What if the Italian Empire Reunited Today?

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The Italian Empire was one of the largest and most powerful European Colonial Empires in history and at its territorial peak in 1939, the empire controlled many colonies around the world, including a significant portion of Africa, big parts of Europe, and small parts of China. However, like all empires, the Italian Empire's Golden Age didn't last for ever though. During the Second World War, Allied powers began to slowly capture Italy's territories, until it finally surrendered in 1943, giving up all of its external colonies, and marking the end of the Italian Empire. But what if it reunited today?

Population and Land

As always, the first thing we need to think about a reunited Italian Empire is the population and land it would control around the world. For starters, 20 modern-day countries would lose all or some of their territory to the empire: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Italy obviously, Kenya, Kosovo, Libya, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Slovenia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan and Tunisia. 9 of these would be located in Africa, and the rest of the 11 would be located in Europe.

Due to many countries making up the empire, its land area would also be very impressive, standing at a huge 1,480,000 Sq miles (3,825,000 Sq km). This would be enough to make the empire the 7th largest country in the world, larger than some other very big countries like India (3,287,000 Sq Km) and Argentina (2,780,000 Sq Km), but quite significantly behind the behemoths of Australia (7,692,000 Sq Km) and Brazil (8,515,000 Sq Km).

The population of the Italian Empire would also be gargantuan, mainly due to the fact that some very populated countries are within the empire. Standing at a massive 223 Million people, this would make the empire the 5th most populous country in the world, just slightly ahead of Pakistan (221 Million) and Brazil (212 Million) but quite behind the 4th and 3rd place contenders of Indonesia (273 Million) and the United States (331 Million). Ethiopia would be the most populous country in the empire, with a huge population, on its own, of 115 Million.

As well as this, a reunited Italian Empire would also boast some very populated and impressive cities within its borders to show. The capital of the empire would most likely be Rome, as the city was already the historic capital of the Imperial empire in 1940, and is still today an important hub for Italy and Europe with a modest population of 3,500,000. However, this would not be the most populous city in the empire. Instead, Milan, in Northern Italy, would be the most populous city with a population of 6,150,00, nearly double the size of Rome. Here would be the rest of the top 10 most populous urban-areas within the Italian Empire:

  1. Milan (6,150,000)
  2. Naples (4,150,00)
  3. Addis Ababa (3,900,000)
  4. Athens (3,510,000)
  5. Rome (3,500,000)
  6. Tunis (2,675,000)
  7. Mogadishu (2,000,000)
  8. Turin (1,610,000)
  9. Florence (1,010,000)
  10. Palermo (900,000)

(Not including concessions in Tianjin)
Land area of a reunited Italian Empire on a map

Money and GDP

The economy of the Italian Empire would also be very strong, as well as its population and land. In total, the empire's Nominal GDP would stand at a whopping $2.952 Trillion, which would be enough to place the empire in 7th place, in terms of Nominal GDP, ahead of other huge economies like France ($2.938 Trillion) and Canada ($1.883 Trillion), but remaining behind others such as India ($3.049 Trillion) and the United Kingdom ($3.124 Trillion). Italy would dominate most of this amount, accounting for over 71% of the empire's total GDP.

The GDP Per Capita of the Italian Empire wouldn't be as impressive though, mainly due to the quite impoverished living standards in parts of the empire like Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea. Taking all of this into consideration, the empire's Nominal GDP Per Capita would stand at $13,238, which would place the empire in 76th place, still ahead of may other countries and above the Global Average of $11,339. This would make the empire ahead of the living standards in China ($11,819) and Costa Rica ($11,806), but slightly more impoverished than the conditions in Panama ($13,690) and Romania ($14,698).

The empire would also control an amount of the world's oil reserves, located in the deserts of Libya, which would definitely be an advantage to it and boost its power on the world stage. Oil would probably be the empire's largest export as well.

Religion and Ethnic Groups

The next thing we need to think about a reunited Italian Empire are the religious and ethnic groups prevalent within its borders.

Starting with religion, Christianity would be the most followed faith in the empire, with 55% of the population adhering to it. Islam would be next at 30%, followed by Folk Religion, mainly in the empire's African territories, at 12%. The final 3% of the population would be made up of Atheists and Irreligious peoples.

