Italy

Italy

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Capital:

Rome

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Government type:

Fascist

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Faction:

Neutral(1936), Axis(1939)

Italy is a major nation in Southern Europe. In 1936, its navy is its strongest asset, with an average-at-best land army and modest colonial empire.

In a historical scenario, Italy fulfills a support role to Germany, allowing the Axis to contest control of the Mediterranean and North Africa. If successful, this will deny the Allies a valuable staging ground from which they could harass the Axis’s soft underbelly and will allow the Axis to secure the Mediterranean and focus on other theatres of war.

Geography

Italy is located in Southern Europe and consists of the Italian peninsula and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia to the west. It also contains territory in Zara (on the Dalmatian coast) and the Dodecanese (Aegean Sea), with African colonies in Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia. Its terrain is mainly made of hills, with the peninsula having some coastal plains on the east and west sides of its rugged central spine. It is dominated by the Alps to the north, the Apennine mountains through most of the mainland, and flatlands in the south and Sicilian Island. Italy borders  France to the Northwest,  Switzerland and  Austria to the North, and  Yugoslavia to the East. Italy is surrounded by the Adriatic Sea to the East and the Mediterranean sea to the South and west. Italy's location in the center of the Mediterranean causes Italy to be a dominant force in the region.

Historical background

Italy was a member of the victorious Entente when World War 1 ended in 1918. In exchange for promises of significant territorial expansion, Italy had sided with the French and British. With the war's end, Italy had anticipated its promised reward would be commensurate with Italian losses in the Alps. But at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference the three pre-eminent powers (the US, the UK and France) largely broke with their promises to lesser allies: Italy gained only the provinces of South Tyrol and Trieste, while the British and French divided the colonial world between them and Dalmatia was handed over to the newly-founded  Yugoslavia. Regions Italy had long considered as Italian, such as Corsica, Savoy, Nice and Tunisia, remained under French control, while what German colonies there were went mostly to the British. This seeming betrayal outraged Italy as a whole and is today seen as one of the contributing factors to the rise of Fascism in Italy.

 Italy conquered  Ethiopia and  Albania prior to its entry into World War II. Despite the Pact of Steel with  Germany, Italy did not join in the war until June 1940, planning to get a share of Allied territory with the defeat of  France (Corsica, Savoy and Nice). Later, in 1941, Italy joined Germany and Hungary in the invasion of  Yugoslavia and managed to conquer and annex most of coastal Dalmatia along with some other inland regions from Yugoslavia.

Aside from these successes, however, Italy's war effort went beyond poorly, With Italy being unable to make significant gains in France before the french surrender and then suffering a humiliating defeat in  Greece later in 1940. Later, Italy invaded British-controlled Egypt with 150.000 men compared to 3.500 British, capturing 50 miles of territory before being forced to stop due to logistical problems. Not long after, they were brutally beaten back by Richard O'Connor during operation Compass, and the Italian army was pushed back into Libya and eventually expelled from Africa completely with huge losses in both materiel and manpower, whether destroyed/killed or captured by the Allies. The Allies then launched a naval invasion of Italy in the summer of 1943 and Mussolini's government collapsed.

The new royal government of Marshal Pietro Badoglio signed an armistice with the allies, but most of the country was quickly occupied by the Germans who established a puppet government under Mussolini's leadership, the Italian Social Republic, in Northern Italy with its capital in the small town of Saló, located between Milan and Venice. Badoglio and the king escaped to Brindisi in southern Italy without giving any order to the army. The royal government remained in control of the south, declared war on Germany, and declared itself as the government of all of Italy shortly before the end of the war in the spring of 1945, sparking a brief but destructive civil war. Significant partisan actions took place in northern Italy. Italy would eventually recover from the war and, along with  France, Germany (divided into  West Germany and  East Germany) and the low countries, would become one of the founding members of the European Union. Italy did however lose the region of Istria and the Dalmatian city of Zadar to Yugoslavia in addition to all of its African colonies.

Events

Main article: Italian events

National focus

Italy's national focus tree.

Main article: Italian national focus tree

 Italy, as one of the seven major powers, gets a unique national focus tree.

As of the No Step Back DLC, Italy's focus tree is the oldest one of its kind, (alongside the Generic National Focus Tree) as it is the last national focus tree that has not been extensively updated, expanded or reworked in any capacity and is almost identical to what it was when the game originally released.

However, the newly-announced By Blood Alone expansion pack will overhaul Italy's focus tree.

Italy has an interesting national focus tree with five different branches:

Ethiopian War Logistics

A smaller tree which focuses on industrial build up.

Army Primacy

Strengthens your army research.

Mare Nostrum

The big naval strengthening tree.

Light Ship Effort

Destroyer & Submarine benefits.

Triumph in Africa

The big political and diplomatic tree, where you have lots of different choices on who to befriend and conquer.

Technology

Italy starts with four research slots and can gain one from its focus tree.

