I remember reading this somewhere. Safe to say French opinion of Italy's military capabilities is not high.
The French having a low opinion of another nation military...news at eleven. Cliquè aside regarding Italy, there is some true in that story...in the sense that OTL they have sent 10 division in Italy after Caporetto, for a couple of months before being recalled and never partecipated in any fight and they had around that number to protect their border (but were immediately sent in the north after Italy signed with the Entente and IRC were crucial in holding the front during a massive German offensive).
In any case there will be few offensive on the Italo-French border as either side know how much horrible is the terrain, the principal italian plan was to hold the line, launching just some probing attack to keep the French worried but sent the troops in the north to support the German offensive there.
The italian goverment doubtfoully will partecipate from the start in the war, the war with the Ottoman depleted the supply reserve of the army and so some reequipment was necessary, plus some coal and grain reserve need to be built.
Lol, good call. Eritrea and Italian Somaliland are likely immediately occupied by British forces. What about Britain's presence in the Med in summer 1914? Could the RN also cut off Italian forces in Libya?
The colonies are meant to be lost in the war, the plan is to get them back to the peace negotiation after winning the war.
The other objective of the italian troops will be Albania, as OTL Vlore will be quickly conquered and in this case it mean that the Serbian army will be not be saved as OTL but it will lost as their escape route is now cut (plus OTL italian ships were crucial in saving a lot of them). The presence of Italian troops mean that Greece had even less incentive to side with the Entente now that's surrounded.
In general Italy siding with the CP mean a front less for A-H and a front added to France, plus fight in the mediterrean with all the delay in the transport of colonial troops from North Africa to Europe and some minor colonial warfare added in Africa; plus the diplomatic landscape is very different from OTL for nation like Romania and Greece.
Not counting the italian population in Tunisia and the italian worker in France (they were the biggest non colonial population in France at the time)...basically the prospect seem not very good for the Entente in the end.