Focusing on Ethnic Groups now, various tiny African ethnicities, native to the continent, would be the largest Ethnic Groups collectively accounting for 47% of the population, just under half of the empire. Italians would be the next largest at 31%, followed by Arabs at 13%, Greeks at 4.4%, and French at 2.6%. The final 2% would be a mix of several other small ethnicities within the empire's borders.

Purple = Christianity


Green = Islam


Purple-Stripes = Folk Religion

Prevailing religions in the rough area of a reunited Italian Empire

Languages

As well as the Italian Empire's religious and ethnic groups, its Linguistic Groups would be as equally diverse. Various African languages would, collectively, be the most spoken languages representing 40% of the population. Italian would be next, at 26% of the population. Arabic would be closely behind at 18%, followed by Somali at 6%, Greek at 4%, French at 2%, and Serbo-Croatian at 1.7%. The final 2.1% would be a mix of other tiny languages spoken within the empire.

The official language of the empire wouldn't be that of an easy choice to predict but in my opinion, Italian would most likely be the official language, as it is already the official language of Italy, the centre of the empire, and also has a significant percentage of speakers around the empire too.

Military Size

The last topic we need to think about a reunited Italian Empire is its military, and this would of course be very interesting. Starting with manpower, the empire would possess a force of 533,300 active-duty personnel, which would put it in a strong 8th place, ahead of Iran (523,000 troops) and Vietnam's (482,000 troops), but behind South Korea (625,000 troops) and Pakistan (653,800 troops). The empire would also possess around an additional 250,000 troops placed in reserves, bringing its total to a huge 783,300.

The Italian Empire's budget to fund this military would also be a significant amount, standing at $44.5 Billion, or 1.5% of its total Nominal GDP. This would be the 10th largest budget in the world, ahead of other countries' budgets like South Korea ($43.9 Billion) and Brazil ($27 Billion), but behind Japan ($47.7 Billion) and the United Kingdom's ($48.7 Billion) budgets.

A reunited Italian Empire would not possess any Nuclear weapons of their own what a relief but would share a small amount of around 100-150 nukes between other NATO members who don't have their own arsenal, if it were to re-join the alliance. This is still unclear, however.

Overall, if the Italian Empire was to reunite today, it would definitely become one of the most powerful and significant countries in the world, with around equal power to a reunited German Empire. The rest of the empire's future would be completely impossible to accurately predict but with all empires, any theory can be possible in the real world. One thing the empire might face as a challenge would be deciding on who to rule it. In my opinion, the only person capable of handling such a big task would be no other than MG17, The Blog Emperor! And along with other nearby empires around it, with strong leaders from the Quadruple Alliance, the Italian Empire could definitely have some very strong allies. Anyway, here are the voting options for this vote:

Austria-Hungary | Nazi Germany | Yugoslavia | Poland-Lithuania

And finally, that brings us to the end of this part of the series. If you have any other new suggestions for any significant empires you want me to cover then please let me know in the comments. But for now, I would like to thank you all so much for reading and goodbye! :)
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Level 63
Sep 17, 2021
Voting has ended! The request to reunite Austria-Hungary has won with 4 votes. Here are the final standings.

Austria-Hungary | 4 votes | 1st Place

Poland-Lithuania | 3 votes | 2nd Place

Nazi Germany | 1 vote | Joint 3rd Place

Yugoslavia | 1 vote | Joint 3rd Place

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Level 43
Sep 11, 2021
And descendent of Italians, of course I should rule Italian Empire! Btw, about Quadruple Alliance, I’m signing a treaty with Italy for they be part of the EMG (Empire of the Minas Gerais) :)

Nazi Germany again, and you know my suggestion for if this happen :)

(And did the group thing worked?)

