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Formation of an Independent Italy
In 1861, after many decades of struggle against the
Austrian Empire, the Risorgimento nationalist movement succeeded in creating a unified and independent Italy. However, the Catholic Church retained its own separate state in Rome and the surrounding area. -
Papal States taken over by new nation of Italy
The incorporation of the papal states in 1870 resulted in Catholic hostility against the new Italian kingdom, which lasted into the early 20th century. By the terms of the Lateran Treaty, the government accepted papal sovereignty over Vatican City, which became an independent state. In return, the pope formally recognized the Italian state, and its possession of Rome and the former papal states. -
Failure of First Italo-Ethiopian War with the Battle of Adowa (Adwa)
Fought between Italy and Ethiopia (supported by Russia and France) from 1895 to 1896. Full-scale war broke out in 1895, with Italian troops from Italian Eritrea having initial success until Ethiopian troops counterattacked Italian positions and besieged the Italian fort of Mekele, forcing its surrender. Italian defeat came after the Battle of Adwa, where the Ethiopian army dealt the heavily outnumbered Italians and Eritrean askaris a decisive blow and forced their retreat back into Eritrea. -
Italy invades and takes over Libya
In 1911, Italy invaded the Turkish colony of Libya in an attempt to increase the size of the Italian empire and to block growing French influence in North Africa. Mussolini opposed militarism and Italian imperialism, supporting international solidarity instead, then during violent demonstrations against the Italian war on Libya, he was imprisoned for his part in attempting to provoke an insurrection in protest against the war. -
Mussolini begins work as editor for the Socialist Party newspaper Avanti
On his release in 1912, he became editor of the Socialist Party’s newspaper Avanti! in Milan. His articles advocated revolutionary violence against the liberal state. He also helped expel proroyalists and reformists from the Socialist Party. However, Mussolini was not a Marxist, and his ‘socialism’ was largely anti-clerical republicanism. Syndicalism and anarchism were far less important aspects of his ‘ideology’. -
Mussolini kicked out of Socialist Party for pro-nationalistic sentiments regarding WW I
In November 1914, Mussolini was sacked as editor of Avanti! and set up his own newspaper, Il Popolo d’Italia (‘The People of Italy’) to campaign in favour of war. The paper was financed by wealthy Italian companies such as Fiat (which expected to gain lucrative war contracts), as well as by the French government. Later, the paper was partly financed by Britain and Tsarist Russia. Shortly after
the establishment of Il Popolo, Mussolini was expelled from the Socialist Party. -
Treaty of London
Many were members of the fasci, a mixture of anarcho-syndicalists and national socialists who believed war would hasten revolution. They were joined by the right-wing nationalists of the Associazione Nazionalista Italiana (ANI) which had previously pushed for the conquest of Libya. However, the leading liberal politicians had already decided on Italy’s participation in the war. in May 1915, Italy signed the Treaty of London and promised to join the war on the side of the Triple Entente. -
Beginning of Biennio Rosso
Unemployment rose to over 2 million in 1919, and industrial workers began a wave of militant action that lasted from early 1919 to 1920. These years became known as the biennio rosso ('two red years'). Throughout 1919, strikes, factory occupations and land occupations, organised by trade unions and peasant leagues and involving over 1 million workers, swept across Italy. End of 1919, socialist trade unions had more than 2 million members, compared to about 250,000 at the beginning of the year. -
D’Annunzio takes Fiume
Gabriele D'Annunzio led 2000 armed men to the city of Fiume – one of the areas Italy had sought but not won in the peace treaties. D’Annunzio’s force quickly took control and, in open defiance of the liberal Italian government and the Allies, they ruled the city for the next 15 months. This bold action made D’Annunzio a hero to Italian nationalists, and proved an inspiration to Mussolini. -
Fascio di Combattimento formed in Milan
118 people, various political groupings, met in Milan and formed a Fascio di Combattimento (‘fighting group’). These founding members later became known as the Fascists of the First Hour. They intended to bring together nationalists and socialists, and a militant-sounding Fascist Programme was published on 6 June 1919, which combined various left- and right-wing demands. However, what really united these nationalists, syndicalists, artists and ex servicemen was a hatred of the liberal state. -
