emperor of seleucid

How strong were they?

Zeno

Fascist Italy could take the Zulu.

Wenge

Duchy of Grand Fenwick.

Pacific_Victory

Sealand

bartieboy

All of them except for Mexico, France, India and Japan.

Aulus Plautius

Ditto

Sam-Nary

The Italian's only major military victory under Mussolini was in Ethiopia. The army failed in every battle of WW2 that it fought on its own...

They invaded France toward the tail end of the Battle of France, and despite the fact that the French army was collapsing in the face of superior German tactics, the Italian gains were minimal, and they required the Germans to force the French to not drive them back all the way to Genoa.

They invaded Greece, thinking that the Greeks would be an easy conquest. Not only did the Greeks repel the Italian invasion, but they also counterattacked into Albania, from which the Italian invasion was launched. Again, the Germans had to come to the rescue of their Italian allies.

They invaded Egypt and were rapidly defeated by the British. In fact the British soon liberated Ethiopia and captured Italian Somaliland and other Italian colonies in the "Horn of Africa" before moving on to trying to take Libya. British success in Africa is ultimately what got Rommel and a contingent of the German army sent to Africa. And while the bulk of Rommel's army was Italian, they were still under his command and their successes were due to Rommel's ability to get his force to actually fight... but the force was still dependent on getting German reinforcements. These never came in the numbers Rommel needed.

The only force Fascist Italy could defeat on its own was... Fascist Italy itself.

Delenda est Roma

I agree

Mangekyou

Did they not get pushed out of Ethiopia though? Albeit with the help of Orde Wingate.

WeisSaul

Italy wasn't prepared for war in 1939. Every general told Mussolini that the country wouldn't be prepared until 1942, but Mussolini went ahead anyway. Following the German victory over France, he thought the country would be easy pickings so he threw his lot in too soon.

Had the Italians waited until 1942, they would have been far more formidable a foe.

The Italians would have picked apart Yugoslavia had they stayed Neutral, and would have achieved Italia Irridenta, as they were offered Tunisia for neutrality but they (stupidly) rejected the offer.

If Italy modernized, I'd think they'd have been number 5 in Europe after the Soviet Union, Britain, Germany, and France.