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Level 63
Sep 11, 2021
Oh good idea. I think you might want to push further into Africa, like Chad and Sudan, so that you can create an easy access route to Somalia and the pirates lol :)

(I will check our group thing now)

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Level 39
Sep 15, 2021
isńt minas gerias a state in argentina or brazil
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Level 63
Sep 17, 2021
Minas Gerais is in southern Brazil.
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Level 43
Sep 18, 2021
Southeast, for be accurate :)
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Level 73
Sep 11, 2021
Interesting. I don't have anything else to say about the Italian Empire lol. Austria-Hungary once more! Since it is the third time I am voting for Austria-Hungary, I deserve to be its Kaiser. Ha ha ha!
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Level 43
Sep 11, 2021
Also third time voting for Nazi Germany lololol
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Level 63
Sep 11, 2021
Thanks! I will definitely make you Kaiser if Austria-Hungary wins lol :)
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Level 39
Sep 15, 2021
Same
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Level 65
Sep 11, 2021
Great blog, I can set up a trade route to Somalia so we can get pizza ingredients from Italy, otherwise we might have to put countries in our pizza

sorry i had to say it

I vote for Poland-Lithuania.

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Level 63
Sep 11, 2021
Haha lol that line is hilarious! Also, Poland-Lithuania isn't on the voting list lol, is this some sort of Thread vote lol?
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Level 65
Sep 11, 2021
Yes lol since you usually have 4 options you could add Poland-Lithuania as an option but otherwise I vote for Yugoslavia :)
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Level 63
Sep 11, 2021
Oh I completely forgot about that lol. I will add Poland Lithuania to the list before I'm too late :)
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Level 65
Sep 11, 2021
the comments section is usually busier than this
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Level 63
Sep 12, 2021
I know right
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Level 75
Sep 11, 2021
You seem to have forgotten about the Vatican in the "Population and Land" part
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Level 65
Sep 11, 2021
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Level 63
Sep 12, 2021
Vatican City was not part of the Italian Empire. It became its own country in 1929 and Mussolini decided to respect its sovereignty when he took over.
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Level 37
Sep 11, 2021
Nice blog!

I will vote Austria - Hungary

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Level 63
Sep 12, 2021
Thanks! I will add that to the polls soon :)
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Level 71
Sep 11, 2021
Austria-Hungary for the third time also
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Level 63
Sep 12, 2021
I'll add that to the polls as well :)
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Level 52
Sep 12, 2021
Loved it again. I won't bother righting an extensively long comment commending you on your work, but you must know that this is one of my favorite series on JetPunk. I'm interested in seeing Poland Lithuania make an appearance.
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Level 63
Sep 12, 2021
Thanks a lot! I really appreciate your very kind words always :)
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Level 28
Sep 12, 2021
Great Blog! I will vote for Austria-Hungary.
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Level 63
Sep 12, 2021
Thanks! I will add your vote to the polls :)
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Level 64
Sep 12, 2021
"One of the most powerful European Colonial Empires."

Really?

REALLY?

WHATS WRONG WITH YOU ITALY WAS NOT "POWERFUL."

oh uh I'll vote for Poland-Lithuania

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Level 63
Sep 12, 2021
Um, the Italian Empire was fairly powerful, but not too powerful, in terms of other European colonial empires. Sorry, but there's no need to be that rude.
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Level 65
Sep 12, 2021
When there are only 8 colonial empires, they are all "one of the most powerful"
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Level 64
Sep 12, 2021
I was joking

I was just using the LOUD CAPS because of Italy's "involvement" in WWII, I didn't mean to sound the way I sounded there.

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Level 63
Sep 12, 2021
Oh okay. Sorry I misunderstood you lol.
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Level 40
Sep 13, 2021
I vote for yugoslavia again

(R.I.P yugoslavia nobody votes or care about)

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Level 63
Sep 13, 2021
Yes lol, hopefully Yugoslavia will get to appear in the series soon.
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Level 67
Sep 13, 2021
Austria Hungary please! My ancestors are from there, so I would be very interested in a blog of it.
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Level 63
Sep 14, 2021
Nice! I see a lot of people seem to have Italian ancestry lol.
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Level 64
Sep 14, 2021
There are 2 poll comments please fix it.

Also I vote for Austria-Hungary

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Level 63
Sep 14, 2021
Thanks for letting me know. I will fix it now :)

I will also add your vote to the polls now :)

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Level 65
Sep 17, 2021
I think the voting should close now?
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Level 63
Sep 17, 2021
Oh yes, sorry lol. I will announce the winner now :)
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Level 65
Sep 17, 2021
Also, have you seen the Indian Languages group?
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Level 63
Sep 19, 2021
No, I haven’t yet but I will check it now :)
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Level 54
Sep 18, 2021
Great! I really love the series!
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Level 63
Sep 19, 2021
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoy it :)