What if the Italian Empire Reunited Today?

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?

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.