How did the alliance between Hitler and Mussolini bring Hitler down during World War 2?

Answer 1

Mussolini started wars - against Greece and Britain - that he was quite unable to fight effectively and called on Germany for help, which Hitler gave. A militarily weak ally is a burden in a war. ____________________________________________________________________ Not exactly. Great Britain had been at war with Germany since Septermber 1, '39. In 1940, Mussolini joined Hitler, and the Brit army in Egypt invaded Italian Libya. Marshal Graziani pushed them back, but Italy was defeated at the Battle of Beda Fomm. In East Africa, Italian Somaliland invaded British Somaliland, but they also lost to the Brits who liberated Ethiopia from Italy in the process. In the Balkans, Italy invaded Greece from its puppet state of Albania, a move which diverted the British from the intended destruction of the surviving units of Marshal Graziani's army in North Africa. At first the invasion of Greece went well, but with British help it was pushed back. Although Hitler was not pleased with Mussolini for these failures, he sent sent General Rommel and the Afrika Korps to North Africa, and he invaded Greece through Yugoslavia. The latter proved to be a grave mistake, as Yugoslavia proved to have the most effective resistance of any Axis-occupied nation. Marshal Tito and his army of Yugoslav communist partisans tied down forty German and Italian divisions which might have otherwise been used in Russia or North Africa. The relationship between Hitler and Mussolini was codependent and complicated. This contributor believes that Mussolini (in power for eleven years before Hitler came to power) became jealous of the huge territorial gains made by Hitler in so short a time, and he threw Italy into a war that it was not prepared for. Yet, Germany was only partially prepared for war. Great Britain in particular had become a tougher enemy than Hitler anticipated, and although Mussolini had botched the invasion of Greece, his forces effectively kept the Brits occupied in North Africa and the Med. In the opinion of this contributor, Mussolini was indeed a drag on Hitler, no doubt about it, but Hitler was an even greater drag on himself.