Benito Mussolini Research Paper
Benito Mussolini:
The rise, the fall and the reasons
Contents Page
* Introduction to the project: Page 2
* Introduction: Page 2
* Post WWI Italy: Page 2
* The Fascist movement: Reasons for their rise : Page 3
* The Fascist movement: The take-over: page3
* The beginning: Page 4
* The change: Page 4
* The next step: Page 5
* Mussolini and the “Empire”: Page 6
* Mussolini’s “puppet days” and downfall: Page 6
* The Disgraceful End of Benito Mussolini : Page 8
* The Influence of Fascist Italy on education : Page 8
Introduction to the project In this essay I am aiming to follow Mussolini’s …show more content…
life in as much detail as I can, in order to pick out what he obviously done right in order to come to power in 20th century Italy. I will also be looking at significant and related dates that show the influence of his reign followed by some to perhaps point out the reasons why he fell from his high throne, leading to the collapse of the “Italian empire”.
With this project I aim to increase my understanding of Italy’s most influential leader, improve my research, literacy and presentation skills and most importantly my capability to be and individual learner.
Introduction
As a result of World War One, Italy had suffered badly and lost 460,000 soldiers. The country was in enormous debt. The army had been heavily defeated and had only had one recognisable victory in 1918.
The country believed that it had been promised extra land by Britain and France during the war, but these promises were not kept post-war and no land was handed over. This meant the Italian Government had been ignored.
The post-war governments were weak; parties formed coalitions to maintain strength but because of the different views amongst themselves, they were not able to make decisions.
Mussolini set up the Fascist Party and made himself out to be a strong man who held the solution to all of Italy's problems. He made promises of a reconstructed Italy and re-creation of the Roman Empire.
During this period there was also a rise in unemployment which led to increasing discontent in many cities across the nation.
Mussolini used his newspaper, "Il Popolo d'Italia" to spread his ideology. As unemployment grew and people became more desperate, they turned to Mussolini and he took advantage.
Post WWI Italy
World War I officially ended in Western Europe when the Armistice took effect on November 11, 1918. The aftermath of the war enormously affected the cultural, political and social order in Europe, Asia, Africa and even the areas outside of those which were directly involved in the war. New countries were formed, and many new and old ideologies took a firm hold in people's minds (including Fascism at a later time).
According to the Treaty of London, Italy was promised some Land in order to persuade Italy to join the allies. These were: Trentino; Trieste; Southern Tyrol; Istria; Dalmatia; coastal districts of Albania; a share in the division of the Ottoman Empire and of the German colonies in Africa. Although the Italians fought bravely and lost 600,000 men, the territories given to Italy post war were not as many as originally promised. Italy did not get any former German colonies and any land in Asia, Albania and Dalmatia. Italian politicians defined it as a "mutilated victory”.
However, they failed to perceive the positive elements of the peace treaty and stressed the negative ones, and so the "mutilated victory" ideology spread, fuelling the Fascist propaganda which also was the key to Benito Mussolini’s rise.
During the war, Italy suffered more casualties than Britain but many fewer than France. Furthermore, the social problems Italy was facing post war such as an inflated economy, the large number of crippled and disabled people (who were either soldiers or innocent civilians who could no longer sustain themselves) were common to other Allied countries. However, unlike the allies, Italy went down an authoritarian path. The reason for this was because of the badly controlled economic and social situations, which made it more difficult for Italy to recover from their difficulties. Due to similar reasons, most south and east European countries had to face political unrest, dictatorship and fascism in the period between the World Wars.
The Fascist movement: Reasons for their rise
The biggest step of the Fascist movement came in 1920. At this time some events strongly improved their chances. These important events were responsible for bringing new strength to the Fascist movement. One of these events was that after D'Annunzio and his followers who were driven out of Fiume, large numbers of Italian nationalists took Mussolini as their leader because he had always believe and argued for a strong foreign policy along with the hopes of annexation of Fiume and Dalmatia. Furthermore in 1919-1920, the Italian government was constantly changing because none of them managed to find an effective solution to the most urgent problems of the present (economic inflation and social turbulence). The Final influential event that took place was as a result of the General Strike in 1920, the middle class became haunted by the spectre of a Communist revolution and wanted a strong government to restore law and order in the country (and this is exactly what Mussolini was proposing, and they bought into it).
With the support of the middle class, Mussolini formed the National Fascist Party in 1921 and gained 35 seats out of 355. This was an incredible improvement in contrast to their total failure in the past.
The Fascist movement: The take over
Mussolini changed his tactics to suit the different circumstances with the aim of seizing political power as soon as possible.
After his initial success, Mussolini became more violently anti-communist than ever in order to win more support from the middle class. He stopped attacking the monarchy, the Catholics and capitalists. He even went to the extreme of making a treaty with the Vatican in 1929 to settle historic differences between the Italian state and the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Pius XI said that Mussolini had been sent "by Divine Providence”, confirming the support of the church thus granting him more power and supporters as a result of that. Furthermore, he promised the masses a strong government which could suppress the socialists' disturbances and a strong foreign policy which could bring national glory to Italy. Economically, he supported economic “open-mindedness” and an improvement of the conditions of the workers. As a result of Mussolini's new tactics, finances poured in from the manufacturers. The Fascist membership shot up from 20,000 to 248,000 within a single year, and to 300,000 the year after.
