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."
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).
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]
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).
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
Related Entries 18 total
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![Battle of the Piave River Yet Erich Ludendorff, on hearing the news, is reported to have said he 'had the Part of the Italian Front (World War I) sensation of defeat for the first time'. [5) Map of the Second Battle of the Piave Date 15-23 June 1918 Piave, Italy 45°49'50"N 12° Location losses Result Italian victory 118,042:(21 11,643 dead 80,852 wounded 25,547 captured between 15 and 23 June 1918, was a decisive victory3|14] for the Italian Army against the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I. struck a major blow to the army's morale and cohesion and had political repercussions would later become clear that the battle was in fact the beginning of the end of the Austro- @d: The Perverted Stmmone Hungarian Empire.6]](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/001/923/087/e77.jpg "Italian Victories - WW1 : Second Battle of the Piave River")
![Italian conquest of the Horn of Africa Part of the Interwar Period and the East African Campaign of World War II Date March 1924 – 19 August 1940 Location Horn of Africa Result Italian victory • Fascist "pacification" of Somalia (1924-27), conquest of Ethiopia (1935-36) and British Somaliland (1940) • Formation and expansion Italian East Africa Belligerents fe Sultanate of Italy Hobyo E Italian Eritrea Majeerteen Sultanate Ethiopian Empire EK British Empire Commanders and leaders Benito Mussolini Sheikh Hassan Barsane (POW) Omar Samatar Haile Selassie Arthur Chater Casualties and losses 1,148 Italians killed 275,000 Ethiopians (1935–36)l1] killed (1935–36)[1][3] 161 Italian casualties 260 British casualties (1940)l2) (1940)(4] 1,000 Somali casualties (1940)[5] 150,000 Ethiopians killed by mustard gasl6] Asmara N ERITREA °o SUDAN Adowa Amba Gondar GULF OF ERITREA AMHARA FRENCH SOMALI COA O Dessie Debra Markos HARAR Addis Ababa BRITISH SOMALI Harar SCIOA ITALIAN ETHIOPIA EAST AFRICA SOM DAMO Rudolf GANDA @J. The Perverted Summoner](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/001/900/794/67b.jpg "Italian victory - WW2: Conquest of the Horn of Africa")
![Second Italo-Ethiopian War 382,800 civilians killed (1935–1941) 6llb] Part of the Interwar period UERUSA EN Haile Selassie passes through Jerusalem on his way to exile in England. ..thought the Italians were clearly superior and that Italian artillery in Tembien, Ethiopia (1936) victory for them was Date 3 October 1935 – 19 February assured no matter what. The 1937la] On 21 December 1937, Rome appointed Result Italian victory Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta, as the new • Foundation of Italian East Viceroy and Governor General of Italian East Africa with instructions to take a more Africa conciliatory line. Aosta instituted public works Territorial Italian occupation of Ethiopia projects including 3,200 km (2,000 mi) of new changes paved roadways, 25 hospitals, 14 hotels, dozens of post offices, telephone exchanges, aqueducts, schools and shops. The Italians Belligerents the Italians showed favouritism to non- Christian groups. To isolate the dominant Ethiopia E Italy Amhara rulers of Ethiopia, who supported • Armed forces • Italian Libya Selassie, the Italians granted the Oromos, the Somalis and other Muslims, many of whom Arbegnoch Italian Eritrea had supported the invasion, autonomy and Materiel support:1] Italian Somalia rights. The Italians also definitively abolished Nazi Germany slavery and abrogated feudal laws that had 10,000 killed' been upheld by the Amharas. Early in 1938, a 377,500 killed (est. May 1936) (1935–1941)l6] 9,555 killed? (est. 1936–1940) M The Perverted Summoner](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/001/870/074/4f4.jpg "Italian victories - near WW2: Second Italo-Ethiopian War")
![Belligerents French invasion of Italy Part of the Italian Campaign of World War II |France | Italian Social | French partisans Republic H Green Flames partisans Italian Alpini on a mountain during the French invasion Date 23 March - May 8 1945 Location Aosta Valley, Italy Result See Aftermath section • Italian defensive victory Strength (April 25) 1,500-2,000 men1] 22,000 men (After April 27) 24,000 men1) Casualties and losses 3,500 total casualties 350 total casualties](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/001/820/121/7d0.jpg "French Invasion of Italy (a battle to surpass Pont Saint-Louis)")
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Vomkrieg
Jan 18, 2017 at 08:46PM EST
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