TIL thаt іn 1923 Mussоlini bоmbarded аnd осcupied Cоrfu. Arоund 20 cіvilians wеre kіlled, mоst оf thеm bеing Armеnian gеnocide survіvors аnd rеfugees. Grеece appеaled tо thе Leaguе оf Nаtions, but Іtaly sіdelined іt аnd sеcured а 50 mіllion lirе indеmnity befоre wіthdrawing.

[u/No_Idea_479]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corfu_incident

[u/RomanItalianEuropean]

A pretty much uknown story even in Italy. This bombardment was a retaliation for the mysterious killing of an Italian general, Enrico Tellini, who had been sent by the League of Nations to the Albanian-Greek frontier to draw precise borders. It wasn't (and isn't yet) clear who did it but Italian authorities just assumed it was Greeks who murdered him since it was an open secret that Italians were being more favorable to Albania, gradually becoming an Italian protectorate. The League of Nations accepted Italian demands and had Greece accept the borders drawn by Tellini, pay indemnities to Italy and give homage to the Italian flag. It's considered an early show of the League of Nations weakness toward Great Powers. Italy was diplomatically supported by France, which was doing a similar retaliation occupation in the Ruhr. The British initially threatened to confront Italy militarily but eventually decided it was better to have a compromise with the Italians and French. Also, the the fact that Greece just accepted Italian demands after a short military operation made Mussolini wrongly assume they would do the same in 1940 during WW2.

[u/No_Idea_479 → u/RomanItalianEuropean]

The Romanian consul in Ioannina attributed the murder to Albanians.[12] After the Italian occupation of Greece, Italian authorities conducted research into the Greek government's archives and uncovered no evidence to link the Greek government, either directly or indirectly, with Tellini's murder.[13] Reginald Leeper, the British ambassador at Athens in 1945, in a letter to the British Foreign Secretary in April 1945 mentioned that the Greeks that lived in Albania blame Cham Albanians for the murder of Tellini.[14]

In light of recent evidence, it is generally agreed that the Greek government was correct in assuming that the crime was carried out by Albanians,[15][16] as Albanian bandits were active in the area since 1921,[16] and since Tellini had several Albanians, including notables, executed during his service in Vlorë, just before the Vlorë War.[17]

Huh. So evidence points to Albanian culpability but not Italian backing. I guess Italians didn't know and just assumed the perpetrator was Greek for the reasons you said.

Adding to that, this was a good way to also showcase the new regime's power. They couldn't really showcase it against Albania, so they picked a far bigger and far stronger (albeit war-torn) target.

[u/cutchins]

I wonder what was the total number of ignored appeals made to the League of Nations by countries suffering from aggression and/or oppression by member states.

It feels like we didn't entirely learn from its failures.

[u/SisterRosaria2021]

TIL the plural of the old pre-euro currency of Italy is "lire"

[u/cev2002 → u/SisterRosaria2021]

Multiple lasagnas are lasange

[u/Emmettmcglynn]

This was, incidentally, a factor for why Mussolini felt confident Greece would capitulate when he invaded it in 1940. He'd been able to successfully strongarm them before, and saw the chance to take even more. However, as we all know, Greece's leadership proved more forceful this time and the Italian army wasn't up to the demands of it.