![Italian Military Jokes Italian Military Jokes](https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/square/000/022/039/11822821_385428128319921_5841580488732860605_n.png)
Italian Military Jokes
Part of a series on Nationality Stereotypes. [View Related Entries]
About
Italian Military Jokes are quips aimed at mocking the effectiveness or prowess of the Italian military, often consisting of stereotypes that Italian soldiers are cowardly and depictions of the Italian Navy as floating pizza.
Origin
According to a blog post on Strange History,[6] the Italian military became widely mocked among Allied powers in the early 1940s due to the country's various military failures. In 1943, the World War II historical drama film Five Graves to Cairo was released, which features the music-loving, but ineffective, Italian General Sebastiano.
Spread
On January 25th, 2014, the Italian Armyball Facebook[2] page was launched, highlighting depictions of the Italian military as various Polandball-style illustrations. On October 14th, 2014, The New York Times[7] published an op-ed, which commented on the stereotype that "Italian soldiers are spineless."
![Italian Armyball Italian Armyball on a background of an explosion](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/212/534/478.png)
On March 15th, 2015, Redditor SapSal submitted a PolandBall comic titled "Italian Military" to /r/polandball,[4] garnering upwards of 470 points (96% upvoted) and 70 comments prior to being archived (shown below).
![Polandball Comic comic about Itallian Armyball weaponizing](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/212/533/a69.png)
On June 24th, 2016, the PolandBall Facebook[3] page posted a military tier list pacing Italy at the very bottom (shown below). Within seven months, the post gained over 6,500 reactions and 1,500 shares. On April 21st, Imgur user TheExistentialDreadKickedIn uploaded a GIF of a pizza floating in the ocean titled "Italian Navy."[1]
![Military Tier List military tier list with Italy being so low it's in its own tier](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/212/536/495.jpg)
On January 10th, 2017, Redditor x2K284 submitted a screenshot of Google Image Search results for "Italian Navy," featuring pizzas and pizza-shaped flotation devices floated in water (shown below, left). On January 18th, Redditor SirJilliumz submitted a Fake History image macro mocking the Italian Navy to /r/MemeEconomy[5] (shown below, right).
![Italian Navy Google Image Search Google image search for Italian navy with the results showing pizzas in the ocean](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/212/511/841.jpg)
![Italian Navy Prepares to Depart to Enemy Territory fake history macro of floating device shaped like a pizza captioned as the Italian navy](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/212/530/0c0.jpg)
Search Interest
Not available.
External References
[1] Imgur – Italian Navy
[2] Facebook – Italian armyball
[3] Facebook – Polandball
[4] Reddit – Italian Military
[5] Reddit – Jokes about the Italian military on the rise!
[6] Strange History – Why Couldn’t WW2 Italians Fight?
[7] The New York Times – The Italian Military to the Rescue
Recent Videos
There are no videos currently available.
Top Comments
Vomkrieg
Jan 18, 2017 at 08:46PM EST
ChocolateSawfish
Jan 19, 2017 at 01:50PM EST