alternatehistory.com

In 1914/15 Italy was sitting neutral during the Great War. Despite official membership in the Triple Alliance, irredentist claims to the Italophone Trento region and the semi-Italophone Trieste region cased them to hedge their bets and consider joining the Entente.

In the course of this, "Italy conducted intense negotiations with Austria, which was prepared to part with Trento in exchange of Italy's neutrality, but Italy wanted the old borders of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, which ran between Salurn and the Brenner Pass, a demand which Austria refused, since it would mean giving up a territory regarded as personal fief by the Habsburg Emperors." (Wikipedia; see link)

One Linkiedinkie

Instead they joined the Entente, and the rest is OTL history.

WI cooler or more cautious heads had prevailed in Italy? Could Italy have stayed neutral? Since South Tyrol/Alto Adige was primarily Germanophone, could a "kleinirredentism" to only control Trento proper have been politically justified in Italy? Could there even have been any possibility of this when Trieste is certainly not up for discussion? What if Italy decided to just take the Trento "buyoff" (and possibly Goriza w/o Trieste City) and worry about Trieste (and Dalmatia) later?

Obvious butterflies include no AH weakening of the Galician front and possibly a better show vs. the Russians, but what else? Might Russia have fallen faster? Could CP victory be in the cards, or is this a bridge too far?
Top