to join the war and they decided not to because the failures in the colonial wars had taught them that their military cannot compete with that of the other European nations which is to be expected from a young nation such as Italy which lacked the experience of older super powers such as France and the UK in terms of colonialism and general warfare and then after years of suffering severe causalities fighting the Austrians to a stalemate suddenly the Allies refused to give them the territory they had promised to Italy in London and THIS is the reason why the fascists took power in Italy because the people of Italy felt betrayed by their allies. Also Italy had claims on those territories since the formation of the country whether a just claim or not, i lack the historical knowledge to say but the Austrians KNEW this and they had promised that in case of a defensive war territories will be ceded to Italy should they honor their defensive pact and the Austrians too betrayed that pact.

[Etorate_]

Time traveler from 1915: So how is Earth after the great war?? Is there peace??
People from 2018:
You mean WW1???
Time traveler: Wait a minute.... Hold up....

[mlgprussian]

To save you 8 minutes, Britain promised the whole coast of the Adriatic to Italy