Italy was placed under military rule without a hitch, but unfortunately, the war reparations the Entente wanted remained tantalizingly out of reach. Worse still, with the coalition forces moving in, Italy's economy deteriorated even further.
In the Kingdom of Italy, where unemployment had soared as high as fifty percent, the people were already poor enough to hear their pockets rattle. Forget paying war reparations—even making a living was a problem for them. Every last one of them was still hoping the Entente forces would hand out relief grain.
Southern Italy was somewhat better off. Local industry was relatively underdeveloped, while agricultural workers made up a considerable proportion of the population, so there were not yet too many people in need of relief.
After reaching an agreement with the British financial syndicates, Ferdinand ordered the garrison troops to distribute a batch of relief grain. They then began work-relief projects, such as leveling land and building factories...
The French in the north, meanwhile, were in for a tragedy. Several million people were relying on the French army for food.
It left them caught between a rock and a hard place. If they distributed relief grain, they would never get past the members of Parliament; if they did not, Italy would immediately descend into chaos.
And once Italy fell into chaos, the war reparations would go up in smoke as well. The French government was worried sick.
The British, who had reacted a step too slowly, had now begun watching the spectacle. Due to troop limitations, they only controlled Rome, so comparatively speaking, they faced the least pressure.
Withdraw from Italy? They could think about it, but that was all. If they returned empty-handed, how would they explain themselves to the public back home? Not everyone was like Bulgaria, selling off its claims.