What were the military and diplomatic implications of fascism?

When in 1939 WWII erupted, Italy was unprepared, disorganized as well as unwilling to immediately enter the conflict. Still, Hitler’s pressures forced Mussolini to join Germany in the war. In order to understand why Italy decided to support Hitler’s project and consequently to ally with Germany in WWII, it is essential to analyse the transformations that the Fascist foreign policy underwent during the years prior to the outbreak of the conflict.