AHC: a more competent Italy

Not just during WW2, but before that, as well.
Why was Italy so incompetent militarily, and how can this be solved?
Let's say they are competent enough and don't fail to conquer Ethiopia in the 1890's as happened IOTL. What are the effects of competent Italian armed forces in WW1? And this is even more relevant in WW2.
How can you make Italy be not-competent, and how would this affect the Italian colonial empire, Mussolini's empire and the European balance of power?
 
Well, if Italy shows being more competent it might lead to the Central Powers trying a bit more to keep it on their side (whether they succeed with it is another question, though A-H might be more willing to follow italian demands), though the butterfiles from a 1890ies PoD can change quite a lot anyways.
 
For starters you have to improve Italian industry. In OTL Italian industry was very small, and VERY inefficient for a Great Power. Industralization should be at the top of the list. To have an example, check good ol' Wikipedia, and especially 'Non-belligerance'. Make a sustained effort to improve Italian industry, and use some common sense; like recalling your merchant navy or stockpiling critical resources.
Then, the mliitary. Italian soldiers, were, individually, quite brave. It was usually top level command and political leadership where bad decisions were made. Even so, if Italy wins the Italo-Ethiopian War than the leadership will continue with the outdated tactics they used before. Which will spell doom for any succesful WW1 attempt, at least in the beginning. Have military leadership understand that massed attacks in the mountains are useless. Instead, they should fight a war of attrition, a bit like Germany wanted in Verdun. In almost every WW1 scenario Italy's opponents will have a lot on their plate. So use artillery bombardments a lot, focus on choke points, and don't waste your soldiers in useless offensives. And don't hesitate to ask yor allies for help. Designs of Germany, France or Britain are usually better than Italy's. Make use of it, and be pragmatic. Something OTL's Mussolini wasn't.
If Italy is still fighting the CP in such a scenario they should go for big guns to overwhelm Austria. However, if they are fighting Britain and France they should focus on a fast raiding force, a 'fleet in being'. If Italy was more clever in WW2, the Med could have been an Axis lake.
As for the Air Force, Italy had some pretty good designs of its own. Just don't focus on useless prestige projects.
 
Part of the problem was probably that the Italian leadership didn't entirely stop being the leadership of Piedmont, the northern Italian kingdom that was the basis for Italian unification. A more truly national leadership earlier would have been useful. Second, Italy needed to choose the timing of its wars more carefully. Part of the problem there was that as the smallest of the Great Powers or the Greatest of the Small Powers, they didn't get to choose when the big wars occurred.

Italy entered World War I deficient in a lot of military areas because they hadn't entirely rebuilt stocks depleted in their war with the Ottomans. They entered World War II even more deficient because they hadn't recovered from the Ethiopian War and (more draining for Italy) the Spanish Civil War. In World War II, they were planning for a war in late 1941 or 1942. They signed a pact with Hitler where he guaranteed that he wouldn't go to war before then--which he ignored like he ignored essentially every other treaty he signed. Of course the Italians didn't have to enter the war in 1940, but did anyway. They would have fought much better had they waited until late 1941. Actually, they did fight better in late 1941 and early 1942 than they did earlier.
 
Italy entered World War I deficient in a lot of military areas because they hadn't entirely rebuilt stocks depleted in their war with the Ottomans. They entered World War II even more deficient because they hadn't recovered from the Ethiopian War and (more draining for Italy) the Spanish Civil War. In World War II, they were planning for a war in late 1941 or 1942. They signed a pact with Hitler where he guaranteed that he wouldn't go to war before then--which he ignored like he ignored essentially every other treaty he signed. Of course the Italians didn't have to enter the war in 1940, but did anyway. They would have fought much better had they waited until late 1941. Actually, they did fight better in late 1941 and early 1942 than they did earlier.

Of course, given more competent leadership, if they stay out till '42, they might very well choose to stay out entirely: or until, say, December '44...

Bruce
 
Of course, given more competent leadership, if they stay out till '42, they might very well choose to stay out entirely: or until, say, December '44...

Bruce

In EdT's excellent A Great Britain he has Italy fight with the Allies against the Nazi's and a key effect of that is that in popular imagination Fascist=/=Nazi. That distinction would have a serious effect on world wide politics down the line.
 
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