Once in power, Mussolini made sure there was no competition for his position. He fixed general elections, always making them give an absolute majority in Parliament. It was the complete opposite of his early views as a socialist. At one point he lost favour when the news of the assassination of the Socialist leader, Giacomo Matteotti (a noted opponent) by Fascist got out. However, Mussolini recovered. He destroyed all opposition, and by 1925 he was a dictator.
From the early spring of 1921, the Fascists, the Black Shirts, carried out a systematic terrorist campaign against the Socialist and Communist groups. During 1922 the Fascists and Communists fought bitter street battles against each other. The government army officers were friendly to the Fascists and equipped the Fascists with arms. Very soon, armed Fascists were ruling some small towns with tacit approval from the government and the property class.
To counteract the growing influence of the Fascists, the Socialists and Communists declared a general strike in August 1922. However, the strike was very badly prepared and therefore easily suppressed by government troops with the cooperation of the Fascists. After the second general strike, the property class relied more and more upon the Fascists to defeat Socialism and Communism by force.
The beginning
Benito Mussolini however, was not always the tyrant and dictator we know him as. He was born at Dovia di Predappio, Italy, on July 29, 1883. His family was poor family and lived in a crowded small apartment. His father was a blacksmith and a follower of socialism (a system providing for the sharing of land and goods equally among all people); his mother taught elementary school. He went to Switzerland in 1902 to avoid military service (like many fellow socialists). Trained as an elementary school teacher, Mussolini was a passionate socialist himself when young, and he was imprisoned for opposing the war against Turkey over Tripoli in 1911. In 1912 he became editor of the most important Italian socialist newspaper, Avanti (Forward).
The change
During 1914, Mussolini changed his views on war; he favored “relative neutrality” and therefore suggesting that socialists should leave themselves free to support Italian entry if it proved to be favorable to them. When the Italian Socialist party refused to follow this idea, he resigned as editor of Avanti and founded his own newspaper, II Popolo d’Italia (which he used to spread is ideology), in Milan and began to advocate an immediate Italian declaration of war on the side of the Allies. For this the Socialist party expelled him.
Copy of Mussolini’s Newspaper which he used to spread his ideology through the media; Title and subtitle translate to: “People of Italy hurry and pick up your weapons” and “The intervention of Italy announced by “il duce” (Mussolini). This document dates to just before Italy started invading.
5 years after his expulsion, Mussolini formed the Fascist movement, spurring the support of many unemployed war veterans. He organised them into armed squads known as Black Shirts, who terrorised their political opponents.
A campaign now began against the socialists and Christian Democrats. The Black shirts terrorized them by burning down newspaper offices, local Socialist party headquarters and attacking antifascist politicians. Estimates of about 2000 people (antifascist and fascist, police and bystanders) died by violence that took place between 1920 and 1922.
With the use of his power, Mussolini demonstrated that control over sources of information, and the use of terror and intimidation could effectively silence opposition in a divided and frightened society which was now at his feet.
The next step
In 1921 Mussolini and 34 other fascists were elected to the lower house of the Italian parliament, along with 10 Nationalists, who were their allies. The fascist movement was now too great to be slowed down (stopping it was already out the question).
What was previously known as the Fascist movement became a political party in November (a necessary step in the drive for power). The government became alarmed by the “fascist threat” and tried to take measures against them, but the black shirts were too strong; the police too accustomed to collaborating with them.
In 1922 Mussolini and his “black shirts” marched into Rome with the support of key groups; they believed that Mussolini was the solution to their problems. He proposed the organization of middle-class youth, harsh control over workers, and a tough central government to restore "law and order." Mussolini’s march on rome
Mussolini and the “Empire”
Mussolini's believed in a Fascist Italian Empire. The actual name “Fascisti” was named after the fasces, a bundle of sticks symbolizing authority in the ancient Republic of Rome. Mussolini made himself out to be the new Julius Caesar and new Augustus. Around the turn of the century the kingdom of Italy had conquered Somalia and Libya in Africa. Mussolini's main success at Empire building was his annexation of Somalia in 1936.
Italy also controlled Eritrea in Africa but had failed several times to colonize neighbouring Abyssinia (now called) Ethiopia.
When Mussolini came to power he was determined to show the strength of his regime by occupying the country. In October 1935 Mussolini sent General Pietro Badoglio and the Italian Army into Ethiopia with over 400,000 Italian. The poorly armed and prepared Ethiopians were no match for Italy's modern technology in the form of tanks and aeroplanes. The Italians even went to the extreme of using mustard gas on the home forces and as a result, were able to capture Addis Ababa, the capital of the country. In May 1936, Emperor Haile Selassie fled the country and escaped to England.
