List of wars involving Italy

This article is about wars involving modern Italy from 1861 onwards. For wars involving ancient Rome, see List of Roman external wars and battles.

This is a list of wars involving the Italian Republic and its predecessor states since the Italian wars of independence in the 19th century, but does not include wars fought by the historic states of Italy. The result of these conflicts follows this legend:

Italian victory
Italian defeat
Another result*
Ongoing conflict

*e.g. result unknown or indecisive/inconclusive, result of internal conflict inside Italy, status quo ante bellum, or a treaty or peace without a clear result.

## Italian Wars of Unification

[edit]

The Risorgimento movement emerged to unite Italy in the 19th century. The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia took the lead in a series of wars to liberate Italy from foreign control. Following three Wars of Italian Independence against the Habsburg Austrians in the north, the Expedition of the Thousand against the Bourbons of the Two Sicilies in the south, and the Capture of Rome, the unification of the country was completed in 1871 when Rome was declared capital of Italy.

Start  | Finish  | Name of conflict  | Belligerents  | Outcome

|
|
|
|

Combatant 1  | Combatant 2
1848  | 1849  | First Italian War of Independence |

* Kingdom of Sardinia
* Italian Volunteer Army

Supported by:

* Provisional Government of Milan
* Republic of San Marco
* Kingdom of Sicily
* Grand Duchy of Tuscany
* Duchy of Modena and Reggio
* Duchy of Parma and Piacenza
* Roman Republic

* Austrian Empire
* Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia

* * *

* French Republic

(1849)  | Austrian victory

* Return to the status quo ante bellum

1853  | 1856  | Crimean War |

Ottoman Empire
France[a]
United Kingdom[a]
Sardinia[b]

|  Russia

* * *

Greece[c] | Allied victory

* Russia loses the Danube Delta and Southern Bessarabia

1859  | 1859  | Second Italian War of Independence |

France
Sardinia

Austria

| Franco-Sardinian victory

* Armistice of Villafranca
* Sardinia annexes Lombardy from Austria, occupies and later annexes Habsburg-ruled Tuscany, Modena and Emilia.
France gains Savoy and Nice from Sardinia.

1860  | 1860  | Expedition of the Thousand |

Redshirts
Supported by:
Piedmont-Sardinia

Two Sicilies
Supported by:
Papal States

| Garibaldine victory

* Liberation of Southern Italy
* Collapse of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
* Papal States reduced to Lazio
* Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy
* Post-Unification Italian Brigandage
* Southern Italy, Marche and Umbria annexed by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia

1861  | 1865  | Brigandage in Southern Italy |

Kingdom of Italy

Southern Italian brigands
Supported by:
Bourbon Legitimists in Southern Italy
Partisans from Bourbon Spain

| Unification victory
1866  | 1866  | Austro-Prussian War |

Prussia

* Saxe-Lauenburg

Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Brunswick
Saxe-Coburg & Gotha
Saxe-Altenburg
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Oldenburg
Anhalt
Schwarzburg
Waldeck
Lippe
Lübeck
Bremen
Hamburg

* * *

Italy (co-belligerent)  |

Austria
Bavaria
Saxony
Hanover
Württemberg
Hesse-Kassel
Baden
Hesse-Darmstadt
Nassau
Saxe-Meiningen
Reuss-Greiz
Schaumburg-Lippe
Frankfurt
Liechtenstein

| Prussian-led German states and Italian victory

* Dissolution of the German Confederation
* Formation of the North German Confederation
* Exclusion of Austria from German national politics
* Formation of Austria-Hungary
* Prussia annexes Hanover, Holstein, Schleswig, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, Frankfurt and fringe possessions of Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt
* Italy completely annexes Venetia and a part of Friuli

1866  | 1866  | Third Italian War of Independence |

Kingdom of Italy
Supported by:
Prussia

* Austrian Empire
* Liechtenstein

| Italian victory

* Veneto, Friuli and Mantua annexed by Italy

1866  | 1866  | The Seven and a Half Days Revolt |  Italy | Palermitan Rebels  | Italian Victory, rebellion suppressed
1870  | 1870  | Capture of Rome |

Kingdom of Italy

Papal States

| Italian victory

* Fall of the Papal States
* Completion of the Italian unification
* Rome becomes the capital of Italy
* Annexation of Rome and Lazio by the Kingdom of Italy

## Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

[edit]

Start  | Finish  | Name of conflict  | Belligerents  | Outcome

|
|
|
|

Combatant 1  | Combatant 2
1885  | 1895  | Eritrean war[1] |  Italy |

* Ethiopia
* Mahdist Sudan
* Eritrean rebels

| Italian Victory

* Treaty of Wuchale ends the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889, establishment of Italian Eritrea; defence and consolidation of the colony in the 1890s

1881

1899

| Mahdist War |

* United Kingdom
• Egypt
• India[2]
• Canada[3][4]
• New South Wales[5]
* Italy[6]
• Eritrea
* Ethiopia
* Congo Free State

Mahdist State

| Allied victory

* Sudanese invasions of neighbours repelled
* Establishment of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, a polity jointly ruled by Britain and Egypt
* Kassala temporarily occupied by Italy
* Congo secures the Lado Enclave until 1910

1895  | 1896  | First Italo-Ethiopian War |

Kingdom of Italy

Ethiopian Empire

| Ethiopian victory

* Sovereignty of Ethiopia confirmed
* Border with Italian Eritrea delineated

1890s  | 1908[7] | Benadir war |  Italy |

* Bimaal and other groups
* Ethiopia
* Dervish movement

| Italian Victory

* Establishment of Italian Somaliland
* Suppression of the Bimaal revolt

1897  | 1898  | Cretan Revolt (1897–1898) (International Squadron (Cretan intervention, 1897–1898))  |  Cretan revolutionaries
Kingdom of Greece
British Empire
France
Italy
Russian Empire
Austria-Hungary (until April 12, 1898)
German Empire (until March 16th, 1898) |  Ottoman Empire | Italian Victory

* Cretan State established through the intervention of the great powers of Europe[8][9]
* Withdraw of Ottoman forces from Crete.

1899  | 1901  | Boxer Rebellion |  United Kingdom

Japan
Russia
France
United States
Germany
Italy
Austria-Hungary

|  Righteous Harmony Society

Manchu-China

| Italian Allied Victory, Boxer Protocol:

* Anti-foreign societies banned in China.
* Italy obtains the Italian concession of Tientsin

1900  | 1920  | Somaliland Campaign |  Italy
United Kingdom |  Dervish movement
Ethiopian Empire | Italian-British Victory

* Collapse of the Dervish state

1902  | 1903  | Venezuelan naval blockade |  United Kingdom
Germany
Italy |  Venezuela | Inconclusive/Other Outcome

* Venezuelan debt dispute resolved

1911  | 1912  | Italo-Turkish War |  Italy |  Ottoman Empire | Italian Victory:

* Italy gains Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, Fezzan and the Dodecanese Islands.

1914  | 1918  | World War I | Allied Powers

France
British Empire

* United Kingdom
* Canada
* Newfoundland
* Australia
* New Zealand
* India
* South Africa

Russia
United States
Italy
Japan
China
Serbia
Montenegro
Romania
Belgium
Greece
Portugal
Brazil

| Central Powers

Germany
Austria-Hungary
Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria

| Italian Allied Victory:

* Destruction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
* Annexation of Trentino-Alto Adige, Gorizia and Gradisca, Istria, Trieste, Zara and the Julian March to the Kingdom of Italy.
* Armistice of Villa Giusti
* Treaty of Versailles:
* German demobilisation

Russia pulls out in 1917

* Russian Civil War
* Creation of the Soviet Union
* Joseph Stalin Rises to power

Creation of League of Nations

1918  | 1920  | Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War |

White Movement
British Empire

* United Kingdom
* Canada
* Australia
* India
* South Africa

United States
France
Italy
Japan
Czechoslovakia
Greece
Estonia
Serbia
Poland
Romania
China

Russian SFSR
Far Eastern Republic
Latvian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
Commune of Estonia
Mongolian Communists

| Bolshevik Victory:

* White Army defeated
* Allied withdrawal from Russia
* Soviet Union new Russian Power

1918  | 1923  | Occupation of Constantinople |  United Kingdom
France
Italy |  Ottoman Empire | Temporary occupation

* Constantinople Military occupation by the United Kingdom, followed by France and Italy, then abandoned.
* Britain officially dismantled the Ottoman Empire parliament on 16 March 1920 and restored it on 9 September 1922 to the Ankara Government

1919  | 1923  | Turkish War of Independence |  Ottoman Empire
Russia
Italy[10] |  United Kingdom
France
Greece
Armenia
Georgia | Italian Allied Victory

* Treaty of Lausanne

1920  | 1920  | Vlora War |  Italy |  Principality of Albania | Compromise agreement

* Italy voluntarily abandons Vlora, but annexes the island of Saseno.
* Italy abandons plans to establish a mandate over Albania, but retains diplomatic protection over the country to guarantee its special interests.

