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28-940: The office of the Chief of Defence is organised as follows: [REDACTED] The ground force of Italy, the Regio Esercito dates back to the unification of Italy in the 1850s and 1860s. It fought in colonial engagements in China during the Boxer Rebellion , against the Ottoman Empire in Libya (1911–1912) , on the Alps against the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I , in Abyssinia during

56-785: A corps of fewer than 1,000 soldiers landed at Massaua , Eritrea , starting the creation of an Italian colonial empire . The Italian advance of the First Italo-Ethiopian War was halted at the Battle of Adwa by overwhelming Ethiopian forces. The following year, as part of the Italian collaboration with the international pacification program after the revolt against the Turkish domination in Cyprus , another corps disembarked at Candia . On 14 July 1900, another expeditionary force

84-888: The Esercito Nazionale Repubblicano ( National Republican Army ). On the other side was the Esercito Cobelligerante del Sud ( Italian Co-Belligerent Army ), the army of the Italian Royalist forces, fighting on the side of the Allies in southern Italy after the Allied armistice with Italy in September 1943 . The Kingdom was ultimately replaced by the Italian Republic in the 1946 Italian institutional referendum , and

112-666: The Regia Aeronautica (which equates to "Royal Air Force"). During the 1930s, it was involved in its first military operations in Ethiopia in 1935, and later in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939. Eventually, Italy entered World War II alongside Germany. After the armistice of 8 September 1943, Italy was divided into two sides, and the same fate befell the Regia Aeronautica . The Air Force

140-737: The Army of the Two Sicilies . The first two tasks of the new organization were the repression of brigandage in southern Italy against irregular and hit and run forces (mixed with bands of various criminals), who refused to accept the suppression of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies , and the Third War of Italian Independence . On 20 September 1870, the IV Corps captured Rome , which had remained under Papal control up until then. On 8 February 1885,

168-907: The Interwar period , and in World War II in Albania , Greece , North Africa and Russia , as well as in the Italian Civil War . During the Cold War the Army prepared itself to defend against a Warsaw Pact invasion from the east. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union , it has seen extensive peacekeeping service in Lebanon , Afghanistan , and Iraq . On 29 July 2004 it became a professional all-volunteer force when conscription

196-628: The Italian invasion of Albania . The Regio Esercito (Royal Army) was one of the largest ground forces in World War II, during which it was one of the pioneers of the use of paratroopers . Many Italian divisions were reinforced by a MVSN Gruppo di Assalto of two battalions due to the small size of the divisions. In 1943, Italy surrendered and split into the Italian Social Republic , which fielded its own army,

224-560: The Italian-Yugoslav border . It supported Benito Mussolini 's Fascist regime because of its expansionist ideology and reversal of previous governments' defense cuts. In the 1930s, the army participated in the final subjugation of Libya , participated in the invasion of Ethiopia , provided troops and materials for the Corps of Volunteer Troops ( Corpo Truppe Volontarie ) to fight in the Spanish Civil War , and participated in

252-472: The Kingdom of Italy , established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy . During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfredo Fanti signed a decree creating the Army of the Two Sicilies . This newly created army's first task was to defend its territorial gains against Legitimists in southern Italy, who remained loyal to Francis II of the Two Sicilies . The Army of

280-691: The Royal Navy in a two-and-a-half-year struggle for the control of the Mediterranean Sea . After the war, the new Marina Militare , being a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), has taken part in many coalition peacekeeping operations. It is a blue-water navy . The Guardia Costiera (Coast Guard) is a component of the navy. The air force of Italy was founded as an independent service arm on 28 March 1923, by King Vittorio Emanuele III as

308-588: The Sea Islands Conference of the G8 in 2004, the Carabinieri were given the mandate to establish a Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units ( CoESPU ) to spearhead the development of training and doctrinal standards for civilian police units attached to international peacekeeping missions. Italy has joined in many UN , NATO and EU operations as well as with assistance to Russia and

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336-652: The Alpini fought alongside Axis forces in the Eastern Front as well as the Balkans Campaigns . The Regio Esercito dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy , following the unification of Italy in 1861 after most of the Papal States were seized. On 4 May 1861, Manfredo Fanti signed the creation decree, by which the new army was to replace the previous Royal Sardinian Army and

364-753: The German spring offensive. Italian soldiers also saw action in campaigns against the Ottoman Empire in Africa and the Middle East such as in the Senussi campaign . Overall, the Royal Italian Army suffered 460,000 to 709,000 killed and 947,000 to 1,050,000 wounded during World War I. During the Interwar period , the army was initially focused on border security in the Alps and on

392-539: The Royal Army accordingly changed its name to become the Esercito Italiano ( Italian Army ). Military branch Military branch (also service branch or armed service ) is according to common standard a subdivision of the national armed forces of a sovereign nation or state. The Canadian Armed Forces is the unified armed forces of Canada. While it has three environmental commands - namely

