Account for Mussolini’s rise and maintenance of power in Italy from 1922-1943, and the effect his domestic and foreign policies had on this.

Intro:

    Benito Mussolini was the totalitarian dictator of Italy from 1922-1943. He rose to power because he was strongly anti-socialist and appealed to the wealthy industrialists and church, he opposed the Versailles Treaty, and he wanted to bring Italy back to its Roman days of glory.  He maintained power through the Blackshirt army and the propaganda surrounding his early foreign policy successes. His domestic policy focused on family values and creating a corporate state; his foreign policy was haphazard and opportunistic, ultimately choosing the side of Hitler and participating in WWII.
   
Rise:

Italy had only become one nation in the late 19^th century and continued to be wrought with political instability into the early 20^th century. In the period of 1919-1922 Italy had underwent a change of government 5 times (Lowe). As a result of her participation on the Allied side of WWI, Italy did not receive promised full compensation but her economy suffered greatly: the cost of living increased accordingly by at least five times (Lowe). In addition, as the wartime industry slowed, unemployment rose to 2 million in 1919 (Todd).  Working class Italians began vying for socialism, disrupting the economy further by striking (a period of time called the “biennio rosso” - the 2 red years).  The government was seen as weak for not being able to curb this. In 1922 Benito Mussolini said that his Fascist party would end the strike. When the strike eventually failed “Mussolini was able to pose as the savior of the nation from communism” (Lowe 290). This led to the March on Rome, when he asserted himself as Prime Minister.

Maintenance:
    Mussolini relied upon force and propaganda to maintain his dictatorship in Italy. Still, according to Lowe, Mussolini “did not succeed in creating a completely totalitarian system” because there still existed individuals and groups not controlled by the state.  In 1923 he consolidated his power by forming his private Fascist militia- the Blackshirts- which enlisted more than 300,000 members (Lowe). He passed the Acerbo Law in July 1923, which stated that if party won the election, they automatically got 2/3 of the parliament seats. Immediately following this was the Corfu incident in August 1923, wherein Mussolini invaded the Greek island after a Italian general died on their soil and Greece fails to apologize. Greece was forced by the League of Nations to give 50 million  as an act of contrition to Italy. Mussolini was viewed as a hero back home and this secured the election win. The Fascist party hence overtook the government.  He capitalized on his early foreign policy successes with propaganda, utilizing mainly newspapers. *get more on propaganda*

Domestic:

As a fierce anti-left wing, Mussolini acquired power with a base of wealthy industrialists, the church, and the church’s followers.  He appeased the industrialists by creating a corporate state, supporting big business & large landowners. His economic approach was Laissez-faire from 1922-25 but after this was more state intervention. In 1925 Mussolini decided to reduce international dependency on food and started the Battle for Grain policy, which succeeded in reducing grain imports by 75%  and doubling grain production (1923-38).  Unfortunately, this meant disregarding the growth of other crops and livestock, and per his voter base, only wealthy landowners benefited. In 1926 he revalued the currency too high and Italian exports became too expensive to be bought (Battle for the Lira). Gauci states that the value of exports was halved in period of 1925-38, from 44 to 22 million Lira. The results of his economic policies were generally dismal: land reform did little but cost 8 billion Lira. According to Gauci, Italy’s industry was still significantly behind her European counterparts,’ in 1939 she had a production level of only 2.4 mil tons of steel compared to Germany’s 22.5 million. By 1933 unemployment has increased to 2 million and wages had dropped 40% since the 20’s (Gauci). Despite that from 1935 -1938 Italy spent nearly 12% of national income on rearmament (Gauci), in the end, Italy was not prepared for the start of WWII in 1939.

In terms of social reform, the Church’s values were emphasized. Mussolini appeased the Church with the Lateran Treaty of 1929, establishing Catholicism as Italy’s official religion, the sovereignty of the Vatican City, and giving money to the Church. Women’s rights became nonexistent; they were pressured to have children: according to Gauci the 1927 Battle for Births policy aimed to increase Italy’s population from 37 to 60 million. His and Hitler’s views on the role of women and the family are very similar. Socially, all ages groups were encouraged to partake in sport and “after work” activities. This was thought to encourage a stronger and more united society. To create the illusion of a higher standard of living than actually existed, Mussolini offered all Italians subsidized vacations, cruises, and theater tickets.  

Foreign:
Mussolini had three basic objectives in terms of foreign policy: a desire for empire, a hatred towards leftist thought and to maintain power by any means. In order to return to Italy’s glory days of the Roman Empire, Mussolini desired to “Make Italy great, respected, and feared.” (Lowe).  This vague and emotionally driven desire led to a series of inconsistent foreign policies, such as expansion into Greece, Albania, and North Africa. From 1935-1936 Mussolini led a siege known as the Abyssinian Crisis; this war, wherein the League imposed ineffective economic sanctions on Italy for her aggression, caused Mussolini to leave the League of Nations in 1936 and draw closer to Hitler.  During this time, Mussolini expressed his opposition to left political movements by supporting Franco’s Spain; in 1936 Mussolini sent 70,000 troops to help Franco (Gauci). Further opposing communism, in 1936 Mussolini and Hitler sign the Rome-Berlin Axis and in 1937 the Anti-Cominterm Pact. However, Mussolini was self-interested above all: this meant he acted opportunistically and often without an apparent plan. Mussolini’s Italy was more or less with the allied powers until 1936; this alliance existed not because of ideology but because it seemed the most practical way to stay in power. 1922 Italy was joined with France to occupy the Ruhr in Germany and in 1925 Italy signed the Locarno Treaty proponing world peace. However, after the Abyssinian war, Mussolini had lost the trust of the Allies, and scrambled to find another foothold for power.  Hence, Il Duce took on a pro-German foreign policy. This was proved in 1936 by Italy’s departure from the League in and support of Germany and Franco in Spain.

Conclusion:
    Mussolini ascended to power not for his own exceptional vision, but because of the failures of the governments and the economic downfall that preceded him. After the Acerbo Law was passed, he gained totalitarian control over the nation. People remained relatively loyal to him, especially in his early years, due to his boldness and lack of opposition. He supported wealthy industrialists and the church; his corporate state and familial policies reflect this. Finally, his foreign policies are a mixture of moves mimicking Hitler, lusting after more land, opposing communism, and keeping himself in power.