Mussolini’s Popular Advantage
Jimmy Thibodeau
12/21/14
Block 4
During his campaign for power, Benito Mussolini once stated “My objective is simple. I want to make Italy great, respected and feared.” This phrase is commonly attributed to Mussolini because he was known to have the set mentality of superiority, and would stop at nothing to restore Italy to its prestigious position; as it held during the Renaissance period and the ancient Roman Empire. The ancient Roman Empire was a success on many levels, making Italy a central power of the Earth. Italy is also famous for The Renaissance period and it's totally new take on the arts. These achievements soon faded away, though, and countries such as Britain and the United
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At the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Italy was excluded and treated as though it were a second rate country. After WWI the Italian people were left enraged and humiliated; Benito Mussolini promised to return them to their former glory, and the Italian people succumbed to the fascist ideology.The Italian people looked to resolve the anger over Versailles, the government chaos, and the communist issue. Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born into a poor Italian family on July 29th, 1883. His father was a blacksmith with socialist political views, so consequently, Benito was named after multiple famous socialists. As a child, Mussolini was known for his intelligence as a child; yet was also known for his violent attributes. While attending a boarding school in Faenza, Italy, Benito was expelled for stabbing another student. Later on, Benito inherited Socialists views and opinions like that of his father. He moved to Switzerland in 1902 to spread socialist ideas and evade Italian army recruitment. His evasion only lasted two short years, and in 1904 Mussolini was deported back to Italy and served two years in …show more content…
Support for Fascism skyrocketed after the events at Versailles unfolded and Orlando proved to be an incompetent leader. For centuries, Rome had been the most feared empire on the planet. Their army was mammoth and they had seemingly endless tactics. Along with the strategies of the army came their bounty of resources as a result of their prime European location. They were the powerhouse of the world. They were unstoppable. The Renaissance, a time of emerging art styles and forms, originated from northern Italy. Everyone across Europe participated in the arts craze. Aspiring painters, sculptors, and architects came to Italy to study artists' work and then brought what they learned back to their home countries. The years after the Renaissance were not Italy's best, as England and the United States consistently beat out Italy in rankings of influence. Under Orlando's command, there were no exceptions to this. Yet, the promise Benito Mussolini provided to the people acted as a glimmer of hope; which was exactly what they
During the Second World War, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was the leader of the Italian Nationalist Fascist government. He was head of the Italian government from 1922 till 1943. The significance of Mussolini is that he played a key role acting as the Italian Prime Minister and established a totalitarian regime, during this time, as the unchallenged supreme leader, known as ‘Il Duce’. Fascism consisted of many contributors of which Mussolini with all his quirks was the key to most of its failures and successes, making him the most significant player that is worthy of being investigated. This topic is worthy of being investigated as Mussolini made a lot of decisions that lead to the death of many, but the question as to
No one took him seriously and people also thought that Benito Mussolini and the fascists were not a threat in Italy either. Fascism was very closely related to communism. In 1922 his followers helped him become the leader of Italy and he became a dictator like Hitler in Germany. Mussolini promised to restore the Roman Empire but started in Africa where there was the least resistance. Another dictator was Adolf Hitler.
Millions of people were extremely frustrated with the fallout of World War I, they wanted change and a strong leader to guide them through their times of trouble. The answer to the people's’ prayers had been given to them with the new political idea of fascism. Not only did fascism rise, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler also rose to power during these times of crisis. Fascism, Mussolini, and Hitler were all able to rise to power because the people had called for change, and they found themselves gravitating towards the ideas of these two intelligent men. Both men were able to persuade many people over to their side. Millions of people quickly adopted the new ideas of fascism, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler, the people saw them as the light at the end of their long dark tunnels they seemed to be lost
Benito Mussolini took control of the Italian government in 1922, and ruled until 1943. Under Mussolini’s rule, democratic institutions were shut down. The shutdown of democratic institutions resulted in a Fascist dictatorship. One of Mussolini’s main goals for Italy was to build a
Benito Mussolini’s major problem was that he was twisted in the mind. Mussolini really thought he could change Italy by using violence, which was wrong thinking. I do not personally think it is all Mussolini’s fault because it was the way he grew up. Do not get me wrong he was raised in a household were abuse was going on but his father did not show him any type of affection. I believe that if Benito’s father would have showed him love and told him be a wise person he would have been better off in my opinion. However, since that did not happen Benito had to put this façade on for the public to mask his insecurities, and his darkest thoughts. I think that Benito would have been able to fix this if he would have had good men friends to
Benito Mussolini outlines several essential characteristics of his preferred political ideology, Fascism, in what has become known as the Doctrine of Fascism. In this paper, Mussolini outlines his vision of the ideology, and explains the major issues that Fascism will address once it becomes the leading political system in Italy. Mussolini’s major points as outlined in the Doctrine included an extreme emphasis on nationalism, organization and modernization of the state, persistent focus on religion, life as a struggle, and the notion that individuals exist only for the improvement of society as a whole. Wolfgang Schieder, after reviewing the Doctrine of Fascism, explains Mussolini’s success based on it and
He won over the people of Italy using the same techniques and imagery that Hitler used in his homeland. The fascist ideas, and idea of an ultimate Italian empire, appealed to Mussolini, and he would stop at nothing to gain power.
