WI: Italy starts WWII?

Is there any possible way that fascist Italy could have started World War Two? I'm talking about any way, as long as it's somewhat plausible.
 
Is there any possible way that fascist Italy could have started World War Two? I'm talking about any way, as long as it's somewhat plausible.

Maybe the Italian government knocking off a key figure of the day, a la the Black Hand taking out Franz Ferdinand to kick off WWI. The war is going to happen somehow; it's just a question of who fires the first shot.
 

Deleted member 94708

The British and French weren't prepared to go to war for Czechoslovakia. They would be no more prepared to do so for Yugoslavia, let alone Ethiopia.

Moreover, Italy's government, for all its idiocy in many ways, knew better than to pick a fight with a peer competitor (or two). It didn't KNOW that the French and British wouldn't defend Yugoslavia.

The most likely way I can see for them to start WWII is to receive firm Franco-British backing and intervene in Austria before/during the Anschluss, in which case WWII would be known as a relatively minor war in which the U.K., France, and Italy curb stomped a mostly-disarmed Germany. This is still not likely, just less unlikely than their picking a fight with France or the U.K.
 
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