Mussolini’s Italy

1. Mussolini’s Italy C. Cullen October 2012

2. Mussolini’s home as a young child Benito Mussolini grew up in a middle class family son of a blacksmith father and school teacher mother. His father was an atheist with revolutionary socialist views and had a violent temper, particularly when he was drunk. He encouraged his son to always stand up for himself and to fight back aggressively if challenged. His mother was a devout Catholic who opposed violence. Benito was a troubled child who rebelled against authority and got into fights with peers. He was expelled from a religious boarding school at the age of 9 for stabbing a classmate with a pen-knife. His parents sent him off to a different school where he excelled academically but still had a number of disciplinary issues. He graduated from school with a teaching certificate but was not terribly enthusiastic about the teaching profession.

3. As a young man, Mussolini moved to Switzerland and became involved with revolutionary socialists. He had several incidents with the police and became increasingly militant in his views. He got a job with the socialist newspaper, Avanti, but was later expelled from the Socialist Party for calling upon Italy to break its alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary and go to war on the side of Britain and France. He would later destroy the Avanti paper.

4. Mussolini set up his own newspaper, Il Popolo D’Italia and used it to publicize his nationalistic views about World War 1. He received financial support from Alllied governments and businesses who were eager to see Italy enter the war on their side.

5. Mussolini in WW1 uniform In 1915, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary and Germany after secret negotiations at the Treaty of London conference. Mussolini was conscripted for military duty but was injured by a grenade during a training action so he didn’t see active combat. After World War 1, Mussolini was furious about the treatment Italy received at the Paris Peace Conference and felt the country had been betrayed and humiliated by the Big Three leaders. He stated: “When we went to the peace negotiations, we were only given crumbs.”

6. At the Paris Peace Conference, Italy received South Tyrol, Istria and Trieste from the Austro-Hungarian Empire but didn’t get the territory along the Aegean Sea that many Italians were hoping for. In 1919, D’Annunzio, a WW1 hero and poet took matters into his own hands and led a group of ex-soldiers to seize the town of Fiume. This helped further stir feelings of Italian nationalism, and some people credit D’Annunzio as the founder of Italian fascism.

7. Italian Economic Concerns After World War 1 • Extreme poverty in the southern agricultural part of the country – Landless peasants • had to pay high taxes to their landlords and didn’t have enough left for their families. • In some cases, peasants seized land by force from the landlords. • 2. Inflation- Prices rose over 500% for some goods in the industrialized northern • regions of the country. • Rising unemployment- After WW1 ended, the demand fell for certain products. • Soldiers returned home so there were more people competing for fewer jobs. • Strikes and labour unrest – Factory workers revolted and in some cases took over • their factories and refused to leave. Wealthy industrialists feared this was the • start of a violent socialist or communist revolution.

8. During this time period, Italy used a system of proportional representation, which ensured that a party’s percentage of votes in an election would equal its number of seats in Parliament. This meant it was very difficult for any single party to gain a majority, and there were usually coalition governments where parties had to make alliancesto stay in power. Often these coalitions broke down quickly: between 1919-1923, Italy had five different coalition governments, leading to political instability and ineffectiveness.

9. Symbols of the Spanish, Italian and Nazi fascists in the 1920’s and 30’s In 1919, Mussolini created the Italian Fascist Party with himself as leader. Early members of the party consisted mainly of ex-soldiers who were disillusioned with the Italian government and angry about their nation’s treatment at the Paris Peace Conference. They adopted the fasces as their symbol, which had formerly been used in ancient Rome. The fasces was an axe inside a bundle of sticks.

10. Mussolini with King Victor Emmanuel Mussolini and his fascists appealed to the upper classes including the wealthy landlords and industrialists. (He had had clearly given up his old socialist feelings.) Mussolini vowed to crack down on labour protests and to prevent land and factory seizures. He also promised to strengthen law and order, create government stability, and to restore Italy’s pride and former glory. In order to gain support from more moderate Italians, he toned down his criticism of both Pope Pius X1 and King Victor Emmanuel.

11. In order to provide political muscle and intimidation, Mussolini created combat squads, known as the Black Shirts, which consisted mainly of ex-soldiers. The Black Shirts forcefully shut down a general strike organized by the Socialist and Communist Parties, which helped the Fascists gain popularity with much of the middle and upper classes.

12. In 1922, Mussolini threatened to march on Rome with 50,000 Black Shirts and seize control of the government by force unless King Victor Emmanuel appointed him prime minister of the country. Fearing civil war, the king gave in to Mussolini’s demands. Mussolini set up a new government that included members of all Italy’s major political parties except the Socialists and Communists. His goal was to gain widespread public support and give credibility to his leadership.