Army Technology	Naval Technology	Air Technology	Electronics & Industry
Support Weapons II (1939) Infantry Equipment I Improved Infantry Equipment I (1939) Motorized Mountain Infantry I Support Equipment Engineer Company I Recon Company I (1939) Great War Tank Light Tank I Light Tank II (1939) Artillery Anti-Air Interwar Artillery (1939) Anti-Tank (1939)	1936 Destroyer Hull Basic Depth Charges 1936 Cruiser Hull Improved Airplane Catapult Basic Cruiser Armor Scheme 1936 Heavy Ship Hull Inclined Belt Armor Scheme 1936 Submarine Hull Basic Torpedo Basic Light Battery Basic Medium Battery Basic Heavy Battery Turreted Secondary Battery Transport Ship Contact Mine Minelaying Submarine Without Man the Guns: Destroyer I Destroyer III (1939) Light Cruiser I Light Cruiser II (1939) Heavy Cruiser I Battlecruiser I Battleship II Battleship III (1939) Submarine I Submarine II (1939) Transport Ship	Interwar Fighter Close Air Support I Fighter II (1939) Naval Bomber I Interwar Bomber Tactical Bomber II (1939)	Fuel Storage Synthetic Oil Experiments (1939) Fuel Refining I Fuel Refining II (1939) Advanced Machine Tools (1939) Concentrated Industry III (1939) Construction III (1939) Radio Detection (1939) Computing Machine (1939) Without La Resistance: Encryption - Polyalphabetical Ciphers (1939) Decryption - Frequency Analysis (1939)
Doctrines
Trench Warfare Prepared Defense (1939)	Fleet in Being Battlefleet Concentration (1939) Submarine Operations (1939)	Dispersed Fighting (1939)

Theorists and designers

Tank designers

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	Fiat	Tank Designer	Armor Research Speed: +15% Armor: Reliability: +5% By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150

Ship designers

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	CRDA	Ship Designer	Naval Research Speed: +15%	150

Aircraft designers

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	Macchi	Light Aircraft Designer	Air Research Speed: +15% Fighter: Agility: +10% Max Speed: +10% Carrier Fighter: Agility: +10% Max Speed: +10% By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150
	Savoia-Marchetti	Medium Aircraft Designer	Air Research Speed: +15% Heavy Fighter: Reliability: +20% Tactical Bomber: Reliability: +20% By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150
	Caproni	Naval Aircraft Designer	Air Research Speed: +15% Naval Bomber: Range: +10% Naval Attack: +10% CV Naval Bomber: Range: +10% Naval Attack: +10% Carrier Fighter: Range: +10% Agility: +10% Carrier CAS: Range: +10% Naval Attack: +10% By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150
	Piaggio	Heavy Aircraft Designer	Air Research Speed: +15% Strategic Bomber: Strategic Bombing: +10% By selecting this Design Company it will permanently affect capabilities on all equipment researched while they are hired.	150

Materiel designers

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	Beretta	Infantry Equipment Designer	Weapons and Equipment Research Speed: +15%	150
	Lancia	Motorized Equipment Designer	Motorization Research Speed: +15%	150
	Breda	Artillery Designer	Artillery Research Speed: +15%	150

Industrial concerns

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	Danieli	Industrial Concern	Industrial Research Speed: +15%	150

Theorists

Icon	Name	Type	Conditions + effects	Cost ()
	Giovanni Messe	Mobile Warfare Expert	Army Experience Gain: +0.05 Mobile Warfare Doctrine: +15%	250
	Rodolfo Graziani	Grand Battleplan Expert	Army Experience Gain: +0.05 Grand Battleplan Doctrine: +15%	250
	Giuseppe Fioravanzo	Grand Fleet Proponent	Naval Experience Gain: +0.05 Fleet in Being Doctrine: +15%	250
	Angelo Iachino	Naval Theorist	Naval Experience Gain: +0.05 Naval Doctrine Research Speed: +10%	150
	Amedeo Mecozzi	Assault Aviation	Air Experience Gain: +0.05 Operational Integrity Doctrine: +15%	250
	Renato Sandalli	Air Warfare Theorist	Air Experience Gain: +0.05 Air Doctrine Research Speed: +10%	150
	Gaetano Crocco	Rocket Scientist	Rocket Research Speed: +15%	150

Cosmetic names

Like all majors, Italy has unique names for certain technologies and equipment. Note that techs without unique names are not listed.

Infantry & motorized techs

Type	1918	1936	1939	1940	1942	1944
Infantry Equipment	Carcano M91	Carcano M38	MAB-38		FNAB-43
Motorized		Fiat 626
Mechanized				Fiat 2800	Fiat 727	Breda 61
Armored Car		AB611		AB40	AS.42 (AS.42 47/32)

Armor techs

Tech year	Light (TD/SPG/AA)	Medium (TD/SPG/AA)	Modern (TD/SPG/AA)	Heavy (TD/SPG/AA)	Super-Heavy (TD/SPG/AA)
1918	Fiat 3000
1934	L3 (L3 cc / N/A / N/A)			P75
1936	L6 (Semovente 47/32 / N/A / N/A)
1939		M11/39
1941	L8	M16 (Semovente 75/34 / Semovente 75/18 / N/A)		P26 (N/A / Semovente da 149/40 / N/A)
1943		M20/43 (Semovente M41M 90/53 / Semovente M42L 105/25 / Semovente M15/42)		P43	Il Duce
1945			P45