Mussolini forms alliance with Giolitti
While attacking the state in public, Mussolini privately reassured Giolitti and other liberal politicians that talk of fascist revolution was not to be taken seriously. As a result, Giolitti offered the fascists an electoral alliance – an antisocialist National Bloc – for the national elections due to be held in May 1921. During the election campaign, fascist squads continued their violence, and about 100 socialists were killed. -
Mussolini forms the PNF (Fascist Party) and is elected its leader
Mussolini resigned from the Fascist Central Committee in an attempt to outmaneuver the ras. This was successful and, in October 1921, Mussolini persuaded members of the Fasci di Combattimento to re-form the organisation into a political party, the Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF). This party was a right-wing programme and appealed to Mussolini’s capitalist backers but it angered the ras, who wanted to destroy the existing political system, not participate in it. -
March on Rome and Mussolini becomes Prime Minister
In early October 1922, the ras renewed their pressure. Balbo is said to have told Mussolini that the ras intended to march on Rome and seize power – with him or without him. To appease his more militant supporters, and to intimidate the liberal government into making concessions, Mussolini agreed to organize the March on Rome. Mussolini himself did not march at the head of the fascist columns, but arrived in Rome by train, having already accepted the position of prime minister. -
Acerbo Law passed
Giacomo Acerbo, outlined a new electoral law that gave the party or alliance that won the most votes two-thirds of the seats in parliament, as long as the percentage was no less than 25% of the votes cast. According to Mussolini, this would give Italy the strong and stable government it needed. In fact, the law was clearly intended
to give the fascists total, but legally acquired, control over Italian politics. -
Corfu Incident
Occurred when an Italian general was murdered on Greek
soil while making maps of a disputed area. Mussolini took advantage of this to demand that Greece pay 50 million lire as compensation, and make a full apology. When Greece refused to pay(as they had not been responsible), Mussolini,ignoring criticism from the League of Nations,ordered Italian marines to invade the Greek island of
Corfu.The Greek government paid the fine.Many Italians regarded Mussolini as a national hero after this incident. -
Matteotti Crisis
On 10 June 1924, Matteotti was abducted in Rome. It was assumed that he had been murdered by Dumini’s fascist thugs, and many distanced themselves from Mussolini’s regime. The revulsion of Matteotti’s murder might cause Mussolini’s downfall. To win back support, Mussolini ordered the arrest of Dumini and his gang on 15 June and, on 18 August, Matteotti’s body was found. Although Dumini was found guilty of the murder and imprisoned, newspapers began to print evidence of Mussolini’s involvement. -
Aventine Secession
When a group of politicians set up a rival assembly on the Aventine Hills above Rome. The opposition deputies of 1924 walked out of the Chamber and set up an alternative parliamentary assembly, claiming they were now the true and democratic representatives of the Italian people. This was to force the king to dismiss Mussolini. At first, the king refused to consider such an action and instead blamed the
opposition (most were republicans, and disliked by the king) for unconstitutional behavior. -
Locarno Treaty signed
The Locarno Pact of 1925 was an agreement signed on 1st December 1925 between Britain, France, Belgium, Italy and Germany. Stresemann believed that through signing the Pact, it would increase confidence in Germany amongst her own people but also other European powers. The three main goals were to secure borders of the nations of Europe after the First World War, to ensure the permanent demilitarisation of the Rhineland, and to begin negotiations to allow Germany into the League of Nations. -
Battle for Grain
In 1925, the Battle for Grain, was launched in response to a poor harvest and a consequent increase in grain imports. The aim
was to get Italian farmers to grow more cereals (especially wheat), in order to reduce Italy’s dependence on foreign imports. Although succeeded in almost doubling cereal production by 1939, making Italy self-sufficient in wheat, it miscalculated resources resulted in Italy having to import olive oil, while exports of fruit, wine, and numbers of cattle and sheep, dropped. -
Battle for Land and Battle for the Lira
