The Pact of Steel

Written By: Nick Wahoff, Columbus, Ohio

*Click images below to view larger versions.

Ciano, British Foreign Minister Lord Halifax, P.M. Neville Chamberlain and Mussolini. Foreign Ministers Count G Cianno (lt.) and Ribbentrop executing "Pact of Life" while Hitler watches. Munich, 1938, Goering, Mussolini. Hitler & Ciano; between Hitler and Ciano, in black uniform, is SS leader Heinrich Himmler.

On May 21, 1939 Italian Foreign Minister (and son-in-law to the Italian Duce) Count Galeazzo Ciano arrived by train in Berlin to sign a treaty of friendship & alliance with Nazi Germany. From Ciano’s diary on his day of arrival in Berlin: “There are great demonstrations, clearly spontaneous in their warmth. (German Foreign Minister Joachim Von Ribbentrop) repeats Germany’s interest in and intention to insure for itself a long period of peace of at least three years. He dwells on the desirability of binding Japan to our system.” The next day, Ciano & Ribbentrop signed the treaty, cementing an alliance that will drive both countries into war in less than year.

In October 1922, Benito Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister after his Fascists marched on Rome. Mussolini & his Fascist Party wanted to do everything in their power to raise Italy up to the greatness of its Roman past.

After initially leaning towards France in the early1930’s, Italy started moving closer to Germany starting in 1936 with its invasion of Ethiopia. With the League of Nations against Italy’s grab at Empire, the Italians signed a Treaty of Friendship with Germany in appreciation of its support. After the treaty was signed, Mussolini first used the term “axis” when he spoke of the Rome-Berlin axis that came from this pact. It would later turn into a full-blown alliance with the Pact of Steel in May 1939. The Axis powers would expand the next year with the addition of Japan with the signing of the Tripartite Pact in Berlin in September 1940. After the defeat by Germany of the Western Allied Armies in France, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, & Bulgaria joined the alliance.

On June 10, 1940, Benito Mussolini made the fatal decision to have Italy enter World War II on the side of Nazi Germany. Even though the Pact of Steel called on Italy to join the war earlier, when France & Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, Italy was still woefully unprepared to enter the conflict.

An Italian Army based in Albania invaded Greece and another Italian Army battled the British in North Africa. In both battles, the Italians were defeated and needed to call on their German ally for rescue.

In February 1941, the Germans sent troops under General Erwin Rommel into Libya to support the defeated Italian Army. From this point, the Germans would control the North African operations with the Italian Army relegated to a supporting role.

On April 6, 1941, Axis troops led by Germany invaded Yugoslavia. Routing the Yugoslav Army in under two weeks, the Axis armies pointed to Greece to save the Italian Army that was driven back into Albania. With a huge force of Axis armies arrayed against it, Greece surrendered on April 23.

Because the Germans had to rescue the Italians in Greece, it delayed their planned spring invasion of the Soviet Union by up to six weeks. German dictator Adolf Hitler, in a conversation with famed film-maker Leni Riefenstahl said, "If the Italians hadn't attacked Greece and needed our help, the war would have taken a different course. We could have anticipated the Russian cold by weeks and conquered Leningrad and Moscow. There would have been no Stalingrad.”

On June 22, 1941, Germany’s Axis allies came together in one of the largest military operations in history. Italian, Romanian, Slovak, and Hungarian troops joined the Germans in the invasion of the Soviet Union.

Even though they had some early successes, the Axis soon felt the overwhelming power of the Allied Forces arrayed against them. In the Soviet Union, Soviet troops broke through Romanian, Italian, and Hungarian lines and surrounded the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. These forces surrendered in February 1943 in what was the bloodiest battle in modern history.

In North Africa, the Germans & Italians were kicked out of Egypt by the British after the Battle of El Alamein in November of 1942. With the Americans coming from the West and the British through Libya from the East, the Axis troops retreated to Tunisia to make their final stand in Africa. After a small victory against the Americans at Kasserine Pass, the Axis forces were pushed back and defeated in May 1943. Over 230,000 Axis troops surrendered ending the last resistance to the Allies in Africa. While the quality of Italian troops was generally not looked highly on, British General Harold Alexander said that in some of the final battles, "It was noticed that the Italians fought particularly well, outdoing the Germans in line with them.”

On May 16, 1943 the Allies bombed the Italian capital of Rome for the first time. On July 10 the Allies invaded Sicily and on September 3 they landed on the Italian mainland.

With the poor state of the Italian military, Mussolini was summoned before Italian King Victor Emmanuel III. The King dismissed him as Prime Minister and had him arrested. On September 8, 1943, the Italian government signed an armistice with the Allies, causing the Germans to occupy most of Italy. Shortly after the armistice was announced, Mussolini was rescued from prison by the Germans and put in charge of a puppet Fascist state in Northern Italy. As the war ended, Mussolini was captured by Partisans and executed. Shortly after Mussolini’s execution, Axis dictator Adolf Hitler committed suicide as the Soviets closed in on his bunker in Berlin. Hitler and Mussolini were loyal to each other until the end – a personal “Pact of Steel.”