War of Italian Unification

Two Sicilies Command:

* Giovanni Messe

Socialist Command:

* Ugo Cavallero

The War of Italian Unification was one of the last wars to occur before the outbreak of the Second Weltkrieg, and eventually after several years of conflict the entrance of Danubia and the Italian republic into the war would cause the war to merge with the Second Weltkrieg, However the war was quite an interesting one with the conflict being restricted by the mountainous terrain of the peninsula causing the war to go back and forth as neither side was able to gain the advantage. The causes of the war are quite well known as the collapse of Italy after the First Weltkrieg left behind a lot of irredentism within Italy, and the dictator and opportunistic Mussolini would try and unite Italy. The war was brutal with the battles of Naples and the Battle of Anzio being some of the deadliest in Europe on casualties alone. There is no aftermath of the war as it merged with the Second Weltkrieg.

## Prelude

The Prelude to the War of Italian Unification begins in the election of the 2 leaders that would end up creating the situation that would lead to the outbreak of the war in the first place. In the Socialist Republic of Italy a newly rising star was that of Mussolini who generally fell underneath the banner of Totalisim, however his brand of socialism was far more nationalistic than anything else in the socialist world. He wished to restore Italy and to unite all Italian people across the Mediterranean. However he also seemed to have a different idea as to what this meant. While some interpreted it as an attempt to establish a Socialist Roman Empire, Mussolini made it extremely clear he despised this idea and as part of his rule began to replace Roman monuments and architecture with those of the revolution, leading to one of the most tragic events in archeological history as much of these monuments have been lost forever. To the south in Rome the death of the pope lead to the election of Stephanus the X who began to try and create a place that would be a gem of the Mediterranean establishing plans for a Civilian government. These reforms would make the Papal States the fastest growing state in terms of population in Italy and the development would soon surpass that of the industrial north. Mussolini took this as a threat to his stability as some people from his own country were going to the Papal states for the economic opportunity there. Thus he would plan for Operation Aurelian, a rapid offensive to seize Rome and to knock out the Two Sicilian in only a few weeks hoping to show the world the might of his Italy. Thus in April of 1939 as tensions rose across the world Musollini ordered his troops to the frontline and only a few days later, he would make a speech declaring the Truce that ended the Italian Civil War to no longer be in effect. As this radio broadcast across Europe was ongoing the first battles of the war would commence as unprepared troops of the Papal States and Two Sicilian were caught off guard as the war begun.

## 1939

### February-June

Operation Aurelian would see almost immediate success in the first few days of the war as the rapid encirclement of the city of Rome would become its first and only major achievement. However the pope was able to escape to the Two Sicilies becoming one of the first indications that not everything had gone according to plan. This would become immediately apparent in the east where the mountainous terrains of the Apennines would cause the offensive there to slow down in several areas. The speeding offensive along the coast of the Adriatic would fail almost instantly after a dumb decision by the tank divisions would cause a military catastrophe for the Socialist forces. All of this gave the two sicilies the time to prepare a limited counter-offensive called the "Anzio Offensive" witch would cause one of the bloodiest battles of the war. This battle was mostly done in order to give the defenses of Naples time and despite the enormous human cost, it is seen has having been necessary for the continued survival of the Papal States and Two Sicilies. However eventually the offensive would stall and Mussolini would launch a general offensive and would push almost everywhere along the front as despite the success of Anzio, the Two Sicilies was still hopelessly outmatched in terms of equipment. This would lead to Mussolini's forces reaching the edge of the city of Naples by May. However he would delay the offensive into the city, wishing to secure more of the area. This would lead to the Battle of Salerno witch still held a garrison of Two Sicilies forces. However this battle would soon turn from what should have been an easy victory into a symbol of defiance against not just the Socialists, but against the third internationale globally. This would end up becoming so costly for Mussolini's forces that he decided to withdrawal from Salerno. This marked the general end of offensive operations across most of the front as Mussolini would take the majority of his forces into attempting to seize the city of Naples. And as the war entered into the second half of 1939, the most decisive battle of the war would commence.

