IB Docs (2) Team
4. Italy: Part I (1918 - 1939)
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Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922. Between this time and his fall in World war Two, he dominated Italian politics. He was the most popular leader that Italy had ever seen and he attempted to transform Italy into a Fascist state as well as to establish a New Roman Empire in Africa and the Mediterranean.
This page looks at how Mussolini became ruler of Italy and how he then consolidated his power upto 1926. The next page (Part II) examines Mussolini's economic, political and social policies rom 1926.
Guiding questions:
What long-term weaknesses in the Italy contributed to Mussolini's rise to power?
How did the First World War help Mussolini's rise to power?
How significant was Mussolini’s leadership in his rise to power?
What was the role of fascist ideology in the rise of Mussolini?
What were the key events in Mussolini’s rise to power?
How did Mussolini consolidate his power?
1. What long-term weaknesses in pre First World War Italy contributed to Mussolini's rise to power?
Italian troops in the trenches 1916
Task One
ATL: Thinking and research skills
In small groups research the political, economic and social situation in Italy in the decade before the outbreak of the First World War. You should research the following key themes and the extent to which pre-war Liberal Italy met each criteria of a stable state:
- Political stability
- Stable government and strong leadership
- The government and political parties had the support of the people
- Limited political opposition to the state
- Economic stability
- Growth in agriculture
- Growth in industry
- Relatively good living standards
- Relatively good working conditions
- Social stability
- Clear cultural identity and unity
- Religious freedom / toleration
- Access to education
- Access to healthcare
- Foreign policy
- Respected internationally
- Good relations with foreign governments
- Plays a role in international diplomacy
- Has undisputed territorial borders
As a follow up to (or prelude to the task above) the first part of the following video gives a good overview of Italy on the eve of the First World War. It then goes on to explain why Italy joined the war on the side of the Entente.
Task Two
ATL: Thinking skills
Watch the following video and add to the notes that you have collected from your research task above.
1. What are your conclusions about Italy on the eve of the First World War?
2. What were Italy's aims in joining the war on the side of the Entente?
Task Three
ATL: Thinking and communication skills
Create an infographic that shows the long and short-term political weaknesses of the Italian state on the eve of the First World War. Use your research from Task One to help you. You can also click on the eye below for more hints on factors that you should include.
- Lack of national identity following the unification of Italy.
- Fewer than 2% spoke Italian.
- Liberal Italy was controlled by the northern and central ruling elites
- The urban and rural poor did not have the vote.
- Pius IX instructed Catholics to boycott elections.
- Peasant leagues and cooperatives in the countryside .
- By the end of the 19th century there were working class movements such as trade unions.
- The Italian Socialist Party was founded in 1892
- Nationalists strongly promoted irredentism which aimed to seize the Italian speaking territories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Politics was polarizing before the outbreak of the First World War.
- In June 1914 there was rioting in northern and central Italy during leftist inspired uprisings in what became known as ‘Red Week’.
The Italians fought the Austrians and the Germans across a front in Northern Italy. Between 1915 and 1918 five million men were engaged in military service, mainly as conscripts. Most of the conscripts were drawn from rural areas as industrial workers tended to be engaged in the production of war materials. Similar to the practices of the Western Front in France and Belgium, trenches developed on the Italian front and for most of the ensuing three years the war was static and a war of attrition. Italian troops fought bravely, endured appalling conditions and were on low pay. At the Battle of Caporetto in October 1917 the Italians were surprised by an Austro-German offensive and suffered huge losses; 700,000 troops were pushed back by the more than 100 km. The commander-in-chief blamed the cowardice of his troops and had thousands executed. However, the Nationalists blamed the government.
Despite the catastrophe at Caporetto the Italian lines held, and Italy finally achieved a victory at the battle of Vittorio Veneto against the Austrians in October 1918. By this time the German army was exhausted by the Anglo-French offensives on the western front. Austria then sued for peace and an armistice was signed on 3rd November, 1918.
On 11th November, Germany surrendered and the First World War came to an end. However, victory came at a huge human cost for the Italians, more than 650,000 had been killed and hundreds of thousands wounded.
The war increased the political divisions in Italy. The five million men that served in its army were politicised by their experience, and many deeply resented the liberal government for what they saw as the mismanagement of the war. Some veterans also resented the socialist PSI’s anti-war stance. The government had mobilised the population to fight a ‘total’ war and this led to an increase in the number of industrial workers and in turn an increase in trade union membership and syndicalism.
