Italy 1870-1943
Italy before and during Mussolini
Italian unification
• 1848 liberal uprisings (Garibaldi –Mazzini)
• 1859 France supports Piedmont in gaining
most of Italy from Austria and Kingdom of
the Two Sicilies
• 1866 Veneto added to Italy from Austria
• 1870 Papal state (Rome) added to Italy after
defeat of Napoleon III to Prussia.
The new state
• Parliamentary government
• Voting based on property and literacy
– 8% of adult males 1870
– South down to 2-3%
• The king commands land and naval forces
• Weak political parties “ministers velded
different coalitions” lead to transformism
(see tb)
All kinds of problems
• High illiteracy from 90% to 10% in the south
(emmigration)
• Slow industrial growth, agricultural backwardness
in the south,
– Landowners and mafia strong
• Growing socialist party
• Catholic church enemy of state
– Encouraged catholics to boycott elections to 1904
• Growing nationalism --- irredentism
Industrialization picked up around
1900
• Unification not built on economic unity
• Unification left great debt
• In the north some benefit of contact with Western
Europe and enough water-power
• Railroad building did not have immediate effect
• 1887 tariff walls, some improvement
• By 1914 Italy was a developing industrial power
but not among the great industrial powers.
Agriculture
• 1870 60% of working population employed
on land
• Latifundia in south –extreme poverty and
wealth
• 40% consumed by farmers themselves,
• Was Italy fit for war?
Foreign policy
• Nationalist wanted to gain South-Tyrol, Istria,
Dalmatia from Austria
• Declining relationship with France made this
impossible
• Consequently Italy turned to colonialism:
– Crispi struggle for Abyssinia led to disaster in Adowa
1896
– In Northern Africa Italy got Libya from falling Turkey
1912 (Balkan wars)
Italy during war.
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Italy Drives a Hard Bargain
Italy was divided.
One group favored neutrality.
And felt that Italy should be paid for its neutrality.
Like obtaining Trentino and Trieste from Austria.
The Church feared that Italy would find itself at war
with another Catholic State – Austria.
• Those around the King Victor Emanuel III.
• Then there was Mussolini.
Pro-War Italians
• Initially Benito Mussolini, who was a Socialist editor,
opposed the Tripolitanian war in 1911.
• But swung over to support World War I.
• This was done in his paper Popolo d’Italia.
• More influential than Mussolini was Gabriele
D’Annunzio.
• He appealed to anyone who was disillusioned with the
Italian political system.
• He felt war would regenerate Italy.
• He would develop a mass movement that the fascists
would adopt.
The Treaty of London (1915)
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The Italian Government was negotiating with both
sides.
The Allies agreed that if Italy went to war Italy would
receive:
South Tyrol to the Brenner Pass.
Trieste.
Part of Albania.
Turkish territory.
As well as an indemnity from the defeated.
The Last Sane Man
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The Italians signed the Treaty of London in April 1915.
And agreed to enter the war a month later.
The last voice opposed to war was Giovanni Giolitti.
Before the Italian government would introduce a resolution for
war on May 18, 1915.
• Mobs roamed the streets of Rome called for the “death of Giolitti.”
• Those opposed to Italy’s entry into the war were assaulted in the
streets.
Italians wanted war – how mistaken only time will tell.
Rise of fascist party
• Social frustration after ww1 because of peace
treaty and economic crises
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Italy didn’t get Dalmatia
D’Annunzio occupied Fiume
inflation and strikes
1919 first Fasci de combattimento by Mussolini
(populist-socialist program)
– after election failure 1919 the party turned to right with
emphasis on nationalism and anti-bolshevism:
Mussolini thought that easier path to power
March on Rome
• In 1921 fascist get 31 seat in parliament out of 535
as part of government alliance
• acted as saviors of nation from general strike in
August 22
• coup d’etat 27.oct 1922 when 26000 fascist
marched on Rome.
• King Victor Emmanuel refused to sign martial law
and appointed Mussolini prime minister.
• Why? What was going on?
Consolidation of power
• Acerbo law 1923
– In 1923 Mussolini is still only a prime minister with small backing
in a democratic state.
– The Acerbo laws: biggest party in elections gets two thirds of
deputies. (Liberals supported) Elections in 1924.
