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 proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861, 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

The Risorgimento movement emerged to unite Italy in the 19th century. 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 Spanish Bourbons 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 Lombardy–Venetia French Republic Kingdom of Two Sicilies Papal States Grand Duchy of Tuscany	Austrian-French Victory
1853	1856	Crimean War	France  Ottoman Empire Egypt Tunis  Britain[a] Sardinia[b] Supported by:  Austrian Empire Caucasus Imamate[c] Circassia Abkhazia[b]	Russian Empire Mingrelia Kurdish rebels Greece[d]	Allied Victory Treaty of Paris
1859	1859	Second Italian War of Independence	French Empire Kingdom of Sardinia Support: United Principalities	Austrian Empire Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia	Italian Victory, Armistice of Villafranca (12 July 1859) Sardinia annexed Lombardy from Austria. Sardinia occupied and later annexed Habsburg-ruled Tuscany and Emilia. France gains Savoy and Nice from Sardinia.
1860	1861	Expedition of the Thousand	Sardinia	Two Sicilies Supported by Papal States France Spain	Italian Victory: Sicily, Southern Italy, Marche and Umbria annexed by Sardinia Collapse of Two Sicilies Foundation of the Kingdom of Italy
1861	1865	Brigandage in Southern Italy	Italy	Southern Italian Briganti Bourbon legitimists Spanish partisans	Italian Victory
1866	1866	Third Italian War of Independence	Italy	Austrian Empire	Austrian withdrawal after defeat in the northern front:[1] Armistice of Cormons and Treaty of Vienna: Kingdom of Italy annexes Venetia and Friuli.
1866	1866	The Seven and a Half Days Revolt	Italy	Palermitan Rebels	Italian Victory, rebellion suppressed
1870	1870	Capture of Rome	Italy	Papal States	Italian Victory, Debellation of the Papal States.

Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

Start	Finish	Name of conflict	Belligerents		Outcome
			Combatant 1	Combatant 2
1885	1895	Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889[2]	Italy	Ethiopia Mahdist Sudan	Italian Victory, establishment of Italian Eritrea.
1889	1920	Pacification of Somalia[3]	Italy	Various rebels Dervish State	Italian Victory, consolidation of Italian Somaliland.
1890	1894	Mahdist War	Italy	Mahdist Sudan	Italian Victory All Sudanese invasions repulsed Italians take Kassala
1895	1896	First Italo-Ethiopian War	Italy	Ethiopia	Ethiopian Victory Ethiopia recognised as independent country by Italy. Italy abrogates the Treaty of Wuchale with the establishment of a corridor between Eritrea and Italian Somaliland
1896	1925	Bīmāl revolt	Italy	Bimaal Rebels	Italian Victory Suppression of the Bimaal revolt
1897	1897	Greco-Turkish War (1897)	Greece Italian volunteers Armenian volunteers[4]	Ottoman Empire	Turkish Victory Small parts of Thessaly ceded to the Ottoman Empire[5] Cretan State established through the intervention of the great powers of Europe[6][7]
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 Establishment of the Cretan State. 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.
1911	1917	Italo-Senussi War	Italy	Senussi Order  Ottoman Empire	Italian Victory: Extension of Italian control in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica
1912	1913	First Balkan War	Balkan League:  Bulgaria  Serbia  Greece  Montenegro Italian volunteers  Russia	Ottoman Empire  Austria-Hungary	Balkan League Victory: Treaty of London
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  Soviet Russia  Italy[8]	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.
1921	1921	Anti-fascist uprising in Albona	Italy	Labin Republic	Italian Victory: Fall of the Labin Republic Italian re-annexation of Labin
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	Somali rebels	Italian Victory: All-out defeat of Somali rebels The independent Majeerteen Sultanate is brutally suppressed in 1927, finalizing the Italian occupation of Somalia.
1924	1940	Italian conquest of the Horn of Africa	Italy	Sultanate of Hobyo Majeerteen Sultanate  Ethiopian Empire  Britain	Italian Victory: Italian conquest of the Horn of Africa.
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 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 from 1943-1945. Italian Social Republic, part of the Axis from 1943-1945, is defeated in the Italian Campaign/Italian Civil War by the Allies and the Italian Resistance; Italy signs the Treaty of Paris and 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)

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.[9][10] 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[11][12][13](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[14] Rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the successor of al-Qaeda in Iraq[15][16] 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	Italy  France  Germany  Belgium  Greece	Supreme Political Council  Houthi movement	Ongoing conflict

See also

• History of Italy
• Military history of Italy

Notes

1. From 1854
2. From 1855
3. Until 1855
4. Until 1854

References

1. Milan Vego (23 November 2004). Naval Strategy and Operations in Narrow Seas. Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 9781135777159.
2. Indro Montanelli, Storia d'Italia, vol. 6 1861 - 1919, RCS Libri S.p.A., 2006
3. Pacification of Somalia.
4. Kokkinos, P. (1965). Կոկինոս Պ., Հունահայ գաղութի պատմությունից (1918–1927) (in Armenian). Yerevan: National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia. pp. 14, 208–209. ISBN 9789609952002. Cited in Vardanyan, Gevorg (12 November 2012). Հայ-հունական համագործակցության փորձերը Հայոց ցեղասպանության տարիներին (1915–1923 թթ.) [The attempts of the Greek-Armenian Co-operation during the Armenian Genocide (1915–1923)]]. akunq.net (in Armenian). Research Center on Western Armenian Studies. Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
5. Gyula Andrássy, Bismarck, Andrássy, and Their Successors, Houghton Mifflin, 1927, p. 273.
6. 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)
7. 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)
8. 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
9. "Statement by Deputy Press Secretary Larry Speakes". 23 September 1982.
10. "The Collapse of Lebanon's Army: U.S. Said to Ignore Factionalism". The New York Times. 11 March 1984.
11. Zerkalo Nedeli (28 February 2002). "Paper critical of Western call on Ukraine to stop selling arms to Macedonia". Free Republic. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
12. Carlotta Gall (23 July 2001). "Rebels Secure a Base in Macedonian Town". New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
13. Taras Kuzio (31 October 2001). "UKRAINE FORGES MILITARY ALLIANCE WITH MACEDONIA". The Jamestown. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
14. "Sectarian divisions change Baghdad's image". NBC News. 3 July 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
15. "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.
16. "Al-Qaeda's Resurgence in Iraq: A Threat to U.S. Interests". U.S. Department of State. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2010.