With the end of the first phase of the Battle of Taranto, the World War too had been seriously affected. Especially on the Western Front, with the Italians joining the fray, history had already turned down another fork in the road.
With Taranto fallen, the Italian government was now desperate for a victory to offset the political fallout caused by its defeat in the Battle of Taranto.
On April 15, the Italian government decided to coordinate with the Germans in an attack on France. The man responsible for carrying out the plan was Italian Army General Luigi Cadorna.
In fact, serious territorial disputes still existed between France and Italy—over Savoy and Nice. Historically, in order to win French support in breaking free from Austrian rule, the Italians had signed the Treaty of Turin with France in 1860, ceding both regions to the French.
With Italy's rise, the emerging nationalist movement was deeply dissatisfied with this. Nice in particular was also the birthplace of Italy's national liberation movement.
The Alps had always formed a natural border between France and Italy. Invading France was no easy task.
But now, the opportunity had arrived. With the Germans tying down a vast number of French troops, fewer than fifty thousand French defenders remained along the Franco-Italian border, while the Kingdom of Italy had assembled an army of five hundred thousand.
The French had Ferdinand to thank. If he had not suddenly launched the Battle of Taranto, France might now have had to face more than merely five hundred thousand Italian soldiers.
The Italians' reserves of strategic materials were limited. If they launched an all-out offensive, they could only sustain it for three months.
Of course, that did not mean the Italians could fight for only three months. Their domestic production was still continuously supplying