Benito Mussolini was one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century. He led a fringe political party to the creation of a new order in the country of Italy after World War One; seemingly taking and implementing notes from teaching of Niccoló Machiavelli’s The Prince in his early rule as “Il Duce”. However, after his rise to power he stumbled and went against many of the things Machiavelli taught. Mussolini’s triumphs as the leader of Italy must be looked at with admiration due to the fact of how well he follows Machiavelli’s teachings in his early rule.
Mussolini used virtue instead of fortune to get to his political standings. In 1919, Benito created the “Black Shirts” which he used to terrorize political opponents who went against his beliefs (biography.com). He capitalized on the discontent of the Italian people due to the Treaty of Versailles instead of relying solely on his socioeconomic standings to get power. He followed the teaching of Machiavelli, “Men like these who become princes through the exercise of their own virtu find it hard to achieve that status but easy to keep it” (Machiavelli, 11). He took the harder path of earning the people’s trust through words and actions rather than money and wealth. He was a private citizen who relied on his ability to lead people instead of only throwing money at problems to him in a chair of political significance.
Mussolini had favor in the eyes of the public in his early days of rule. Machiavelli states,
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
Mussolini consolidation of fascist power in Italy in the years 1922-1929 could have been mainly due to the use of force and intimidation. However this was not a straightforward process, since fascism was a new thing. In the years 1922 to January 1925 marked the transition from the liberal parliamentary system to the fascist state. Like many political transitions, it was an untidy and complicated process. Although from the start Mussolini’s intentions were quite difficult to establish, however it could be that Mussolini wanted to set up from the beginning a totalitarian one party state.
Mussolini and Hitler both had the same views on who should rule a government. They believed that only the strong are fit for this
Both of these political leaders took over and used the ideas of fascism as their type of government, the people gravitated towards them especially during times of need. To start, Benito Mussolini who was a newspaper editor and politician who pledged to rescue Italy during their time of desperate need. Fascism was on the rise in Italy, it was fueled by their disappointment and failure to win large territorial gains. People gravitated towards the new and vastly improving idea of Fascism. Italians wanted a leader who would take action and they found their answer in Benito Mussolini. Mussolini had vowed to provide strong leadership to the Italian people during this time. Mussolini had founded the Fascist Party in the year of 1919. When Italy’s economic problems continued to worsen, Mussolini’s power would considerably grow. Mussolini’s number one weapon during his rise to power was fear, he used the fear of people to take control over them. Soon thereafter, Mussolini and 30,000 of his Fascist supporters marched to Rome demanding the King step down and hand over his total power to Mussolini. The King gave in to their demands and gave Benito Mussolini full control over the Italian government. Mussolini became the Il Duce, or leader, and he made fascism the ruling political party in
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
As dictator, Mussolini’s top priority was “informing” the Italian people with propaganda. According to the entry “Benito Mussolini” on Newworldencyclopedia.org, “Press, radio, education, films — all were carefully supervised to manufacture the illusion that fascism was the doctrine of the twentieth century, replacing liberalism and democracy.” Not only did Mussolini control what was said, he also controlled who said it. Mussolini took it upon himself to choose all newspaper editors. He inserted himself into all aspects of Italian life, even education. It was required “that all schools, newspapers, etc. had to not write, for example, ‘the 13th of June 1933’ but instead had to write ‘the 13th of June of the 11th year of Mussolini's power’” (“Benito Mussolini”). Mussolini also spent a great deal of money on large, expensive projects to further his reputation. “Those projects earned respect from some countries, but the economy suffered from Mussolini's strenuous efforts to make Italy self-sufficient. A concentration on heavy industry proved problematic, perhaps because Italy lacked the basic resources” (“Benito Mussolini”). Overall, Mussolini’s need for propaganda ultimately did more harm than good for Italy and
Italy faced serious postwar economic problems which became known as "The Two Red Years". It faced inflation problems due to government printing money to pay for weapons, workers on strike, arms and shipbuilders became bankrupt due to lack of government order, and unemployment rose to two million as returning soldiers searched for work. Benito Mussolini, upon being removed from the Socialist Party for advocating Italy 's participation in battle, organized the Fascist Party following the war. He gained followers among war veterans and the middle class by exploiting their fears of unemployment, chaos, communism, and a political domination by lower classes. The Russian Revolution, the collapse of
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
Mussolini, again is similar to Hitler, is popular because he was the one that offered helped when the Italians needed help. People wanted a strong government so that they could restore their former strength. He also succeeds in securing and improving the economy, transportation and job opportunity, which improved a lot of people’s lives.
"Il Duce", (the leader), was the name that Benito Mussolini gave himself as his rise to power in Italy continued. He led the people of Italy with the mind
Niccolo Machiavelli is a very pragmatic political theorist. His political theories are directly related to the current bad state of affairs in Italy that is in dire need of a new ruler to help bring order to the country. Some of his philosophies may sound extreme and many people may call him evil, but the truth is that Niccolo Machiavelli’s writings are only aimed at fixing the current corruptions and cruelties that filled the Italian community, and has written what he believed to be the most practical and efficient way to deal with it. Three points that Machiavelli illustrates in his book The Prince is first, that “it is better to be feared then loved,”# the second
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
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.
Mussolini and Hitler’s time in power was around the time its countries were most vulnerable. Their power was so successful because of their full and unconditional support from its people. If they were failing somehow, through their use of propaganda they made it seem like they were booming, socially, economically and politically. Adolf Hitler, born and raised in 1889, Austria. Dying in April 1945 Germany, he commit suicide just two days after Mussolini died by firing squad alongside his mistress, in Italy. Benito Mussolini was born in 1883 Italy where he bullied many kids (Downing, 2001). Hitler was able to successfully work his way up from the inside of government, which overall explains why Hitler’s 12 years in power went more smoothly than Mussolini’s 18 years. Due to both leaders having fascist policies allowed their countries to be alike. Their personality cults did not necessarily help them rise to power but it certainly consolidated their positions once ‘Fuhrer’ or ‘Duce’. Also, their propaganda use strongly encouraged the people to support their leader and gain respect for them. The events prior to their rise played a significant role when analysing their personalities, ideologies, and propaganda. To a large extent, their