Hitler, motivated by Mussolini's achievements, sought a close relationship with Italy once he gained power in Germany. In October 1936 the two men signed a non-military alliance.
Mussolini also provided military support to Francisco Franco (leader of the rebels) in the Spanish Civil War. Their increasing co-operation with Nazi Germany led up to an even stronger bond between the …show more content…
nations.
In 1939 Italy invaded Albania and soon afterwards Mussolini signed a full defensive alliance with Nazi Germany; 1939 Pact of Steel which was an open declaration of continuing trust and cooperation between the two nations. The League of Nations condemned Italy as a result of their “unnecessary” aggression and in November imposed sanctions on them. These included an effort to ban countries from selling weapons, rubber and some metals to Italy in an attempt to slow their production and therefore making them “armless”. A number of political leaders from both France and Britain opposed sanctions arguing that it might persuade Mussolini to form an alliance with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, however their arguments were overruled.
Under Adolf Hitler’s Influenced and guidance, Mussolini began to introduce anti-Jewish legislations in Italy; Proving the politicians that proposed an Italian-German alliance right.
At its height, the Fascist Italian Empire plus the areas it occupied was comparable to the Empire of Republican Rome in 146 BC, when it had just become indisputably the greatest power in the northern Mediterranean.
Roman Empire (146BC)
Roman Empire (146BC)
Fascist Italian Empire (1939)
Fascist Italian Empire (1939)
Mussolini’s “puppet days” and downfall
However the days of glory started coming to an end when Mussolini declared war on Britain and France in June 1940. After the recent fighting in the conquests of Africa and Eastern Europe, the new wars exposed the Italian military weakness, leading to numerous defeats in the coming years.
The Second World War, now raging is when Italian forces were first humbled by the Greek army when Italy failed to invade them.
In July 1943, Allied troops landed in Sicily. Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned by his former colleagues in the Fascist government. In September, Italy signed an armistice with the Allies. Later on that month, King Victor Emmanuel III ordered the arrest and imprisonment of Benito Mussolini. After his former fascist comrades agreed and even strongly supported it.
Immediately after he learned of Mussolini's arrest and fall from grace, Adolph Hitler launched a daring air rescue which successfully retrieved Mussolini from his prison and returned him to Hitler. However by this point Mussolini's spirit had been drained and had realised they were fighting a losing battle. He initially declined Hitler's offer to place himself as Italy's leader again.
Germany controlled Northern Italy and Mussolini was half-heartedly declared the puppet leader of the new Italian Social Republic. However, Mussolini was a puppet and no longer in charge and Italy basically became an occupied country.
Fascism in Italy came to a brutal and devastating end on April 28, 1945 as the Allies advanced northwards through Italy and Mussolini fled towards Switzerland. Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were caught at a road block by extreme Italian partisans and were both shot to death.
The Disgraceful End of Benito Mussolini
Their bodies were taken to Milan the next day from near Lake Como where they were arrested and then killed.
According to the Times communicator in Milan, the corpses of Benito Mussolini, his mistress and 12 Fascists were on display in Piazzale Loreto with frightening promiscuity in the open square under the same fence against which 15 Partisans had been shot by their own countrymen. Many passer-by spat on the body in a show of disgust at the horrible actions and the way Mussolini and his men led Italy into destruction which still affects the Italian economy to this day.
One woman fired five shots into Mussolini's body, according to Milan Radio, and shouted: "Five shots for my five assassinated sons!"
The partisan commander-in-chief General Raffaele Cadorna said such events were regrettable but desirable in this case as a way for the public to vent their anger against the former dictator and his associates.
It was in Milan that Mussolini founded Europe's first fascist movement (Fasci di Combattimento in 1919.) and it was in Milan that the “great” Italian fascist empire ended.
Marshal Pietro Badoglio was appointed to be the next prime minister, disbanded all fascist organisations and negotiated an armistice with the Allies. On 11 October 1943 the Badoglio government declared war on Germany.
The allies in due time eventually liberated all of Italy and returned it to a state of happiness, despite the great depression the war to come was posing, people still danced and celebrated in the streets the crumble of the great tyrant and dictator “Il Duce” Benito Mussolini had crumbled.
The Influence of Fascist Italy on education
In Mussolini’s eyes the children of Italy were the Fascists of the future: He took a profound interest in the state’s education system and numerous youth organisations that existed in Italy. Hitler sampled this very approach in Nazi Germany when he was in power.
Logo of the education system under fascist ruling
Logo of the education system under fascist ruling
In order to fulfil his dream of a 20th century Roman Empire under fascism, Mussolini needed a nation of warriors. Boys were expected to grow into fierce soldiers who would fight with glory for Italy while girls were expected to be good mothers who would provide Italy with a population that a great power was expected to have.
