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Period: to
Benito Mussolini and Italy
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Creation of Fascism
The Italian Fasci di Combattimento (“Bands of Combat”) was found- ed in 1919 in Milan. Its members came largely from Italian war veterans who felt that the Paris conference had cheated Italy of the hard-won fruits of victory. They especially resented Italy’s failure to gain Fiume (now Rijeka) on the northeast coast of the Adriatic Sea. [It was given to the newly formed Yugoslavia.] They also feared the spread of socialism and the effects of inflation. -
Parliamentary Deadlock
The Socialist Party included many people who were soon to become Communists. A new Catholic Popular Party had also done well in the election. Both appealed to the working and agrarian classes. Neither party, however, would cooperate with the other; parliamentary deadlock resulted. Under these condtions, many Italians honestly and still others conveniently believed that the social upheaval and political paralysis would lead to a Communist revolution. -
Social Turmoil
Many industrial strikes occurred, and workers occupied factories. Peasants seized uncultivated land from large estates. Parliamentary and constitutional government seemed incapable of dealing with this unrest. -
Fascist Terrorism
They formed local squads of terrorists who disrupted Socialist Party meetings, beat up Socialist leaders, and intimidated Socialist supporters. They attacked strikers and farm workers and protected strikebreakers. Conservative land and factory owners were grateful. By early 1922, the Fascists had turned to intimidation through arson, beating, and murder against local officials -
March on Rome
The Fascists, dressed in their characteristic black shirts, began a march on Rome. King Victor Emmanuel III because of both personal and political concerns, refused to sign a decree that would have authorized the army to stop the marchers. Probably no other single decision so ensured a Fascist seizure of power. The cabinet resigned in protest. -
Prime Minister
On October 29, the monarch telegraphed Mussolini in Milan and asked him to become prime minister. The next day, Mussolini arrived in Rome by sleeping car and greeted his followers as head of the government when they entered the city. -
Dictatorial Rule
On November 23, 1922, the king and Parliament granted Mussolini dictatorial authority for one year to bring order to local and regional government. Wherever possible, Mussolini appointed Fascists to office. -
New Parliament Voting
Late in 1924, Parliament changed the election law. Previously, parties had been represented in the Chamber of Deputies in proportion to the popular vote cast for them. According to the new election law, the party that gained the largest popular vote (if at least 25%) received two-thirds of the seats in the chamber. Coalition government, with all its compromises and hesitant policies, would no longer be necessary. -
Result of 1924 Election
In the election of 1924, the Fascists won a great victory and com- plete control of the Chamber of Deputies. They used that majority to end legitimate parliamentary life. -
Rule by Decree
A series of laws passed in 1925 and 1926 per- mitted Mussolini, in effect, to rule by decree. -
Rome-Berlin Axis pact
The civil war, fought on blatantly ideological lines, profoundly affected world politics. It brought Germany and Italy closer together, leading to the Rome-Berlin Axis Pact in 1936. Japan joined the Axis powers that year in the Anti-Comintern Pact, ostensibly directed against international communism but really a new and powerful diplomatic alliance. -
Dictatorial State
In 1926, all other political parties were dissolved. By the close of that year, Mussolini had transformed Italy into a single-party dictatorial state. -
Lateran Accord
Through the Lateran Accord of February 1929, the Roman Cath- olic church and the Italian state made peace with each other. The agree- ment of 1929 recognized the pope as the temporal ruler of Vatican City. The Italian government agreed to pay an indemnity to the papacy for the territory it had confiscated. The state also recognized Catholicism as the religion of the nation, exempted Church property from taxes, and allowed Church law to govern marriage. -
Corporate State
After 1930, these industrial syndicates were further organized into entities called corporations. These bodies included all industries relating to a major area of production, such as agriculture or metallurgy, from raw materi- als through finished products and distribution. Twenty-two such corporations were established to encompass the whole economy -
Italy Attacks Ethiopia
Mussolini attacked Ethiopia in October 1935. His purpose was to avenge a humiliating defeat that the Italians had suffered in 1896, to begin the restoration of Roman imperial glory, and, perhaps, to distract Italian public opinion from domestic problems. -
Elections
Elections in February 1936 brought to power a Spanish Popular Front government ranging from republicans to Com- munists and anarchists. The losers, especially the Falangists, the Spanish fascists, would not accept defeat at the polls. In July, General Francisco Franco (1892-1975) led an army from Spanish Morocco against the republic. -
Civil War involvement
Thus began a civil war that lasted almost three years, cost hundreds of thousands of lives and pro- vided a training ground for World War II. Germany and Italy supported Franco with troops, airplanes, and supplies in exchange for iron ore, copper and other raw materials. The Soviet Union sent equipment and advisers to the republicans. Liberals and leftists from Europe and America volunteered to fight after signing a document denying their assistance -
Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936. In 1931, the monarchy collapsed, and Spain became a democratic republic, the Second Republic. Small political factions within the new republic fought over how much reform should be undertaken and at what pace—thereby creating an ineffective government that antagonized landowners, the Catholic church, nationalists, and conservatives without satisfying the demands of citizens -
Chamber of Deputies
In 1938, Mussolini abolished the Italian Chamber of Deputies and re- placed it with a Chamber of Corporations. -
Fall of Barcelona
When Barcelona fell to Franco early in 1939, the fascists had won effective control of Spain.