Mussolini free essay sample

How effective did Benito Mussolini manage Italian affairs between 1922 and 1945? (Refer to achieving and consolidating control, political economy, Italian affairs, foreign policy. ) Benito Mussolini was born in 1883. In 1912 he became editor of the Avanti (a socialist newspaper. ) In 1914 Mussolini left the socialist party over his pro-war views and formed his own newspaper ‘Il Popolo d’italia. In 1919 he formed the Fascist Party the ‘Fascio di Combattiemento’. The reasons for the rise of Mussolini are as follows: There was great resentment with the treaty of Versailles. By the terms for the treaty of London Italy had been expected to gain certain territories especially in Yugoslavia. At Versailles (1919) President Wilson of America resisted these claims and Italy was left disappointed. Economic problems in Italy were horrific. Between 1914-1918 prices rose by 250% due to waves of strikes, 500,000 steelworkers went on strike in Milan in 1920 which was followed by an agricultural strike in the Po Valley in 1920. We will write a custom essay sample on Mussolini or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There was huge failure of democracy. A new voting system introduced in 1919 tended to fragment the groupings in parliament and so worsened the chances of effective government. Mussolini was getting a broad spectrum of support. In 1919 Mussolini formed the fascist party which gradually attracted a broad range of support. Nationalists found an emotional appeal in Mussolini’s speeches, disgruntled unemployed soldiers following world war 1 followed him and also landowners and industrialists who were fed up with strikes and feared the rise in communism. By 1921 the membership had risen to 152,000 of whom 62,000 were working class and the rest were professional people and small tradesmen. In October 1922 Mussolini was convinced by other leading fascists that it was time to act, Mussolini demanded that he be appointed prime minister. He announced to the public his intention to march on the capital – Rome. His followers began to occupy towns throughout north and central Italy in preparation for a seizure of power. On 28 October prime minister Luigi Facta asked king victor Emmanuel 111 to declare a state emergency and use the army, the troops in Rome were loyal to the king and could have crushed the fascists. However, fearing civil war Facta resigned. Mussolini refused to serve under another prime minister, the king gave in and appointed Mussolini prime minister. The myth of the fascist revolution had been born. Despite Mussolini becoming prime minister in 1922 it wasn’t until 1924 Mussolini’s power really took effect. When appointed prime minister, Mussolini led a coalition government in which fascist MP’s were a small minority. His government contained all the major parties except socialists and communists. Mussolini also served as minister for foreign affairs and the Interior. A measure Mussolini passed while head of a minority government had ordained that which ever party should secure a majority in the parliamentary election should command two-thirds of the seats automatically. This was known as the ‘acerbo law’. This was the end of a democracy. The black shirts guaranteed that majority in the elections of 1924 using a variety of means few of which were fair. Mussolini legalized and renamed the black shirts the Volunteer Militia for National Security and a Fascist Grand Council was created to advise Mussolini. An oligarchy had now been established. Mussolini’s hold on parliament became even tighter after the murder of Giacomo Matteotti a socialist politican who tried to have the 1924 elections nullified due to the black-shirts activities in the run up to the election. Historians are unsure whether Mussolini was behind the murder of Matteotti however, at the time it was widely believed Mussolini was the architect of his murder putting him in a very weak political position. In protest over 100 moderate MP’s withdrew from the chamber. In true Machiavellian tradition Mussolini weathered the criticism and now had virtually a free hand to do as he pleased in parliament. The Aventree succession was a bad move as it weakened their ability to remove Mussolini. The king was unwilling to act as he feared the Socialists would come to power and so Mussolini overcame and survived this minor crisis. The Fascist party became the only party in the state. Teachers were screened for their commitment in the Fascist state and civil servants were forced to join the party in order to keep their jobs. The OVRA (secret police) was established in 1926 to monitor and suppress through a special court system opponents of the regime. Mussolini’s Italy also had concentration camps although these were no where near as extreme as Hitler’s. Sentences of execution were carried out for treason. Mussolini wanted the state to have complete power over the lives of the civilians. This was known as totalitarianism. Propaganda and terror played huge roles in creating a totalitarian state. Propaganda was used to develop a cult of personality around Mussolini. In 1925 all independent newspapers were closed and the remaining newspapers were told to print his name in capitals as DUCE. The image portrayed of Mussolini was tightly controlled. He was backed by the slogan ‘Mussolini is always right. ’ Once Mussolini became dictator of the state he took action to deal with political criticism. A death penalty was brought into deal with political crimes. The OVRA held suspects without triails. However, Italy never became a truly totalitarianism state and the government was more content with the appearance rather than reality. In Mussolini’s Italy life was far more tolerable than in Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia. Mussolini wanted to show that fascism would bring a new society to Italy that could provide an example to the rest of the world. He introduced what was known as the ‘corporate state’. This corporate state would supposedly: end conflicts between owners and labor and therefore – end class conflict, increase production (no more strikes) and increase living standards. Under the corporate state Italy did benefit immeasurably. De Stefani was the minister for finance from 1922-1925. He attracted foreign investment for Italy with tax relief laws. To such an extent was this successful that unemployment fell from 500,000 to 122,000. However, big industrialists press-ganged Mussolini into nationalizing certain large industries. He dismissed Stefani and took over control of such concerns himself with disastrous