### July-December

July would begin with the massive Battle of Naples witch would rapidly turn into a bloodbath as forces from both sides were sent into the meatgrinder that the city would become. The Socialists made massive early advances and they would take over 60% of the city laying waste to much of it. However this would not come without a price as over 20% casualties were inflicted on several units and the supplies were becoming stretched to the forces deep within the city. This gave the garrison the advantage and they began to press it taking the city back slowly but surely as the casualty numbers only continued to rise. With desperation setting in for the Socialist forces, Mussolini would order a massive attack into the city again hoping to storm it and reverse the loss of territory. However this would soon become a massive blunder as several divisions would be completely destroyed within the city as they were caught in hopeless situations, and simply didn't have the organization to survive much longer. Soon several large gaps would open up in Socialist lines and these would exploited leading to a general collapse of the front line and the end of the battle of Naples, and also resulting in the creation of the Gaeta Pocket. With the socialists having bleed themselves dry the Kingdom of Two Sicilies would launch the largest offensive during the war in terms of territory, unless you count the offensives during the Second Weltkrieg. This would begin the Foggia-Pescara offensive witch would begin with massive successes as almost all of the territory taken from the two Sicilies would be retaken. However a rapidly created defense at Pescara would slow this down enough to allow for the stabilization of the line. Out of fear of encirclement the forces in the west would withdrawal back to Terracina witch would soon be similarly retaken. However both sides found themselves in an interesting situation. The damage done to infrastructure prevented the Two Sicilies from continuing onwards. while the Socialists had lost most of their manpower. This would lead to a stalemate from October onwards and as winter set in the two forces would stop as mud would make any offensive operations difficult. As the war entered into 1940 the situation at the end of 1939 would carry on in, and the inability of either side to make advances would effect the war in massive ways going foreward.

## 1940

### January-June

The first half of 1940 was characterized by the relative lack of action throughout the half. This was due to neither side having the supplies or Manpower to launch an offensive against each other. However partisan activities would begin to plague Mussolini, especially in Rome as the people would rather live underneath Stephanus and his government, than the national syndicalism of Mussolini. This would lead to even more issues for Mussolini leading to his army having to take even more men off of the frontlines. Mussolini desperately was searching for something to relive his army and soon began requesting equipment from the Socialist nations abroad. Only Spain and India listened as they had equipment left over, however the major nations of France and Britain were preparing for conflict with Germany as tensions were rising high all across the world. A similar series of events were taking place in the Two sicilies as if already struggling with the Mafia wasn't enough, syndicalist sympathizers would start their won operations witch would cause a lot of damage to the ports in the boot of Italy. With it facing supply problems as well Two Sicilies reached out to several anti-communist nations from Japan to Argentina. This would give them a wide array of vehicles and artillery, however this variance made co-ordination difficult and suppling all of these different types of weapons would end up becoming quite the hassle. In May of 1940 the "Artillery Stage" began where the two sides dug in on the peninsula and continued lobbying shells at each other as neither side was able to break the other in limited attacked. This would lead to a situation similar to the Western front of the First World War in 1918 with both sides already exhausted from all of the fighting, and with little capability for continued offensives. The home front one both was strained trying to supply troops, and the later half of 1940 would mostly be spent like the first half, trying to stabilize the situation, and the home front.

### July-December

The later half of 1940 would see the issues of trying to supply units you don't have the factories for, would soon begin to plague all sides of the Italian war of Unification. It first cropped up in the South witch was less industrialized and also had many different types of equipment to try and supply. This was negated mostly through the co-operation of Sardinia and the Italian Republic who would supply plans from both sides of the Second Weltkrieg and this would give the standardization desperately needed for the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Meanwhile the Socialist Republic of Italy would develop these issue slater due to their larger industrial base, however the beginning of the Second Weltkrieg would cut off the Socialists from their supply lines as Egypt cut off the Suez Canal, and german u-boats made the waters dangerous around the British Isles and the western coast of Europe. This would mean the Socialists had to make do with what they had and after crudely trying to copy many of the designs they were able to standardize but much later than Two Sicilies. This was taken advantage by the Two Sicilies who would launch the only large offensive operation of the war, pushing to the city of Anzio once again. The Second Battle of Anzio is best described as a hot mess as neither sides was coordinated enough to make solid frontlines and fighting would be sporadic and some units would get encircled and then break out with no resistance, Eventually the Two Sicilies would organize their forces and push Mussolini out, however by this point the winter had already taken affect without either side doing much aside from try and stabilize their own position. And as we enter into 1941, the trench warfare will become quite pronounced, and the war around them would begin to influence the conflict in several unexpected ways...

