The Mediterranean Theatre

Taught by: [Imperator]



Sections in order

1. The Horn of Africa 1940-1941
2. Yugoslavia and Greece 1941
3. The Middle East 1941-1942
4. North Africa 1941-1943
5. Operation Torch 1943
6. Battle for Italy 1943-1945



The Horn of Africa 1935-1941

With Mussolini eager to expand his "New Roman Empire" and test out his military on a weak nation, the Italian dictator decided to invade Ethiopia. At the time, Italy controlled Eritrea and part of modern day Somalia which both border Ethiopia. Mussolini used these two colonies to stage the invasion, which began on October 3, 1935. The Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, desperately appealed to the League of Nations to protect his nation from Italian aggression but to no avail.

The Ethiopian army was fairly large comprising around 100,000 men, but was outclassed in everyway by the Italians. They had no armor or air force and the army's weapons were old and obsolete material. Despite a patriotic defense, Ethiopia's military was unable to stop Mussolini and the capital of Addis Ababa fell 7 months after the invasion began.



Yugoslavia and Greece 1941

On October 28, 1940, the Italian dictator, Mussolini, invaded Greece to try and boost his ego. The attack was halted however, and a Greece counter attack pushed the Italians into Albania. Hitler decided to intervene to make sure that there was no embarrassment for the Axis. As Yugoslavia lay in the path of Germany's route to Greece, Hitler decided to take the Adriatic nation first. Realizing that Germany would defeat Yugoslavia, the regent, Prince Paul, allied with Germany but was overthrown in a coup two days later for his alliance with Hitler. On April 6, 1941, the German army crossed the Yugoslav border. Unable to resist the Germans, the Yugoslav Army surrendered on April 17. Meanwhile, German units were moving into Greece. Greek forces supported by British forces were also unable to hold the enemy back and on April 19, British forces began to evacuate from Greece. On April 25, a German force parachuted onto the island of Crete. Facing fierce resistance from the British, they took many casualties. This was still not enough to stop a German victory and on April 27 the British began to evacuate Crete.




The Middle East 1941-1942

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North Africa 1941-1943


German panzers roll through the north African desert.




Operation Torch 1942


Allied forces storm the North African shore near Algiers.


Map of Torch landing sites.





Battle for Italy 1943-1945

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