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The Pact of Steel (German: Stahlpakt, Italian: Patto d'Acciaio), formally known as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy (German: Freundschafts- und Bündnispakt zwischen Deutschland und Italien, Italian: Patto di amicizia e di alleanza fra l'Italia e la Germania) was a military and political alliance between Italy and Germany, signed in 1939.
[66] [67] Aware of Italy's material and planning deficiencies leading up to World War II, and believing that Italy's entry into the war on the side of Germany was inevitable, the English blockaded German coal imports from 1 March 1940 in an attempt to bring Italian industry to a standstill. [68]
On 13 October 1943, the Allies recognized Italy as a co-belligerent in the war against Germany. Thereafter, the Italian Co-Belligerent Army and the Italian partisans fought alongside the Allies against German troops and the collaborationist National Republican Army ; an aspect of this period is the Italian civil war .
By the end of World War II, 60% of the Waffen-SS was made up of non-German volunteers from occupied countries. [citation needed] The predominantly Scandinavian 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland along with remnants of French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch volunteers were the last defenders of the Reichstag in Berlin. [274] [275]
The appointment of Badoglio did not change the position of Italy as Germany's ally in the war. However, many channels sought a peace treaty with the Allies. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler sent several divisions south of the Alps, officially to help defend Italy from Allied landings but really to control the country.
The Allies' demands, definitively established by the Allied governments at the end of July, called for a completely unconditional surrender; Castellano thus found himself in great hindrance, as the instructions Badoglio had given him required to bargain the exit of Italy from the war and a strong military collaboration with the Allies ...
The U.S. and Italy first established a diplomatic relationship in 1861, but the countries were at war in World War II as Italy joined Germany and Japan in the Axis powers that opposed the Allied ...
Italy and Germany were both part of the Triple Alliance but they became enemies during World War I. Both countries eventually became members of the Axis powers during World War II, formed an alliance during the Cold War (West Germany), were among the inner six and became two of the G6 nations after their economic miracle.