Artillery techs

Tech year	Anti-Air	Artillery	Anti-Tank
1934		Cannone da 75/27
1936	Breda Model 35		Solothurn S-18/1000
1939		Cannone da 149/40 m/35
1940	Cannone-Mitragliera da 37/54		Cannone da 47/32
1942		Obice da 210/22 modello 35
1943	Cannone da 90/53		Cannone da 75/46

Naval techs (Without )

Type	1922	1936	1940	1944
Destroyer	Curtatone Class	Soldati Class	Ciclone Class	Medaglie d'Oro Class
Light Cruiser	Taranto Class	Duca Degli Abruzzi Class	Capitani Romani Class	San Marco Class
Heavy Cruiser	Trento Class	San Giorgio Class	Pisa Class	Garibaldi Class
Battlecruiser	Caracciolo Class		Principe Amedeo Class
Battleship	Conte di Cavour Class	Caio Duilio Class	Littorio Class	Impero Class
Super-Heavy Battleship		Regina Margherita Class		Regina Elena Class
Carrier	Giuseppe Miraglia Class	Falco Class	Aquila Class	Sparviero Class
Submarine	Mameli Class	Perla Class	Marconi Class	Pietro Calvi Class

Aircraft types

Tech year	Close Air Support (Carrier)	Fighter (Carrier)	Naval Bomber (Carrier)	Heavy Fighter	Tactical Bomber	Strategic Bomber	Scout Plane
1933		CR.32 (ICR.32)			Ca.101
1936	Ba.65 (Ba.65bis)	C.200 Saetta (IC.200)	SM.79 Sparviero (SM.79-II Sparviero)	Ro.57	BR.20 Cicogna	P.50	Ca.310
1940	Ba.88 Lince (Re.2001G/H Falco II)	C.202 Folgore (IC.202)	SM.84 (SM.84-II)	Ro.58	Z.1007bis Alcione	P.108	Ca.311
1944	Ba.201 (Ba.201bis)	G.55 Centauro (G.55S Centauro)	(SM.89) (SM.89-II)	SM.92	Z.1018 Leone	P.133
Jet Engine Technology
1945		Re.2007
1950		Re.2008

Politics

Italy's political overview.

National spirits

Victor Emmanuel III

• Stability: +5%

The "Soldier King" remind the Italians of their recent victories in the Great War. His presence and their loyalty to him is a great source of unity for the people.

Vittoria Mutilata

• Acceptance of Communist Diplomacy: −10
• Acceptance of Democratic Diplomacy: −10
• Acceptance of Fascist Diplomacy: +10
• AI Modifier: Focus on Offense: +50%
• Justify war goal time: −5%

Our allies betrayed Italy and stabbed us in the back when they broke the Pact of London. We sacrificed so much blood at the Isonzo for their victory and they in turn denied us what was ours by right. Now Italy will take her destiny into her own hands and ensure that justice is done.

With the Man the Guns expansion enabled, Italy starts with an additional national spirit:

London Naval Treaty Signatory

• Carrier Max Cost: 9500
• Cruiser Max Cost: 5300
• Heavy Ship Max Cost: 10000

We have signed the London Naval Treaty and accordingly are restricted in the size of our capital ships.

Diplomacy

Italy starts off at war with  Ethiopia, which is something they will be focusing on for the first months of the game. The Italian technological and numerical superiority more or less guarantees that they will win the war, barring player intervention. The new transportation mechanics makes it less of a hassle to strengthen this theater and less of a hassle to move back troops afterward. At the 1936 start date, Italy has no alliances, but is guaranteeing  Albania and can choose to either join  Germany and the Axis, form a faction of its own with  Nationalist Spain, or ally  France if they become fascist.

In terms of cores, Italy is able to form 2 formable nations, the European Union and the Roman Empire. It should be noted that these two are not mutually exclusive (the European Union can only be formed if Italy is a democracy, but flipping to Democracy will not prevent you from forming the Roman Empire or dissolve it if it has already been formed), meaning that Italy can gain an immense number of cores should it be able to form both (most of the cores required for the European Union are also required for the Roman Empire - the only nation not required for the Roman Empire that are required for the EU is Germany, meaning that if one was to conquer Germany on top of the countries required for the Roman Empire, they could also form the EU, which would let them core almost the entirety of Europe.

Political parties

Italy is one of the primary Fascist nations and is thus ruled by fascism. The political parties in Italy and their popularity remain the same in both the 1936 and 1939 scenario with Benito Mussolini's Partito Nazionale Fascista ruling with overwhelming support, at 76% support, followed by the democratic Partito Popolare Italiano with a significant 22% popularity and the communist Parito Comunista Italiano with a minuscule 2% support.