results for Italian commerce. Mussolini’s economic policies were as follows: no attempt to destroy capitalism-this was because he compromised with capitalists and left them in charge of their industries in return for their support. productivism’ was the word used by fascists to describe their aims however this was vague and there was limited desire to boost production. There was close bonds between the state and the heavy metal industry and funds were directed to this area of the economy. There was little attention paid to development of the consumer industries. Taxation levels were high this was to fund investment for the heavy metals industry. The lira was fixed at an artificially high level- this was because of national pride. Protectionism increased to protect heavy industry and agriculture, this was because Mussolini sought to achieve autarky. Government intervention increased and private banks were taken over to finance for investment. Allocation of raw materials was bought under government control and direct control of major industries increased. As a result of these economic policies Italy had a larger public sector than any European country aside from the USSR. The relationship between the state and the church had been rocky since the unification of Italy in 1870. Il Duce knew that the church held the key to many Italian hearts and whilst irreligious himself, set about improving relations with the papacy. Regarding fascism as a defence against communism, the dread of the church, Pope Pius X1 and Mussolini concluded the Lateran Treaty and Concordat in 1929 in which the church recognized Italy officially for the first time and the state recognized the Vatican and Catholicism was declared the state religion. The Vatican was given control over state religious education. The church also surrendered all claim to the ancient papal states in the south. There is a disagreement as to whether foreign policy was driven by fascist ideals but there is a consensus that it was dominated by Mussolini. Italy’s interests concentrated in three areas: the Mediterranean, Africa and the Balkins. Mussolini restored Fiume to Italy, he forced Greece to pay 50,000,000 lire compensation to Italy for the death of four Italians. In this he went against the league of nations. He signed the Locarno pact settling the boarders of Europe, he established a protectorate over Albania in 1926. By signing the Kellogg-Briand pact in 1928 he renounced war as a policy, he sought to destabilize Yugoslavia and signed a treaty with Hungary. Mussolini also crushed a revolt in Libya with the use of massive force and executions. Mussolini invaded Ethiopia which was known as Abyssinia at the time. This aggressive act was to have important consequences. Mussolini invaded Abyssinia because he wanted to gain glory and prestige by building an overseas empire and also wanted revenge for the defeat Italian forces had suffered at the hands of the Abyssinians in 1896. However, by snubbing the League of Nations insistence that Italy withdraw from Abyssinia. Mussolini withdrew from it. The League of Nations imposed sanctions for his actions but they did not succeed and were quite ineffective. Mussolini was now turning towards a more fascist driven foreign policy. The reasons for this change were that he had a lot of anger towards France and Britain in response to the invasion of Abyssinia and also because of the insuccess of the invasion. The participation of Mussolini in foreign policy from 1936 onwards was his intervention in the Spanish civil war, the establishment of the axis, Mussolini proposed the Munich conference which he chaired when the war between Germany and the western allies seemed likely, Mussolini annexed Albania when Hitler seized the whole of Czechoslovakia. In May 1939 a military alliance with Germany was signed this was known as the pact of Steel, Italy was unable to support Hitler in September 1939 and Hitler accepted Italian neutrality. In 1940, Mussolini joined the war but his invasion of southern France did not fit Hitlers plans, his invasion of Greece obliged Hitler to intervene and the initial success in North Africa was then met by British counter-attacks. In june 1941 Mussolini participated in the invasion of the USSR and in December 1941 they followed Hitler in his declaration of war on the USA. In july 1943, allied troups landed in Sicily, the Fascist grand council denounced Mussolini’s actions and the king dismissed Mussolini, he was the arrested and Marshal Badoglio took his place as Prime Minister. Since 1936 Mussolinis popularity was in great decline due to his involvement in the Spanish civil war and his relationship with Germany was seen as sacrificing Italy’s interests to those of Germany. He had lost the support of the king early on in his dictatorship and defeats in world war 2 undermined his prestige. onditions within Italy deteriorated with the war, there was also a lot of corruption within the Fascist party. Mussolini also suffered from illness and finally the invasion of Sicily by the allies was a clear sign of Mussolini’s defeat. Italy surrendered on September 8th 1943 and Mussolini was executed in April 28th at the hands of the pro-allied Italians. Mussolini took advantage of post war economic and political problems to come to power in It aly. He promised to make Italy great, defeat communism and restore order among the political chaos that was post war Italy. Once in power he proceeded cautiously to establish a dictatorship and it was only in 1926 he could be called a full-blown dictator. He used terror to maintain control and propaganda to promote his personality. His desire for an empire was more of a burden than an advantage i. e Ethiopia brought no economic benefits to Italy. The relationship Mussolini created between Germany and Italy meant that Italian interests were of secondary importance. Fascism caused economic stagnation in Italy. A high lira damaged imports and wages fell. Facism brought little social reforms and the reality of the corporate state was that fascists sided with employers and this system did little to represent the interests of the workers. This system was effectively only a disguise for exploitation of labor. Fascist rule was corrupt and much needed reforms were not carried out. Propaganda was used to claim successes but remained propaganda. Successes included improvements in pubic transport and successes in the campaign against the mafia. One major success of Mussolinis was the ending of the conflict between the state and church and the establishment of the Vatican as an independent state.