Transcript Fascism and Mussolini - Dr. Charles Best Secondary School

Fascism and Mussolini
Ms Leslie
History 12
Fascism - what is it?
• applied mostly to the movement spawned from
Benito Mussolini in Italy from 1919-1943.
• Fascism Rejects the Major philosophical
trends of the last two centuries that stress
individual liberty and equality of all men and
races.
• embraces social Darwinism.
• The Italian slogan was ‘To believe, to obey to
combat.’
Main Characteristics
• Unquestioning acceptance of rule by dictator
• Ultra-nationalistic beliefs. Autarchy.
• An emphasis on military virtues and the experience of
a nation at total war.
• Use of violence to further party and national aims
• Creation of national myths and great reliance on
pageantry and symbolism
• Commitment to all-important collective goals. (over
coming external and internal enemies)
All about Benito
• born in Varano di Costa in Romagna, Italy.
• His father was a blacksmith and socialist.
• Full name: Benito Amilcare Andrea after the
left-wing Mexican revolutionary Benito Juarez
• His mother was a deeply religious school
teacher.
• He spent the days fighting with other boys or
hunting.
• At 9 parents sent him to boarding school
due to his bad behaviour
• Benito hated school rules
• Hated how much parents had to spend on
tuition
• Got in a lot of fights
• Stabed another boy with a pen knife
• At 10 he was sent to another school which
he liked better
• He worked hard and became well known for
his powerful speeches, most of which had
socialist leanings.
• In July, 1901, Mussolini received an
elementary teacher's diploma.
• Taught for a year before moving to
switzerland
• He was avoiding Italy’s conscription
• Mussolini's life in Switzerland was one of
vagrancy.
• He begged for change and lived on the streets.
• Learned about Marx, Nietzsche and Buddhism
• Eventually deported due to violent ways
• Went to France to teach, but when back to
switzerland
• Became an established Socialist
• 1904 Itallian King announced a pardon to
all deserters
• Benito returns to Italy to enlist for military
duty
• Conscripted for WWI but was exempt due
to a grenade training injury
• So he looked for a different way to make a
name for himself.
How benito came to power
• Italy devistated after WWI
• Little success in battle
• Peace disn’t come with all that was
promiced
• Itallians resented allied powers
• Wilson would not give Italians the territory
they wanted at the PPC at there were no
Italians in them
Society after the war
• Inflation
• Rise of socialist activities
• Extreme poverty in the south - peasants
start occupying land
• In the North prices rose 560% and
unemployment increased.
Post war elections
• Failed to produce stable governments
• 5 different governments 1919-22
• Proportional representation to blame (5%
of vote means 5% of seats)
• No one could get a majority, lots of
coalitions
Bolsheviks in Milan
• Bolsheviks in Milan began to organize a take
over of the country.
• There were several massive strikes.
• Big industries like Fiat looked desperately for
someone to crush this threat.
Benito makes his move
• A Fascist Movement begins in Milan in 1919.
• Mussolini saw his opportunity in protecting
landowners and industrialists from the
socialists factory and land seizures.
• Mussolini lead his group of Fascists against
Socialists and Trade Unions; bringing him the
support of industrialists who were afraid of a
left-wing seizure of power.
• The fascists were supplied with arms and
transport and promises of immunity of
punishment.
• Mussolini called his gang ‘Combat Squads’
and unleashed them on peasants and workers.
• They would club their victims to death and
torture others.
• There was huge pay out from landowners,
industrialists and banks…. In the Millions of
pounds.
Things get legit
• In 1921 The Fascist Party was asked to join the
National Block Coalition with the Liberals,
democrats and nationalists.
• This was Mussolini’s first step to take over.
• Mussolini began to gain support from the
wealthy and won 35 seats in the election.
• He new to gain more support he would have
to change his ways and stopped making anticatholic and anti-monarchy speeches.
• This gave him the support of the Pope, Pius
XI, and the King.
Enter the Blackshirts
• In 1922 Mussolini’s party had a membership
of 360,000 of which 50,000 were a member of
Combat Squads, now given the nickname ‘The
Blackshirts’.
• Mussolini uses his private army to show his
might
March on Rome
• On October 28, 1922, Mussolini puts the word
out that he is going to march into Rome with
his 50,000 Blackshirts.
• The King decided to make Mussolini the new
Prime minister rather than risk civil war by
sending in the troops.
• So on Oct 29, Mussolini became prime
minister of Italy
• It is important to note the March on Rome was
only a threat.
