The French had been floating proposals in 1940 to keep Italy out of the war:
Cede French Somaliland completely. Expand Libya at the expense of Chad and offer a Franco-Italian condominium over Tunisia.
Britain throws in long term cheap rates on Suez canal shipping and political concessions for Malta (Italian as a choice in schools etc..). Off the record Britain hints that depending on how the war goes and Italian behavoir therein, such places like Cyprus might be negotiable after the war.
Lets say Mussolini takes this offer and agrees to a long term peace treaty with France/Britain in exchange for the the territory.
Lets say the deal goes down on May 28th.
Questions:
1) Does Italy being out keep France in? This pretty much guarantees the French would hold on to Corsica and Algeria as continuing points of resistance against the Germans. And with continued world wide naval supremacy maye the French could convince themselves Britain would really stay in the war.
2) Does Germany just demand south Tyrol from Italy under threat of invasion in late 1940 and take it even further: later and demand Italy ceed Trieste and parts of Albania to Greece and Yugoslavia and maybe the Dodencease to Turkey (Germany cementing her diplomacy and economics with those countries).
3) Does this keep Japan out of the war (Britain has much less commitments and could assemble an impressive force in Singapore to keep the peace).
4) With an invasion that much harder (less British commitments overseas)Does Germany still attempt the Battle of Britain?
5) Does Germany still invade the Soviet Union and if it does does it do better or worse. With less other commitments would a British force appear on the eastern front / more Lend Lease / an invasion of Northern Norway or Finland?
6) Would Turkey agree to Lend Lease through the Black Sea making that so much easier.
Cede French Somaliland completely. Expand Libya at the expense of Chad and offer a Franco-Italian condominium over Tunisia.
Britain throws in long term cheap rates on Suez canal shipping and political concessions for Malta (Italian as a choice in schools etc..). Off the record Britain hints that depending on how the war goes and Italian behavoir therein, such places like Cyprus might be negotiable after the war.
Lets say Mussolini takes this offer and agrees to a long term peace treaty with France/Britain in exchange for the the territory.
Lets say the deal goes down on May 28th.
Questions:
1) Does Italy being out keep France in? This pretty much guarantees the French would hold on to Corsica and Algeria as continuing points of resistance against the Germans. And with continued world wide naval supremacy maye the French could convince themselves Britain would really stay in the war.
2) Does Germany just demand south Tyrol from Italy under threat of invasion in late 1940 and take it even further: later and demand Italy ceed Trieste and parts of Albania to Greece and Yugoslavia and maybe the Dodencease to Turkey (Germany cementing her diplomacy and economics with those countries).
3) Does this keep Japan out of the war (Britain has much less commitments and could assemble an impressive force in Singapore to keep the peace).
4) With an invasion that much harder (less British commitments overseas)Does Germany still attempt the Battle of Britain?
5) Does Germany still invade the Soviet Union and if it does does it do better or worse. With less other commitments would a British force appear on the eastern front / more Lend Lease / an invasion of Northern Norway or Finland?
6) Would Turkey agree to Lend Lease through the Black Sea making that so much easier.