2. How did the First World War help Mussolini's rise to power?
Task One
ATL: Thinking skills
1. In pairs read through the chart below and discuss how the economic problems in post-war Italy may have undermined the government and fostered support for more radical political ideas.
2. In pairs review the research material you gathered on Italian society before the First World War. Discuss with your partner the extent to which the economic results of the First World War would have led to either more social cohesion or more social division.
Task Two
ATL: Thinking and communication skills
In pairs, read through the information below. Draft a newspaper report on the impact of the First World War on Italy. You should include:
A banner headline, an editorial on the political and economic effects of the war and an assessment on what the war's longer term impact might be for Italy.
This task can also be printed off on a PDF which is attached below.
There had been deep divisions in Italy during the period known as the ‘intervention crisis’ after the First World War broke in August 1914. Italy entered the conflict in May 1915 after negotiating territorial gains in the Treaty of London. It was agreed that Italy would gain Trentino and Trieste, south Tyrol, Istria and Dalmatia.
Although popular with nationalists, territorial gains in the north of the country meant little to the poor in the south of the country. The Catholic church was also uneasy about a war against Catholic Austria. The main socialist party was against the war, however some on the left – including Benito Mussolini moved away from the party line and supported intervention.
By the end of the war in November 1918, 5 million Italians had served in the armed forces, and 650,000 had been killed with hundreds of thousands more injured. The veterans of the conflict returned to an Italy that was in a deepening economic and political crisis. The war had increased political divisions, with those on the left that had opposed intervention being resented by those that had supported it. The size of the industrial workforce had significantly increased with the demand for war industries and this had in turn increased the power and influence of the trade unions.
As you have already seen, an economic crisis developed after the end of the war. There was also a political crisis. There was an extension in the franchise and in the elections of 1919 the liberals did badly. No party won a clear overall majority. Support for the left increased, and the Bolshevik revolution of October 1917 in Russia inspired Italian Socialists to call for the overthrow of the Liberal state. Socialist were successful in cities in the north and in a response to the apparent threat they posed the Italian People’s Party, the Popolari, was founded and supported by Pope Benedict XV. The traditional parties of Liberal Italy were losing ground and losing credibility. There were waves of strikes and protests in what became known as the ‘two red years’ of 1919 and 1920. The propertied classes were appalled at the apparent ineffectual response of the government to counter strikes in the cities and land seizures in the countryside. In January 1921 the Italian Communist Party [Paritio Comunista Italiano] was founded.
The government also faced criticism from nationalists who deemed the outcome of the Versailles peace settlement a failure for Italy. Italy gained, in the Treaty of St Germain, the province of Tyrol, the Istrian peninsular, the port of Trieste, the Dodecanses islands, a protectorate and a port in Albania, however it did not receive the port of Fiume nor Dalmatia.
There was in fact widespread outrage and the poet and nationalist Gabriele d’Annunzio denounced the settlement as ‘a mutilated victory’. With a force of 2,000 ex-soldiers and arditi he occupied Fiume by force in September 1919. This was against the Italian government’s agreement to hand over the port to Yugoslavia. However, the liberal government was impotent to stop d’Annunzio until the return of Giovanni Giolitti as Prime Minister in December 1920. Giolitti ordered the Italian navy to blockade Fiume and only then did d’Anunnzio’s support collapse.
It was within this political, economic and social post-war crisis that support for fascism began to grow. As its doctrines were loosely defined fascism could appeal to groups across the class divide. Its demands for law and order, and its willingness to take direct action against the socialists on the streets were increasingly appealing to a broad section of Italian society. Many former conservative supporters of the liberal regime had now lost faith in the ineffectual parliamentary system.
The impact of the First World War on Italy: news article task
Task Three
ATL: Thinking and Research skills
In pairs research further Gabriele d’Annunzio’s occupation of Fiume in September 1919.
Discuss with your partner how the ‘Fiume Affair’ may have further undermined the credibility of the government and the liberal democratic system.
The fascists would later copy many of d’Annunzio’s methods; this decisive act of force was seen as more effective than parliamentary discussion and debate. D’Annunzio’s use of parades, public speeches and uniformed militias were all adopted by Mussolini.
Task Four
ATL: Communication skills
Prepare for a class debate on the following resolution:
Liberal Italy was doomed to fail by 1921.
You need to organize one team who will support the motion and the other team will argue against it.