Id.	Party name	Popularity	Leader	Country name	Ruling
	Partito Popolare Italiano	22.00%	Ferruccio Parri	Republican Italy
	Partito Comunista Italiano	2.00%	Palmiro Togliatti	Italian Union
	Partito Nazionale Fascista	76.00%	Benito Mussolini	Italy
	Partito Nazionale Monarchico	0.00%	Victor Emmanuel III	Kingdom of Italy

Ministers

Political advisors

Icon	Minister	Type	Effects	Cost ()
	Amadeo Bordiga	Communist Revolutionary	Daily Communism Support: +0.1	150
	Ivanoe Bonomi	Democratic Reformer	Daily Democracy Support: +0.1	150
	Carlo Scorza	Fascist Demagogue	Daily Fascism Support: +0.1	150
	Giovanni Marinelli	Prince of Terror	Non-core Manpower: +2% Foreign subversive activities efficiency: -30% Effect of partisans on us: -25%	150
	Gian Galeazzo Ciano	Compassionate Gentleman	Improve relations opinion: +15%	150
	Roberto Farinacci	Backroom Backstabber	Political Power Gain: +5% Ideology Drift Defense: +15%	150
	Dino Grandi	Smooth-Talking Charmer	Trade deal opinion factor: +10%	150
	Serafino Mazzolini	Ideological Crusader	Same ideology monthly opinion: +100%	150
	Giacomo Acerbo	War Industralist	Military Factory construction speed: +10% Dockyard construction speed: +10% Fuel Silo construction speed: +10%	150
	Junio Valerio Borghese	Armaments Organizer	Civilian to Military Factory conversion cost: -20%	150
	Luigi Einaudi	Captain of Industry	Infrastructure construction speed: +10% Civilian Factory construction speed: +10% Refinery construction speed: +10%	150
	Paolo Thaon di Revel	Quartermaster General	Air Base construction speed: +15% Naval base construction speed: +15% Radar Station construction speed: +15% Rocket Site construction speed: +15% Nuclear Reactor construction speed: +15%	150
	Mario Roatta	Illusive Gentleman	Operative slots: +1 Agency Upgrade Time: -15% Has created an Intelligence Agency	150

Decisions

 Italy can take a decision to form the  European Union (if Democratic) and/or the  Roman Empire (note there is no ideology requirement for forming the  Roman Empire) if it can expand and conquer the requisite territories.

Economy

Laws

Conscription Law	Economy Law	Trade Law
Limited Conscription 2.5% Recruitable population	Partial Mobilization 25% Consumer Goods factories +10% Military factory construction speed −10% Factory (type) conversion cost –10% Fuel gain per oil	Limited Exports 25% Resources to market +1% Research speed +5% Factory/Dockyard output +5% Construction speed +10% Civilian intelligence to others +5% Navy intelligence to others

Industry

Year	Military Factories	Naval Dockyards	Civilian Factories	Fuel Silos
1936	19	11	20 (-9)	1
1939	31	14	33 (-13)	1

Numbers in red indicate the number of civilian factories required to produce consumer goods, based on economy laws and the total number of military and civilian factories, rounded up.

Italy's industry is quite modest compared to other major powers, at just 50 factories, which is a bit below that of the other European major powers. The country's limited production and construction power will seriously undermine its war effort if not dealt with swiftly.

Resources

Year	Oil	Aluminum	Rubber	Tungsten	Steel	Chromium
1936	0	99 (-25)	0	2 (-1)	97 (-24)	3 (-1)
1939	0	101 (-25)	2	2 (-1)	97 (-24)	6 (-1)

Numbers in red indicate how many resources are reserved for export due to trade laws.

Italy's resource pool is rather limited. Italy has access to a good amount of Steel and Aluminum but everything else is either nearly or completely absent. This will need to be adressed one way or another, as otherwise Italy can become dangerously dependent on trade, which will use up civilian factories and trade will inevitably become less available when the world goes to war.

Military

Army

Army

	Type	# 1936	# 1939
	Infantry	29	69
	Light Tank	3	10
	Mountaineers	5	8
	Cavalry	2
	Motorized		2
	Total divisions	39	89
	Manpower used	242.90k	588.30k

Italy has 39 divisions in 1936. Of these:

• Two are Reggimento di Cavalleria with 4x cavalry and no support.
• Five are Divisione Alpina with 6x mountaineers, engineers, support artillery, and high reinforcement priority.
• Five are Divisione Coloniale with 6x infantry, no support, and low reinforcement priority.
• Three are Divisione Celere with 4x cavalry, 2x motorized infantry, 1x light tank, and high reinforcement priority.
• The remaining 24 are Divisione di Fanteria with 6x infantry and engineers.

The land borders of Italy's core territory (France, Switzerland, Austria - later German Reich - and Yugoslavia) are all mountains or hills (except for the city of Nice), and naval invasions will be necessary to control the Mediterranean, so a mix of mountaineers and marines is recommended for special forces expansion.

In terms of technology, Italy's support weapons, armor and artillery are rather outdated, the only special forces available are mountain infantry, and the only support companies available are engineers. Extensive modernization and research will be needed.

