Curiously, in both World Wars, Italy has tacitly switched sides! In 1882, a relatively recently unified Italy joined with Germany and Austria-Hungary, thereby creating the Triple Alliance, which lasted until the spring of 1915. In 1911, Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire during what became to be known as the "Second Balkan Crisis" conquering Tripoli and the Dodecanese Islands, competing in the colonial race in which the other major European powers were engaged. Italy had unified from city-states to a nation in the 1860's; however, there were areas of mixed Italian populations, mostly around its eastern borders, known as Italia irredenta, or "unredeemed Italy," from where the English word "Irredentism" derives. These areas included Trieste, Dalmatians Nice, and Savoy, and Italian Nationalists wanted them incorporated. In 1915, having come into conflict with Austria-Hungary over these border areas, Italy quietly drifted away from the Triple Alliance, and signed a secret treaty (Treaty of London) where, if the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) proved victorious, Italy would gain these areas. Italy also desired to expand colonial operations in Africa at German expense, but at the conclusion of World War I, the former Germanic colonies in Africa and the Near East all went to France and Great Britain.
A History of the Modern World, Palmer & Colton, pg. 680-686, 1978.
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