Benito Mussolini and the Rise
of Fascism in Italy
Il Duce--The Leader
Mussolini, a brief history
• Born July 29, 1883 in Northeastern Italy
to a working class family
• Becomes a teacher and is fired
• Early 1900’s--socialist, leaves for
Switzerland.
– He is a journalist and political agitator and
is arrested many times
Mussolini cont…
• Opposed to WWI, then supports it as a
way to overthrow capitalism.
• Is a soldier in WWI
• Comes back from war an antisocialist,
believes only an authoritarian
government can “fix” Italy’s problems.
The roots of Fascism
• Fasci Italiani di Combattimento: Mussolini
gathers veterans
– Fascio: Italian for union or league
– Fasces:Ancient Roman symbol of discipline and
authority (rods or sticks bound together)
Fascism Defined
• Mussolini Defines Fascism:
– Please O,P,V,L this document
• What reactions do you have from this
document and what did you learn from
Mussolini?
The “Definition”
• Fascism
– A party, not a political doctrine
– Celebration of a nation or race above the
individual
– Celebrates masculinity and youth
– Often promotes racial superiority
– Forcibly suppresses opposition
What Mussolini said
• “The Fascist conception of the State is
all embracing; outside of it no human or
spiritual values can exist, much less
have value. Thus understood, Fascism
is totalitarian and the Fascist State ...
interprets, develops, and potentates the
whole life of a people”.
Back to Mussolini
• 1921: Mussolini elected to Parliament
– Fascism becomes a formal party
• Oct. 24, 1922: 40,000 Fascists meet in
Naples and demand control of government
• Oct. 31, 1922: King Victor Emmanuel III asks
Mussolini to form a new government and he
becomes Prime Minister
Italy under Mussolini
• 1935: Italy invades Ethiopia to expand
the empire
• 1936: Joins with Hitler and Japan to
fight communism
• 1936: Supports Franco in Spain
• June 10, 1940: Italy enters WWII
The end of it all….
• 1943: Allies invade, Mussolini’s power
declines.
– Mussolini is arrested and imprisoned, the Nazi’s
rescue him and he sets up a “government” (Italian
Social Republic) in Nazi controlled Northern Italy.
• 1945: Armistice, Mussolini attempts to flee to
Switzerland and is assassinated
• 1946: The New Republic with an anti-fascist
constitution