He tried to influence the Children’s upbringing by what were taught at school, which was about the great days of modern Italy (which according to Mussolini started in 1922), with the March on Rome. Children were taught that Mussolini was the only man who could lead Italy back to greatness. They also learned that they were taught to call him "Il Duce"; boys were encouraged to attend after school youth movements; three existed. These were called “Figli della lupa” (Sons of the She Wolf), Balilla and Avanguardisti (Vanguard Musketeers). Equivalent girl groups were established but boys got more attention.
Members of the Balilla had to remember the something like of a motto. It read: “I believe in Rome, the Eternal, and the mother of my country, I believe in the genius of Mussolini and in the resurrection of the Empire." This is clearly another method of passing on the ideology of the rebirth the Roman Empire.
Figli della lupa standing at alert while mussolini stand proud.
Figli della lupa standing at alert while mussolini stand proud.
The glory of the old Roman Empire was always the background ideology in much of the children’s activities. A child in a youth movement was a "legionary" while an adult officer was called a "centurion”; this was like a memoir of the days when the Ancient Roman army and soldiers of ranks by those names dominated much of Western Europe.
Over the coming years participation in youth groups gradually became mandatory. By 1939 4,000,000 18 to 21 year olds were being trained by party militia officers. Enrolment stood at an astounding 8,800,000 just 3 years after that. 99.9% of students participated.
Youth programs were similar to the Boy Scouts but more geared to programming and brainwashing students. Younger boys spent long afternoons marching up and down streets dressed in black shirts. Some teenager’s courses were considered boring and useless by those who took part; they included: flag-waving, parading, choreographed gymnastics and lectures. On the other hands sporting activities were popular. Elite youth were channelled into alpine activities such as skiing. These skiers were to later participate in the invasions of France, Greece and Russia. Fascists dreamed of perfecting the techniques of programming the youth with total dedication to Italo-Catholicism with future plans of exporting these programming techniques to Austria, Portugal and Spain.
Boys were taught that fighting for them was totally natural in an average male lifestyle. Fascist slogans were also made to promote this; an example was “War is to the male what childbearing is to the female." Girls were taught that giving birth was necessary and totally natural for them.
Elite youth on a skiing trip
Elite youth on a skiing trip
Children were taught authoritarian values; to obey those in charge. This was a totally predictable step in a dictatorship. Once the OVRA (Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism) had dealt with the adults who challenged the authority of the state, all future adults of Fascist Italy would be model civilians and not a challenge to those in charge due to their early age “programming”.
Benito Mussolini was very intelligent and knew how to use the Superstructure (education) to his advantage in order to put his ideology into day to day life and therefore programming it into young people from early on.
The Fascist influence of fascism on the Italian economy
The education system was not the only thing Benito Mussolini wanted to change once he came to power.
He made it his aim to transform the country's economy along fascist ideology. However people believed those plans were false. Truth is he was not an economic fundamentalist, and did not initially show major interest in the economy. His main interest was its power to politically reshape the Italian state to fit his ideological outlook. He aligned himself with industrial interests and forged a deal with the ruling groups of Italian capitalism. Just like in Nazi Germany the economic policies of Mussolini are difficult to define. Due to a lack of official information, in the shape of Mussolini’s statements or diaries, we cannot determine whether Mussolini had an economic plan or that he did not, but instead reacted to changes without much forward
planning.
According to supporters of the first view, Mussolini had a clear long and short-term economic agenda, from the beginning of his rule. The government had two main objectives; to modernize the economy, and to massively increase the country's strategic resources.
To stimulate development Mussolini broke up the modern capitalistic sector in the service of the state, intervening directly as needed to create collaboration between the industrialists, the workers, and the state. As a direct result of this the government effectively put an end to fundamental class conflicts in favour of corporatism. In the short term the government worked to reconstruct the extensively abusive tax system, cut government costs, and introduced policies to protect the new industries.
To tackle the country’s lack of industrial resources, (particularly the key ingredients of the industrial revolution) he put in motions intensive development of the available domestic sources and advocated aggressive commercial policies, which involved searching for particular raw material trade deals, or attempting strategic colonization.
Some historians however, have argued that Mussolini had very low knowledge of economics and that fascism was actually a negative force on the Italian economy. They went on to say that it halted genuine modernisation and badly distorting economic development, even before the war.
Conclusion
Mussolini came to power for a number of reasons. He fed the fires of anger that the depression the WW1 caused; he had a strong “positive sounding” plan for the “rebirth of the Roman empire”, promising the rightful annexation of the land it deserved, which sounded very well in a country which felt tricked and robbed by the French and the British. Furthermore, he eliminated competition (such as opposition leader Giacomo Matteotti) and finally an “infiltration” of the government followed by a forced take-over.
He maintained his “empire” with the aggressive attacking policy and the support of Adolf Hitler who assisted in his invasions. However after having overstretched his army’s capability he showed what is meant by “biting off more than he could chew” when he declared war on Britain, France and the Allies who in a very short time reclaimed the land he conquered and brought Mussolini’s dream to an end. He quickly fell from favor; was caught and shot, and then hung by his feet along with his partner and other Fascists in Milan where the people he put through so much were able to do as they please with him.
