[2] Until 1920, the ministry was a stronghold of the upper hierarchy of the Royal Army, who always rejected any form of control by the Parliament of Italy.

If anything, Italy's participation in World War I (May 1915–November 1918) increased the general staff's dominance within the ministry.

When Ivanoe Bonomi became Minister of War in the Fifth Giolitti government in 1920, however, he introduced a reform of the military system which took his name and reduced the powers of the office of the chief of the general staff.

[2] Under the fascist government of Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, Mussolini himself served as the Minister of War from 1925 to 1929 and from 1933 to 25 July 1943, delegating its ordinary management to a Royal Army general, who he appointed as undersecretary of state.

Italy entered World War II on the side of the Axis powers in June 1940.