With confidence high from early gains, German forces planned to capture the Middle East with a view to possibly attacking the southern border of the Soviet Union.

[4] The Fascists had designs on Albania, Dalmatia, large parts of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Greece and harked back to the Roman Empire.

[5] Covert motives were for Italy to become the dominant power in the Mediterranean, capable of challenging France or Britain and gaining access to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

[3] On 30 November 1938, Mussolini addressed the Fascist Grand Council on the goal of capturing Albania, Tunisia, Corsica, the Ticino canton of Switzerland and "French territory east of the River Var (to include Nice, but not Savoy)".

Corsica, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Malta, Suez and Tunisia would need to be taken and Egypt, France, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom had to be challenged.

[10] Mussolini lauded the conquest as a new source of raw materials and location for emigration and speculated that a native army could be raised there to "help conquer the Sudan.

[19] Due to various Italian moves, in July 1937, the British decided "that Italy could not now be regarded as a reliable friend" and preparations began to bring "the defences of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea ports up-to-date".

[22] The authority of MEC included Aden, British Somaliland, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Greece, Libya, Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, Tanganyika, Transjordan, Uganda and the shores of the Persian Gulf.

[26] On 19 October 1939, the Treaty of Mutual Assistance was signed between the United Kingdom, France and Turkey and British military forces were authorised to begin discussions with the Turkish general staff; a further conference was held during March 1940.

Four days later, Italian forces invaded Egypt as far as Sidi Barrani before digging in, 80 mi (130 km) west of the main British position at Mersa Matruh.

[55] The Australian 9th Infantry Division fell back to the fortress port of Tobruk and the remaining British and Commonwealth forces withdrew a further 100 mi (160 km) east to Sollum on the Libyan–Egyptian border.

The Italian Viceroy, Duke Amedeo d'Aosta, was forced to surrender by 18 May which effectively ended the campaign, allowing the Empire of Ethiopia to be re-established under Haile Selassie.

The German advance into Greece was made easier because the bulk of the Greek Army was engaged fighting the Italians on the Albanian front in the north of the country.

Enno von Rintelen, who was the military attaché in Rome, emphasises, from the German point of view, the strategic mistake of not taking Malta.

[75] On 31 March, the Regent of Iraq, Prince 'Abd al-Ilah, learnt of a plot to arrest him and fled Baghdad for RAF Habbaniya, from whence he was flown to Basra and given refuge on the Insect-class gunboat HMS Cockchafer.

The new regime planned to refuse further concessions to the United Kingdom, to retain diplomatic links with Fascist Italy and to expel the most prominent pro-British politicians.

The French also agreed to allow passage of other weapons and material and loaned several airbases in northern Syria to Germany, for the transport of German aircraft to Iraq.

The Shah, who urged his military not to resist the invasion, was deposed and his young son placed on the throne as titular head of an allied controlled puppet government.

It involved five soldiers: three who were previously members of the Templer religious sect in Mandatory Palestine, and two Palestinian Arabs who were close collaborators of the mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini.

Atlas aimed at establishing an intelligence-gathering base in Mandatory Palestine, radioing information back to Germany, and recruiting and arming anti-British Palestinians by buying their support with gold.

Force H (Vice-Admiral James Somerville) was based in Gibraltar and had the task of maintaining naval superiority and providing a strong escort for convoys to and from the Malta.

[86] On 7 December, control of the 23rd Flotilla was transferred from Kernével to Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, Commander in Chief South (OB Süd) in Italy.

The Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica reinforcements in the Mediterranean joined in the bombing but during a lull in early 1942, 61 Supermarine Spitfires were delivered, which very much improved the defensive situation, although food, ammunition, and fuel were still short.

It ended the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and of gaining access to the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields via North Africa.

As the Eighth Army pushed west across the desert, capturing Libya, German and Italian forces occupied southern France and landed in Tunisia.

They drew more and more German military resources into a stubborn defence of the Italian peninsula, and helped the Yugoslavs to pin down within their spirited country thousands of Axis troops.

Although other European countries such as Norway, the Netherlands, and France also had partisan movements and collaborationist governments with Nazi Germany, armed confrontation between compatriots was most intense in Italy, making the Italian case unique.

Operation Shingle, an amphibious assault at Anzio behind the line was intended to break it, but did not have the desired effect and was heavily opposed by German and RSI forces.

[105] Following the liberation of Rome, the Normandy landings (6 June 1944) that began Operation Overlord and the Red Army victories on the Eastern Front, the Italian campaign became of secondary importance to both sides.

[110] Allied forces which had been sent to Greece in October 1944 after the German withdrawal, were attacked by the leftist EAM-ELAS Resistance movement, resulting in clashes in Athens during December of that year, which began the Greek Civil War.