The rise, the fall and the reasons
Contents Page
* Introduction to the project: Page 2
* Introduction: Page 2
* Post WWI Italy: Page 2
* The Fascist movement: Reasons for their rise : Page 3
* The Fascist movement: The take-over: page3
* The beginning: Page 4
* The change: Page 4
* The next step: Page 5
* Mussolini and the “Empire”: Page 6
* Mussolini’s “puppet days” and downfall: Page 6
* The Disgraceful End of Benito Mussolini : Page 8
* The Influence of Fascist Italy on education : Page 8
Introduction to the project In this essay I am aiming to follow Mussolini’s …show more content…
life in as much detail as I can, in order to pick out what he obviously done right in order to come to power in 20th century Italy. I will also be looking at significant and related dates that show the influence of his reign followed by some to perhaps point out the reasons why he fell from his high throne, leading to the collapse of the “Italian empire”.
With this project I aim to increase my understanding of Italy’s most influential leader, improve my research, literacy and presentation skills and most importantly my capability to be and individual learner.
Introduction
As a result of World War One, Italy had suffered badly and lost 460,000 soldiers. The country was in enormous debt. The army had been heavily defeated and had only had one recognisable victory in 1918.
The country believed that it had been promised extra land by Britain and France during the war, but these promises were not kept post-war and no land was handed over. This meant the Italian Government had been ignored.
The post-war governments were weak; parties formed coalitions to maintain strength but because of the different views amongst themselves, they were not able to make decisions.
Mussolini set up the Fascist Party and made himself out to be a strong man who held the solution to all of Italy's problems. He made promises of a reconstructed Italy and re-creation of the Roman Empire.
During this period there was also a rise in unemployment which led to increasing discontent in many cities across the nation.
Mussolini used his newspaper, "Il Popolo d'Italia" to spread his ideology. As unemployment grew and people became more desperate, they turned to Mussolini and he took advantage.
Post WWI Italy
World War I officially ended in Western Europe when the Armistice took effect on November 11, 1918. The aftermath of the war enormously affected the cultural, political and social order in Europe, Asia, Africa and even the areas outside of those which were directly involved in the war. New countries were formed, and many new and old ideologies took a firm hold in people's minds (including Fascism at a later time).
According to the Treaty of London, Italy was promised some Land in order to persuade Italy to join the allies. These were: Trentino; Trieste; Southern Tyrol; Istria; Dalmatia; coastal districts of Albania; a share in the division of the Ottoman Empire and of the German colonies in Africa. Although the Italians fought bravely and lost 600,000 men, the territories given to Italy post war were not as many as originally promised. Italy did not get any former German colonies and any land in Asia, Albania and Dalmatia. Italian politicians defined it as a "mutilated victory”.
However, they failed to perceive the positive elements of the peace treaty and stressed the negative ones, and so the "mutilated victory" ideology spread, fuelling the Fascist propaganda which also was the key to Benito Mussolini’s rise.
During the war, Italy suffered more casualties than Britain but many fewer than France. Furthermore, the social problems Italy was facing post war such as an inflated economy, the large number of crippled and disabled people (who were either soldiers or innocent civilians who could no longer sustain themselves) were common to other Allied countries. However, unlike the allies, Italy went down an authoritarian path. The reason for this was because of the badly controlled economic and social situations, which made it more difficult for Italy to recover from their difficulties. Due to similar reasons, most south and east European countries had to face political unrest, dictatorship and fascism in the period between the World Wars.
The Fascist movement: Reasons for their rise
The biggest step of the Fascist movement came in 1920. At this time some events strongly improved their chances. These important events were responsible for bringing new strength to the Fascist movement. One of these events was that after D'Annunzio and his followers who were driven out of Fiume, large numbers of Italian nationalists took Mussolini as their leader because he had always believe and argued for a strong foreign policy along with the hopes of annexation of Fiume and Dalmatia. Furthermore in 1919-1920, the Italian government was constantly changing because none of them managed to find an effective solution to the most urgent problems of the present (economic inflation and social turbulence). The Final influential event that took place was as a result of the General Strike in 1920, the middle class became haunted by the spectre of a Communist revolution and wanted a strong government to restore law and order in the country (and this is exactly what Mussolini was proposing, and they bought into it).
With the support of the middle class, Mussolini formed the National Fascist Party in 1921 and gained 35 seats out of 355. This was an incredible improvement in contrast to their total failure in the past.
The Fascist movement: The take over
Mussolini changed his tactics to suit the different circumstances with the aim of seizing political power as soon as possible.
After his initial success, Mussolini became more violently anti-communist than ever in order to win more support from the middle class. He stopped attacking the monarchy, the Catholics and capitalists. He even went to the extreme of making a treaty with the Vatican in 1929 to settle historic differences between the Italian state and the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Pius XI said that Mussolini had been sent "by Divine Providence”, confirming the support of the church thus granting him more power and supporters as a result of that. Furthermore, he promised the masses a strong government which could suppress the socialists' disturbances and a strong foreign policy which could bring national glory to Italy. Economically, he supported economic “open-mindedness” and an improvement of the conditions of the workers. As a result of Mussolini's new tactics, finances poured in from the manufacturers. The Fascist membership shot up from 20,000 to 248,000 within a single year, and to 300,000 the year after.
