Italy has long been described as "the least great power," and... yeah it's lived up to the name. Its overseas empire was small, its military weak for a nation its size, it was decidedly less industrialized than the rest of the great powers (with the possible exception of russia,) and it suffered brutally as a result of this during both world wars- its promised empire given to the serbians in Versailles, and being the first axis power to surrender. But i want to know, was it doomed to this status?
Italy fought 4wars against Austria-Hungary- the 1st and 2nd Italian wars of independence with french support, the brother's war as an ally of prussia, and ww1. in all of these conflicts, there was always another, larger power backing them up and doing a lot of the work- to the point where Austria gave Venice to France instead of italy after the brother's war (for like, five minutes before france just gave it to them.) In all of these wars, despite the actual quality of the Italian army, the industrial base and economy just weren't there, or they were outnumbered.
But, there are 48 years between the brother's war/3rd Italian independence war, and ww1 in 1914. During that period, is there any window where italy could've reasonably beaten AH in a relative 1 to 1 war? how wide is the opportunity, and could italy assert itself as a true great power?
in general I've kinda been on an italy kick the last few days so any general Italy Wanking is welcome but i think any such matter has to start with this question
Italy fought 4wars against Austria-Hungary- the 1st and 2nd Italian wars of independence with french support, the brother's war as an ally of prussia, and ww1. in all of these conflicts, there was always another, larger power backing them up and doing a lot of the work- to the point where Austria gave Venice to France instead of italy after the brother's war (for like, five minutes before france just gave it to them.) In all of these wars, despite the actual quality of the Italian army, the industrial base and economy just weren't there, or they were outnumbered.
But, there are 48 years between the brother's war/3rd Italian independence war, and ww1 in 1914. During that period, is there any window where italy could've reasonably beaten AH in a relative 1 to 1 war? how wide is the opportunity, and could italy assert itself as a true great power?
in general I've kinda been on an italy kick the last few days so any general Italy Wanking is welcome but i think any such matter has to start with this question