• Mussolini arrived in Rome on a train after the
King invited him.
• After He was made Prime Minister about
20,000 poorly armed, shoddily dressed and
apprehensive Blackshirts marched into Rome
The first years
• First government is a coalition of 14, 4 of
which are fascists
• Mussolini gets to control the police
• The other 3 facsists are Minister of
Justice, Liberated territories and Finance
• He played it cool
• Kept up external apparences
Important events
• The Corfu Incident. An Italian General and
their officers were assassinated while on Greek
territory in August of 1923. Mussolini
bombarded and occupied the Island until the
Greeks paid indemnity and apologized.
• The Acerbo Election Law of 1923. Who ever
got the largest number of votes (as long as it
was 25% or more) would automatically get 2/3
of the seats in the lower house of parliament.
The rest of the seats would be divvied up
proportionally. This allowed Mussolini to gain
374 out of 535 seats in April 1924.
• Murder of Giacomo Matteolli. Matteolli was
an outspoken opponent of Mussolini and on
June 10, 1924, 5 fascists thugs on the party
payroll killed him. There is no proof that
Mussolini ordered this murder. People
protested the murder and Mussolini feared
losing his power.
He adopted the title ‘Il Duce’
Things heat up
• After the Matteolli Murder, Mussolini knew he
had to assume total power or loose it all.
• Support for Fascism was fading fast and
Mussolini had to act.
• He refused to apologize for Matteolli’s death.
• On January 3, 1925 Mussolini declared total
Dictatorship.
• By the end of 1925 freedom of the press was
gone and political parties are banned (except
for Mussolini’s of course).
• In 1926 he reinstated the death penalty.
• In 1927 he set up his secret police the OVRA
(no meaning) to harass political opponents.
• Local government autonomy was eliminated
and strikes were banned.
• Trade unions were replaced with
‘corporations’, which were run by fascists to
settle disputes; interests of bosses usually won
out and the living standards of workers fell.
The economy
• Fascism believes in a self-sufficient state.
• launched the ‘Battle for Wheat’ with the goal of
increasing production and decreasing imports.
• From 1925-1935 wheat production went up 75%.
• He tried to do the same with a ‘battle of births’ but
was unable to get the population to comply.
• Unemployment reached 1.1 million in 1932
It’s all Benito’s fault
• He fired the competent Finance minister to
give his friend a job
• He raised the value of Italian currency, the lira,
to 90 to the pound instead of 150, making
Italian exports more expensive; thus demand
for Italian goods abroad fell sharply.
• Wasted money Helping Franco out in Spain
But what about the good things
Mussolini did?
• Road infrastructure increased.
• Archeology was pushed to the forefront and
tourist was boosted because of the new
artifacts discovered.
• Iron ore and steel production increased as well
as hydro electric power.
The Lateran Treaty/Agreements.
• Between the Pope and Mussolini
• Traditionally Pope forbids Catholics from
participating in politics
• The Pope agrees to recognize the kingdom of
Italy and give up claims on territory
• In exchange Mussolini compensates church for
lost land
• Vatican becomes independent
Lateran problems
• Mussolini would become bothered that
catholic youth groups would become more
popular than his youth organization, Ballila.
• In 1938 he created anti-Semitic laws for a
closer relationship with Nazi Germany
• These laws were mostly ignored and in fact
during WWII Italian solders would refuse to
hand over 240,000 Jews in Greece and
Southern France.
Foreign Policy
• 1934 he guaranteed Austria’s Independence against
German Threats.
• In 1935 Hitler attempted to invade Austria and
murdered the Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss, to which
Mussolini reacted instantly.
• Mussolini could not risk Hitler taking over Austria
for the safety of Italy.
• He sent three tank divisions to the Austrian border.
Hitler was out-bluffed and out bullied and backed
down.
Stresafront Agreement
• Mussolini declares his stand against Hitler in
the Stresafront Agreement of 1935.
• In this agreement Italy, France and Britain
condemned Germany’s re-armament.
Abyssinia
• In October of 1935
Mussolini invaded
Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and
was successful due to the
new inventions of
flamethrowers and poison
gas.
• The League of Nations
applied sanctions on Italy
• Only Germany offered to
trade with Italy normally
and an alliance between the
two nations was forged.
• Hitler dominated this alliance and the Italian people
were against it as Germany was a traditional enemy.
• The May 22, 1939 Pact of Steel solidified the link
between Germany and Italy in an offensive and
defensive alliance.
• Based on the assumption war would probably start in
3 years
• end