Increase the amount of available farmland, marshes and swamps were drained (Pontine Marshes near Rome).The farming itself, financed from public funds, created work for the unemployed. August 18th,1926, the Battle for Lira began when the value of the Italian currency dropped. To restore its value abroad (stop internal price rises and to increase Italian prestige), the lire was re-valued. This allowed Italy to continue importing coal and iron for armaments and shipbuilding. -
Battle for Births
The traditional role of women as housewives and mothers, and caused a downturn in employment opportunities for women. To increase the Italian population to create a large future army that would help expand Italy’s empire. Mussolini aimed to increase the population from 40 million in 1927 to 60 million by 1950. To achieve this, the fascists encouraged early marriage, offered generous
maternity benefits, exhorted women not to work, and gave jobs to married fathers in preference over single men. -
Kellogg-Briand Treaty signed
This was an international agreement where those who signed promised to avoid "disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them." However, there were virtually no methods of enforcement. -
Lateran Treaty with Pope
The Lateran Agreements have led many people to regard the Catholic Church as a fascist collaborator. Indeed, priests would give the fascist salute and participated in Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) activities. However, relations were not always smooth. In 1928, rivalry between Catholic and fascist youth movements led to the banning of the Catholic Scout organisation, and this tension continued even after the Lateran Agreements. -
Stresa Front
The Stresa Front was an agreement made in Stresa, a town on the banks of Lake Maggiore in Italy, between French Prime Minister Pierre-Étienne Flandin, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini on April 14, 1935. -
Abyssinian Crisis
Originating in what was called the Walwal incident in the then-ongoing conflict between the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Ethiopia (then commonly known as "Abyssinia"). The League of Nations ruled against Italy and voted for economic sanctions, but they were never fully applied. Italy ignored the sanctions, quit the League, made special deals with Britain and France and ultimately annexed and occupied Abyssinia after defeating it in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. -
Rome-Berlin Axis Treaty signed
The Rome-Berlin Axis was a coalition formed between Italy and Germany on 25 October 1936, which served to informally link the two fascist countries. Italy’s Benito Mussolini and Germany’s Adolf Hitler set up the agreement, which saw them promise to support each other in the event of a war, which they both knew was coming.
Japan later joined the Rome-Berlin Axis, which was pretty much the nail in the coffin for the Asian nation – as we all know, Japan was one of the biggest losers in WWII. -
Munich Conference
30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. It provided "cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory" of Czechoslovakia. Most of Europe celebrated the agreement, because it prevented the war threatened by Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland, a region of western Czechoslovakia inhabited by more than 3 million people, mainly German speakers. -
Italian involvement with Spanish Civil War
Several anti-fascist groups went into self-imposed exile so they could organize opposition from abroad, especially France. They smuggled anti-fascist literature into Italy and, the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), over 3000 Italian anti-fascist volunteers fought as part of the International Brigades on the side of the Republican government against Franco’s forces, which included troops sent by Mussolini. Their Garibaldi Legion defeated Mussolini’s troops at
the Battle of Guadalajara in March 1937. -
Italy invades Albania
A brief military campaign by the Kingdom of Italy against the Kingdom of Albania. The conflict was a result of the imperialist policies of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Albania was rapidly overrun, its ruler, King Zog I, forced into exile, and the country made part of the Italian Empire as a protectorate in personal union with the Italian crown. -
Italy enters WW II on side of Germany
The French government fled to Bordeaux during the German invasion, and Paris was an open city. Mussolini took this opportunity to declare war on France and Britain and take their colonies. -
Mussolini brought down by coup during WW II
The Fascist Grand Council voted to remove Mussolini from power, and the king forced him to resign. He was then arrested and imprisoned. -
Mussolini killed
The Germans fled Italy in response to the allies pushing through Italy, and Mussolini was recognized by a group of communist partisans and shot.