– In 1928 all candidates for elections choosen by fascists
• Aventine seccession in June 24
– After the murder of socialist Matteotti
• socialists left the parliament
• and Victor Emmannuel still supported Mussolini when he
banned the socialist party
Towards dictatorship
• 1925 - Strenghening of party organization
• Ban on other parties than fascists 1926
• Reign of terror -harrassing opponents and
newspapers
• Foundation of secret police OVRA
• 1926 parliament looses its lawmaking power.
• 1928 King looses power to appoint prime minister
• Labor uninons removed 1926 and 22 corporations
replace them in 1930-36
The corporate state
• In name the corporates should replace the parliament as the
power base of the new state put in practice the were “an
elaborate piece of imposing humbug.
• Corporates: associations of workers and employers in each
branch of the economy but in fact controlled from Rome.
• Corporates should decentralize government but the
opposite happened. In the same vain local government was
appointed from Rome and even local party officials were
appointed from Rome.
• The Fascist grand council another limb governing body
controlled by the dictator himself.
Mussolinis rule
• Italy was governed by the personal dictatorship of
Mussolini
– Controlled state and party.
– No Himmler or Göring
• Mussolini was more of a propaganda man and
selfaggrandiser.
• Concordat with the church.
• Propaganda. Battle for births. (in an overpopulated
country) Emphasized the greatness of Italy.
The Economy
• Self-sufficiency and protectionism
– increase in electricity and car production
– The battle for grain (Italian grain at 50% higher
prices than American grain.
– More damage than advantage say economic
historians.
– Unemployment rose and living standards
declined
Fascist theory
• How did this originally small party gain
power? What is the social and political
background
• What was the political theory of the
fascists?
• What was the role of Mussolini
• For answers look at the historical debate
Facist education
• Fascist culture a compulsory subject
• Party censorship of textbooks
– History suffered especially (317 to 1)
• Balilla – youth organization
• Dopolavoro – umbrella for workers leisure
– kraft durch freude
Foreign policy
• I want to make Italy great, respected and
feared
• Nationalistic policy
• Aims open and hidden:
– Security from Germany and France
– Influence in the Balkans
– When this achieved:
• mediterranean and African empire
Action
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Corfu – incident 1923
1924 Italy got Fiume
Influence in Albania from 1926
Alliance with Austria and Hungary...
– Mussolini supported Austria after the murder of
Dolfuss 1934
– Participated in Locarno and Kellog-Briand and
Stresa
Riding with Hitler
• Oct. 1935 invasion of Abyssinia
– League imposed limited sanctions
• Oil, coal, iron, steel excluded and Suez-canal open
• Anger towards West –shifted to Germany
• Very limited gain – corrupt and profitless
colonial empire
• 1936 supporting Franco in Spain
• 1936 Berlin – Rome axis
Munich and war
• Mussolini planned the Munich meeting
• Invasion of Albania 1939
• Pact of steel with Germany – military
alliance
• Still Italians were not ready for war
Historical interpretations of Mussolini's foreign policy
I)
Mussolini had no basic principle of foreign
policy He was out to gain prestige for
himself and Italy, and expand (Balkans
and Africa). He had an opportunistic
attitude towards other countries in Europe.
Basically, he seized opportunities as they
came.
Historical interpretations of Mussolini's foreign policy
II) Mussolini was Britain's "Lost Ally" Mussolini tried to
be Britain and France's ally, but after the
conquest of Abyssinia (1935-6), relations became
difficult and cold. As Italy was economically and
militarily weak, it needed a powerful ally abroad in
order to have weight and achieve gains.
Therefore Mussolini turned to Hitler.
Mussolini and war
• Italy in no way prepared for war
• Campaign against Greece (oct 1940) a disaster
• July 1943 allied troops land in Sicily and th
efascist grand councel voted for the end of
Mussolinis government
• Mussolini had lost support of church, army and
aristocrats.
• Victor Emmanuel took over and appointed
Badoglio prime minister
Italy in war
• Badoglio starts negotiation with allies
• Germans occupy Italy and battle with the
allies
• Still German troops in Italy at the end of
war
Historical interpretations of Mussolini's foreign policy
III) Mussolini: the traditional Italian There is no Fascist
foreign policy as such. Mussolini simply carried on
with his predecessors' priorities of expanding in
the Balkans (Mediterranean) and Africa.
IV) Mussolini had domestic problems Mussolini was a
prisoner of Italy's internal problems. Public
opinion expected foreign expansion from
Mussolini. This was also seen as a way out of
economic problems (new market for Italian
goods).