These factors were all highly important to the Fascists’ control of Italy up to 1939 but it could be argued some of these were of more value to the Fascist domination than others.
The economic instability of Europe developed totalitarian goverments that began rising during the depression in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. Germany, Italy, and Japan all became countries subjected to the rule of dictated military rule leaving no room for opposition. Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922 (Calvocoressi, Wint, p 777, 1999). Mussolini had his own philosophy that his destiny was to rule over Italy as Caesar in a more modern version while re-creating the Roman Empire. In his attempts in
Other social factors, such as “The March on Rome” and the murder of Giacomo Matteotti, not only effected Italy but also assisted in the rise of fascism. Mussolini’s famous “March of Rome”, which is known for popularizing fascism, took place in October 1922. Later that month Mussolini became the youngest prime minister in Italian history, at the age of 39, when he was appointed by King Victor Emmanuel III. The newly founded fascist party experienced conflict, in what Mussolini described as the greatest crisis of his regime, in 1924 with the murder of socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti. Matteotti was the fascist regimes greatest enemy, denouncing its terror and corruption. On June 10, 1924, Matteotti was sieged by six men pushed into an automobile and stabbed to death. The men took his body and threw it into a grave they had dug about 14 miles north of Rome. Once word leaked out about the murder, there were violent revulsions and Mussolini’s army refused to report for duty. A state of siege was declared as the government directed
Fundamentally, both Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler had the same burning desire to each make their nation a respected and economically impregnable Great Power. Mussolini wanted to return Italy to its glory days of the ancient Roman Empire, a domestic policy amongst others which was used as propaganda and to ultimately consolidate his power. A strong economy and a united state were vital for both countries in case of the outbreak of yet another catastrophic war. "Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state", stated Mussolini in need of desperate backup at home. Post WWI left both Germany and Italy with grave problems economically, which further repelled into social problems such as high unemployment and
Fascism was first detected after World War I in Italy. After the war, the people of Italy were ready for a new political aspect. Benito Mussolini was the man who brought this fascist ideology to Italy. Mussolini has been looking for the perfect opportunity to take complete control of a country and now was the time to do so. “In 1919 Mussolini and his followers, mostly war veterans, were organized along paramilitary lines and wore black shirts and uniforms.”(Halsall pg.2) After defeats at the polls Mussolini used his new financial backing to clothe a gang of thugs who
The economic issues in Italy lead to the rise of fascism. Mass unemployment meant that the socialists were rising in number. This meant that powerful industrialists turned to fascism as they would stop the trade unions from deciding workers’ rights. This leads to funding for the fascists helping them gain power. The economic crisis had brought about a huge rise in the support of socialism. The fascists became ever more appealing as their policies were anti socialist. They were not weak like the liberals in tackling socialism as they used
As a result of how Italy was created but not fully unified, the new Italian state suffered from a variety of weaknesses which the new liberal state was unable to tackle these. This made Italy susceptible to the appeal of fascism, and therefore aided Mussolini’s rise to power.
'I want to make Italy great, respected and feared' said Mussolini in 1925. Mussolini's foreign policy included a number of positive and negative factors which all contributed to the rise, and the ultimately to the downfall, of both Mussolini and the Italian empire. Mussolini was intent on revising the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles and was very keen to show off Italy's power. He felt that Italy had been hard done by at the end of world war one and sought to claim what he felt Italy deserved. Mussolini's foreign policy clearly reflected his ambition to reinstate the Italian empire.