Once in power, Mussolini made sure there was no competition for his position. He fixed general elections, always making them give an absolute majority in Parliament. It was the complete opposite of his early views as a socialist. At one point he lost favour when the news of the assassination of the Socialist leader, Giacomo Matteotti (a noted opponent) by Fascist got out. However, Mussolini recovered. He destroyed all opposition, and by 1925 he was a dictator.
From the early spring of 1921, the Fascists, the Black Shirts, carried out a systematic terrorist campaign against the Socialist and Communist groups. During 1922 the Fascists and Communists fought bitter street battles against each other. The government army officers were friendly to the Fascists and equipped the Fascists with arms. Very soon, armed Fascists were ruling some small towns with tacit approval from the government and the property class.
To counteract the growing influence of the Fascists, the Socialists and Communists declared a general strike in August 1922. However, the strike was very badly prepared and therefore easily suppressed by government troops with the cooperation of the Fascists. After the second general strike, the property class relied more and more upon the Fascists to defeat Socialism and Communism by force.
The beginning
Benito Mussolini however, was not always the tyrant and dictator we know him as. He was born at Dovia di Predappio, Italy, on July 29, 1883. His family was poor family and lived in a crowded small apartment. His father was a blacksmith and a follower of socialism (a system providing for the sharing of land and goods equally among all people); his mother taught elementary school. He went to Switzerland in 1902 to avoid military service (like many fellow socialists). Trained as an elementary school teacher, Mussolini was a passionate socialist himself when young, and he was imprisoned for opposing the war against Turkey over Tripoli in 1911. In 1912 he became editor of the most important Italian socialist newspaper, Avanti (Forward).
The change
During 1914, Mussolini changed his views on war; he favored “relative neutrality” and therefore suggesting that socialists should leave themselves free to support Italian entry if it proved to be favorable to them. When the Italian Socialist party refused to follow this idea, he resigned as editor of Avanti and founded his own newspaper, II Popolo d’Italia (which he used to spread is ideology), in Milan and began to advocate an immediate Italian declaration of war on the side of the Allies. For this the Socialist party expelled him.
Copy of Mussolini’s Newspaper which he used to spread his ideology through the media; Title and subtitle translate to: “People of Italy hurry and pick up your weapons” and “The intervention of Italy announced by “il duce” (Mussolini). This document dates to just before Italy started invading.
5 years after his expulsion, Mussolini formed the Fascist movement, spurring the support of many unemployed war veterans. He organised them into armed squads known as Black Shirts, who terrorised their political opponents.
A campaign now began against the socialists and Christian Democrats. The Black shirts terrorized them by burning down newspaper offices, local Socialist party headquarters and attacking antifascist politicians. Estimates of about 2000 people (antifascist and fascist, police and bystanders) died by violence that took place between 1920 and 1922.
With the use of his power, Mussolini demonstrated that control over sources of information, and the use of terror and intimidation could effectively silence opposition in a divided and frightened society which was now at his feet.
The next step
In 1921 Mussolini and 34 other fascists were elected to the lower house of the Italian parliament, along with 10 Nationalists, who were their allies. The fascist movement was now too great to be slowed down (stopping it was already out the question).
What was previously known as the Fascist movement became a political party in November (a necessary step in the drive for power). The government became alarmed by the “fascist threat” and tried to take measures against them, but the black shirts were too strong; the police too accustomed to collaborating with them.
In 1922 Mussolini and his “black shirts” marched into Rome with the support of key groups; they believed that Mussolini was the solution to their problems. He proposed the organization of middle-class youth, harsh control over workers, and a tough central government to restore "law and order." Mussolini’s march on rome
Mussolini and the “Empire”
Mussolini's believed in a Fascist Italian Empire. The actual name “Fascisti” was named after the fasces, a bundle of sticks symbolizing authority in the ancient Republic of Rome. Mussolini made himself out to be the new Julius Caesar and new Augustus. Around the turn of the century the kingdom of Italy had conquered Somalia and Libya in Africa. Mussolini's main success at Empire building was his annexation of Somalia in 1936.
Italy also controlled Eritrea in Africa but had failed several times to colonize neighbouring Abyssinia (now called) Ethiopia.
When Mussolini came to power he was determined to show the strength of his regime by occupying the country. In October 1935 Mussolini sent General Pietro Badoglio and the Italian Army into Ethiopia with over 400,000 Italian. The poorly armed and prepared Ethiopians were no match for Italy's modern technology in the form of tanks and aeroplanes. The Italians even went to the extreme of using mustard gas on the home forces and as a result, were able to capture Addis Ababa, the capital of the country. In May 1936, Emperor Haile Selassie fled the country and escaped to England.
