Mussolini's Blunder: Greece and North Africa 1940 (WW2 Documentary)

Get Nebula with 40% off annual subscription with my link: https://go.nebula.tv/realtimehistory  Watch 16 Days in Berlin: https://nebula.tv/videos/16-days-in-berlin-01-prologue-the-beginning-of-the-end Gift Nebula to a friend: https://gift.nebula.tv/realtimehistory Hitler's victories in 1940 present a historic opportunity to Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini to expand the Italian Empire. Instead, Italy suffers a series of humiliating disasters in Greece and North Africa. So why did Mussolini declare war on the Allies at this moment, and could Germany be ultimately responsible for the Italian fiasco? » SUPPORT US https://patreon.com/realtimehistory https://nebula.tv/realtimehistory » THANK YOU TO OUR CO-PRODUCERS Rose Flaglor, Reed Spilmann, Jim Frame, Erik Ritter, Cardboard, Ken Brownfield, David Garfinkle, Raymond Martin, Konstantin Bredyuk, Lisa Anderson, Brad Durbin, Jeremy K Jones, Murray Godfrey, John Ozment, Stephen Parker, Mavrides, Kristina Colburn, Stefan Jackowski, Cardboard, William Kincade, William Wallace, Daniel L Garza, Chris Daley, Malcolm Swan, Christoph Wolf, Simen Røste, Jim F Barlow, Taylor Allen, Adam Smith, James Giliberto, Albert B. Knapp MD, Tobias Wildenblanck, Richard L Benkin, Marco Kuhnert, Matt Barnes, Ramon Rijkhoek, Jan, Scott Deederly, gsporie, Kekoa, Bruce G. Hearns, Hans Broberg, Fogeltje » SOURCES Andriopoulos, Panagiotis, “Elytis fought at the frontline” Lifo Magazine (28/10/2019) Battistelli, Pier, East Africa Campaign 1940-41: The Battle for the Horn of Africa, (London : Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2024) Bellomo, Bino: Lettere censurate. 1940-42: l ’ottusità del potere si scatena sulla corrispondenza tra soldati e civili, (Milan : Longanesi e C., 1975) Burgwyn, H. James, Mussolini Warlord: Failed Dreams of Empire, 1940-1943, (New York, NY : Enigma Books, 2012) Carr, John, The Defence and Fall of Greece 1940-1941, (Barnsley : Pen & Sword Military, 2013) Chronopoulos, Stavros, "Evzones and Rooster Feathers: Battle Scenes and Flashes of Humanity", Documento (28/10/2021) (https://www.documentonews.gr/article/tsoliades-kai-kokorofteroi-skines-maxis-kai-eklampseis-anthropias-photos/ Gaglias, Alexis, “‘Diary of the Greco-Italian War’: The Soldiers Who Wrote It”, Huffington Post Greece, (28/10/2017) (https://www.huffingtonpost.gr/2017/10/28/culture-afieromata-imerologion-ellinoitalikou-polemoy_n_18406392.html) Gooch, John, Mussolini’s War. Fascist Italy From Triumph to Collapse 1935-1943, (London : Penguin Books, 2021) Holland, James, The War in the West: Part 1 1939-1941, (New York, NY : Atlantic Monthly Press, 2015) Latimer, Jon, Operation Compass 1940: Wavell’s Whirlwind Offensive, (Oxford : Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2013) Metaxas, Lela J., Ioannis Metaxas His Personal Diary, Vol. 4 (Athens, 1980) Simmons, Mark, The Battle of Matapan. The Trafalgar of the Mediterranean, (Stroud : Spellmount, 2011) Parker, Thomas, “When Churchill Bombed France”, The National Interest, No. 145, (2016) Sadkovich, James J. “Understanding Defeat: Reappraising Italy’s Role in World War II”, Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 24, No. 1, (1989) Simmons, Mark, The Battle of Matapan. The Trafalgar of the Mediterranean, (Stroud : Spellmount, 2011) Sobski, Marek, East Africa 1940-1941: The Italian Army Defends the Empire in the Horn of Africa, (Self-published, 2024) Symonds, Craig L., World War II at Sea: A Global History, (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2018) Tsirpanlis, Zacharias N. "The Italian View of the 1940-1941 War - Comparisons and Problems", Balkan Studies. Institute for Balkan Studies. 33 (1), (1982) »CREDITS Presented by: Jesse Alexander Written by: Mark Newton, Jesse Alexander Director: Toni Steller Editing: Toni Steller Motion Design: Toni Steller Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: http://above-zero.com Research by: Markus Linke, Mark Newton Fact checking: Florian Wittig Executive Producer: Florian Wittig Channel Design: Simon Buckmaster Contains licensed material by getty images, AP and Reuters Maps: MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors & GEOlayers3 Music Library: Epidemic Sound All photos and film in our documentaries are authentic historical footage. We do not use generative AI to create new assets. However, we may use AI tools to upscale or clean up certain assets without distorting or compromising the original image. All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2025