His exceptional talents and intense nature as a youth was an advantage for a party that accomplished so little over the past years. When Italy entered the World War I, Mussolini was against it but he changed his attitude with the alleged reason of making Italy a great power and regain Austro-Hungarian territory.
He believed that only a strong leader like himself could defeat conflicts caused by other political parties (especially communists/socialists) and post-war problems (World War I). Mussolini’s first call to action was creating a group called the “Blackshirts” that would carry out beatings against communist leaders and throwing them out of office. People of all different backgrounds joined including teachers, business people, and store owners (Document 5). Mussolini constantly told his people that he was going to restore Italy back to its glorious Roman Empire era. He backed up his sayings by invading Ethiopia.
In Dahl). " In fact, Benito Mussolini is important because of his short-lived, but impactful efforts to save and rebuild Italy during his time as dictator in World War II. First of all, Benito Mussolini learned and desired power even at a young age. According to Biography.com, "His father installed in him a passion for socialist politics and a defiance against authority." In other words, Mussolini learned to stand against the government and eventually create the Fascist Party.
After taking Italy Mussolini's ideals appealed to western allies and new treaties could have been made, but his brutal invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 ended all hope of forming any new treaties (History.com Staff). Instead Mussolini joined Hitler in supporting Francisco Franco's Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War, and a treaty was signed between Nazi Germany and the Italians in 1937 (History.com Staff). In July 1943 Italy's failure in the war, and the impending invasion of Italy's mainland from the Allies led to a rebellion within the fascist party (History.com Staff). On July 24 the Fascist Grand Council rejected the policy dictated by Hitler through Mussolini and the next day Mussolini was arrested (History.com Staff). Fascist Marshal Pietro Badoglio took over the Italian Government after Mussolini was arrested and the Italians surrendered completely to the Allies (History.com Staff).
In 1919, Mussolini and his followers formed a group called the Fasci, an army of black shirted war veterans. Mussolini was the leader of the Fasci, and he supplied them with weapons and inspiration. When he was thirty-nine years old, he became the youngest prime minister of Italy, and soon he would oversee the whole of Italy. When Mussolini obtained power over Italy, he founded a form of government called Fascism. He believed he was always right, and he refused to take advice or criticism from anyone else (“Benito Mussolini”).
Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany were similar in that both were dictatorships. Both Mussolini and Hitler came to power through legal means and believed that people were divided into either inferior or superior races. For example, Hitler was obsessed with the Aryan race and called for the genocide of Jews during WWII. In addition, both Mussolini and Hitler favored the wealthy, believed that an individual was meaningless and must submit to the decisions of their leaders, and aimed at self-sufficiency so that each could survive entirely without international trade. Furthermore, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy “had aimed for prestige and power for their countries, and brought instead humiliation and destruction” (Tarr, R.,
According to Fascism origins and ideology, the fascist were more effective at propaganda than at actually ruling, the fascist government quite often operated as more of a Mafia-like patronage structure than as an efficiently running state. This despite fascist claims of establishing a modern, streamlined, disciplined system. Often contradictory, fascist thought claimed to reject liberalism and communism and to embrace authority, hierarchy and perpetual action and mobilization. The fascist slogan of “Credire!
Mussolini founded Fascism, which means everything one does should be for the country and the country only. Fascism is led by a dictator who suppresses strict rules. It is a form of totalitarianism.
Mussolini was somewhat like a test run for this new form of government in the sense that he fulfilled the true meaning of fascism. He was able to gain dictatorship of Italy and implement his form of government onto the people in the way he sees fit. Mussolini was able to dictate even if the people were allowed to protest against the movement which shows how much power he help. Also this illustrates how the Italian people were reduced to being smaller than Mussolini due to the extermination of the democratic
In 1919, Benito Mussolini described fascism as “A movement that would strike against the backwardness of the right and the destructiveness of the left.” That “Fascism sitting on the right, could also have sat on the mountain of the center… These words in any case do not have a fixed and unchanged: they do have a variable subject to location, time and spirit. We don’t give a damn about these empty terminologies and we despise those who are terrorized by these words.” Fascism came into prominence in the early 20th-century Europe. It originated in Italy during World War I.
The following points, exempting Mussolini’s quotes, are sourced from Holocaust Encyclopedia’s entry on Fascism (see References). Mussolini said, “The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential…” (1932) So fascism cannot tolerate democratic or representative governments because they do not express valid national will. (Fascism | Holocaust Encyclopedia, n.d.) Mussolini also said, “For Fascism, the growth of empire, that is to say, the expansion of the nation, is an essential manifestation of vitality” So expanding the size and influence of the state is critical to thriving.
It is indeed true that Mussolini had a totalitarian state as the whole state was just down to one party “Fascism attacks the whole complex of democratic ideologies and rejects them both in their theoretical premises and in their application.” Mussolini was able to wipe out any opposition to his party thus the country was left with only one party which was the Fascist Party. It is also clear that Mussolini had total control over the party to the extent that many people argued that the party did not play any part in the running of the country as everything was done according to the will of Mussolini. He finally came to the conclusion that he would run the country all by himself and the party could only do what he asked it to do and nothing more. This clearly indicates a totalitarian regime because we can see that there was total control for the Fascist and total control for Benito Mussolini over the country as well as the Fascist
The extreme right position of the Christian Democracy in most of the aspects was occupied by the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI), formed in 1946. Being one of the strongest in the south of Italy, the MSI party looked back to Mussolini regime, hence, supporting social and economic ultra-conservatism and spending on defense. Actually, it seemed to be unacceptable castaway by the regime
While majority religions may be granted freedom of worship under Fascism, minority religions are often subject to discrimination and persecution. As a result, this essay asserts that whilst Fascism as an ideology can provide freedom to some religious groups, it ultimately ends up enslaving far more people than it frees. For example, Benito Mussolini argued that “the Fascist State sees in religion one of the deepest of spiritual manifestations and for this reason it not only respects religion but defends and protects it,” (Mussolini, 1932, 20). Mussolini then continues to argue that “Roman Catholicism is the special, positive religion of the Italian people,” (Mussolini, 1932, 20). At its core, Mussolini’s argument effectively suggests that fascist
376) This description of Fascism indicates a government that is involved in the lives of its citizens to an extreme degree. By illustrating the government as a “powerful form of personality”, Mussolini alludes to the Fascist characteristic of organicism, where the state is seen as an organic whole being. Mussolini continues his
