Italy and the Great War

>>2521032

Probably not. Like most European powers, Italy imported a lot of her raw materials. The Central Powers as a whole generally didn't have enough primary resources, food, metals, coal, rubber, that kind of thing, especially since the British had naval dominance and were blockading shipments.

Italy, while taking a degree of military pressure off of Austria-Hungary that could be added elsewhere, introduces a lot of home front pressure; when they were allied with the Entente, their resource needs could (mostly) be supplied overseas. If they join the central powers, you've got a food importing country that will almost certainly be cut off from all imports.

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We will always backstab the G*rms for revenge of what Arminius did to the Romans.

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Fair enough. Then this leads to my next question, if the Central Powers were so under resourced, why would they declare war - were was Austria-Hungary & Germany getting their stuff from during the war?

>>2521082

Well, for starters, remember that nobody predicted a 4 year long total war that led to a massive slugfest on all sides. In August 1914, everyone was thinking this would be a 3 month long war, with either a decisive victory in that time or at the very least a negotiated peace, in part because long war wasn't easily sustainable. Economics can decide conflicts on its own, but it's a slow weapon, and it will take too long if you have German troops in Paris already.


As for the latter question, they weren't completely without primary resources. You did have people farming, and mining, and whatnot. But not enough to keep pace with the rest of their industry (something that at least for Germany would go on to repeat in WW2) And I mean, there was pretty bad starvation. I don't personally buy it myself, but there's a pretty major segment of scholarship that thinks the blockade and subsequent things like the Turnip Winter was the #1 reason Germany (and by extension, the central powers) lost.

>>2521102
So why was it the participating powers didn't just sign a peace treaty 3 month into the war anyway?

>>2521032
If Italy sided with the Central Powers in 1914 and launched an invasion of France, they probably wouldn't have been able to do too much directly, due to poor training and difficult terrain. However, they could have diverted some of the French forces that turned the tide at the Marne, causing Paris to fall. The Royal Navy would probably blockade the shit out of them though.

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What would have constituted as a "decisive victory"? Austria-Hungary claiming part of Serbia?