Topic 1
•Born
•Son
in 1883
of a blacksmith
•Before
WWI:
professional
revolutionary, left
wing socialist, and
radical journalist
•School
1901.
master by
•Arrested
in 1903 for
stirring up
controversy in
Switzerland.
•Inspired
by the
writing of Sorel and
Nietzsche.
 Abandoned
Socialism
in December 1914.
 During
the war he
became an intense
nationalist.
 He
demanded the
conquest of Italia
irredenta (Italian
territory inside of
Austrian borders)
 March
1919
 Fasci
Italiani di
Combattimento
 What
is fascism?
 The
Blackshirts
 The
March on Rome
 Mussolini
becomes
Prime Minister
 The
 Il
Totalitarian State
Duce
 The
Acerbo Law
 Reasons
 The
for the law
assassination of
the socialist deputy
Giacomo Matteotti
 Taking
over ministries
 The
MVSN
(Blackshirts)
 OVRA
(Organization
for Vigilance and
Repression of AntiFascism)
 The
Christmas Eve
Law (1925)
 Public
Construction
Programs
 The
“Battle for Wheat”
 Mussolinia
 The
“Battle for Land”
 “Gold
for the
Fatherland”
 Propaganda
 Replacing
liberalism
and democracy
 The
role of teachers
and professors
 “Free
Press”

“reorganizing the youth
from a moral and
physical point of view”

“fascist education is
moral, physical, social,
and military: it aims to
create a complete
harmoniously developed
human, a fascist one
according to our views”
 Building
an Italian
Empire
 Avenging
 Battle
past defeats
of Adowa (March
1896)
 “A
Place in the Sun”
 The
new fort at Wal
 The
Wal Wal Incident
Wal
 Border
Clashes
 Response
of The
league of Nations
(Great Britain and
France)
 Emperor
 The
Abyssinian Army
 Types
 The
Haile Selassie
of Equipment
Imperial Guard

October 1935

The Hoare-Laval Pact
(December 1935)

The Christmas Offensive

Chemical Warfare

“the terrible rain that
burned and killed”

Selassie flees Abyssinia

The New Emperor of
Abyssinia

Mussolini’s moment of glory

Italy gains its empire

Selassie’s speech

“It is us today. It will be
you tomorrow.”
 Effects
of the Abyssinian Crisis
 Collective
 The
Security?
Rome-Berlin Axis
 Whose
to blame for the failure?