Mussolini without Hitler,fascist Italy without nazist German.

Ok,we said that Adolph Hitler is dead in WW-I,that the nazist party is only a little political movement in 20s and early 30s,and that in somewhay the Weimar Republic survive.
That is the preamble.
Now what about Mussolini and fascist Italy in this ATL?
I don't think probable a world war,and without the nazist malign influence,fascism is more moderate,like in early 30s.
So what?
Maybe a fascist league of nation with Spain,Portugal,Hungary and maybe Greece?
 
Assuming he doesn't get Italy dogpiled by the rest of Europe over some attempted empire building scheme, likely some OTL Spain parallel, "fascist" organization slowly becoming a standard issue Authoritarian Personality Cult. Maybe a Fascosphere in the Med with Spain and Portugal helps bolster the corruption-plagued economies. Likely face growing unrest among the colonized and growing pressure from the outside to open up politically and economically.
 
I don't think Italo-Greek rapproachment is possible given the status of the Doedcanese. More likely they remain supported by the British and Yugoslavia by the French as a counterpoint to Mussolini.
 
Mussolini was actually somewhat popular in America before he started cozing up to Hitler.

But, I think Fascism would survive in Italy and Spain for quite a long time. An Italian-Greek war is also likely, which Italy would eventually win even if they do get repeatedly humiliated along the way. That would pretty much curb any further Italian expansion for awhile. Especially when France and Britain take firm stances over Yugoslavia.

But the survival of the Weimar Republic is not guaranteed. The same basic problems that led the Nazi's to siezing power would still exist. It's quite possible you'd see Germany fall into communist hands, either through election or revolution.

How scary would a German/Soviet Comintern be? WW2 would end up as Germany and the Soviet Union against Britain, France and Italy initially. Unsure what Japan would do, but they'd be jumping on someone's back be it the Allies or the Soviets.
 
Mussolini was actually somewhat popular in America before he started cozing up to Hitler.

And we friggin' LOVED Italo Balbo. Gave him the keys to the city, built a monument to him, and named a street after him in Chicago. Dined with FDR. Named "Chief Flying Eagle" by the Lakota nation, even!
 
And we friggin' LOVED Italo Balbo. Gave him the keys to the city, built a monument to him, and named a street after him in Chicago. Dined with FDR. Named "Chief Flying Eagle" by the Lakota nation, even!

I actually didn't know that. Guess Balbo would've lived too since he wouldn't be publicly objecting to the German alliance.

My guess is Mussolini would play Neville Chamberlain like Hitler did, but back down when the actual big war was coming. So he'd probably end up with Greece and not Yugoslavia.
 
Lots of people admired Mussolini in the 20s and early-mid 30s- he was, in many ways, a competent leader who seemed to have averted the threat of communism and built a real sense of Italian greatness. Of course, he was not a democrat and in later conflicts (the Spanish Civil War and Ethiopia) used horrific violence against civilians, but he was neither particularly racist nor genocidal. His popularity is not really surprising; in Britain in particular, it was sometimes even said that Italy (!) was the coming power.

I think it would have been quite possible for an Italian fascist state to survive without Hitler or WW2. By all accounts Mussolini's party would have won even a genuinely democratic election up until Italy was invaded and its defeat became clear. Quite possibly, it would have even outlived Benito himself, and we today would think of fascism in a radically different light.
 
I don't think that the British would permit the Italians to take over Greece, and I very much doubt that Mussolini would press the issue against an undistracted Britain. Chamberlain played for time against Hitler because he recognised that the British needed time to rearm, partially because British intelligence on German strength was very poor - massively overestimating it.

In the wake of the Abyssinian crisis the British recognised they needed to be more prepared to deal with Italy, and they had regained a position of sufficient strength by the end of the '30s. Given this Chamberlain won't feel constrained to trade countries for time, and will just say no. If Mussolini is stupid enough to go ahead anyway, he can look forward to a short, sharp and complete defeat.
 
You could be right about Chamberlain and I believe that Mussolini wouldn't push a war with Britain as I said earlier.

He could make a case with the Adriatic territories of Yugoslavia as they were Italian in orgin and would connect Italy to Albania.

Another possibility is for Mussolini to manufacture a cassus belli against Greece to make the Italians look like the wronged party.

Still, if Italy continued to arm unhindered into the 40's, it stands to reason they could become something more than a local power.
 
I don't think simply making out that Italy is the aggrieved party in an Italo-Greek conflict would establish British neutrality. Greece was heavily allied with London for its strategic position, not for any great moral reason.
 
Remember that in 40s fascist Italy had two very important events:
The world fair of 1942 ,and the Olympics games of 1944,both in Rome.
I don't think that without Hitler a great war was in program.​
 
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