Examples of alternative division template names for Italy include:

• Mountaineers - Divisione Alpina
• Marines - Divisione Marina
• Paratroopers - Divisione Paracadutisti
• Motorized - Divisione Motorizzata
• Mechanized - Divisione Meccanizzata
• Armor - Divisione Corazzata

Field Marshals

Name	Skill	ATK	DEF	PLN	LOG	Traits
Emilio De Bono	1	1	1	1	1	Old Guard  Cautious  Politically Connected  Defensive Doctrine
Pietro Badoglio	1	1	2	1	2	Old Guard  Inflexible Strategist  Politically Connected  Defensive Doctrine
Rodolfo Graziani	2	3	2	2	1	Cautious  Politically Connected  Offensive Doctrine

Generals

Name	Skill	ATK	DEF	PLN	LOG	Traits
Giovanni Messe	4	4	3	2	4	Armor Officer  War Hero
Italo Balbo	1	1	1	1	1	Career Officer  Politically Connected
Sebastiano Visconti Prasca	1	1	2	1	2	Inflexible Strategist  Career Officer
Ubaldo Soddu	1	1	1	1	1	Career Officer  Cautious
Ugo Cavaliero	2	1	1	2	3	Old Guard  Career Officer  Cautious

Division composition list

Division	Name list	Support companies	Combat battalions
Divisione di Fanteria	Infantry	Engineer	6x Infantry
Divisione Alpina	Mountain	Engineer, Artillery	6x Mountaineers
Divisione Coloniale	Colonial		6x Infantry
Divisione Celere	Cavalry		4x Cavalry, 2x Motorized Infantry, 1x Light Tank
Reggimento di Cavaleria*	Cavalry		4x Cavalry
Divisione Autotrasportabile^	Motorized	Engineer	6x Infantry, 1x Light Tank, 2x Motorized Infantry
Divisone Motorizzata^	Motorized	Engineer	7x Motorized Infantry
Divisione Corazzata^	Armored	Engineer	4x Light Tank, 3x Motorized Infantry
Raggruppamento Celere^	Cavalry		2x Cavalry, 2x Motorized Infantry, 1x Light Tank
* marks a company or division that is removed in the 1939 start. ^ marks a company or division that is only available in the 1939 start.

Navy

Italy's navies overview.

Navy

	Type	# 1936	# 1939
	Battleship	2	2
	Heavy cruiser	8	8
	Light cruiser	11	14
	Destroyer	80	125
	Submarine	51	97
	Total ships	152	246
	Manpower used	51.40k	75.45k

The Regia Marina is sizeable, with access to significant amounts of modern naval technology - Italy possesses all of the 1936 hulls, batteries and armor setups. The one exception is the complete lack of carriers, but given the time necessary to spin up such a project, it may well not seem worth investing in. Most of the existing ships are older models, but there are four battleships anticipating 1940-1941 completion dates, a nearly-completed Montecuccoli Class cruiser and two almost half-complete Duca degli Abruzzi Class cruisers, two half-complete Maestrale Class destroyers, and a half-complete Calvi Class submarine in production. Completing these any time soon will require a bigger investment in Italian dockyard capacity.

Admirals

Name	Skill	ATK	DEF	MNV	COR	Traits
Alberto Da Zara	3	3	2	3	2	Gentlemanly  Superior Tactician
Angelo Iachino	2	2	1	3	1	Bold  Career Officer  Superior Tactician  Spotter
Carlo Bergamini	2	3	1	2	1	Gunnery Expert  Battleship Adherent  Ironside
Giuseppe Fioravanzo	3	2	2	4	2	Aviation Enthusiast  Blockade Runner
Inigo Campioni	3	2	2	3	3	Battleship Adherent  Superior Tactician  Spotter

