 To Mussolini it seemed that the war was already nearly over, and he wanted to make sure that Italy at least got a position at the peace tables at the end and obtained such lands as Corsica, Nice, and more North African territory.The Italian offensive against France did not actually begin until ten days after the declaration of war, and Italian troops (fighting against a numerically inferior French force, which was however well-entrenched in the Alpine Line) were very slow to capture territory, while Germany had already taken hold of Paris.By 25 June, the armistice with France had already been arranged, though Italian troops made only insignificant progress into French territory, advancing of few kilometers and suffering exceedingly heavy casualties.