European instability before the Axis offensive

Germany's occupation of Bohemia and Moravia, Hungary's attack on Slovakia, and Italy's invasion of Albania all remain part of the scenario. These quick gains occur without an immediate wider war, encouraging Italian leaders to believe that force can alter borders at low cost. The annexations take place in a Central Europe destabilised by the post-First World War settlement, new or revised national borders, and intense nationalist grievances. Fascist and communist movements pull politics toward the extremes while armed veterans and frustrated would-be soldiers make the political centre especially vulnerable. Those conditions make further aggression a plausible miscalculation rather than an isolated whim by Mussolini.