Naval units list

Type	Class	Hull	Engine	# 1936	1936	# 1939	1939	Design note
BB	Littorio	1936 Heavy Ship	Heavy II		2		2	2x Heavy Battery II, 2x Anti-Air I, 2x Secondary Battery II, Battleship Armor II, Floatplane Catapult II
BB	Caio Duilio^*	Early Heavy Ship	Heavy II				2	2x Heavy Battery I, 3x Anti-Air I, 2x Secondary Battery I, Battleship Armor I
BB	Conte Di Cavour	Early Heavy Ship	Heavy II		2	2		2x Heavy Battery I, Anti-Air I, 2x Secondary Battery I, Battleship Armor I, Floatplane Catapult I
BB	Andrea Doria*	Early Heavy Ship	Heavy I	2				2x Heavy Battery I, 2x Anti-Air I, 2x Secondary Battery I, Battleship Armor I
CA	San Giorgio	Coastal Defense Ship	Cruiser I	1		1		Heavy Cruiser Battery I, 2x Anti-Air I, 2x Secondary Battery I, Cruiser Armor II, Torpedo Launcher I
CA	Bolzano	Early Cruiser	Cruiser II	1		1		2x Heavy Cruiser Battery I, 2x Anti-Air I, Cruiser Armor I, Floatplane Catapult I
CA	Zara*	Early Cruiser	Cruiser I	4		4		2x Heavy Cruiser Battery I, 2x Anti-Air I, Cruiser Armor II, Floatplane Catapult I
CA	Trento*	Early Cruiser	Cruiser I	2		2		2x Heavy Cruiser Battery I, 2x Anti-Air I, Cruiser Armor I, Floatplane Catapult I
CL	Duca degli Abruzzi^	1936 Cruiser	Cruiser II					2x Light Cruiser Battery III, 2x Anti-Air II, Cruiser Armor I, Torpedo Launcher I, Floatplane Catapult II
CL	Duca degli Abruzzi	1936 Cruiser	Cruiser II		2	2		2x Light Cruiser Battery II, 2x Anti-Air II, Cruiser Armor I, Torpedo Launcher I, Floatplane Catapult II
CL	Montecuccoli	1936 Cruiser	Cruiser II	3	1	4		2x Light Cruiser Battery II, Anti-Air II, Anti-Air I, Torpedo Launcher I, Floatplane Catapult I
CL	Giussano*	Early Cruiser	Cruiser II	6		6		2x Light Cruiser Battery I, Anti-Air II, Torpedo Launcher I, Floatplane Catapult I
CL	Taranto*	Early Cruiser	Cruiser I	2		2		Light Cruiser Battery I, Cruiser Armor I, Torpedo Launcher I, Minelaying Rails
DD	Soldati^	1936 Destroyer	Light II			16		Light Battery II, Anti-Air I, Torpedo Launcher I, Depth Charge I
DD	Maestrale	Early Destroyer	Light II	14	2	46		Light Battery I, Anti-Air I, Torpedo Launcher I, Depth Charge I
DD	Navigatori*	Early Destroyer	Light I	17		17		Light Battery I, Anti-Air I, Torpedo Launcher I, Minelaying Rails, Depth Charge I
DD	Curatone*	Early Destroyer	Light I	49		46		Light Battery I, Anti-Air I, Torpedo Launcher I
SS	Marcello^	1936 Submarine	Submarine II			14	2	2x Torpedo Tubes I
SS	Calvi	1936 Submarine	Submarine I	2	1	32		2x Torpedo Tubes I
SS	Sirena*	1936 Submarine	Submarine I	21		23		Torpedo Tubes I
SS	Bandiera*	Early Submarine	Submarine I	11		11		2x Torpedo Tubes I
SS	Mameli*	Early Submarine	Submarine I	17		17		Torpedo Tubes I
* marks a variant as "outdated". ^ marks a variant that is only available in the 1939 start. Ship type terminology: CV - Carrier BB - Battleship CA - Heavy cruiser CL - Light cruiser DD - Destroyer SS - Submarine

Without Man the Guns

The Regia Marina is rather sizable, it is however not very modern. The only 1936 naval tech that Italy possesses is the Caio Duilio battleship, though it does possess upgraded versions of the 1922 heavy cruiser, light cruiser, destroyer, and submarine. Italy also has several ships under construction. 2 Caio Duilio Class battleships that are about 20% finished. A Montecuccoli class light cruiser that is almost finished along with two Maestrale Class destroyers and a Sirena Class submarine.

Naval variants list

Class	Type	+Reliability	+Torpedo	+Gun	+ASW	+Armor	+Anti-Air	+Stealth	+Engine
Zara	Heavy Cruiser I	2		2		2			2
Montecuccoli	Light Cruiser I	3		3			3		3
Giussano*	Light Cruiser I	1		1			1		1
Maestrale	Destroyer I		3		3		3		3
Navigatori*	Destroyer I		1		1		1		1
Marcello^	Submarine II	1	1					1	1
Sirena	Submarine I	2	2					2	2
Bandiera*	Submarine I	1	1					1	1
* marks a variant as "outdated". ^ marks a variant that is only available in the 1939 start.

Air force

Air Force

	Type	# 1936	# 1939
	Close air support	48	36
	Fighter	300	441
	Naval bomber	72	48
	Tactical bomber	288	737
	Total planes	708	1257
	Manpower used	19.92k	39.98k

Upgrading the interwar fighters and bombers to at least 1936 level is a priority for the air force, as is simply expanding the country's contingent of fighters to a size that can achieve air superiority over the home land and sea regions to fend off strategic bombing and port strike missions.(The Allies (AI) can easily send over 1000 bombers and fighters respectively to Italy.) If carriers are to be built, naval variants of fighters, naval bombers, and perhaps close air support will also be needed as a priority, otherwise the carriers are useless.

Military staff

Italy's military staff picks are an underwhelming lot, only the air force attracts any candidates above "Specialist" level with one exception for a Naval Expert in Military High Command. Army command tends towards the defensive, Navy command trends in the direction of capital ships, only the Air Force command picks exhibit a degree of intense specialization.

Chief of Army

Icon	Candidate	Type	Effects and conditions	Cost ()
	Pietro Badoglio	Army Morale (Specialist)	Division Recovery Rate: +4%	150
	Ugo Cavallero	Army Maneuver (Specialist)	Division speed: +5%	150
	Emilio De Bono	Army Defense (Specialist)	Division Defense: +5%	150

Chief of Navy

Icon	Candidate	Type	Effects and conditions	Cost ()
	Domenico Cavagnari	Commerce Raiding (Specialist)	Convoy Raiding Efficiency: +10%	150
	Arturo Riccardi	Naval Aviation (Specialist)	Naval Air Attacks from Carriers: +3% Naval Air Targeting from Carriers: +3% Naval Air Agility from Carriers: +4%	150
	Inigo Campioni	Decisive Battle (Specialist)	Capital Ship Attack: +5% Capital Ship Armor: +5% Screen Attack: +5% Screen Defense: +5%	150