13. Italian Parliament Building In order to deal with the problems created by proportional representation, Mussolini enacted the Acerbo Law, which allowed the leading party in an election to gain 66% of the seats in Parliament, providing they had earned at least 25% of the votes. This eliminated the likelihood of coalition governments.

14. Tomb of Matteotti In June 1924, Matteotti, the leader of Italy’s Socialist Party, was kidnapped and murdered after protesting election day violence and intimidation. A public outcry erupted, but Mussolini refused to give a public statement of regret. One year later, he made Italy a one party state, and all opposition parties were banned. Only candidates approved by the Fascist Party were permitted to run as candidates in federal elections.

15. Components of Mussolini’s Fascism • Extreme nationalism: He hoped to add to his colonies in Africa and also later • to take over Yugoslavia and Greece. • 2. A government dictatorship. He took the title Il Duce for himself. • 3. Goal of autarky (economic self-sufficiency) whereby Italy would not be dependent • upon foreign imports • 4. Capitalism: Private companies and businesses were free to operate without • government interference, but must be in the best interests of the country • 5. Military power: “War is to the male what childbearing is to the female.”

16. Mussolini salutes the OVRA In 1925, Mussolini abolished freedom of the press. The Avanti newspaper offices were destroyed. He also set up the OVRA (secret police) to search for suspected dissidents and to create a climate of fear and suspicion.

17. As part of his plan to create an autarky, Mussolini created the Battle for Wheat campaign, in which the goal was to increase Italy’s domestic wheat production and reduce dependence upon European imports. The program was successful in boosting wheat production, but several other Italian crops suffered.

18. Another fascist campaign during the 1920’s was the Battle for Births with a goal to increase the fertility rate. This turned out to be a failure, as Italy’s birth rate actually dropped.

19. Mussolini continued his attack on the ordinary working man by banning labour unions and strikes, and setting up corporations (sometimes called syndicates). In theory, corporations were cooperative structures where management and employees could work out any conflicts in a fair manner, but in reality, disputes were almost always decided in favour of the employer. Workers’ rights and conditions declined.

20. Leonardo de Vinci on 50,000 lira note Michelangelo on 10,000 lira note In 1926, Mussolini re-valued the Italian currency and increased the worth of the lira relative to the British pound. This made Italian goods more expensive and exports fell. As a result, the economy suffered and unemployment rose.

21. Positive Results of Mussolini’s Policies • A number of public works projects were completed • Italy enjoyed increased tourism as people were encouraged to come and • experience the buildings and culture of the earlier Roman empire • 3. Heavy industry increased, particularly the production of iron and steel. • 4. Hydroelectric projects were successfully completed.

22. Mussolini and Pope Pius signing the Lateran Treaty In 1929, Mussolini and Pope Pius X1 signed the historic Lateran Treaty, ending almost 50 years of bitterness between the Catholic Church and Italian government. The Pope recognized the Kingdom of Italy and gave up land claims in and around Rome. Mussolini gave financial compensation to the Church on behalf of previous governments and recognized the Vatican as an independent state in Rome with the Pope as its leader. As well, Catholicism became Italy’s official state religion. The Lateran Treaty was very popular with most Italians.

23. In 1925, Italy, Germany, Britain and France all signed the Locarno Pact in which all four countries agreed to respect the boundaries set by the Treaty of Versailles. This reduced the possibility of future conflict between France and Germany in particular.

24. Englebert Dollfuss In 1934, the Austrian chancellor Dollfuss was murdered by Austrian Nazis and Hitler instructed the German army to prepare to move into Austria to prevent civil war. Mussolini did not want to see German troops so close to Italy, and massed tanks and 100,000 troops along the Italian/Austrian border in a show of force for Hitler. Hitler backed down and did not invade Austria at that time. At this point, Mussolini was still considered stronger than Hitler. Soon after this incident, Italy signed the Stresa Front with Britain and France, where all three countries agreed to stand up against future German aggression. However, Mussolini would soon break his ties with Britain and France and move closer to Germany.

25. Mussolini with the Fascist Youth in 1935 In 1935, Mussolini ordered the invasion of Abyssinia / Ethiopia. Despite diplomatic condemnation from the League of Nations, Italian troops took over the entire country. Britain and France opposed this action and half-heartedly supported the League of Nations sanctions, but were reluctant to react too harshly to avoid triggering an alliance between Mussolini and Hitler.

26. Italian troops in Spain In 1936, Francisco Franco’s Fascist forces in Spain tried to overthrow the leftist government and civil war broke out. Mussolini and Hitler both offered military support to Franco.