Hitler, motivated by Mussolini's achievements, sought a close relationship with Italy once he gained power in Germany. In October 1936 the two men signed a non-military alliance.
Mussolini also provided military support to Francisco Franco (leader of the rebels) in the Spanish Civil War. Their increasing co-operation with Nazi Germany led up to an even stronger bond between the …show more content…
nations.
In 1939 Italy invaded Albania and soon afterwards Mussolini signed a full defensive alliance with Nazi Germany; 1939 Pact of Steel which was an open declaration of continuing trust and cooperation between the two nations. The League of Nations condemned Italy as a result of their “unnecessary” aggression and in November imposed sanctions on them. These included an effort to ban countries from selling weapons, rubber and some metals to Italy in an attempt to slow their production and therefore making them “armless”. A number of political leaders from both France and Britain opposed sanctions arguing that it might persuade Mussolini to form an alliance with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, however their arguments were overruled.
Under Adolf Hitler’s Influenced and guidance, Mussolini began to introduce anti-Jewish legislations in Italy; Proving the politicians that proposed an Italian-German alliance right.
At its height, the Fascist Italian Empire plus the areas it occupied was comparable to the Empire of Republican Rome in 146 BC, when it had just become indisputably the greatest power in the northern Mediterranean.
Roman Empire (146BC)
Roman Empire (146BC)
Fascist Italian Empire (1939)
Fascist Italian Empire (1939)
Mussolini’s “puppet days” and downfall
However the days of glory started coming to an end when Mussolini declared war on Britain and France in June 1940. After the recent fighting in the conquests of Africa and Eastern Europe, the new wars exposed the Italian military weakness, leading to numerous defeats in the coming years.
The Second World War, now raging is when Italian forces were first humbled by the Greek army when Italy failed to invade them.
In July 1943, Allied troops landed in Sicily. Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned by his former colleagues in the Fascist government. In September, Italy signed an armistice with the Allies. Later on that month, King Victor Emmanuel III ordered the arrest and imprisonment of Benito Mussolini. After his former fascist comrades agreed and even strongly supported it.
Immediately after he learned of Mussolini's arrest and fall from grace, Adolph Hitler launched a daring air rescue which successfully retrieved Mussolini from his prison and returned him to Hitler. However by this point Mussolini's spirit had been drained and had realised they were fighting a losing battle. He initially declined Hitler's offer to place himself as Italy's leader again.
Germany controlled Northern Italy and Mussolini was half-heartedly declared the puppet leader of the new Italian Social Republic. However, Mussolini was a puppet and no longer in charge and Italy basically became an occupied country.
Fascism in Italy came to a brutal and devastating end on April 28, 1945 as the Allies advanced northwards through Italy and Mussolini fled towards Switzerland. Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were caught at a road block by extreme Italian partisans and were both shot to death.
The Disgraceful End of Benito Mussolini
Their bodies were taken to Milan the next day from near Lake Como where they were arrested and then killed.
According to the Times communicator in Milan, the corpses of Benito Mussolini, his mistress and 12 Fascists were on display in Piazzale Loreto with frightening promiscuity in the open square under the same fence against which 15 Partisans had been shot by their own countrymen. Many passer-by spat on the body in a show of disgust at the horrible actions and the way Mussolini and his men led Italy into destruction which still affects the Italian economy to this day.
One woman fired five shots into Mussolini's body, according to Milan Radio, and shouted: "Five shots for my five assassinated sons!"
The partisan commander-in-chief General Raffaele Cadorna said such events were regrettable but desirable in this case as a way for the public to vent their anger against the former dictator and his associates.
It was in Milan that Mussolini founded Europe's first fascist movement (Fasci di Combattimento in 1919.) and it was in Milan that the “great” Italian fascist empire ended.
Marshal Pietro Badoglio was appointed to be the next prime minister, disbanded all fascist organisations and negotiated an armistice with the Allies. On 11 October 1943 the Badoglio government declared war on Germany.
The allies in due time eventually liberated all of Italy and returned it to a state of happiness, despite the great depression the war to come was posing, people still danced and celebrated in the streets the crumble of the great tyrant and dictator “Il Duce” Benito Mussolini had crumbled.
The Influence of Fascist Italy on education
In Mussolini’s eyes the children of Italy were the Fascists of the future: He took a profound interest in the state’s education system and numerous youth organisations that existed in Italy. Hitler sampled this very approach in Nazi Germany when he was in power.
Logo of the education system under fascist ruling
Logo of the education system under fascist ruling
In order to fulfil his dream of a 20th century Roman Empire under fascism, Mussolini needed a nation of warriors. Boys were expected to grow into fierce soldiers who would fight with glory for Italy while girls were expected to be good mothers who would provide Italy with a population that a great power was expected to have.