1920  | 1920  | Bloody Christmas |  Italy |  Italian Regency of Carnaro | Italian Victory:

* Expulsion of D'Annunzio's forces.
* Conquest of the Italian Regency of Carnaro.
* Independence of the Free State of Fiume.

1923  | 1932  | Pacification of Libya |  Italy |  Senussi Order | Italian Victory:

* Stabilization of Italian rule in Libya.
* Ethnic cleansing of the Cyrenaican indigenous population.
* Mass deaths of Cyrenaican indigenous civilians.

1924  | 1927  | Pacification of Italian Somaliland  |  Italy | Sultanate of Hobyo

Majeerteen Sultanate
Somali rebels

| Italian Victory:

* Pacification of Somalia
* The independent Majeerteen Sultanate is suppressed in 1927, finalizing the Italian occupation of Somalia.

1935  | 1937  | Second Italo-Abyssinian War |  Italy

* Italian Eritrea
* Italian Somaliland

|  Ethiopian Empire | Italian Victory:

* Debellation of Ethiopia, foundation of Italian East Africa.

1936  | 1939  | Spanish Civil War |  Nationalist

Italy
Germany
Portugal
Foreign volunteers

|  Republican

Foreign volunteers
Soviet Union (1936–1938)
Mexico

| Italian Allied Victory

* Defeat of the Second Spanish Republic
* Beginning of Franco's dictatorship

1939  | 1939  | Invasion of Albania |  Italy |  Albania | Italian Victory, Italian occupation of Albania.
1939  | 1945  | World War II

* Italian Resistance (1943-1945)
* Italian Civil War

| Axis Powers

Germany
Japan
Italy (until 1943)
Italian Social Republic
(from 23 Sep. 1943)
Hungary
Romania (until 1944)
Bulgaria (until 1944)
Serbia (until 1944)
Slovakia
Croatia
Finland (until 1944)
Vichy France
Thailand
Manchukuo
Mengjiang

| Allied Powers

United States
Soviet Union
United Kingdom
China
France
Poland
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
India
South Africa
Yugoslavia
Greece
Denmark
Norway
Netherlands
Belgium
Luxembourg
Czechoslovakia
Brazil
Mexico
Ethiopia
Italy (from 1943)
Romania (from 1944)
Bulgaria (from 1944)
Finland (from 1944)

| 'United Nations' Allied victory:

* Kingdom of Italy signs the Armistice of Cassibile, declares war on Germany and becomes a co-belligerent of the Allies in 1943.
* Nazi Germany, along with the collaborationist regime of the Italian Social Republic, is defeated in the 1943-1945 Italian Campaign by the Allies and the Italian Resistance; an aspect of this conflict is the Italian civil war.
* Italy signs the Treaty of Paris. It is forced to cede Istria, Zara and most of the Julian March to Jugoslavia, Brigue and Tende to France, as well as losing all its colonies and part of its surviving fleet, and paying reparations to several countries.

## Italian Republic (1946–present)

[edit]

Start  | Finish  | Name of Conflict  | Belligerents  | Outcome

|
|
|
|

Combatant 1  | Combatant 2
1960  | 1964  | ONUC |  United Nations | Various armed groups  | Italian Allied Victory

* Stabilization of Congo's security

1982  | 1984  | Multinational Force in Lebanon |  Italy

United States
France
United Kingdom

| Islamic Jihad Organization
Iran
Syria
Progressive Socialist Party
Amal Movement | Syrian Allied Victory

* Multinational forces fail to prevent collapse of Lebanese Army into sectarian militias.[11][12]
* Multinational forces evacuated after the US embassy and US Marine barracks are bombed by the Islamic Jihad Organization.
* Multinational forces oversee withdrawal of Palestine Liberation Organization.
* Civil war continues until 1990.
* Syrian occupation continues until 2005.

