Argentina & Brazil have a long history of not getting along.
However, they have rarely actually gone to war with each other. But, it has happened & one such occasion was the Cisplatine War of the 1820's. It saw the two countries square off over where the border was between them.>
The area in question is known as Cisplatina, meaning the area of the River Plate or Rio de la Plata. Spain ๐ช๐ธ & Portugal ๐ต๐น had been rather unclear on where the border was between Brazil & Argentina but Portugal solved it by marching in & occupying the territory in 1811. ๐๐ป
Brazil became independent & considered the region Brazilian but the local populace was divided. Many felt more akin to the
Argentines than Brazilians, others favored neither side. Argentina, though they denied it at first, naturally backed the separatists who wanted to join them.
๐ท๐บ Dmitry Lavrinenko, a son of the Kuban Cossacks, commanded a T-34/76 and is generally considered the most successful tank commander of the war on the Allied side with 52 confirmed kills. Some sources say he destroyed as many as 58 enemy tanks before being KIA in December 1941.
๐ฉ๐ช Kurt Knispel is considered by most the top German tank commander or from any country with his astounding record of 168 kills with some believing his total couldโve been as high as 195. He drove a Kรถnigstiger and was most famous for destroying a T-34 at almost 2 miles away.
๐บ๐ธ Creighton Abrams is credited with being the best American tank commander of WWII. In his M4 Sherman he and his crew destroyed roughly 50 German tanks & armored vehicles. He later served in Korea & Vietnam. The XM1 main battle tank was named M1 Abrams in his honor.
Favorite โwhat ifโ: the Duke of Aosta recognizes that AOI will inevitably fall, goes for broke and advances up the Sudanese coast with everything heโs got to invade Egypt from the south while Graziani invaded from the west. Brits couldโve been overwhelmed & forced out. ๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ๐ฎ๐น
After that? How defensible was the Levant for the Allies? The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem ๐ต๐ธ was pro-Axis, French forces in Syria ๐ซ๐ท under General Henri Dentz were cooperating with Germany & Italy to back Iraq ๐ฎ๐ถ in the Anglo-Iraq War of May 1941. Seems like the Axis had a shot.
Depending on how that went, how long it took etc, what are the possibilities? Without Egypt, Cyprus wouldโve been scarcely defensible (The Casa Savoia also had claims on Cyprus & Jerusalem); UK loses eastern Med. and perhaps Italians from the south meet von Kleist in Caucasus?
In 1899 King Umberto I of Italy ๐ฎ๐น sent an expeditious to China ๐ฒ to establish an Italian coaling station in the Bay of San Mun, near Ningpo south of the Chusan islands. Britain & Germany didnโt want the competition & when China said โNoโ, Italy had to back down. Cont..๐๐ป
Italy ๐ฎ๐น did have a legation in Peking but when Rome backed down this encouraged the anti-foreign element in China to defy all the foreigners in the country. The result was the horrific Boxer Rebellion & the 55-day siege of the foreign legation in Peking. Cont..๐๐ป
Italy ๐ฎ๐น sent 2 warships & 2,500 troops to take part in the 8-Nation Alliance in 1900 to rescue their people in Peking and suppress the Boxers. In the aftermath, Italy received a greater concession in China, in Tientsin on September 7, 1901. After WW1 Italy gained the Austrian ๐๐ป
There is no need for the current antagonism toward Russia. We have never fought a war against Russia, have no shared border or territorial disputes with Russia & no vital interests in conflict. Here is a brief rundown on Russian-American relations: ๐ท๐บ๐ค๐บ๐ธ
During the American War for Independence, Empress Catherine the Great of Russia played an important part. She organized the League of Armed Neutrality which prevented sympathetic European powers from assisting the British against the Americans. ๐ท๐บ๐ค๐บ๐ธ
During the American Civil War the Russian Imperial Navy wintered in American ports. With Britain & France ill-disposed toward Russia & not very friendly with the USA, this was to be prepared for foreign intervention leading to a wider war w/ Russia & USA allied. ๐ท๐บ๐ค๐บ๐ธ