Chief of Airforce

Icon	Candidate	Type	Effects and conditions	Cost ()
	Italo Balbo	All-Weather (Expert)	Bad Weather Penalty: -20%	150
	Rino Corso Fougier	Air Combat Training (Specialist)	Ace generation chance: +5%	150
	Francesco Pricolo	Air Reformer (Expert)	Air Experience Gain: +7.5%	150

Military High Command

Icon	Candidate	Type	Effects and conditions	Cost ()
	Mario Roatta	Army Regrouping (Specialist)	Division Recovery Rate: +4%	150
	Vittorio Ambrosio	Cavalry (Specialist)	Motorized Attack: +5% Motorized Defense: +5% Cavalry Attack: +5% Cavalry Defense: +5% Mechanized Attack: +5% Mechanized Defense: +5%	150
	Alfredo Guzzoni	Infantry (Specialist)	Infantry Division Attack: +5% Infantry Division Defense: +10%	150
	Ettore Muti	Tactical Bombing (Expert)	Ground support: +15%	150
	Marziale Cerutti	Air Combat Training (Expert)	Ace generation chance: +10%	150
	Silvio Scaroni	Bomber Interception (Expert)	Interception attack: +3% Interception defense: +3% Interception agility: +3%	150
	Alberto da Zara	Anti-Submarine (Specialist)	Submarine Detection: +10%	150
	Carlo Bergamini	Capital Ships (Expert)	Capital Ship Attack: +10% Capital Ship Armor: +10%	150
	Luigi Mascherpa	Naval Air Defense (Specialist)	Naval AA Attack: +8%	150

Strategies and guides

The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Italy. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players.

Basic strategy

Italy is an interesting country to play despite being the weakest of all starting Majors. It is unique in that it is the only nation that starts off at war with another nation in 1936, that being  Ethiopia. Taking Ethiopia isn't a problem, but the war provides an easy early-game source of military experience for reformatting the Italian army divisions. Timing the end of the war is also important. End it too early and you likely will not be able to earn much experience for your generals and field marshals. End it too late and the war might just drain a large chunk of your manpower and/or equipment and the Spanish civil war might just start and end before you can finish the "Support Nationalist Spain" national focus. While the Ethiopian war and Spanish civil war is ongoing, build up your military and industry, you will need them later. Key Traits You Want to get with Two Leaders are get them to level 6 and make both of them into Field marshal and when you Grind Ethiopia make sure to get the traits Mountaineer, desert fox, Infantry Leader and Trickster. This will let you Get 2 leaders make sure to add Infantry Expert, Improvisation Expert and most Importantly Adaptable. Adaptable is the Best trait in the game if you have a Field marshal and a General With it you Get a -45% Terrain Penalty Reduction . This is Huge For pushing anywhere and It makes it a lot Easier to cross the alps.

After Ethiopia, Italy can decide not only the fate of the Allies, but also the Axis. In order for Italy to disrupt  Germany (If Italy is going the "Italy first" route), all Italy has to do in the beginning is to invade  Austria before Anschluss and then attack  Yugoslavia (causing  Czechoslovakia to join as well) and then take Czechoslovakia after war with Yugoslavia. This can be difficult to pull off if Czechoslovakia fortifies, but successfully pulling it off will allow you to steal a lot of the low-hanging fruit that is normally meant for Germany, weakening them. Ironically, despite declaring war and making puppets from Austria, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, this will still generate less world tension than what Germany can produce historically from taking aggressive action against said nations. From here, Italy can choose to expand its alliance by creating further puppets from  Hungary,  Romania and  Turkey. One has to watch the world tension, however, as if it rises to 25% or higher, the allies (France and the UK) will start guaranteeing nations you target, which can easily lead to nasty war with both nations. A war with both the French and British at this stage is likely going to be too much for Italy to handle, even with skilled play, so be careful.

That being said, sometimes Italy can take refuge in audacity. If world tension is below 80% and  France hasn't joined the Allies yet through a focus, Italy could complete the national focus "Go After France" (or justify a wargoal on a nation when world tension is over 25%, causing France to guarantee them) and strike them directly. France has a respectable military but Italy can relatively easily build up its own military to match them through superior units, though this might require stretching Italy's manpower pool somewhat. Be mindful, however, of the fact that France's military industry is horribly sloppy, at just 6 Military factories although, France's national focus tree can expand this quite a bit. If Italy builds up its military and industry (the faster the better), attacks France and manages to encircle and destroy enough units to cripple the French military, Italy could conceivably defeat France before 1940, allowing them to more than double their industrial potential if they annex France, or acquire a nice source of manpower if they puppet them.

From here, the path to supremacy lies open; Italy can either choose to strike at Germany or the United Kingdom and once those two are gone, the rest of Europe is within your reach. Only the  Soviet Union could theoretically present a threat to you anymore and that will most likely only become a factor towards the late game. Conquer enough land and you might just find yourself surpassing even Mussolini's wildest dreams and be able to restore the  Roman Empire.