Liberal Italy was doomed to fail:
Point 1: Liberal Italy faced serious political issues by 1914….add evidence and explain… is there a historian you could add here?
Point 2: In addition, politics seemed to be polarizing and becoming more radicalized after the First World War ... failure at Versailles… add evidence and explain…
Point 3: The economic situation was also deteriorating in industry and agriculture… add evidence and explain…
Point 4 : Furthermore the economic situation had become acute after the First World War… add evidence and explain… Can you find a historian to support this side of the argument?
Liberal Italy was not doomed to fail:
Point 1: There had been relative political stability and the extension of the franchise…the Roman Question… add evidence and explain…
Point 2: Indeed, there were also clear economic indicators that Liberal Italy was modernizing and the country…add evidence and explain…
Point 3: Liberal Italy had been victorious in the First World War… and gained…. add evidence and explain…
Point 4: It was fascist violence and agitation that destabilized post-war Italy... add evidence and explain…can you find an historian for this side of the argument?
3. How significant was Mussolini’s leadership in his rise to power?
Starter:
Click here to see a painting by the Italian artist Giacomo Balla which shows Mussolini's March on Rome.
What is the message of this painting?
Click on the eye for hints
You could consider the following:
- Mussolini's stance
- the facial expressions of those around him
- the position of Mussolini in the middle and at the front of the crowd
Task One
ATL: Thinking and communication skills
Discuss in small groups what qualities a person requires to be an effective leader. Draft a list of ‘criteria’ from which to judge the political leadership skills of an individual. Using your ‘leadership criteria’ read through the short list of biographical points on Mussolini below and assess the significance of his leadership traits in the growth of the fascist movement in Italy
- In 1912 Mussolini became editor of the socialist newspaper, Avanti! He demonstrated his capabilities as a powerful and radical writer.
- Mussolini resigned from Avanti in 1914, when he became pro-war and set up a new newspaper Il Popolo d’Italia that promoted Italian intervention in the First World War. He was expelled from the socialist party. He understood the ‘popular’ mood and was open to shift his stance on issues.
- Mussolini was conscripted into the army and was invalided home in 1917 he was invalided home and returned as editor of Il Popolo. In editorials he claimed Italy needed a ‘dictator’ to effectively direct the war. Il Popolo became the focal point of the fascist movement.
- Mussolini founded the Fascist movement in 1919 during the post-war crisis that gripped Italy. He was a charismatic orator and was pragmatic and flexible politically.
- Mussolini positioned himself as the pivotal and coherent leader of the divided fascist party, and the only figure that might lead the party into parliament and political power.
- Mussolini appealed to the masses by promoting nationalism with some socialist dynamics. He also managed to appeal to the elites as a strong man willing to take on the left and control his own party bosses, the ras.
4. What was the role of fascist ideology in the rise of Mussolini?
In the inter-war period, Europe was dominated by dictatorial regimes. Dictatorships were more common than democracies, and many countries had fascist-style movements. Britain had its own fascist party led by Oswald Moseley. However, Mussolini overtly suggested that the term was related to Roman bound rods in order to link his fascist movement with the classical Roman period.
Fascism itself did not have a coherent founding doctrine and it therefore manifested differently around the world. Fascists promoted nationalism, a one-party state, a strong leader or dictator, imperialism and war. At its core fascism was an ultranationalist ideology. It sought to mobilize the masses to bring about the ‘rebirth’ of a nation and establish a new modernist culture that rejected the decadence of liberal democratic societies. The nation state is central in fascism, and it could be defined on historical and / or racial grounds. Roger Griffin, in Modernism and Fascism [Palgrave, 2007] argues that fascism aimed to establish an alternative modernity to that of the liberal societies of he 1920s. Whereas liberals promoted ideas of the rights of the individual, the power of reason and science, those on the right promoted emotion, instinct and the primacy of nations and races. These ideas on race often adopted the British writer Herbert Spence’s ideas. He took Darwinian theories of evolution and applied them to human society, drawing conclusions about the inevitability of conflict. The notion that violence and war were part of ‘God’s plan’ in order to weed out the ‘unfit’ and establish the domination of the ‘fittest’; war would ensure the ‘survival of the fittest’. However, in pre-war Italy the left had been more powerful than the right. Thus, according to Patricia Knight, ‘… the problems resulting from the war made it possible for these ‘pre-fascist’ ideas to be developed and to attract a much wider audience.’ Patricia Knight. Page 11.