He tried to influence the Children’s upbringing by what were taught at school, which was about the great days of modern Italy (which according to Mussolini started in 1922), with the March on Rome. Children were taught that Mussolini was the only man who could lead Italy back to greatness. They also learned that they were taught to call him "Il Duce"; boys were encouraged to attend after school youth movements; three existed. These were called “Figli della lupa” (Sons of the She Wolf), Balilla and Avanguardisti (Vanguard Musketeers). Equivalent girl groups were established but boys got more attention.
Members of the Balilla had to remember the something like of a motto. It read: “I believe in Rome, the Eternal, and the mother of my country, I believe in the genius of Mussolini and in the resurrection of the Empire." This is clearly another method of passing on the ideology of the rebirth the Roman Empire.
Figli della lupa standing at alert while mussolini stand proud.
Figli della lupa standing at alert while mussolini stand proud.
The glory of the old Roman Empire was always the background ideology in much of the children’s activities. A child in a youth movement was a "legionary" while an adult officer was called a "centurion”; this was like a memoir of the days when the Ancient Roman army and soldiers of ranks by those names dominated much of Western Europe.
Over the coming years participation in youth groups gradually became mandatory. By 1939 4,000,000 18 to 21 year olds were being trained by party militia officers. Enrolment stood at an astounding 8,800,000 just 3 years after that. 99.9% of students participated.
Youth programs were similar to the Boy Scouts but more geared to programming and brainwashing students. Younger boys spent long afternoons marching up and down streets dressed in black shirts. Some teenager’s courses were considered boring and useless by those who took part; they included: flag-waving, parading, choreographed gymnastics and lectures. On the other hands sporting activities were popular. Elite youth were channelled into alpine activities such as skiing. These skiers were to later participate in the invasions of France, Greece and Russia. Fascists dreamed of perfecting the techniques of programming the youth with total dedication to Italo-Catholicism with future plans of exporting these programming techniques to Austria, Portugal and Spain.
Boys were taught that fighting for them was totally natural in an average male lifestyle. Fascist slogans were also made to promote this; an example was “War is to the male what childbearing is to the female." Girls were taught that giving birth was necessary and totally natural for them.
Elite youth on a skiing trip
Elite youth on a skiing trip
Children were taught authoritarian values; to obey those in charge. This was a totally predictable step in a dictatorship. Once the OVRA (Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism) had dealt with the adults who challenged the authority of the state, all future adults of Fascist Italy would be model civilians and not a challenge to those in charge due to their early age “programming”.
Benito Mussolini was very intelligent and knew how to use the Superstructure (education) to his advantage in order to put his ideology into day to day life and therefore programming it into young people from early on.
The Fascist influence of fascism on the Italian economy
The education system was not the only thing Benito Mussolini wanted to change once he came to power.
He made it his aim to transform the country's economy along fascist ideology. However people believed those plans were false. Truth is he was not an economic fundamentalist, and did not initially show major interest in the economy. His main interest was its power to politically reshape the Italian state to fit his ideological outlook. He aligned himself with industrial interests and forged a deal with the ruling groups of Italian capitalism. Just like in Nazi Germany the economic policies of Mussolini are difficult to define. Due to a lack of official information, in the shape of Mussolini’s statements or diaries, we cannot determine whether Mussolini had an economic plan or that he did not, but instead reacted to changes without much forward
planning.
According to supporters of the first view, Mussolini had a clear long and short-term economic agenda, from the beginning of his rule. The government had two main objectives; to modernize the economy, and to massively increase the country's strategic resources.
To stimulate development Mussolini broke up the modern capitalistic sector in the service of the state, intervening directly as needed to create collaboration between the industrialists, the workers, and the state. As a direct result of this the government effectively put an end to fundamental class conflicts in favour of corporatism. In the short term the government worked to reconstruct the extensively abusive tax system, cut government costs, and introduced policies to protect the new industries.
To tackle the country’s lack of industrial resources, (particularly the key ingredients of the industrial revolution) he put in motions intensive development of the available domestic sources and advocated aggressive commercial policies, which involved searching for particular raw material trade deals, or attempting strategic colonization.
Some historians however, have argued that Mussolini had very low knowledge of economics and that fascism was actually a negative force on the Italian economy. They went on to say that it halted genuine modernisation and badly distorting economic development, even before the war.
Conclusion
Mussolini came to power for a number of reasons. He fed the fires of anger that the depression the WW1 caused; he had a strong “positive sounding” plan for the “rebirth of the Roman empire”, promising the rightful annexation of the land it deserved, which sounded very well in a country which felt tricked and robbed by the French and the British. Furthermore, he eliminated competition (such as opposition leader Giacomo Matteotti) and finally an “infiltration” of the government followed by a forced take-over.
He maintained his “empire” with the aggressive attacking policy and the support of Adolf Hitler who assisted in his invasions. However after having overstretched his army’s capability he showed what is meant by “biting off more than he could chew” when he declared war on Britain, France and the Allies who in a very short time reclaimed the land he conquered and brought Mussolini’s dream to an end. He quickly fell from favor; was caught and shot, and then hung by his feet along with his partner and other Fascists in Milan where the people he put through so much were able to do as they please with him.