Why was Italy so useless during World War II? In 1940, Mussolini saw Germany crushing France. So, he thought, why not jump in and grab some land? Because he wanted to bring back the Roman Empire. But its army was using World War I tanks, outdated rifles, and barely had fuel. They invaded Greece and got pushed back. They attacked Egypt and got humiliated. And every time Italy tried to fight, Germany had to bail them out. Even Hitler saw Mussolini as a burden. By 1943, Italy was falling apart. The