The Emergence of Fascism 1919-1920 Flashcards
Why did ex-soldiers hate the liberal government?
(4)
- failure of gov. during the war
- failure of gov. at Versailles
–> felt betrayed and humiliated - wanted new Italy to achieve greatness they had fought for in the war
- felt Italy’s victory had been squandered; mutilated victory
why was there tension throughout Italy?
-
North; divide between ex-soldiers and workers who were exempt from military service
–> workers seen as cowards who got rich while soldiers risked their lives for their country -
South; returning peasant conscripts wanted land reform they had been promised
–> demobilised soldiers forcibly occupied thousands of hectares of farming land
What state was the Italian economy in at the end of the war?
Debt + inflaiton
–> campaign against Austria-Hungary sustained through foreign loans and printing more money
What land has Italy been promised in the Treaty of London?
- South Tyrol
- Trentino
- Istria
- Trieste
- northern Dalmatia
Who represented Italy at the Treaty of Versailles?
new PM, Vittorio Orlando
How did Italy fare at the Paris Peace Conferences?
- Allies rejected Italy’s claim on Fiume, Dodecanese Islands, and parts of the Balkans
–> Orlando pleaded & claimed he faced assassination, but was ignored
–> April 1919, Orlando walked out of the Paris Peace Conference
–> June 1919, Nitti replaced Orlando
–> 28th June 1919, ToV signed; Italy gained Trent, Trieste, Istria, and northern Dalmatia, BUT NOT Fiume or any of Germany’s African territories
–> Italian economy was weak = needed coal + money from Allied so Nitti decided not to push for territorial claims
Why did Italy want Fiume? Wht was this not valid?
Fiume had a large community of Italians, but the majority of Fiume was NOT Italian
What is a ‘fasci’?
- derived from latin ‘fasces’; ancient Roman emblem of a bundle of wood bound with an axe = strength in unity
- late 19th century used to refer to a group associated with a political party
When was the Fasci di Combattimento founded?
March 1919
what kind of people made up Mussolini’s Fasci di Combattimento?
- ex-soldiers
- ‘arditi’; crack troop commanders formed after disaster at Caporetto
–> wore black uniforms + used black flag with a white skill gripping a dagger in its teeth
What was ‘trincerocrazia’?
the rule of the trenches; men linked by war consciousness & social divisions disappear, only division = those who stayed at home VS those who fought in the war
–> Mussolini hoped the Fasci di Combattimento would create trincerocrazia
What did the Fasci di Combattimento’s political programme include in early 1919?
(6)
- anticlerical (confiscation of church property)
- end monarchy and form a republic
- suffrage extended to women
- 8hr working day established
- abolish senate
- nationalise armaments
–> not distinguishable from other left-wing parties like PSI
What did Nitti do and what was the response?
- signed the ToV
- reduced military spending
- issued amnesty to Italian soldiers who had deserted
–> labelled ‘cagoia’ = abject coward
–> anger + disgust from military, nationsalists, fascists
What happened to the land that Italy claimed but did not recieve in the ToV?
- Fiume declared a neutral city under the protection of the League of Nations
- Dalmatia given to Yugoslavia
What happened to the land that Italy claimed but did not recieve in the ToV?
- Fiume declared a neutral city under the protection of the League of Nations
- Dalmatia given to Yugoslavia
How did Mussolini capitolise on outrage from the ToV?
argued that Italy needed a stronger government thatr would not back down or be humiliated, but fight to regain Italy’s former glory
–> by June 1919, Fasci di Combattimento had 3,000 members
Who was Gabriele d’Annunzio?
- Italy’s most famous wwi poet
- extreme nationalist; led protests for Italy to join the war
- despised liberals
- brilliant speaker
What was the occupation of Fiume?
12th September 1919
- 2,000 men seized the port of Fiume, faced no resistance
- dedicated the occupation to dead soldiers from wwi
–> men = ex-soldiers, students, futurists, patriots
How did the Italian government respond to the occupation of Fiume?
- failed to act for 15 months; scared of d’Annunzio’s popularity
- 25th Dec 1920, Italian navy finally removed d’Annunzio and his small army
What did Mussolini learn from the occupation of Fiume?
- fraigility of Italian government
- power of decisive, violent actions
- popularity of assertive nationalism
- power of a strong leader + rallies
What changes were made before the November 1919 elections?
who could vote and how votes were counted
- suffrage extended to all males over 21 & anyone who fought in wwi
- introduced proportional representation
How did the Catholics organise themselves politically?
PPI
- Partito Popolare Italiano
- founded in 1919
- not officially affiliated with the Vatican & didn’t address the Roman Question
- led by priest, Luigi Sturzo
- pushed for Catholic interests + values
- refused to work with the liberals = no trasformismo
What were the results of the November 1919 elections?
- PSI; 32% of the vote, 156 deputies
- PPI; 101 seats
–> neither had a full majority, yet were unwilling to form a coalition government with each other
= old liberals retained power until 1922 through several coalition governments = failure of democracy
What socio-economic problem did Italy face in 1919?
Nov. 1919, 2 mil unemployment
–> millions of demobilised soldiers
–> major companies struggled to stay afloat (Ansaldo and Ilva collapsed in 1921)
High level inflation
–> savings, wages, pensions, lira collapsed in value
What other events triggered Biennio Rosso?
non-economic
- post-war release of anarchists and socialist radicals from prison
- Russian revolution inspired a campaign for workers’ rights
- socialist unions grew rapidly from 250,000 in 1918 to 2 million in 1920
What were the main strikes of Biennio Rosso?
- January 1920, railway strikes
- April + Spetember 1920, telegraph workers’ strike
- July 1920, Army troops’ strike
- September 1920, over 400,000 workers took over factories, flew red and black flags (communist and anarchist) for 4 weeks = largest ever strike in Italy then
How was fascism organised in 1920?
- still a movement, not an official party
- paraminilatry organisation; squadristi (squads run by local ‘ras’, each squad was an autonomous organisation)
- Fasci di Combattimento
- newspapers + journals; ‘Il Popolo d’Italia’
Why did some landowners support the squadristi?
fascists = lesser of 2 evils, fear of socialism
- socialists had promised land reform
- fascists destroyed socialist land leagues & ended attempted land reform
Why did some wealthy peasants support the squadristi?
fear of socialism
- socialists promised land reform
Why did some small-scale industrialists support the squadristi?
fear of socialists
- socialists focused on workers’ rights
- squadristi tried to break the power of unions
Why did some the police support the squadristi?
police had a lack of control over people and strikes
–> squads able to maintain order through violence
