Request from The PoD is Italy in the mid-to-late 1920s begins rearming itself much earlier and quicker than OTL for the coming world war ahead.1936 - Fresh from the conquest of Ethiopia, Mussolini declares war on Yugoslavia. After a six-month conflict, Yugoslavia is annexed, with the Italians releasing Croatia (without Dalmatia, but with Bosnia and Slovenia). Albania is also annexed via an ultimatum.1939 - With the (OTL) German invasion of Poland, Italy refuses to side with Hitler, preferring to remain neutral. Meanwhile, it has managed to gain an alliance (later dubbed the "Mediterranean Pact") with Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania, where they also gain lands from the former Yugoslavia and Albania (Greece gains Northern Epirus, while Bulgaria gains Macedonia, Pirot, and Vranje, and Romania gains western Banat)1940 - Mussolini issues an ultimatum to the Turkish government regarding access to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea (which they refuse). In response, the Italians invade through Eastern Thrace, as well as though the Dodecanese islands.1943 - After a two-year war, the Turks finally surrender. Turkey is largely partitioned between Greece (which gains Smyrna and Eastern Thrace) and Italy (which annexes the area of Antalya, as well as the former Hatay State, and Constantinople), with an independent Armenia (along the old Wilsonian boundaries), Kurdistan (largely Turkish Kurdistan, minus the areas given to Armenia), and a rump Turkey released as client states.1944 - Italy (and her new allies) finally (and rather surprisingly, to the other Allied powers) declare war on Nazi Germany, after the D-Day invasion of Normandy. They largely invade through (German-occupied) Austria and Hungary.1945 - With Germany's surrender, the Mediterranean Pact solidifies its conquests with a puppet Austria and Hungary, except with the following changes...-Italy gains Austrian Tyrol and Voralberg, which it annexes outright.-Croatia gains Carinthia and Southern Styria from Austria, as well as Backa and Baranya from Hungary-Romania gains all of Hungary east of the Tisza1950 - The world is now in a Cold War between the Western democracies (in NATO) and the Soviet-backed Warsaw Pact, with the Mediterranean Pact instead siding with the Non-Aligned movement (but still aligned to NATO)1960 - Cyprus gains independence from Britain, only to go through a Greco-Italian-backed coup that declares for a union with Greece1975 - The death of Benito Mussolini, which starts the process of democratization of the Mediterranean Pact. Its members begin joining NATO (with the last, Armenia, joining in 1985). Also, during this time, the former Italian East Africa is given independence as the Kingdom of Ethiopia (under a personal union with the King of Italy)1991 - The collapse of the Soviet Union. The former Armenian SSR joins with independent Armenia, and after a short war with Azerbaijan, gains Artsakh as well1995 - A referendum in the Dodecanese and Mugla leads to a majority of voters wishing to join Greece2003 - The invasion of Saddam Hussein's Iraq leads to another referendum that sees Iraqi Kurdistan (including Kirkuk) join Kurdistan