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The title rather sums it up. The Nazi regime was hardly inevitable... let's say Hitler get's shot in WW1 and nobody rises to fulfill the role he filled for the Nazi party... Weimar Germany continues to straggle on. Without Hitler or a similar militarist German regime, WW2 is essentially inconceivable.

Obviously this gives the Italy and other European fascist regimes good odds of continued survival until/unless they're brought down internally. The question thus is whether such internal revolts are inevitable. The demise of the Iberian, Greek, Asian Tiger and recently many Arab dictatorships would seem to suggest so, but of course that is in the context of American influence from which democratic memes ruthlessly permeated their societies. In the absence of this might fascist dictatorships remain viable?

Italy is naturally the central focus in this discussion. Even without Hitler, Mussolini is going to alienate the rest of the world with his imperialism thereby dragging Italy into the economic stagnation of autarchy. Coupled with his other disastrous economic policies, rising discontent is surely inevitable unless Mussolini or a successor shifts economic policy in a more sensible direction. But discontent needn't be harnessed by democratic movements, it could just as easily manifest as communists or another right-authoritarian movement. Then of course their's the colonies themselves- I personally see Mussolini and his successor/s holding an attitude similar to Salazar's in terms of determination to hold the colonies long after the British and French have given up on it. Unlike Salazarian Portugal however Italy probably has the strength to hold it's empire- even Portugal almost managed, after all. Though it could always be derailed by revolution in Italy itself, just as the Carnation revolution did Portugal's attempt.
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