WI Fascists do not take Italy?

Maybe Mussolini is never conceived, maybe the establishment gets scared of the crazies.

I do picture a somewhat chaotic adminstration.

Does the absence of Mussolini's regime make it less likely that Hitler will take power.

Supposing that Hitler does take power what happens to Austria?

Any other thoughts?

What difference to Spain?
 
Would having the King order troops to disperse the March on Rome, and having the troops obey the order, be a decent PoD?

It's a while since I studied it, and even then it wasn't in magnificent detail, but I seem to recall Vittorio Emmanuel not trusting that the army would fire on the Blackshirts. Even though the Generals advising him (Badoglio, from memory) said that the Regio Esercito was loyal ,and would need little more than the old "whiff of grapeshot" to have done with the affair. I seem to recall that Mussolini was on the verge of legging it to Switzerland before King's invite turned the March into a procession.

So, giving VEIII a bit more backbone could give you the PoD.

What happens to Italy in the next ten years is an interesting question. The years since the war had been, well, not particularly stable. Do the military seize control? Does democracy lurch on? Stabilise? Do the Reds receive a shot in the arm with the destruction of the Blackshirts? I don't know, to be honest.

At the risk of raining on the parade of an interesting WI, I think changes in Italy need to be considered before we can really discuss the clearly widespread consequences for the rest of Europe.
 
Removing Mussolini will not butterfly Hitler, but it will butterfly the Beer hall putsch, because Hitler wanted to make his own march on Berlin copying Mussolini march on Rome

Without the Beer hall putsch Hitler is never arrested, so either there is not mein kampf (very unlikely) or he is very modified
 

NoMommsen

Donor
No Mussolini march on Rome -> no Beerhall-putsch -> no Landsberg imprisonenment -> no writing "Mein Kampf"

He needed the time and ... well, also "resting" from the nitty-bitty fighting of all the antisemitic-rightwing mini to micro groups and wannabe-leaders to make up his mind as well as writing/dictating the book.

... but without this state-payed "holiday" .... ?

The Beerhall-putsch was important for Hitlers rise in giving him kind of a "martyr"-status improving his position against other leader.
Also teaching him the "lesson" of taking on the "political" path of elections instead of putsch.
 
VE II With A Brain

VE II with some brains to go with a brand-new backbone (a POD all in itself) would probably butterfly away many of the conditions which gave rise to the Blackshirts. (Including, maybe, the nature and degree of involvement in WW1.)

As said, No March on Rome means no Beer Hall Pusch, no Pusch means no Mein Kampf (and no Fuhrerprinzip.)

And Geli Rubaul's lover shoots Hitler after finding our what the mustache was doing with the niece. :eek:
 
The best PoD to avoid the fascist takeover of Italy is having Benny being killed during WWI; without him the only real unifying figure of the fascist is D'Annunzio and he is not really capable of being a long term politician or to gain the sympathies of the King and the old enstablishment (except of his personal friend the Duke of Aosta).

If the March on Rome fail the immediate effect will be the litterally elimination of the fascist party as except for Mussolini all the leaderships was there; sure there will be days even weeks of political violence overall Italy but they are finished as a unfied political force.

Much of the reasoning for letting Mussolini win was to avoid a socialist revolution; ironically the socialist themselfs will never have a realistic shot to take power in Italy as they were deeply divided among themselfs, with many (like Matteotti offshot party) being perfectely willing to work with the goverment and being basically social-democrats.

For the future, well probably a similar but slightly stabler political situation of OTL France due to the presence of the King.

Regarding the international ramification; well Hitler going to prison is very likely, if not for the Beer Putsh for other political sheninghan...it will probably have a different muse than Benny as rightwing strongman wannabe were really numerous in the period.
In any case if not for Hitler, the Weimar repubblic will probably fall to a rightwing takeover by the army and will try similar foreign politics...only more prudent and with a slower pace; maybe even an alliance with Poland to carve up the Balkans and secure the estern border.

Naturally without Benny we will have a very different Spanish civil war as the Italian logistical support was vital for the victory of Franco and no war in Abyssinia as it was Mussolini pet project.
In the last case, some limited war can still happen due to the volatile situation of the region.
 
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