paper 1 - rise of fascism (italy)

Question 1

benito mussolini

Answer 1

created first fascist party in 1919 and became prime minister in 1922

Question 1

fascism

Answer 1

• extreme right of the political spectrum
• nationalistic + anti-communist
• belief that individuals should serve the government

Question 2

squadristi

Answer 2

mussolini’s action squads that attacked enemies of the fascists

Question 3

acerbo law

Answer 3

• acerbo: secretary of state
• gave 2/3 of the seats of parliament to the party who won 25% of the votes cast
• mussolini pressured parliament to pass the law in 1923 through intimidation

Question 4

OVRA

Answer 4

secret police force that supressed political opponents made in 1927

Question 5

il duce

Answer 5

• 1926, mussolini insisted on being called “il duce” –> “the leader”
• catholic church backed il duce a few years later
• cult of personality

Question 6

battle for birth

Answer 6

• goal: increase population from 40 million to 60 million by 1950 to create a larger base for army
• failed because birth rates actually dropped in the 1930s

Question 7

battle for grain

Answer 7

• goal: export more cereals to reduce foreign imports
• doubled cereal production, but then italy had to import non-cereals like cattle and sheep

Question 8

battle for land

Answer 8

• goal: increase amount of farmland by draining marshes/swamps, clearing woodlands
• created jobs
• led to decline in exports, thus increase in unemployment, causing recession

Question 9

lateran accords

Answer 9

• 1929
• pope officially recognised fascist state and in return got sovereignty over vatican city
• mussolini made roman catholocism the official religion + made religious education mandatory
• the papacy agreed not to join political parties, but the pope backed il duce

Question 10

march on rome

Answer 10

• 1922
• mussolini and army of fascist black shirts marched on rome
• demanded the resignation of the existing government
• the king was compelled to place mussolini as the dictator for a year, meaning he had achieved his position “legally”

Question 11

pact of rome

Answer 11

• 1924
• one of mussolini’s foreign policy victories
• yugoslavia agrees to give italy the port of fiume

Question 12

locarno treaties

Answer 12

• agreements negotiated at locarno, switzerland in 1925
• allied powers and states of europe sought to secure the post-war territorial settlement, in return normalising relations with defeated germany (weimar republic)

Question 13

victor emmanuel III

Answer 13

king of italy who gave mussolini legitimacy as dictator

Question 14

treaty of london

Answer 14

• 1915
• secret pact between italy and triple entente
• italy was to leave the triple alliance and join the triple entente, as well as declaring war on germany and austria-hungary
• would recieve territory

Question 15

hoare-laval pact

Answer 15

• 1935
• british-french agreement to appease mussolini and prevent an italian-german alliance by accepting italian annexation of abyssinia

Question 16

pact of steel

Answer 16

• 1939
• italy and germany; turned the rome-berlin axis into a full scale military and political alliance, an aggressive agreement

Question 17

rome-berlin axis

Answer 17

• signed in 1936
• informal alliance between italy and germany

Question 18

autarky

Answer 18

policy of self-reliance, avoiding or minimising trade and trying to produce everything by yourself

Question 19

invasion of abyssinia

Answer 19

• italy ignored league of nations sanctions and quit the league
• ultimately established control of abyssinia in 1935