What if Fascist Italy survived WWII ?

TheHomer

Banned
what if the Italian Empire survived WWII but Germany and Japan still were defeated ? also in this scenario Italy can keep its colonies like Libya and Ethopia would it be the third wheel in the Cold War ?
 
Hard to see how they could survive as part of a defeated Axis, and if Italy is neutral from the outset, the war would look entirely different than it did.

I can't see that the Allies would just give either Libya or Ethiopia back to Italy postwar.
 
Hard to see how they could survive as part of a defeated Axis, and if Italy is neutral from the outset, the war would look entirely different than it did.

I can't see that the Allies would just give either Libya or Ethiopia back to Italy postwar.


Antonescu flew to Italy at the time of the allied landing in Sicily with the proposal that Italy, Finland, Romania and Hungary leave the war together. Mussolini rejected the idea but if he hadn't, it might of worked. The sudden loss of his allies would cause the German position to collapse and end the war at least a year early. Something I'm sure Stalin might find tempting. Churchill would probably not oppose it either- the smaller axis players are bit players and athreat to no one.
 
Hard to see how they could survive as part of a defeated Axis, and if Italy is neutral from the outset, the war would look entirely different than it did.

I can't see that the Allies would just give either Libya or Ethiopia back to Italy postwar.

Yep, the only way to do that is that Benny die before the Dow or someone drill some sense on him...but we are talking about a WW2 without the Meditterean and North African theatre and this will mean harder work for the Japanese, an United Kingdom much less desperate than OTL and Stalin having much more diffiulty in ignoring the build up for Barbarossa ( but the Nazi don't wast resources in Africa and Greece, still Jugoslavia invasion is probable).
The only other way is that in August 1940 Mussolini die in an accident and Balbo become the new Duce...and start immediately peace negotiation with the UK (as for now nothing of too stupid is happened and somekind of white peace for both side can be still achieved)
 
Antonescu flew to Italy at the time of the allied landing in Sicily with the proposal that Italy, Finland, Romania and Hungary leave the war together. Mussolini rejected the idea but if he hadn't, it might of worked. The sudden loss of his allies would cause the German position to collapse and end the war at least a year early. Something I'm sure Stalin might find tempting. Churchill would probably not oppose it either- the smaller axis players are bit players and athreat to no one.

I don't see it.
True, objectively Italy was much more on the level of Romania than of Germany - but not in politics, foreign policy and propaganda of the time. Italy was considered one of the three main Axis powers. Giving it a slap on the hand would be considered insufficient by the public opinion of the Allied countries which had a free one.
Secondly, by 1943 Stalin was already considering the post-war situation, and what we know of what he thought at the time doesn't lend itself to believing that he'd settle for a series of Fascist regimes carrying on as if nothing had happened, several of them along his borders. Quite the contrary.
Thirdly, by 1943 the British had reinstated the Negus on the throne, after having fully supported him in the war against the Italians in AOI. Giving Ethiopia back to the Italians? No.
 
what if the Italian Empire survived WWII but Germany and Japan still were defeated ? also in this scenario Italy can keep its colonies like Libya and Ethopia would it be the third wheel in the Cold War ?

"Third Wheel?" That's not possible. Italy's somewhat wobbly internal stability, general national poverty, weak industrial base, and lack of international power projection capabilities prevents them from leading a faction that could be remotely considered on the level of the Americans or Soviets, or even the temporary "Third Superpower" of the British Empire. At best, a surviving Italian Empire is going to end up a junior partner (Probably in Britain's bloc, assuming Italian neutrality which is really the only way of getting them to survive).
 
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