The
Italian Army (
Italian:
Esercito Italiano;
EI) is the
land defence force of the
Italian Armed Forces of the
Italian Republic. The army's history dates back to the unification of Italy in the 1850s and 1860s. The army fought in colonial engagements in China,
Libya (1911–1912), northern Italy against the
Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I, Abyssinia before World War II, and in World War II in Albania, Greece, north Africa, Russia and Italy itself. During the
Cold War the army prepared itself to defend against a
Warsaw Pact invasion from the east. Since the end of the Cold War the army has seen extensive peacekeeping service and combat in
Afghanistan and
Iraq.