420-485: The Two Sicilies also waged what many modern historians now consider a civil war against outlaws and Bourbonist guerrillas , such as the famous Michelina Di Cesare , and against other Italian states' armies during the continuing wars of unification . After the monarchy ended in 1946, the army changed its name to become the modern Italian Army ( Esercito Italiano ). Within the Italian Royal Army were

448-431: The aim of providing the Kingdom of Sardinia with a police corps; it is therefore older than Italy itself. The new force was divided into divisions on the scale of one division for each province of Italy . The divisions were further divided into companies and subdivided into lieutenancies, which commanded and coordinated the local police stations and were distributed throughout the national territory in direct contact with

476-701: The conflict. As part of Operation Enduring Freedom , Italy contributed to the international operation in Afghanistan . Italian forces have contributed to ISAF , the NATO force in Afghanistan , and to the Provincial reconstruction team . Italy has sent 3,800 troops, including one infantry company from the 2nd Alpini Regiment tasked to protect the ISAF HQ, one engineer company, one NBC platoon, one logistic unit, as well as liaison and staff elements integrated into

504-700: The elite mountain military corporals, the Alpini . The Alpini , which remain in existence today, are the oldest active mountain infantry in the world. Their original mission was to protect and secure Italy's northern mountain border that aligns with France and Austria . This group emerged in World War I when a three-year campaign was fought against the Austro-Hungarian Kaiserjäger and the German Alpenkorps . In World War II ,

532-457: The operation chain of command . Italian forces also command a multinational engineer task force and have deployed a platoon of Carabinieri military police . The Italian Army did not take part in combat operations of the 2003 Iraq War , dispatching troops only when major combat operations were declared over by the U.S. President George W. Bush . Subsequently, Italian troops arrived in the late summer of 2003, and began patrolling Nasiriyah and

560-534: The other CIS nations, Middle East peace process, peacekeeping , and combating the illegal drug trade , human trafficking , piracy and terrorism. Italy did take part in the 1982 Multinational Force in Lebanon along with US, French and British troops. Italy also participated in the 1990–91 Gulf War , with the deployment of eight Panavia Tornado IDS bomber jets; Italian Army troops were subsequently deployed to assist Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq following

588-475: The public. The Italian unification saw the number of divisions increased, and in 1861 the Carabinieri were appointed the "First Force" of the new national military organization. In recent years Carabinieri became the fourth branch of Italian Armed Forces. Primarily they carry out law enforcement , military policing duties and peacekeeping mission abroad, such as Kosovo , Afghanistan , and Iraq . At

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616-465: The second post-war the Italian armed force has become more and more engaged in international peace support operations, mainly under the auspices of the United Nations. The Italian armed forces are currently participating in 26 missions. Regio Esercito The Royal Italian Army ( Italian : Regio Esercito , lit.   'Royal Army') ( RE ) was the land force of

644-549: The surrounding area. Italian participation in the military operations in Iraq was concluded by the end of 2006, with full withdrawal of Italian military personnel except for a small group of about 30 soldiers engaged in providing security for the Italian embassy in Baghdad . Italy played a major role in the 2004–2011 NATO Training Mission to assist in the development of Iraqi security forces training structures and institutions. Since

672-744: Was constituted to suppress the Boxer Rebellion in China in defense of the European protectorates. On 3 October 1911, Italy invaded Libya as part of the Italo-Turkish War . The war against the Ottoman Empire ended with the signing of the First Treaty of Lausanne in Ouchy , near Lausanne, Switzerland . In the Italian Royal Army, military justice was applied on the based on the 1870 Military Penal Code regulations. This regulation structure

700-861: Was finally ended. The navy of Italy was created in 1861, following the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy , as the Regia Marina . The new navy's baptism of fire came during the Third Italian War of Independence against the Austrian Empire . During the First World War , it spent its major efforts in the Adriatic Sea , fighting the Austro-Hungarian Navy . In the Second World War , it engaged

728-942: Was in World War I , from 1915–1918. The war was fought mostly on the Italian Front in Northern Italy , costing the Italian Army serious casualties, including 246,133 killed, 946,640 wounded, 569,210 captured and 70,656 missing. The Italian 35th Division served on the Macedonian Front as part of the Allied Army of the Orient . Some Italian divisions were also sent to the Western Front . In 1918, Italian troops saw intense combat during

756-595: Was split into the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force in the south aligned with the Allies, and the pro-Axis Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana in the north until the end of the war. When Italy was made a republic by referendum, the air force was given its current name Aeronautica Militare . The Arma dei Carabinieri is the gendarmerie and military police of Italy. The corps was instituted in 1814 by King Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy with

784-624: Was very similar to the 1859 version which was inspired by the Royal Sardinian Army penal code of 1840 which preceded the Albertine Statute of 1848. These regulations and factors were determined to be inadequate in the face of direct war violence. In total, 4,028 death sentences were passed in the Royal Italian Army whereas 2,967 were issued absentia where 750 were followed through and completed and 311 were not. The Royal Italian Army's first experience with modern warfare

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