## 1941

### January-June

The First Half of 1941 would be characterized by the brutal trench warfare that hit the peninsula as both sides had dug in waiting for the other side to attack their lines. The winter of 1940-1941 would be much more mild than the last winter and Mussolini wished to use that to his advantage. So in early February he would do something considered insane by most generals of the era. He decided to launch a massive offensive during the winter hoping to catch his enemy off-guard as they were not expecting an attack in the winter. Mussolini's attack would push in several sectors but was unable to force a breakthrough as intended and soon found itself in brutal trench warfare and in scorched earth conditions leaving little for supply. Because of this the soldiers of the Socialist Republic of Italy would become significantly weaker and demoralized allowing for a Two Sicilies offensive to push them back and into Lazio. This would cause Mussolini to panic and he would send his newly formed tank divisions down south in hopes of pushing back the offensive. This would be quite successful and he would push again however the forces of the Socialists were unable to make as much ground as they had last time. The two Sicilies would respond with another offensive using its own tank divisions. This would end up pushing the frontline to where it had started at the beginning of the year as over 5 months of brutal fighting were proven worthless. However the war around the Italian Civil War began to influence how the war was fought. Russia began supporting the Socialist Republic of Italy in hopes of making a good ally for the Sydnicalists. Meanwhile Bulgaria and the Balkan nations would begin to put stock in the situation almost all supporting the Two Sicilies. The economic impacts however were the most worrying especially for Mussolini as inflation increased and his image would begin to deteriorate. Especially as his campaign of removing the memory of Rome was extremely unpopular. Mussolini began to request more from the other Syndicalist powers who began to support him Financially. However this would soon become a massive burden on the Syndicalist war effort as funds were diverted from the Air Force.

### July-December

With the Socialists beggining to have growing instability the Two Sicilies would attempt to take advantage of this situation and would begin funding more and more insurgents within Mussolini's territory. Negotiations began with Social Democrats and others who while they did not support Monarchism, they hated Mussolini more than this and would end up fighting against the Totalist in Turin. Mussolini would respond by funding the Syndicalists within the Two Sicilies and they would begin their own insurgencies as the war entered into is last stage before it merged with the Second Weltkrieg. This is called the "Insurgent Phase" as neither side was able to afford pushing out the other and so both sides tried to use insurgents to make the other collapse. Mussolini would be plagued as soon even those within his inner circle began to betray him as they personally disagreed with Mussolini's policies and wished to end the abomination that their Syndicalist state had become. This actually caused some Syndicalists try their luck by serving underneath the Monarchists hoping to gain rights after the war. Mussolini's efforts on the other hand were more of a nuisance than an actual threat as they only affected the city of Naples, but most cities were too devoid of Syndicalists to support such a large revolution. However as funds ran out both sides began contemplating negotiated peace. This was aside from Mussolini who believed that he could outlast his opponent and would deliberately sabotage these negotiations with assassination attempts. And as his mental state began to deteriorate he became the most oppressive of all syndicalist leaders aside from Valois. Soon many began to call him the "Syndicalist Savinkov". And it was his rhetoric and the advance of the Russian forces in the East that would bring about the doom of Mussolini as the previously Neutral Danubia began to act out in its own self defense...

## Merge with Second Weltkrieg (1942).

1942 would end the War of Italian Unification with neither side technically winning. This was due to Danubia who felt threatened by Russia in particular as they wished to divide up Danubia into its ethnicities and also wished to get revenge on those who destroyed it. Also Danubia was worried about the Syndicalists. However it did not wish to go to war and decided to send ultimatums to the two sides to try and negotiate some sort of peace. It was ignored by Russia and was met with complacency in France. However the threats of war were no bluff and Danubia would soon join the Reichspakt. And they gave their influenced state in Northern Italy permission to do something they wished to do for the last 2 years, intervene in Italy, Thus in February of 1942 the Italian Republic, Danubia, and all members of the Reichspakt collectively declared war on the Socialist Republic of Italy and just like that the War of Italian Unification became a theater of the Second Weltkrieg, becoming known as the Naples Front.