We explain what Mussolini’s government was, its characteristics and historical context. The key facts of this government and the foundations of fascism.
Mussolini ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943.
What was Mussolini’s government?
Benito Mussolini ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943.when he was dismissed by King Victor Emmanuel III. Mussolini’s government was the first fascist regime in Europe, and influenced other far-right government experiences (generically grouped under the term “fascist”), such as the Nazi dictatorship in Germany.
Mussolini founded the National Fascist Party in 1921. and took power in 1922 through a kind of coup d’état, called the March on Rome. Since then, he exercised a dictatorial power which was characterized by authoritarianism, corporate organization of the state, persecution of political opposition, violence, censorship and propaganda centered on the cult of the leader (called “Duce”, that is, caudillo). The ideology of fascism was characterized by nationalism, anti-communism, anti-liberalism and anti-parliamentarism.
Mussolini’s government It emerged in the interwar period, when much of Italian society was dissatisfied with the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and feared the advance of communism. In addition, the economic crisis of the early 1920s had encouraged distrust of liberal and parliamentary governments.
During world war II, Mussolini’s Italy allied itself with Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime and the Empire of JapanMussolini was deposed and taken prisoner by the king’s decision in 1943, but was rescued by the Germans and proclaimed the Italian Social Republic (better known as the Republic of Salò) in northern Italy, which functioned as a puppet state of the Nazis until defeat by the Allies became imminent. Mussolini attempted to escape and was shot in April 1945 by communist partisans.
The historical context
Mussolini leaned toward a nationalist and authoritarian ideology that inspired Nazism.
Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) He began his political life as a member of the Italian Socialist PartyHe directed the newspaper Avanti!, the official organ of the party, until he was expelled in 1914 for his ideas in favour of Italian intervention in the First World War (contrary to the neutrality promoted by the party).
In November 1914 he founded the newspaper Il Popolo d’Italiawhich expressed its militaristic line and was financed by the French government. When the Kingdom of Italy entered the war in 1915, an ally of the Entente, Mussolini served at the front until he was wounded in 1917. This experience exacerbated his nationalism and encouraged his vindication of combatants, of life in the trenches and of group spirit.
After the end of the First World War, Almost all of Europe was devastated and in debt, and Italy was no exception.This led to poverty and unemployment, which led to strikes, land occupations and riots. Discontent among the Italian population was channelled in some cases by the socialists and other more radical sectors of the left.
Fascism gained many followers among those who, in addition to blaming liberal politicians and bourgeois parliamentarianism for the economic crisis, recognized themselves in a nationalist discourse that affirmed that the advance of socialism and communism (which had triumphed in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and was growing in Italy) had to be prevented.
Furthermore, this nationalist discourse He blamed the Allied powers and the liberal Italian government for the “mutilated victory”since at the Paris peace conference that followed the end of the war, Italy did not see all of its territorial claims recognized, despite having lost more than half a million combatants. The fascist movement created by Mussollini expressed and inflamed these ideas, fears and dissatisfactions.
The founding of the National Fascist Party
In the context of the economic and political crisis of the post-war period, the figure of Benito Mussolini gained strength, a charismatic leader who adopted a nationalist discourse and In 1919 he created a political group called Fasci italiani di combattimentowhose program combined nationalism with social demands.
When the Fasci obtained a poor result in the elections of November 1919, its leadership hardened its anti-communist position, and the group began to use the violence against political opponentsespecially against strikers or members of the Socialist Party and other trade union and left-wing forces. This won him the support of some industrial and landowner sectors who feared the advance of communism.
In May 1921, Mussolini was elected deputy for a right-wing coalition and, in November of the same year, he reorganized the Fasci italiani di combattimento and founded, from them, the National Fascist PartyViolence against strikers and socialists increased, carried out by paramilitary groups known as “blackshirts” (which brought together war veterans, the unemployed and other sympathisers of fascist ideology). The fascists called this process “fascist revolution”.
The beginning of Mussolini’s government
Mussolini abolished freedom of expression and persecuted political opposition.
In October 1922, the March on Rome took place.: A large group of “blackshirts”, who answered to the authority of Mussolini, marched on Rome to demand that Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, form a fascist government.