If playing the more historical Axis alignment its worth noting that Italy is unique among the Axis of being within striking distance of the Middle East with its valuable and abundant Oil supplies. Using its North African holdings as a launching point and its ability to protect supply convoys through the Central and Eastern Mediterranean Italy is able to quickly seize not just the Suez but the entirety of the Allies Middle eastern territory. Just be sure to grab it all or else Vichy France will spawn and cut you off from further eastern expansion. Once this is done you are at your leisure to fabricate and push eastwards grabbing more Oil than you could possibly use from the weak Iraq and Iran. At this point you are then free to advance further into the British Raj and/or open up more fronts with the Soviet menace.

Some suggestions regarding units

A solid, relatively simple strategy is to switch your military doctrine to "Superior Firepower" and place Support and Line Artillery (both Normal, Anti-Tank, and Anti-Air versions) in all of your divisions. Coupled with Fighters (for air supremacy), Close-Air-Support planes (to assist your ground divisions) and Field Hospitals (to conserve manpower, if resources permit) you should be able to both attack and defend against most enemy units without too much of a hassle. Once you can obtain a reliable source of fuel and enough factories to support it, you can also start fielding various kinds of Tanks (supported by Motorized/Mechanized Infantry) to further augment your breakthrough capabilities, allowing you to break stalemates and attempt to encircle enemy units for destruction.

Guard Italy's coast closely! Italy is a peninsular nation and has a very long coastline which, when dealing with a naval enemy like Britain, is a disaster waiting to happen if not properly addressed. To prevent any enemies from pulling a D-Day of their own on italy, it pays off to construct Coastal forts on all naval bases and station units there to man them to repulse invasions. Keep a set of reserve units stationed close by as well, so that if any enemies try to land next to the coastal forts and then assault them overland (to avoid the "amphibious assault" penalty), the reserve units can be brought in to encircle the invading units and contain the enemy incursion away from any naval bases and either destroy them or starve them into defeat.

As for your naval units, Italy is a peninsular nation so maintaining naval supremacy in the Mediterranean will go a long way to protecting against possible naval invasions (something an AI-controlled Italy often falls victim to). In the early game, when naval dockyards are in limited supply, a decent early-game fleet would be a mixture of torpedo-equipped destroyers and gun-carrying light cruisers (both with added armor), with some heavy cruisers added here and there as resources permit. These ships are decently powerful while also being decently expendable and replaceable. In theory, the light and heavy cruisers should engage and destroy enemy screening ships, allowing the destroyers to attack and destroy enemy capital ships once the screen ships are down. Once you acquire more naval dockyards, this combo can be further augmented with the addition of more heavy cruisers and even battleships for heavier ordnance. The Mediterranean sea is small enough that Naval Bombers operating from airfields in coastal states should have enough range to cover most sea zones, allowing you to support your navy. This also makes Aircraft Carrier battleships somewhat redundant early on.

When it comes to dealing with enemy submarines, one could set up specialized "scout fleets" consisting of destroyers optimized for detecting submarines and ordered to "Do not engage". These scout fleets can scout the Mediterranean for submarines and if they find any, they will alert the actual attack fleets, allowing them to make their way over and attack the enemy submarines, damaging and hopefully destroying them. If Italy wants to further assist their navy, they could build ships (destroyers and cruisers) outfitted with minelayers and extensively mine the Mediterranean sea. Mines will cause enemy ships to suffer a speed penalty, making them move slower, which hampers everything from responding to and engaging your fleets, disengaging, and retreating from battles and fleeing from bad situations. Having enough friendly minefields around can allow the Italian navy to do a lot more risky/audacious maneuvers and get away with it, allowing them to punch above their weight against bigger enemies like the British Royal Navy and the French navy.

To avoid issues with fuel, Italy could invest in building fuel silos in peacetime and importing Oil to fill them up. If you manage to puppet  Romania or any other nation that has a decent Oil reserve, you can import Oil at a discount. Once war does break out and fuel becomes harder to import, this can be remedied by occupying and/or annexing states that produce Oil. Alternatively, if conquering and/or importing Oil is not an available option, constructing synthetic fuel refineries can help address this. Just make sure to also protect these installations from enemy aggression as both fuel silos and oil refineries can be bombed by hostile planes and captured by enemy troops, so be careful.

Achievements

Duce Nuked'em Nuke Los Angeles as fascist Italy.

At least they run on time! As fascist Italy, have max level railways in all your core states.

Countries

Europe

Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Denmark Estonia Finland France Free France Vichy France German Reich Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Nationalist Spain Republican Spain Kingdom of Romania Slovakia Soviet Union Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom Yugoslavia

North America

Dominion of Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominican Republic El Salvador Guatemala Haiti Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama United States

South America

Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela

Asia	Afghanistan Bhutan British Malaya British Raj China Communist China Guangxi Clique Iran Iraq Japan Manchukuo Mengkukuo Mongolia Nepal Oman Philippines Saudi Arabia Shanxi Siam Sinkiang Tannu Tuva Tibet Xibei San Ma Yemen Yunnan

Africa

Kingdom of Egypt Ethiopia Liberia South Africa

Oceania

Australia New Zealand Tahiti