Italy enters a Mediterranean reshaped by France’s collapse

The opening asks whether Britain might have attempted a Copenhagen-style preventive attack had it known exactly when Italy would enter the war. In practice, the crises in France and Norway kept British attention and deployable strength focused on northern Europe. France’s collapse then removed a planned naval and military partner, while French North Africa, several islands, and metropolitan France became politically uncertain territory. The result was a Mediterranean problem Britain had to manage with fewer assumptions, more neutral space, and gaps that prewar coalition planning had expected France to fill.