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MUSSOLINI: RISE TO POWER

MUSSOLINI: RISE TO POWER. news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/1065897.stm. “…the rise of Fascism cannot be understood simply be examining the events from 1915-1922. We must also examine the problems facing the newly unified state prior to the war”. “A geographical expression”. RISORGIMENTO:

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MUSSOLINI: RISE TO POWER

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  1. MUSSOLINI: RISE TO POWER news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/1065897.stm

  2. “…the rise of Fascism cannot be understood simply be examining the events from 1915-1922. We must also examine the problems facing the newly unified state prior to the war”

  3. “A geographical expression” RISORGIMENTO: ITALIAN NATIONALIST DESIRE TO RE-UNITE. A ‘REBIRTH’ ◙ Piedmont, Lombardy 1859 ◙Venetia 1866 ◙ Parma, Tuscany, Papal States, Two Sicilies 1860 ◙ Rome 1870

  4. PROBLEMS IN THE NEW STATE • Lack of Italian Identity (who speaks ‘Italian’?) • The Catholic Church did NOT recognize the State • Weak economy • 68% agriculture • Regional disparities

  5. A MUTILATED VICTORY? • TREATY OF LONDON: Italy joins WWI in 1915 (with the Entente). • Promised substantial areas of land • Post-war Economy • High inflation, unemployment • Low wages, strikes (1918, 1920) • The Italian people believed they were not given what was promised at the end of the war: IRREDENTISM: unredeemed territories

  6. But was it really unfair??

  7. TREATY OF ST. GERMAIN

  8. WEAK PARLIAMENT • TRANSFORMISM: putting together large and unlikely coalitions (act of transforming opponents into supporters through favours) • 29 Prime Ministers from 1870-1922

  9. IL DUCE: BENITO MUSSOLINI APPOINTED TO POWER IN 1922 www.bbc.co.uk/.../mussolini_benito.shtml

  10. IN WHAT WAYS (AND FOR WHAT REASONS) DID MUSSOLINI BECOME MORE RIGHT WING?? "Do you want to be spectators in this great drama? Or do you want to be its fighters?" http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/italy_and_world_war_one.htm

  11. WHY DID MUSSOLINI BECOME MORE RIGHT WING IN HIS POLITICAL VIEWS? He was a major critic of parliament and disliked those Socialists who wanted change through moderate reform(He wanted revolution) He condemned Italian neutrality in WWI (in Avanti) which was contrary to Socialist policy By 1920 Fascist policy was opposed to the ‘twin evils’ of capitalism and socialism The Squadristi were used to combat communists (i.e. 1922 socialist strike)

  12. WHICH SECTIONS OF THE ITALIAN POPULATION WERE MOST ATTRACTED TO FASCISM? • Middle classes • Big Business (Fiat, Pirelli) • 1921 320, 000 members • 18,000 landowners • 14,000 small scale traders • 4,000 industrialists • 36,000 peasants • 23,000 urban working class • In an alliance the Fascists won 35 of 530 parliamentary seats 1921

  13. MUSSOLINI’S ACTIONS • 1919 Formation of first fascist combat group (Blackshirts) • 1921 The Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Facista) • 1922 March on Rome • Demands King let him in • King refuses martial law • Appointed Prime Minister • Fascist Grand Council • Il Duce: PM, Min of Interior Foreign Minister http://www.monferrini.com/images/legionemonferrato.jpg

  14. MARCH ON ROME October 27-31, 1922

  15. Political Consolidation • 1922 – establishes Fascist Grand Council • Mussolini has control over who gets on the council • forms a national Fascist militia from regional Fascist militias: funded by the state, but loyal to Mussolini (30,000 strong) • Mussolini also Interior and Foreign Minister

  16. 1923 Acerbo Electoral Law • 2/3 of the seats in parliament would be given to the party with most votes, as long as they got 25% of the total votes cast • Fascists win the 1924 election • 1924 Murder of Matteotti • Critic of the Fascists • Kidnapping and murder is blamed on Mussolini • Aventine Secession – Socialists boycott parliament, hoping the King will dismiss Mussolini They were wrong.

  17. Becco Giallo, underground newspaper (1924 www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWmussolini.htm

  18. 1925 • mayors replaced by podesta (fascist officials) • Censorship laws: anti-fascist papers shut down; remaining journalists had to be members of the party and articles had to be approved by the government

  19. 1926 • gave himself the power to issue laws by decree • responsible only to the King • all political parties banned SINGLE PARTY STATE 1927 OVRA (Secret Police) formed

  20. TOTALITARIAN? Italy never became truly totalitarian because of the need to maintain the support of the monarchists and of the church and because of its failure to politicise large sections of the population.

  21. Limits to the Fascist dictatorship • many non-fascists were kept in their positions in the police, judiciary, civil service and army • the secret police was really just an adaptation of the old interior ministry’s secret police section; it was technically under state – not party – control (unlike the Nazi SS or Gestapo) • the church and king are still very influential

  22. Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Prime Minister Benito Mussolini examine war maps with Nazi army generals, Germany; 1940's www.bbcmotiongallery.com/Customer/SearchDetai...

  23. Benito Mussolini The bodies of Benito Mussolini (C) and his mistress, Clara Petacci (R) were hung by their heels after they were killed by Italian partisans in Milan in April 1945. The body of the former secretary of the Fascist Party in Italy, Achille Starace, was also displayed. news.bbc.co.uk/.../html/2.stm

  24. TIMELINE 1926 - Suppression of opposition parties. Rocco Law estabilishes sydicates 1929 - Lateran Treaty creates state of Vatican City. 1935 - Italy invades Ethiopia. 1936 – Rome-Berlin Axis 1938 – Introduces Anti-Semitic Laws 1939 - Albania annexed, signs Pact of Steel 1940 - Italy enters World War II on German side. Italian forces occupy British Somaliland in East Africa. 1941 - Italy declares war on USSR. 1943 - Sicily invaded by Allies. King Victor Emmanuel III imprisons Mussolini. Armistice signed with Allies. Italy declares war on Germany. 1944 - Allied armies liberate Rome. 1945 - Mussolini, who had been rescued from prison by Germans, is captured and executed by Italian partisans.

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