Mussolini’s Italy 1919 – 1941
Benito Mussolini Background
• Born: July 29, 1883
• Place of birth: Predappio, Italy
• Died: April 28, 1945
• Place of Death: Giulino, Azzano, Italy
1. Before PoliDcs
§ At 10, he was expelled from his first boarding school as he stabbed a
fellow student
§ Four years later, he stabbed another student but this Dme was only
suspended.
§ early years of his adulthood, he travelled around Switzerland.
§ 1909, he moved to Austria-Hungary where he became the editor of a
socialist newspaper.
§ deported back to Italy for violaDng laws which restricted press freedom.
§ In 1910, Mussolini became the editor of another socialist newspaper, but
was jailed for six months for inciDng violence.
§ While imprisoned, he began wriDng his autobiography.
§ Mussolini split from the Socialist Party in 1914 and started his own
newspaper, encouraging violence, while unrest spread across the country.
§ In 1915, Mussolini joined the Italian army. He reached the rank of
corporal, but was discharged aUer being injured fighDng in WW1.
§ Made a name for himself - charismaDc personality and a consummate
rhetorician (extremely skilled speaker whose words are to impress)
§ Upon Returning to Italy gained a following as an editor for the socialist
magazine AvanD
§ AUer World War 1 – organizing Fasci Di Comba\mento - naDonalist
paramilitary wing known for wearing black shirts – they began waging
campaigns of terrorism on Italy’s leUist insDtuDons.
2. Entering politics
§ By 1918, Mussolini was calling for a dictator to seize control of Italy, and
in 1919 , angered by the Treaty of Versailles.
§ By the end of 1919, Mussolini entered the general election as the Fascist
candidate but lost following a Socialist landslide victory.
§ In 1921, the Italian King dissolved Parliament due to increased violence
and chaos.
,§ In the elections, the fascists took a huge win, and Mussolini became
deputy in Parliament.
§ In October of 1922, fascist troops entered Rome to take the city. King
Victor Emmanuel III transfers the title of Prime Minister of Italy to
Mussolini without armed conflict.
§ Benito Mussolini was Europe’s first 20th-century fascist dictator.
§ Mussolini’s poliDcal orientaDon didn’t always lean that way.
§ His father was a socialist who worked part-Dme as a journalist for leUist
publicaDons.
§ Mussolini’s beliefs took aUer his father’s: he spent Dme organizing with
trade unions and wriDng for socialist publicaDons in both Switzerland and
Italy.
3. Dictatorial Rule / Key Policies
§ Mussolini’s poliDcs took a turn to the right midway through WW1 when
he encouraged war effort.
§ It was during this period, and aUer, that the naDonalist and anD-Bolshevik
strands of thought that would characterize his later poliDcs began to
emerge.
§ These poliDcs included the themes of racial superiority, xenophobia, and
imperialism that defined his acDons as a dictator.
§ Mussolini's regime changed the electoral law in 1924 to favour the
fascists.
§ Under this ‘Acerbo Law’, if one party gets at least 25% of the votes cast in
an elecDon, they would get 66% of the seats in parliament .
§ During voDng, the hall where poliDcians voted was full of armed fascist
thugs who could see if you voted for/against the policy.
§ He introduced a Fascist Grand Council which would decide policy for Italy
without consulDng the non-fascists in the government first.
§ criDcs of Mussolini were beaten up and anD-fascist newspapers were
banned.
§ By November 1926, all rival poliDcal parDes and opposiDon newspapers
had been banned in Italy.
§ In 1927, the OVRA (secret police force) was set up.
Key Ques5on 1: Why did Mussolini gain power in 1922
a. Problems facing Italy aUer WW1: Economically, socially and Peace
Conference
, § Pre-war / during war
§ When World War 1 began in 1914, Italy was a partner with the triple
alliance: Germany, Austria – Hungary but otherwise remained neutral.
§ Treaty of London (Tralo Di Londra), April 26, 1915, Italy negoDated the
secret pact with Great Britain and France to join the triple entente.
§ They promised to support Italy annexing the territory along the two
countries fronDers (Italy and its border with Austria which is why France
and Great Britain wanted Italy due to their proximity to Austria)
§ TrenDno region in Alps eastward to Trieste at the northern end of the
AdriaDc Sea - liberate Italian speaking populaDon in Austria - Hungary
§ Italy was promised: Trieste, southern Tyrol, northern DalmaDa, and
colonies.
§ AUer war
§ With the signing of Saint Germain on the 10 September 1919
§ It formally dissolved the Austro-Hungarian empire.
§ The new Republic of Austria to accept the independence of 60% of its
territory.
§ AUer WW1 Italy felt they deserved everything as they lost plenty during
the war – they also wanted Fiume.
Italy Claimed Promised under Treaty of Able to obtain it under the
London treaty of St Germain
South Tyrol yes Yes
TrenDno Yes Yes
Istria Yes Yes
Fiume No No
DalmaDa Yes No
Colonies Yes No
§ During the Paris Peace Conference – June 28, 1917
§ Due to a lack of communicaDon and bargaining power by Prime Minister
Vilorio Emanuele Orlando
§ Didn’t get the territories promised to them under the treaty of London.
§ Many called it a ‘MuDlated Victory.’
§ Government discredited and prime minister resigned.
§ FormaDon of the Yugoslav state put further strain on the relaDonship.
§ Britain and France supported this new state, they wanted Italy to see the
claims on the south Slav territory and DalmaDa didn’t make sense.
, § Italian government driven by public opinion was unwilling to budge on
their claims.
§ Woodrow Wilson (American President) would not give in
§ He professed dedicaDon to his 14 points – one in which was self-
determinaDon (legal right of people to their own desDny in the
internaDonal order)
§ NegoDaDons conDnued, Orlando and Sidney Sonnino (foreign minister)
warning of a civil war in Italy if their demands weren’t met.
§ Conflicts between the radicalizing socialist party and naDonalist right-wing
with Fasci Di Comba\menD
§ Italy faced serious post war issues.
§ War Dme government had printed money to finance arms therefore
inflaDon was a serious issue.
§ By then end of 1920 their currency (lira) was worth one sixth of what it
had been
§ The two-year period aUer the Paris Peace Conference became known as
the Red Years (Biennio Rosso) which was a period of intense social conflict
– 1919 – 1920.
§ It was a verge of a revoluDon caused by economic issues in the aUermath
of WW1, high unemployment, and poliDcal instability.
§ AUer the war, men returning home brought back with them the feeling of
hatred.
§ Country had to face the collapse of the agricultural producDon due to the
reducDon in peasants.
§ InflaDon was high and wages remained unchanged – other end of the
spectrum big capitalists and industrial groups (Fiat) made millions.
§ Militant mass movement which began in the spring of 1919 lasted unDl
September of 1920
§ Thus began Biennio Rosso - radical acDon – birth in Italy of revoluDonary
movement directly inspired by that of the Russian revoluDon of October
1917
§ Development of radical unionism started aUer WW1.
§ Union members exploded with strikes, demonstraDons, and uprisings.
§ Created factory Counsil – factory members were taking over the factory.
§ Militancy swept Italy with peasants and workers seizing factories and
land.
§ Further fueled by the news of a Russian revoluDon in which the peasants
obtained land.
§ The socialist movement was failing.
§ Anarchists suggested occupying workplaces.
