Prof. Greg Jackson

That's why embattled, lonely Britain takes such extreme action to neutralize the French Navy, despite the armistice saying that it's out of the war.

And this is why Adolf Hitler can focus his attention elsewhere.

Indeed, Vichy's collaboration means Adolf doesn't have to worry about France fighting on from the colonies, be that nearby North Africa or elsewhere.

And setting Charles de Gaulle and the Free French aside, the armistice is pretty successful.

But the Fuhrer does have one worry down in North Africa, his errant ally, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

As we learned in episode 183, Benito's ideology, fascism, is an extreme nationalism that, among other things, glories an empire.

It's with this line of thinking that Benito, or il Duce, aspires to make his modern, fascist Italy into a new Roman empire.

And in his fascist mind, that means his Roman Empire needs to conquer the same Mediterranean territory that the historical Roman Empire of antiquity held.

That includes coasts of the Middle East and North Africa.

But perhaps miffed that Adolf kept him in the dark as Germany gobbled up bits, pieces, then finally large swaths of continental Europe, Il Duce doesn't give the Fuhrer much of a heads up before sending his armies forth.

And that's a problem for Adolf because it soon becomes apparent that his fascist ally is more an ideas guy who isn't actually very good at this whole empire building thing.

In October, 1940, Benito informs Adolf of the impending invasion.

Führer, we are on the march.

Victorious Italian troops crossed the Greco-Albanian frontier at dawn today.

But the attack goes badly.

Downright awful.

German control of the Balkans and the crucial oil fields of Axis-allied Romania are at stake.

Basically, the Italian army falls so flat on its face that Adolf has no choice but to absorb the distraction of sending the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe to bail out Ilduce.

Germany takes Greece by May of 1941, but only after diverting forces that Adolf would have preferred to use elsewhere.

And this isn't even Benito's only screw-up.