Seeking retribution for their withdrawal from the Tripartite Pact following the Yugoslav coup d'état of March 1941, Adolf Hitler sought to politically destroy the Kingdom of Yugoslavia through dismemberment. The move was supported by Italian leader Benito Mussolini, who believed that such fragmentation would make it easier for Fascist Italy to expand their territory by absorbing former Yugoslav territories. In particular, Mussolini desired the southwest parts of the Slovene Lands, as well as unspecified regions of Dalmatia and elsewhere along the eastern Adriatic coast.