Rump Austrian Empire after World War I Revised
- Thread starter chris N
- Start date
I have not done another map but the current border between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy have seen the ethnic German regions returned to Austria. Italy gained some ethnic Italian areas but some Italian areas voted not to join Italy because they had no desire to be under fascist rule. Slovenia and Croatia are part of the Empire.
Since WW1 ended not by an Allied or a Central Powers victory but by a diplomatic agreement following the defeat of Italy a lot of the secret agreements were disregarded.
Since WW1 ended not by an Allied or a Central Powers victory but by a diplomatic agreement following the defeat of Italy a lot of the secret agreements were disregarded.
Italo Balbo Former Governor of Libya and Commander of the Air Force, now led the Fascist Party which had gone through a lot of changes. He had managed to hammer together a coalition and presented himself to the King for a chance to form a new government. Italy had gone through 4 Prime Ministers in the 2 years since the fall of Mussolini. Many were tired of the chaos and wanted stability. Balbo promised to end the problems and not start any new war.
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Balbo's meeting with the King was a tense one. The King did not want to go through another experience like the one with Mussolini. Balbo insisted that he was not Mussolini and wanted to bring stability to Italy. He had a working majority in the house and he had a plan to deal with the mess that was Italian East Africa. He would bring stability to Libya, Albania and reduce unemployment. He would repair relations with Austria and Greece. The King agreed to allow his appointment as Prime Minister.
The Discovery of Oil in Libya gave Prime Minister Balbo what he needed most Oil to fuel the Italian economy and Money. He planned to spend some of the wealth in Libya to make things better for both the colonist and the Arab population. He would also start to modernize the Italian Military giving the army a better tank and improve the Air Force.
He replaced the Italian Governor General in Albania and restored the Albanian Legislative body
He replaced the Italian Governor General in Albania and restored the Albanian Legislative body
Italian-Greek relations improved. Prime Minister Balbo made a strong effort to repair relations with Greece and the Greeks admited that the Italian leader was a lot easier to deal with than Mussolini had been. Still the Greeks believed that the Rhodes Islands should be part of Greece while Balbo insisted that they were part of Italy. Relations with Yugoslavia were still tricky but Balbo seemed not to push any issue to the point of conflict. Italian-Austrian Relations were less confrontational as Balbo attempted to settle any problems diplomatically.
Italy was very concern with the instability of Yugoslavia. There were some in the government that urged Balbo to take actionbut he knew that while he would have gained a temporary advantage he would undo a lot of the progress he had made in repairing relations with Austria and Greece. He had sent his Foreign Minister to Russia in an attempt to work something out that everyone could live with.
Austria and Germany were quite concern that the war in the Ukraine might spread to the rest of Europe. Romania and Poland had supplied the Ukrainians with arms to defend their nation. Russia's Prime Minister had attempted several times to reach a settlement but had failed. The Russian War Minister had now attempted to use force to smash the Ukrainians but the Czar had prevented an all out war fearing that it would lead to conflict with Austria, Germany, Poland and Romania.
The Italian Foreign Minister traveled to Vienna to put a proposal to the Austrian Government which might offer a solution to the Ukraine problem. Prime Minister Balbao had held several telephone conversations with the Russian Prime Minister and believed that he had a chance to get a cease fire.
P.rime Minister Balbo had made a number of changes in Italy Colonial Policy. What remained of Italian East Africa had to be dealt with. Balbo moved to begin to work on a plan to evidentially allow the colony to move to self governing with the possibility of independence. The discovery of oil in Libya had resulted in Italy being determined to hold onto the colony but to invest more in its infrastructure
Balbo was maintaining a fairly large Italian Military force in Libya with 6 divisions plus 4 Brigades. Two American Oil companies were drilling in the colony and they had already discovered oil. This meant that Italy was no longer dependent on Romanian oil. There was also hope that Italy would be able to export oil to Spain, Greece, Austria and Germany.
The Italians, German, Austrians were able to get a cease fire set for the Ukraine Conflict. The Russians agreed to cease offensive operations as long as talks were ongoing and the Ukrainians also agreed not to restart the fight. Talks were held in Czechoslovakia with representatives from Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Austria, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia and Italy. Britain and France sent obserbers
The Ukraine had no desire to see Russian troops within the Ukraine. The Germans proposed that as a compromise the Ukraine be responsible for the defense of its borders but that Russia would be allowed a limited number of Obserbers. The number to be reached by agreement by the convention.
The Ukraine and Russia were able to reach agreement on some issues like trade thanks to the assistance from Germany, Austria and Italy. The Italians tried to smooth things out with the Russians while the Germans and Austrians together with the Poles and Romanians got the Ukrainians to give on some points knowing that they would support the Ukraine on the critical issue. After four weeks of talks an agreement was reached and was to be sent to the Ukraine and Russia. Bth parties governments would vote on the agreement anf a final meeting would take place in Prague were all the parties would meet and sign the treaty.