Task One
ATL: Thinking and social skills
Read Mussolini's description of Fascism which can be found here
What does this description say in support of the following?
- Nationalism
- A one-party state
- A strong leader or dictator
- Imperialism
- War
- Emotion and instinct over reason instinct
- Primacy of nations and races
- The authority of the state over the individual
What ideas does it say Fascism is against?
2. Discuss which groups in Italian society these ideas might appeal to. Why would the post-war crisis in Italy lead to a growth in support for fascist ideas and facilitate the rise of Mussolini?
5. What were the key events in Mussolini’s rise to power?
Task One
ATL: Thinking and self-management skills
In pairs read through the chart below that outlines the key events leading up to and including Mussolini’s infamous ‘March on Rome’. Discuss with a partner the extent to which his appointment as Prime Minister by King Victor Emmanuel III was due to the use of coercion by Mussolini and the fascists.
6. How did Mussolini consolidate his power?
Task One
ATL: Thinking and social skills
Get into groups of four. Each student will focus on one of the following methods used by Mussolini to consolidate his authoritarian state.
- Use of legal methods
- Use of force
- Charismatic leadership
- Dissemination of propaganda
Read through the events outlined below and draft a short persuasive speech that promotes your method as the key means for Mussolini’s consolidation of control.
Rule by decree November 1922 - Mussolini claimed that the power to rule by decree would be a temporary measure until the situation in Italy had been stabilized. In November 1922 parliament gave Mussolini the power to rule by decree for one year
The creation of the Grand Council of Fascism December 1922 - Mussolini consolidated his control over the Fascist Party by setting up the Grand Council of Fascists. Mussolini himself made all the appointments to the Grand Council. Fascist squads were merged into a national militia in January 1923.
Gained support of the Church 1923 - Mussolini offered help for the struggling Catholic bank and said that he would make religious education compulsory in schools and would ban contraception.
Increased parliamentary strength 1923 – persuaded the Nationalists to merge with the Fascist Party
Won the support of big business 1923 - Mussolini promised the Confindustria that tax evasion would not be pursued and price and rent controls would be abolished
The Acerbo Law July 1923 - Mussolini proposed that the party that won the most votes in an election should be given two thirds of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies. When the Acerbo Law was debated in parliament it gained a large majority of support. Armed fascists squads had patrolled the chamber when the vote was taken.
The General Election April 1924 - The Acerbo Act came into practice in the general election of April 1924. The fascists increase their seats to 374 due at least in part to Mussolini’s public profile. However, there was also ballot rigging and fascist squad intimidation.
The murder of Giacomo Matteotti June 1924 – The socialist Matteotti called for the election result to be declared invalid on 30th May and on 10th June, a group of fascists kidnapped Matteotti and stabbed him to death. There were even allegations that Mussolini had been involved. One hundred opposition MPs walked out of parliament. Mussolini ordered the arrest of fascist suspects, but also put more Blackshirts on to the streets to quell protests over the murder. Protests in the press and on the streets escalated, and in July Mussolini enforced press censorship and banned political meetings of opposition parties. Nevertheless, the scandal of the Matteotti affair continued and leading radical fascists called on Mussolini to take ‘dictatorial action’. On 3rd January, 1925, Mussolini made a dramatic speech in parliament and promised decisive action against his opponents. He still had the tacit support of the King and black shirts were mobilized to attack opposition groups
Power to make Law without parliament January 1926 - Mussolini was given the right to make law without having to consult parliament. By November 1926 all opposition parties had been dissolved and in 1928 a law ended universal suffrage and the King lost the right to select a prime minister.
Agreement with the Church 1929 - Mussolini signed the Lateran Pacts with the papacy
Note that it was not only the weakness of parliamentary opposition that facilitated Mussolini’s creation of a dictatorship. Much of the Italian public were prepared to either support or tolerate Mussolini’s regime as it was preferable to the chaos and instability of the post-war years. The army tolerated Mussolini’s dismissal of the minister for war in 1925 and taking the position himself, and it tolerated Mussolini assuming the role of political head for each of the armed forces. The military was appeased by fascist promises of an assertive foreign policy and Mussolini’s ambition to develop Italy’s military capabilities. Furthermore, as Mussolini was fully committed in his other roles, the generals and admirals believed they would be free to make the direct decisions regarding their forces. The powerful industrialists continued to support Mussolini as they were benefitting from a period of economic growth and the policies of the Finance Minister, Alberto De Stefani who had limited government interference, lowered taxes and abolished price controls. Industrialists, blighted by memories of the Bienno Rossi, were delighted when the Vidoni Palace Pact of 1925 was implemented which only permitted fascist trade unions. Strikes were banned in April 1926, in the Syndical Law which laid the foundations for the Corporate State. The Charter of Labour in April 1927 forced fascist trade unions and employers into collective legally binding contracts. Mussolini also had the support of some of Italy’s leading intellectuals, such as Giovanni Gentile, who described himself as the ‘philosopher of fascism.’
