Italian Empire

The Italian Empire (Italian: Impero Italiano) was created after the Kingdom of Italy joined other European powers in establishing colonies overseas during the "scramble for Africa". Modern Italy, as a unified state, had only existed from 1861. By this time, France, Spain, Portugal, Britain and the Netherlands, had been carving out large empires for several hundred years. One of the last remaining areas open to colonisation was on the African continent.

By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Italy had annexed Eritrea, Somalia, Libya and the Dodecanese Islands; it was also one of the European concession holders in Tientsin. Italy was defeated in its first attempt to conquer Ethiopia in the First Italo-Ethiopian War of 1895-1896 with Ethiopia receiving modern weapons and support from Russia, but succeeded in conquering it in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-1936. During World War I, the Italian army captured Albania, which was declared an Italian protectorate in 1917, and, by the end of hostilities in November 1918, had captured the entire portion of Dalmatia that had been guaranteed to Italy by the Treaty of London. The Entente Allies forced Italy to concede much of its captured territory in Dalmatia to the new state of Yugoslavia, with Italy only keeping the city of Zadar; in 1920, they also pressured Italy to remove its army from Albania.

The Fascist government under Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, which came to power in 1922, sought to increase the size of the empire further. In the late 1930s, Mussolini intended to increase Italy's power and influence by seeking to break up the Anglo-French alliance by being more conciliatory and cooperative with Britain, while being aggressive towards France. Italy sided with Germany during World War II and initially enjoyed successes. Italy occupied Albania, part of Greece, Croatia, Slovenia and part of Egypt, reaching its maximum expansion in 1943.