1991  | 1991  | Gulf War

* Operazione Locusta

|  Kuwait

United States
Saudi Arabia
France
Egypt
Syria
United Kingdom
Italy
Other Allies

|  Iraq | Italian Allied Victory

* Kuwait regains its independence

1992  | 1995  | Bosnian War |  Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croatia
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
France
Germany
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States |  Republika Srpska | Italian Allied Victory

* Dayton Accords
* Internal partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina according to the Dayton Accords
* Deployment of NATO-led IFOR to oversee the peace agreement
* Massive civilian casualties for the Bosniak ethnic group

1992  | 1995  | Somali Civil War |  United States
United Kingdom
Italy
Saudi Arabia
Malaysia
Pakistan
Spain
India
Greece
Germany
France
Canada
Botswana
Belgium
Australia |  Various Somali factions  | UN withdrawal

* UN withdrawal.
* About 100,000 lives were saved by outside resistance.
* Civil war is ongoing.

1997  | 1997  | 1997 Albanian civil unrest
(Operation Alba) |  Government of Sali Berisha

(Operation Alba)

* Italian Armed Forces
* French Armed Forces
* Turkish Armed Forces
* Hellenic Armed Forces
* Romanian Armed Forces
* Austrian Armed Forces

(Operation Libelle)

* German Armed Forces

(Operation Silver Wake)

* United States Armed Forces

|  Rebels  | Italian Allied Victory

New Parliamentary Elections.

1998  | 1999  | Kosovo War |  United States

France
Canada
Denmark
Germany
Italy
Kosovo Liberation Army

|  Yugoslavia | Italian Allied Victory

* Kosovo occupied by Nato forces
* Kosovo administered by UNMIK

2001  | 2001  | 2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia |  National Liberation Army
NATO |  Republic of Macedonia

Supported by:
Ukraine[13][14][15](main arms supply)
Bulgaria (arms supply)
FR Yugoslavia (arms supply)
Russia (arm supply and Contractors)

| Inconclusive/Other Outcome

* Ohrid Agreement
* Macedonian offensive stopped by NATO involvement
* Ceasefire established
* The majority of Albanian insurgents agree to disarm in exchange for greater ethnic rights
* Low intensity resurgence since November 2001

2001  | 2021  | Afghanistan War |  Afghanistan
United States
United Kingdom
Italy
Germany
France
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
Georgia
Poland
Romania
Turkey

ISAF

* Albania
* Armenia
* Austria
* Azerbaijan
* Bahrain
* Belgium
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* El Salvador
* Estonia
* Finland
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
* Jordan
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malaysia
* Mongolia
* Montenegro
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Portugal
* Republic of Macedonia
* Singapore
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* South Korea
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Tonga
* Ukraine
* United Arab Emirates

* * *

Northern Alliance

|  Taliban
al-Qaeda
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
HI-Gulbuddin
Hezb-e Islami Khalis
Haqqani network
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Jaish-e-Mohammed
East Turkestan Islamic Movement
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
Islamic Emirate of Waziristan
Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi
Islamic Jihad Union

* * *

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

| Defeat

* Invasion of Afghanistan
* Fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan
* Destruction of al-Qaeda camps
* Over two thirds of al-Qaeda's leadership demolished
* Occupation of Afghanistan
* Establishment of a new Afghan Government and Security Force
* Taliban insurgency
* Killing of Osama bin Laden
* Escape of Ayman al-Zawahiri
* Taliban retakes Kabul

2003  | 2006  | Iraq War |  Iraq
Iraqi Kurdistan

Multi-National Force – Iraq:
United States
United Kingdom
Italy
Australia
New Zealand
Spain
Netherlands
Poland
South Korea
Ukraine
Georgia
Other Allies

|  Islamic State of Iraq
al-Qaeda
Various insurgents

* * *

Ba'athist Iraq

| Italian Allied Victory

* Overthrow of Ba'ath Party government
* Execution of Saddam Hussein
* Deployment in Dhi Qar Province
* Iraqi insurgency, emergence of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Sectarian Violence[16]
* Rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the successor of al-Qaeda in Iraq[17][18]
* Italian withdrawal in 2006, US withdrawal in 2011