Task One
ATL: Thinking skills
In pairs, read through the perspectives of different historians below and discuss which perspectives you agree with the most.
Perspectives: Why was Mussolini able to take power in October 1922?
The Italian liberal historian Benedetto Croce suggests that the rise of fascism was not the fault of the liberal regime and was primarily caused by the socio-economic impact of the First World War and the political backlash and fear of communism caused by the Bolshevik Revolution. It was a product of very specific circumstances. Croce follows the ‘parenthesis’ line of argument which suggests that fascism represented a ‘gap’ in Italy’s development and had little relation to what happened in Italy before or afterwards.
One of the most controversial historians of Italian fascism is Renzo de Felice, a prominent historian who, between 1965 and 1990, wrote a vast seven volume ‘life and times’ biography of Mussolini. He argues that fascist Italy was a ‘freakish deviation’ that split the period from liberal Italy to post-war Italy. Fascism could not be explained by what had come before it. It was dislocated from the liberal governments that proceeded and succeeded it. He denied that his ‘anti-anti-fascist’ approach to Mussolini’s regime was not in fact pro-fascist. Felice argued that Italian Fascism was specific and unique and could only exist in the 1919-1945 period. He argues that fascism was not ‘bad’ or ‘evil’ and suggested that historians should look at the movement more objectively.
The Marxist historian Antonio Gramsci, however, argued in line with the left wing perspective on the rise of fascism, that it was due to the failings of the liberal Italian state. It had failed to include the masses in politics, it had used violence against discontent and revolts, and it had maintained the role of the elites as the dominant force in politics. This perspective suggests a ‘revelation’ line of argument; fascism was ‘the autobiography of the nation’ and was the inevitable outcome of the flawed political and socio-economic developments in Italy since the Risorgimento. Reactionary forces funded the fascists in order to retain their wealth and power and to destroy the political and economic gains made by the working class up to the end of the First World War.
The US historian Alexander De Grand asserts that fascism developed as a response to the growth of socialism after the First World War which had deepened class conflict in Italy. In 1919 the socialists were the largest party in parliament and this panicked the middle classes and conservatives. As the government seemed impotent in the face of strikes in the cities and land seizures in the countryside the anti-socialist violence of ascist squads was important for the growth of support for the movement.
Some contemporaries believed that the success of fascism in Italy was a result of its charismatic leader, Mussolini. In 1932, Italo Balbo, a fascist leader in Ferrara wrote, ‘Many in those days turned to socialism. It was the ready-made revolutionary programme and, apparently the most radical… It is certain, in my opinion, that, without Mussolini, three quarters of the Italian youth which had returned from the trenches would have become Bolsheviks
The British historian, Denis Mack Smith, supports De Grand’s view of the significance of the violence of fascist squads, however he also emphasizes, like Balbo, the importance of Mussolini himself. Mussolini made great political capital on the growing disorder in his newspaper, and promoted the image of the fascist squads as the ‘saviours’ of Italy. Mussolini was a capable politician, and managed to shift his ‘message’ to appeal to different audiences. He would rally fascist squads with calls for violent and radical change, but he also reassured the liberals and middle classes that he was a moderate.
Task Three
ATL: Thinking skills and Self management skills
Whose views?
With a partner match the following views on why fascism was successful in Italy after the First World War to one of the historians perspectives outlined above:
- Caused by the socio-economic impact of the First World War
- It was the failings of the liberal Italian state
- It was a ‘freakish deviation’ from the liberal politics that came before and after it
- The middle classes feared socialism and the anti-socialist violence of the fascist squads led to increasing support
- It was both the affect of fascist squad violence and abilities of their leader Mussolini
Task Four
ATL: Thinking skills
In pairs discuss the two perspectives on the chart below regarding what Mussolini aimed to achieve between 1922 and 1926. Add evidence from this page to support both opinions. Which perspective do you and your partner agree with most?
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