Essay - Facsits Rise To Power Flashcards
Factor:social and economic divisions
K After the war in 1919-1920 there was the biennio rosso (two read years) where there were many, strikes, factory occupations and land occupations, organised by trade unions and peasant leagues which involved over a million workers, across all of italy
A mussolini used this to his advantage by showing people they were ‘men of action’ and were able to break strikes. From this, musolini gained a lot of support, especially big businesses which were against communism and thus gave the fascists sufficient amounts of money
A+ It also meant support from the Church, who feared ‘godless’ communism. This combination of financial muscle and moral authority significantly boosted the popularity of the Fascists
K Inflation was at an all time in Italy, with prices having quadrupled from 1914 - 1918. causing many people to lose jobs and in a position too poor to pay for things as simple as rent and in 1919 there were two million Italians unemployed
A mussolini saw his opportunity and promised to rebuild the italian economy and make it great again, opening new jobs for the unemployed, which helped him appeal to a wider audience.
A+ In many areas, especially in the north, socialists seized control of the local government.
E Overall , the biennio rosso caused much fear within italian society, many scared that their country would become a communist state like Russia had just two years earlier. Italians were becoming more and more supportive of fascism, desperate to avoid communism.
Factor: weakness of Italian government
K Proportional representation: Despite controlling over half the parliamentary seats between them after the 1919 election, neither the PSI nor the PPI played a role in government, as they were unable to convince their extreme wings to join a coalition. This led to the continuation of weak minority liberal rule.
A - importantThe system of proportional representation meant that there were continuous weak and short-lived governments unable to make strong decisions to deal with the crisis.
A+ New parties formed: PSI (socialists), PPI (Catholic Popular Party) with wider support base than the Fascists - weak government didn’t inevitably lead to Fascist government; the Communists were just as contemptuous of Italian democracy.
E . overall, D Mack Smith argues that fascism was a political system that developed because the democratic system had failed to engage the Italian people.
Factor: weakness and mistakes of opponents
K Roughly 30,000-40,000 fascists flooded the streets of Rome all in favour of Mussolini as the next man in line to become president in an attempt to make him the new PM. lugi the pm at the time complained about this and requested assistance from the king for his help by calling in military back up
A the king denied his request and gave into fascist pressure during the march on rome, failing to call mussolini’s bluff
A+ however, Mussolini could have been stopped if the King had supported his PM and mussolini was prepared to back down if the army had been deployed.
K further,The Aventine Secession was the withdrawal of the Italian Socialist Party from the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1924–25, following the murder of the socialist MP Giacomo Matteotti (one of Mussolini’s strongest critics). One hundred opposition MPs walked out of parliament.
This was important because Aventine Secession backfired;and so the socialists had destroyed their chance to remove Mussolini.
A+ although, The Aventine Secession was a fatal miscalculation by other Italian politicians - Mussolini was genuinely vulnerable after Matteotti’s murder.
E Strictly speaking the key event that led to Mussolini’s takeover was the King’s refusal to allow the army to put down the March on Rome. Even after he was in power, there were opportunities to remove Mussolini from office, but these were squandered by politicians who either lacked the nerve to reject, or underestimated the threat from a Fascist govt.
Factor: The resentment of the peace settlement
K During World War 1 Italy fought alongside Britain and France. Italy entered the conflict after negotiating territorial gains in the Treaty of London. The Italian Prime Minister at the time went to the Paris peace conference expecting to receive all territory as promised but were not given all that they asked for, in particular the port of Fiume
A This was important because the Italian nationalists were disgusted and accused the liberal government of allowing Italy to be both humiliated and cheated
A+ However, the Italian public did not all go straight from the democracy for the liberal government to following Fascism, many moved to other alternatives such as communism
E Resentment of the peace settlement played a fitting role in the cause of the Fascist rise in power as it eroded the liberal government. But in the 1919 election not a single facist candidate was elected so the actual Fascist movement never had any official progress only the undermining of democracy
Factor: appeal of moussilini and the fascists
K Mussolini was originally the editor of a socialist newspaper before he started the movement of Fascism where he showed his writing ability to the public. He was pragmatic and flexible politically. Mussolini placed himself as a potential leader of the divided right wing. He appealed to the masses by promoting nationalism with some socialist ideas. He also managed to appeal as a strong man willing to take on the left and control his own party
He took his chances, promoted Fascism very effectively and managed to turn many people’s heads politically. His journalist skills played a fitting role as he was able to come across as intelligent to the public
A+ However, the violence their violent nature also caused big supporters such as the Church to look in the other direction.
E The appeal of Fascism heavily carried the campaign onto successful grounds as it brought huge recognition and support. But Mussolini’s popularity was very much his own and many voted for him personally and not the Fascists or their policies