2011  | 2011  | First Libyan Civil War | Many NATO  members acting under  UN mandate, including:

United States
France
Denmark
Italy
Canada
and
Anti-Gaddafi forces
several Arab League states
Sweden

|  Libya

* Pro-Gaddafi forces

| Italian Allied Victory

* Fall of Gaddafi regime
* Muammar Gaddafi killed
* National Transitional Council take control

2023  | Ongoing  | Operation Prosperity Guardian |  United States

United Kingdom
Canada
France
Greece
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Spain
Bahrain
Seychelles
Sri Lanka
New Zealand

|  Supreme Political Council

* Houthi movement

| Ongoing conflict
2024  | Ongoing  | Operation Aspides |

European Union

* Belgium
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Italy
* Latvia
* Netherlands
* Sweden

Yemen (SPC)

* Yemeni Navy (SPC faction)
* Houthis

Ongoing

## See also

[edit]

* History of Italy
* Military history of Italy

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b From 1854
2. ^ From 1855
3. ^ Until 1854

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Indro Montanelli, Storia d'Italia, vol. 6 1861 - 1919, RCS Libri S.p.A., 2006
2. ^ "Egypt and the Sudan | National Army Museum". www.nam.ac.uk.
3. ^ "Nile Expedition". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
4. ^ International, Radio Canada (26 January 2015). "Canada's first military mission overseas".
5. ^ "Sudan (New South Wales Contingent) March-June 1885". 28 July 2021.
6. ^ Meredith Reid Sarkees, Frank Whelon Wayman (2010). Resort to war: a data guide to inter-state, extra-state, intra-state, and non-state wars, 1816–2007. Washington, DC: CQ Press.
7. ^ Mukhtar, M. H. (2003). Historical Dictionary of Somalia. Stati Uniti: Scarecrow Press.
8. ^ Mehmed'in kanı ile kazandığını, değişmez kaderimiz !-barış masasında yine kaybetmiştik..., Cemal Kutay, Etniki Eterya'dan Günümüze Ege'nin Türk Kalma Savaşı, Boğaziçi Yayınları, 1980, p. 141. (in Turkish)
9. ^ Yunanistan'ın savaş meydanındaki yenilgisi ise Büyük Devletler sayesinde barış masasında zafere dönüşmüş, ilk defa Lozan müzakerelerinde aksi yaşanacak olan, Yunanistan'ın mağlubiyetlerle gelişme ve büyümesi bu savaş sonunda bir kez daha görülmüştür., M. Metin Hülagü, "1897 Osmanlı-Yunan Savaşı'nın Sosyal Siyasal ve Kültürel Sonuçları", in Güler Eren, Kemal Çiçek, Halil İnalcık, Cem Oğuz (ed.), Osmanlı, Cilt 2, Yeni Türkiye Yayınları, 1999, ISBN 975-6782-05-6, pp. 315–316. (in Turkish)
10. ^ Italy, who had occupied Constantinople and a part of southwestern Anatolia, protected Turkish civilians from Greek and Allied troops and accepted Turkish refugees who had to flee from the regions invaded by the Greek army. The Place of the Turkish Independence War in the American Press (1918-1923) by Bülent Bilmez
11. ^ "Statement by Deputy Press Secretary Larry Speakes". 23 September 1982.
12. ^ "The Collapse of Lebanon's Army: U.S. Said to Ignore Factionalism". The New York Times. 11 March 1984.
13. ^ Zerkalo Nedeli (28 February 2002). "Paper critical of Western call on Ukraine to stop selling arms to Macedonia". Free Republic. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
14. ^ Carlotta Gall (23 July 2001). "Rebels Secure a Base in Macedonian Town". New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
15. ^ Taras Kuzio (31 October 2001). "UKRAINE FORGES MILITARY ALLIANCE WITH MACEDONIA". The Jamestown. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
16. ^ "Sectarian divisions change Baghdad's image". NBC News. 3 July 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
17. ^ "The JRTN Movement and Iraq's Next Insurgency | Combating Terrorism Center at West Point". Ctc.usma.edu. Archived from the original on 26 August 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
18. ^ "Al-Qaeda's Resurgence in Iraq: A Threat to U.S. Interests". U.S. Department of State. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2010.

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Lists of wars involving European countries

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* Albania
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