The Regretful Italians

Rome, the capital of Italy, had become a place longed for by Catholics across the world because of the Holy See in the Vatican. However, the relationship between the Italian government and the Holy See in the Vatican was extremely poor.

Before Italy was unified, the Holy See ruled the Papal States in central Italy. The Second French Empire provided security guarantees for the Papal States. Unfortunately, the Second French Empire vanished in the smoke and ashes of the Franco-Prussian War. This allowed the Kingdom of Sardinia to directly seize the entire Papal States. The Holy See was driven into the tiny Vatican. Vast amounts of wealth that had originally belonged to the Holy See also fell into the hands of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Even now, the Italian royal family remained unwelcome in the Vatican.

King Vittorio Emanuele III of the Kingdom of Italy was praying to God in his palace at that moment, praying that the Combined Fleet could defeat the German Navy in the naval battle. If so, they might be able to secure a dignified peace. If he could pray in the Vatican, perhaps the effect would be even better. But Vittorio Emanuele III knew that he simply could not go to the Vatican.

In this World War, the Italian Army's performance had been utterly dreadful. In the Alps, they had been beaten black and blue by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the German military, suffering grievous losses. They had no choice but to abandon their offensive against the Austro-Hungarian Empire and focus solely on defense. It could be said that their contribution to this war was merely tying down part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's forces.

However, the situation on the battlefield changed as suddenly as wind and clouds. The Allied Powers, who had originally seemed certain