DBWI: What if Balbo didn't replace Mussolini in 1937?

As everyone knows Benito Mussolini tripped over a balcony and landed on his back breaking it so he was paralyzed for life. Balbo was the obvious replacement and took over . What if he didn't? Would Italy have been involved in WWII? Would Italy have joined the Allies in 1944 when Germany was on its last legs? Would Italy still be a great power with Mussolini at the helm?
 
As everyone knows Benito Mussolini tripped over a balcony and landed on his back breaking it so he was paralyzed for life. Balbo was the obvious replacement and took over . What if he didn't? Would Italy have been involved in WWII? Would Italy have joined the Allies in 1944 when Germany was on its last legs? Would Italy still be a great power with Mussolini at the helm?

Like Spain the only winning move for Italy during the 2nd Great War was not to play!

Jumping in with allies in 1944 and withdrawing from Greece and the Balkans was a very Shrewd move - I think once the Allies had finished with Germany they would have given Italy short shrift on the matter.

This way they got to keep their holdings in North and East Africa and in the 60s and 70s despite Lybian independence made a killing on the Petrol boom there.

The inclusion of Italian troops in the final assault on Germany gave them a seat at the winner table!

That would not have happened otherwise and the bombing of Milan and beautiful Florence with perhaps an overall loss of 1000 civilians was a small price to pay for the post war position they found themselves in.
 
Well the Italians did get a decent chunk of Southern Germany as compensation for the land they withdrew from so they were actually ahead on the deal IMO.

OOC: I don't see the France and England screwing an ally to that extent. After why would anyone join them in the future if they are going to screw you over?
 
Well the Italians did get a decent chunk of Southern Germany as compensation for the land they withdrew from so they were actually ahead on the deal IMO.

OOC: I don't see the France and England screwing an ally to that extent. After why would anyone join them in the future if they are going to screw you over?

OOC: Surely that would be at Austria's expense?
 
Well taking out Mussolini agiography, a difficult think at least till recent years, the man was a shrewd politician, the best of his generation...but as an administrator and expecially in foreign policy it was not so great...probably the contrary.

Balbo even if not charismatic and without the same capacity to understand the political climate and shape it, was instead a very pragmatic man and capable of a realistic evaluation of the italian capacity both economic and in warfare.

Frankly, contrary to the normal wisdom, i believe that Mussolini will have jump in an ill fated DoW against the Allies after the fall of France instead of accepting their little bribes and stayed neutral
 
OOC:Can Libya really get independence?The Italians,IIRC,were planning to get quite a lot of settlers there,which I assume would only increase once oil is found.
 
OOC: Surely that would be at Austria's expense?

OOC: Austria will probably become or better return an Italian puppet/ally and in the north it will be all.

IIC: Well for her little partecipation Italy had get some nice piece of estate as Austria has become again an italian ally...or other radical say a puppet so securing again the north border.
And Italy has get a lot of territory in the balkans; sure after the Jugoslavian and Greece civil wars started just after the war...but that was just a coincidence:rolleyes:
 
Mussolini really didn't like Hitler. Maybe if Hitler decides to invade Austria, Mussolini would have jumped in to protect it. A German-Italian War would be interesting, to say the least.
 
OOC: Austria will probably become or better return an Italian puppet/ally and in the north it will be all.

IIC: Well for her little partecipation Italy had get some nice piece of estate as Austria has become again an italian ally...or other radical say a puppet so securing again the north border.
And Italy has get a lot of territory in the balkans; sure after the Jugoslavian and Greece civil wars started just after the war...but that was just a coincidence:rolleyes:

You have to admit that Yugoslavia was fairly unstable even before the war. There was a lot of instability in Eastern Europe at the time. Czechoslovakia broke up, Hungry and Romania fought a war against each other and Bulgaria had a civil war as well. There is no real reason to assume the Brits had anything to do with it. If they were going to stir up trouble it would be Southern Austria, surely. It is worth more than a backwater full of fueding nationalists.
 
Top