If that idiot Mussolini hadn’t started a war with Greece which he couldn’t win, Hitler would not have decided he had to come to Italy’s rescue and invade Greece. That also led to the German invasion of Yugoslavia.
Something I learned is that the common perception is that the Germans invading Greece and Yugoslavia delayed Barbarossa was not true.
In fact, Barbarossa was delayed because of the rainy Spring season in Poland, which delayed the Germans moving their troops and equipment to the Russian border, and that it had little to do with going into Greece and Yugoslavia.
Mussolini was hostile to Hitler. (Historic animosity between Germany and Italy!) Almost mobilized agianst Germany over the Nazi takeover of Austria. If he just cooled his jets and just concentrated on being a bustard in Africa his regime might have survived the war like Franco’s did in Spain. Also Hitler might have invaded Italy which would have made some interesting team ups!
If Mussolini had played his cards right, he would have ended up like Spain’s Francisco Franco - a respected leader (when he was alive, anyway) who lived a long and comfortable life.
Instead Mussolini fell under the spell of Hitler, and he ended up being executed like a dog by partisans in northern Italy as the war came to a close.