Mussolini

Question 1

Economic conditions leading to rtp

Answer 1

• TOV 1919 led to a strain on the economy
• Unemployment rose to 2m after WW1 and increasing strikes
• WW1 leads to inflation

Question 2

Social conditions leading to rtp

Answer 2

• Rising of communism in lower classes, discontent in upper classes
• 1919-21 - 5 different governments all incapable
• 5m conscripted for ww1, 40k died, 300k POWs

Question 3

Key events in rtp

Answer 3

1919- Fascio-dicombatimento forms
1921 - May - wins 35 seats
- aug- pact of pacification with socialists
- oct - formation of national fascist party
- nov - musso heads party
1922 - general strike put down by fascists
- oct - march on Rome (30k), becomes PM
- nov - seizes emergency powers
1925 - Jan 3 - Musso becomes dictator, releases manifesto of fascist intellectuals

Question 4

Key events in consolidation

Answer 4

• 1923 - June - Corfu
• 1924 - Matteotti crisis
• 1925 - seizes control over press, appoints Podesta to provinces
• 1926 - Rule by decree, unions and parties banned, 1st treaty of Tirana
• 1929 - 2nd treaty of Tirana
• 1935 - Abyssinia
• 1936 - SCW, Rome-Berlin axis
• 1939 - Albania
• 1940 - Joins WW2
• 1942 - Allied bombing in Italy
• 1943 - July coup by Grand Council and Emmanuel 3,
• 1945 - April - Captured and hanged with his mistress

Question 5

Key domestic and foreign policy aims

Answer 5

• 1925 - Battle for Grain, exports fell 75% between 25-35
• 1926 - Battle for land
• 1927 - Battle for births, ONB est, charter for labour
• 1929 - Latteran Accords
• 1931 - Same-sex relations, divorce, abortion illegal
• 1936 - SCW, Rome-Berlin
• 1938 - Charter on Race (anti-semitism)

Question 6

Methods to achieve aims

Answer 6

• Cult of personality played up position as Italys saviour, showed people there was no other option
• 1933, aims to reduce working women to 10%, punishes childless couples
• Aims to increase population from 40m to 60m by 1950, 12 children was ideal
• Youth forced to join ONB, many left at 11, 40% never joined
• Aims to expand modern roman empire: 1924-act of rome with Yugo, gains Fiume, 1935 - Abyssinia, 1939 - Albania
• Aims to increase political position: 1925-Locarno, 1928-Kellogg-Briand, 1935-Stressa
• Marchs 75k to Brenner pass to prevent an Anschluss in 1934
• Matteotti 1924

Question 7

Domestic policy successes and failures

Answer 7

Success:
- Battle for land increased farmland, opened jobs
- Altteran accords(political and social)
- Cult

Failures:
- Battle of the Births, population only grew 7.5m, workforce is 33% female
- Youth, 40% never joined ONB, failure to secure commitment of youth

Question 8

Foreign Policy Successes and Failures

Answer 8

Successes:
- Pact of Rome, Albania, Corfu
- Prevents Anschluss in 1934
- Pact of Steel puts Musso at ease due to military protection

Failures:
- Stressa, falls apart after Anglo-german Naval Agreement 1935
- Abyssinia - only 2% of trade
- Munich 1938 - Hitlers sidekick

Question 9

PSQs

Answer 9

• “often I would like to be wrong, but so far it has never happened, events have turned out just as I foresee.”
• Stressa “would continue to inspire their common policy”
• “war alone drives men to make their greatest efforts”
• “Only maniacs never change”
• “war is to men what maternity is to women”

Question 10

HSQs

Answer 10

• Smith suggests Italian fascism had a desperate quality
• Historians suggest Mussolini only created anti-semitic laws in 1938 to appease Hitler
• “the church undoubtedly considered the communist revolution to be the main threat” - Lee
• “the King declined to act … he had quickly come to value Mussolini.” - Eatwell
• “Ethiopia bled Italy dry” - Clark
• “bids to stem … female emancipation … were far from successful” - Wilson