Royal Italian Army

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Royal Italian Army
Regio Esercito Italiano
War Flag of the Regio Esercito
Active	1861–1946
Country	Kingdom of Italy
Allegiance	King of Italy
Type	Army
Size	5,000,000 (1915) 1,600,000 (1939) 3,500,000 (1943)[1]
Colors	Green, White and Red
Anniversaries	4 November
Engagements	Third Italian War of Independence Mahdist War Italo-Ethiopian War (1895–96) Boxer Rebellion Italo-Turkish War Somaliland Campaign Banadir Resistance World War I Pacification of Libya Italo-Ethiopian War (1935–36) Spanish Civil War Italian invasion of Albania World War II
Commanders
Ceremonial chief	First Marshal of the Empire
Notable commanders	Victor Emmanuel II Pietro Badoglio Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Alfredo Guzzoni

The Royal Italian Army (Italian: Regio Esercito, lit. 'Royal Army') (RE) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfredo Fanti signed a decree creating the Army of the Two Sicilies. This newly created army's first task was to defend its territorial gains against Legitimists in southern Italy, who remained loyal to Francis II of the Two Sicilies. The Army of the Two Sicilies also waged what many modern historians now consider a civil war against outlaws and Bourbonist guerrillas, such as the famous Michelina Di Cesare, and against other Italian states' armies during the continuing wars of unification. After the monarchy ended in 1946, the army changed its name to become the modern Italian Army (Esercito Italiano).

Within the Italian Royal Army were the elite mountain military corporals, the Alpini. The Alpini, which remain in existence today, are the oldest active mountain infantry in the world. Their original mission was to protect and secure Italy's northern mountain border that aligns with France and Austria. This group emerged in World War I when a three-year campaign was fought against the Austro-Hungarian Kaiserjäger and the German Alpenkorps. In World War II, the Alpini fought alongside Axis forces in the Eastern Front as well as the Balkans Campaigns.^[2]