Why did Italy preform poorly in WW2?
I just think that Italian culture (at least over the last several hundred years, if not longer) values things other than war... things like having a nice life and enjoying art, fashion, food, etc. But this is probably a silly, stereotypical viewpoint - there's probably a better explanation, which I would also like to know.
Many Italian officers were selected on the basis of political reliability, not combat or administrative expertise. Italian industry was also not up to the challenge - they built some good stuff, but they couldn't build enough of it.
It was not a matter of performing poorly. The Italian people were led by a fascist dictator and had no heart to fight a war they did not believe in. The eventually hung the dictator and his mistress, upside down. I can assure you the Italian soldier is a match for any soldier in the world.
in 1936 italy invaded ehiopia... consuming a lot of economic resources while the other countries were beginnig the arms race... so when the war began italy was late and joined the war because mussolini was thinking the war was at its end... In 1934 the italian army was paragonable to french/german army... the proof? in 1934 during the first anschluss attempt, italy menaced war to germany moving the army to austrian borders... well hitler renounced to anschluss
