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Victor Emmanuel III referred to the first world war as an act of madness when it was finally over. When the war started both sides of the conflict wanted Italy to join. The central powers talked about earlier agreements and the Allies made vague promises about future land grabs. King Victor refused both and vetoed any attempts by Parlament to join the war. He stated that both side were wrong, the Serbs had murdered a member of a royal family and the germans invaded a neutral country. Italy would not be a part of an unjust war, this earned him a large amount of scorn from the Hawks of Italy's government but in time his decision proved to be wise.

The first world war was a blood bath, when the second world war came Victor had grown more religious with age and demanded that Italy concentrate on settling and christianizing their colony in north africa. I wont talk about how those efforts went but the second world war was also a blood bath, and once again Italy walked out of it untouched.

But what would have happened if Italy had joined the world wars would they be shorter? Would it have changed who won? Was Victor right would entering the wars have spelled the end of Italy's one colony and its third coast? Or would they be better off?
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