Under pressure, and perhaps because of the support that the fascist movement had among various social sectors, or even for fear of the outbreak of a civil war, The monarch refused to declare a state of siege and instead, He handed over control of the country to Benito Mussolini: he appointed him President of the Council of Ministers and entrusted him with the task of forming a new cabinet. The “blackshirts” paraded triumphantly through Rome and Mussolini settled in the city to direct his government from there.
Initially, Mussolini formed a cabinet in which members of the National Fascist Party were in the minority. However, got dParliament full powers to (according to the discourse of the time) “restore order” in Italy. In 1923, he succeeded in having a new electoral law passed, which enabled him to obtain a parliamentary majority in the 1924 elections.
Dthat’s it, Mussolini was dismantling the democratic institutionsIn 1924, Giacomo Matteotti, a socialist deputy who had denounced the violence of fascism, was kidnapped and murdered by fascist groups. Mussolini responded to the opposition’s accusations with measures that strengthened his power and gave rise, from 1925, to a dictatorship:
- He concentrated more powers in the person of Mussolini, who became head of government, prime minister and secretary of state, and could approve regulations without the need for parliamentary approval.
- abolished the right to strike
- annulled freedom of the press
- persecuted the political opposition
- dissolved political parties and unions
- established a model of corporate state, whereby the state controlled the fascist unions and their relationship with businessmen, through the Ministry of Corporations
- favored the fusion between fascist party and state
- He promoted the cult of personality of the Duce (the leader).
Main events of Mussolini’s government
Some of the main events that characterized Benito Mussolini’s government in Italy were:
- 1922 – The March on RomeMussolini urged his followers to march on Rome, where King Victor Emmanuel III yielded to pressure and appointed Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister, who was given full powers by Parliament to restore order in Italy.
- 1923 – The Acerbo Law. A law was passed, introduced by the deputy Giacomo Acerbo on the initiative of Mussolini, which modified the conditions of parliamentary elections in such a way as to favour the fascists obtaining a majority. In addition, in this year the “blackshirts” were made official by the creation of the Voluntary Militia for National Security.
- 1924 – The elections and the Matteotti affairThanks to the Acerbo law, Mussolini obtained a majority in the parliamentary elections. In addition, the socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti was kidnapped and murdered by fascist groups.
- 1925 – The dictatorship. Mussolini gave a speech in front of Parliament in which he announced the beginning of a dictatorial government. Between 1925 and 1926, laws were passed that violated the right to freedom of expression and the right to strike. In addition, trade unions and opposition political parties were dissolved and national employment contracts and the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (an agency of the government and fascist trade unions for the recreational organization of workers) were created. On the economic level, a campaign was developed to increase wheat production and achieve a self-sufficient Italy (known as the “Wheat Battle”).
- 1926 – The assassination attempt on MussoliniOn April 7, an Irish woman named Violet Gibson attempted to kill Benito Mussolini with a revolver after a speech in Rome. The bullet grazed his nose and caused minor injuries. The Opera Nazionale Balilla, an organization for the indoctrination and physical training of children and adolescents, was also established in this year.
- 1928 – The Great Fascist CouncilAlthough it already existed as an organ of the National Fascist Party, in this year it was established as the main state government body of Mussolini, which was responsible for controlling and electing all government representatives.
- 1929 – The Lateran Pacts. The Italian state signed, together with representatives of the Holy See, a pact declaring the independence of Vatican City (since then constituted as the State of Vatican City) and establishing Catholicism as the official religion of Italy. This brought to an end decades of conflict between the Italian state and the papacy, and gave the fascist regime the support of some Catholic sectors.
- 1935 – Territorial expansion. Mussolini longed to restore the greatness of the Roman Empire and make Italy a world power. He declared war on Ethiopia (Abyssinia), which bordered the Italian colonial territories of Eritrea and Somalia, and conquered it after eight months of Ethiopian resistance. Thus the Italian Empire was born. This earned Mussolini’s government criticism and economic sanctions from the League of Nations, so Italy left this organization in 1936. Thus began relations with Nazi Germany, which supported Italian expansion in Africa and formed the Rome-Berlin Axis with Italy (1936).
- 1936-1939 – Intervention in the Spanish Civil WarBoth the German and Italian governments collaborated with the side…