How come Italy doesn't get a bad rep for World War 2 compared to Germany and Japan?

[Chingylol]

I was wondering about this. How come whenever WW2 is brought up, Japan and Germany are always immediately blamed but never Italy even though they joined Hitler and the Axis? There were battles in Italy that killed many Allied soldiers but noone ever seems to ever bring it up. It had to take Italy being invaded and overrun by the Allies for them to surrender and then declare war on Germany later since they had no choice.

[Daedius]

They gave us Pizza and Spaghetti, that's why.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Because most people only care to know about these things on the surface level...?
When reading books about it, Italy is never excused.

[kaid]

Probably because nobody saw italy on its own as any kind of threat. They were a useful addition to the european theater but they were a pretty minor threat over all if the other two were taken care of.

[I Push Buttons]

Because while they committed war crimes like everyone else, they weren't actively committing genocide and waging wars of extermination like Germany and Japan were.

Also the allies swept what little they did do under the rug as a sort of forgive and forget to stave off anti-allied resentment building and culminating in communists coming to power in post-war Italy.

[Machismo]

As an American, they weren't the major threat. The Germans started it in Europe, and the Japanese started it in the Pacific.

[Belize]

Italy did fuck all except be a drain on Axis resources during the war.

[Socialhealer]

If you want to give Italy a bad rep, look at the Romans.

[s_bushido]

Historical clickbait. Germany has the Holocaust, Japan has Pearl Harbor (and the distinction of being the only nation to actually get nuked). Compared to that, Italy's just not as sexy...

I would assume people in Europe and/or North Africa have a different perspective on it, though.

[JohnBrown1917]

Not committing genocide and the Italians themselves killed Mussolini. Plus the whole switching sides thing.

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Historical clickbait. Germany has the Holocaust, Japan has Pearl Harbor (and the distinction of being the only nation to actually get nuked). Compared to that, Italy's just not as sexy...

I would assume people in Europe and/or North Africa have a different perspective on it, though.

It was Germany who did all the heavy work in Europe, and occupied most countries. The people that suffered most under Mussolini where the Italians themselves.

[DemoBytom]

It all depends on where/who you ask.
In Poland nobody gives a shit about Italy or Japan.
We do give a shit about Germany and Russia, both of which attacked us directly.
In US, who were hit by Japan attacks and then waged big war with them on the Pacific - I bet they do give a lot more shit about them..

[Chinese Bootlickers]

Because for the most part they were the "special" child of the Axis.

[zealo]

By the time Italian fascists started to take a more active role in the holocaust in 1943, the north of Italy had effectively become a German puppet state engaged in a civil war against other Italians in the south with allied aupport. Before that while Italy was turning increasingly anti-semitic as part of it's alignment to Germany, it didn't go all the way to "shove them into ovens!" before then.

This is a somewhat important factor as to why people do not pay as much attention to Italy's role in it, especially with the cold war beginning not long after.

[Jastall]

As far as war crimes go, Italy's were fairly tame. They never committed any of the large-scale slaughters, death camps, or horrible experiments practiced by Germany, Japan and the Soviets. I recall reading that Italian soldiers and authorities were fairly uncooperative when it came to handing over their Jews to the Nazis as well. The country ended p switching sides eventually. And finally, Italy is widely seen as a non-threatening nation compared to other WW2 belligerents, which is mostly backed up by their unimpressive military record.

[niztheundead87]

The island I live in was occupied by Italy in ww2 it's widely known that Italians were more lenient than Germans during the war.there were some sort of concentration camps but only worked as prisons,never tortured anyone .

The Jewish population was spared at the time , mostly because they never actively hunted them

[omeomorfismo]

because italy sucked hard and unlike hitler and hirohito, mussolini take the clown path and escaped cowardly disguised as german officer.
then i think all the partisan resistence helped a lot

As far as war crimes go, Italy's were fairly tame. They never committed any of the large-scale slaughters, death camps, or horrible experiments practiced by Germany, Japan and the Soviets. I recall reading that Italian soldiers and authorities were fairly uncooperative when it came to handing over their Jews to the Nazis as well. The country ended p switching sides eventually. And finally, Italy is widely seen as a non-threatening nation compared to other WW2 belligerents, which is mostly backed up by their unimpressive military record.

lulz, because etiopian slaughters werent absolutely a reason for mussolini to become a bufoon for everyone

[Poe]

Because Italy wouldn't have been able to do shit in the war if they weren't allied with the Nazis.

The Italian military was a joke compared to Japan and the Nazis.

[StillMcfuu]

I was wondering about this. How come whenever WW2 is brought up, Japan and Germany are always immediately blamed but never Italy even though they joined Hitler and the Axis? There were battles in Italy that killed many Allied soldiers but noone ever seems to ever bring it up. It had to take Italy being invaded and overrun by the Allies for them to surrender and then declare war on Germany later since they had no choice.

Because Italy was involved in WWII mainly due to Mussolini. Germany is mainly remembered for the Holocaust and the Japanese because their treatment of the Chinese and POWs was basically Holocaust 2.0.

It's not the how and why of WWII that is giving Germany and Japan the negative reputation.

[Narwhalosh Whalescream]

Italy didn't pull of very much militarily during WW2, nor WW1 for that matter.

[breadisfunny]

Historical clickbait. Germany has the Holocaust, Japan has Pearl Harbor (and the distinction of being the only nation to actually get nuked). Compared to that, Italy's just not as sexy...

I would assume people in Europe and/or North Africa have a different perspective on it, though.

you forgot unit 731.