ABSTRACT
The Wehrmacht and the Regio Esercito Italiano fought alongside each other in Africa, the Balkans and on the Russian front. As with the two regimes and the two dictators similarities tended to mask profound differences. The German army had a long tap root which reached back to the traditions of the Prussian state. It had a rich history and an exceptional record of military success. The Royal Italian Army had neither the one nor the other. Italy had been divided like Germany but none of its constituent states had been even remotely as dominant within the circle of Italian states as Prussia within Germany. The Kingdom of Piedmont under the House of Savoy had been too weak to unify Italy without foreign intervention, and the Piedmontese army had suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of the Austrians. It fought bravely during the First World War but then too had not escaped humiliation and near collapse.
