Romanian Eagle

Italy has a different view on Romania's heavy destruction of the Mediterranean fleet in Alexandria.

In the prime minister's palace, Mussolini watched and listened to the news brought by his son-in-law.

He played with this pen in his hand and said playfully. How can Britain and France intend to use Greece in exchange for our continued neutrality? "

"Yes, father-in-law."

Ciano, who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, answered his father-in-law, picked up the water glass and took a sip, and said. "It looks like Alexander's loss has made Britain and France anxious."

Hearing the words of his son-in-law, Mussolini sneered. "Can't you be in a hurry, the British Mediterranean Fleet has been lost. What can France do to stop our Italian warships, let alone we have an ally Romania. In recent years, Romania has developed rapidly under the leadership of Edel, not only the army Great, even the navy is so great."

Yes, Mussolini was jealous. When he came to power before, Italy's strength was even higher than Romania's. And I am also busy with the development of this country, and Italy's development is not bad. But compared to Romania's development, it immediately seemed nothing.

In addition to too many Romanian plains, its domestic resources also made Mussolini jealous. There are oil, coal and iron in the country, and all the raw materials needed by the industry are basically there.

If Italy had the resources as good as Romania, Mussolini would have the confidence to develop Italy to that level. Of course, Italy is not bad now. After the Spanish Civil War and the Ethiopian War, the Italian army has proved itself, and the navy in the Mediterranean Sea (France and Britain have not as many Mediterranean battleships as Italy), it is time for it to seize enough benefits for Italy .

Just thinking of the record just achieved by the Romanian Navy, Mussolini couldn't help but speak again. "By the way, Ciano. Do you think we should build aircraft carriers?"

As soon as Ciano heard what his father-in-law said, he immediately knew what was going on. "Why, the navy has made a report requesting the construction of an aircraft carrier again?"

For his son-in-law and future successor, Mussolini did not hide. "Yes, Admiral Cavagliari has another request for the construction of an aircraft carrier."

"It seems that the Navy is still obsessed with building aircraft carriers."

Ciano is right, the Italian Navy has proposed the construction of an aircraft carrier a long time ago, but the senior government believes that the need for multiple aircraft carriers in Italy is not urgent. The Italian peninsula, as well as Sicily and Sardinia are natural aircraft carriers, which can fully play the role of aircraft carriers, and Italy needs to spend more money on the construction of battleships.

In fact, this is also on a par with Italy's need for the Mediterranean,

The Italian Navy has always been the main imaginary enemy of the French Navy, and its demand for aircraft carriers is indeed lower than that of battleships. And the Mediterranean Sea is not large (relatively speaking), and the urgency of the demand for aircraft carriers is really not high.

Of course, the above ideas are all when the aircraft technology was not high in the 1920s and 1930s, and the combat capability of the aircraft carrier was not demonstrated. But now that has changed with the Romanian attack on the port of Alexandria with an aircraft carrier.

The Romanian navy fully displayed the role of the aircraft carrier, which made the Italian navy without an aircraft carrier very envious. Therefore, Admiral Cavagliari, who is the Deputy Minister of the Navy and Chief of Staff, will naturally not give up this opportunity. He once again proposed the construction of the Italian aircraft carrier plan by using the Romanian Navy's use of aircraft carriers.

One more thing, the current Minister of the Navy and Air Force is Mussolini.

Clearly, this time Admiral Cavalliari's strategy worked. Seeing the role of the aircraft carrier in Alexandria, Mussolini certainly could not ignore it. It's just that he is still a little undecided now, because the results of the victory in Alexandria this time really made him envious, so his attitude towards building an aircraft carrier has softened a bit.

As for the attitude of his father-in-law, how could Ciano, who is his son-in-law, not feel it. When he thought of his relationship with the navy (his father was the only high-ranking member of the Communist Party who was born in the navy), Ciano said. "I personally think that the navy's request can be agreed, but the quantity needs to be strictly controlled. Because the current financial expenditure is relatively large, there is not much balance allocated to the navy for shipbuilding."

That's right, Ciano intends to release his goodwill to the navy. Although he is not from the navy, his father is. Moreover, the father is still the link between the navy and the party, and Ciano does not intend to give up this advantage.

Hearing his son-in-law's words, Mussolini couldn't help asking. "Will this arouse the dissatisfaction of the Army?"

"The cost of building an aircraft carrier is much less than that of a battleship. We can do it with a special allocation. Besides, the proportion of the army's funds is high enough, and the military expenditure is more than half. How much more do they want."

Ciano naturally knows the situation of Italian military expenditure. The proportion of the navy generally only occupies about three layers, and the air force does not exceed 18% at the highest, and the rest is all the army funds. For the situation facing Italy, this is clearly biased towards the Army.

Of course, this is also related to the low proportion of Italy's military expenditure. Although the situation in Europe is rapidly deteriorating, Italy's military expenditure accounts for 14% of GDP, which is lower than the British army's 15%. (It's much better, historically it was 10% at this time, and now 14% is with Edel drawing the cake)

With the obvious shortage of military spending, Italy must give priority to ensuring the safety of its homeland, and the army is still the basic plan of the army, so it is obvious who to choose.

After talking about the navy, Mussolini clearly had more to say. I saw him speak hesitantly. "Ciano, do you think it's time for us to go to war?"

It was obvious that Mussolini could not sit still after seeing the situation in the Mediterranean clear.

As for the words of his father-in-law, Chiano replied after thinking about it. "I have no idea."

That's right, in the current situation, Ciano really doesn't know what to choose. Unlike his strong opposition in history, the Italian navy is now more powerful, and with the cooperation of the Romanian navy, it can easily gain maritime superiority, which is also very beneficial to Italian expansion.

To the east, you can make territorial claims against Yugoslavia, and to the west you can flank France with Germany (although this is not a good choice). As for his own colony, Libya, it's even simpler. It is a good choice to attack Egypt in the east, occupy the Suez Canal, and solve Tunisia and Algeria in the west.

As for the East African colonies, you can also attack Sudan and the North African army to attack Egypt.

It's just that with such a big advantage, Ciano still has a little worry in his heart, mainly because he is afraid that the result will be like a replica of World War I. It's just that if Italy still hesitates with such a big advantage, then when the results are finally counted, Italy will not get much benefit.

As for his father-in-law's words, he was obviously moved, and he had no sufficient reason to object.

Mussolini was not angry when he heard his son-in-law say he didn't know. I saw him speak. "I plan to call the Romanian ambassador over to discuss it. To let us in Italy this time, at least the raw materials of the aircraft carrier need to be implemented."

That's right, Mussolini intends to knock Edel again on the spot. This is also Mussolini's helplessness. Although Italy does not need to import armor steel from Britain like before World War I, the current output is still not enough. And Romania's production of armor steel has gradually increased to a very high figure over the years (under someone's wise leadership), and Italy naturally intends to find a way out of it.