‘By 1943, Mussolini had created a totalitarian regime in Italy’. Explain why you agree or disagree with this view. (24 marks).
Most historians have suggested that Mussolini had not created a totalitarian regime in Italy by 1943 due to the fact that Fascism remained a secondary belief for the majority of Italy, superseded by religion.
However Mussolini did achieve a totalitarian state in some respects. For example, his use of propaganda was successful in propagating the idea of the ‘Cult of the Duce’, a campaign with the aim of almost deifying Mussolini and giving him abnormal qualities, such as always being right, being able to do anything, and having endless physical strength. Posters and photographs with Mussolini, frequently
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However, there are also many respects in which Mussolini did not create a totalitarian state. The fact that Mussolini had to make deals such as the Lateran Pacts in 1929 to accommodate the Church shows that he did not have total control over Italy. Fascism was a secondary belief to the majority of Italy who still fully believed and had faith in Catholicism. The Lateran Pacts specifically accepted the dominant position of the Church in Italian society, meaning that Mussolini knew that the Church were too big an organisation to fight against, so he had to rule alongside them. The regime was not totalitarian as the Lateran Pacts also gave the Church control over education as teachers and textbooks had to be approved by the Church, meaning that the facistisation of Education was limited for Mussolini. It is true that with the approval of the Church, Mussolini gained far greater support, however it meant that his popular support was based on the word and approval of the Church, and his position could become untenable if the Church started to disapprove of him.
In addition, Mussolini had to make many concessions to high-powered people and organisations within Italy to remain dictator without any opposition from the elite groups in Italy such as the King, the Liberals, the army and the Confindustria. The King represented a major grouping in Italian society, the upper middle class and aristocracy, and elements, like the Armed
No one took him seriously and people also thought that Benito Mussolini and the fascists were not a threat in Italy either. Fascism was very closely related to communism. In 1922 his followers helped him become the leader of Italy and he became a dictator like Hitler in Germany. Mussolini promised to restore the Roman Empire but started in Africa where there was the least resistance. Another dictator was Adolf Hitler.
Mussolini was a fascist dictator who was a follower of Social Darwinism, the belief of natural selection that is applied to humans. He believed there should only be one power ruling over the people: “They pledged loyalty to an authoritarian leader (dictator) who guided and brought order to the state.” (Hyperdoc Doc. 1) and “Some men are greater than others, and these men should rule. ”(Fascism Hyperdoc Doc. 2).
Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler came to power in different ways, but they all managed to come into power showing their intelligence and strength. Benito Mussolini was reluctantly invited by Victor Emmanuel III to form a cabinet; his cabinet was full of fascists. He was legally granted power but started to become a one sided dictator instead of
Hitler and Mussolini looked upon the new form of government, which was Totalitarianism. This form of government means there is only one leader to make decisions and thus they killed or jailed all opponents. Mussolini and Hitler used this form of government after World
No, he did so by cultivating the Italian people’s frustration with the League of Nations when they were not rewarded more lands at the end of the war. So, Mussolini saw his chance to implement fascism into Italy and regain power for his country. After the war, there was considerable political unrest that the people began to become more unpredictable. Thankfully, fascism gave an illusion of happiness and freedom while only actually giving the people only essential freedoms and taking away all else (Document A). The political world of Italy wanted to feel like their country was powerful like it was before the war, and by catering to these feelings through fascism Mussolini was able to do so.
Fascism admitted strong totalitarian overtones until it became interested in wars of colonial conquest. It had come to power because of the decaying social, economic and political conditions of post-World War I Italy. It had brought order out of chaos. Indeed, order was its strong selling point when, after a series of crippling strikes sponsored by the socialists, it had managed when the liberal democratic state could not manage.
Italian Fascism is an authoritarian and nationalistic system of government and social organization, it was the political result of the relationship between socialist and nationalist rhetoric. It is a form of governance which employs intolerant views and practices, advocating traditionalism, interventionism and sameness rather than individualism. In order to promote their totalitarian ideals during the 1930s to 1945 fascist politicians such as Benito Mussolini, who had previously been a socialist newspaper editor, employed propaganda that included virtually all modes of media: the press, posters and film. The widespread dissemination of totalitarian ideals infiltrated into the school system where young Italians born from 1910 to 1935 were taught to “obey and fight.” The purpose of this paper is to analyse the diffusion of the Italian Identity through fascist propaganda from 1922-1943 and the identity that was diffused as a result of the exploitation of Mussolini’s various propaganda mediums. Did fascist propaganda contribute to the diffusion of an Italian identity? If so, what identity was diffused?
Benito Mussolini’s major problem was that he was twisted in the mind. Mussolini really thought he could change Italy by using violence, which was wrong thinking. I do not personally think it is all Mussolini’s fault because it was the way he grew up. Do not get me wrong he was raised in a household were abuse was going on but his father did not show him any type of affection. I believe that if Benito’s father would have showed him love and told him be a wise person he would have been better off in my opinion. However, since that did not happen Benito had to put this façade on for the public to mask his insecurities, and his darkest thoughts. I think that Benito would have been able to fix this if he would have had good men friends to
The following six characteristics allow for one to easily determine if a country is an authoritarian or totalitarian model: one hierarchical party, an ideology that drives all information, government policy decisions, and education, propaganda that is carried out by a complete control of the media, violence that is carried out by an official secret police, tightly controlled armed forces, and central control of the economy or resources. After carefully analyzing each aspect of these characteristics along with the history of Mussolini’s rule in Italy from the 1930s through 1945, one can easily determine that this is an example of a totalitarian
Hitler and Mussolini looked upon the new form of government, which was Totalitarianism. This form of government means there is only one leader to make decisions and thus they killed or jailed all opponents. Mussolini and Hitler used this form of government after World War One
Benito Mussolini outlines several essential characteristics of his preferred political ideology, Fascism, in what has become known as the Doctrine of Fascism. In this paper, Mussolini outlines his vision of the ideology, and explains the major issues that Fascism will address once it becomes the leading political system in Italy. Mussolini’s major points as outlined in the Doctrine included an extreme emphasis on nationalism, organization and modernization of the state, persistent focus on religion, life as a struggle, and the notion that individuals exist only for the improvement of society as a whole. Wolfgang Schieder, after reviewing the Doctrine of Fascism, explains Mussolini’s success based on it and
World War II, which only lasted about five years, changed the course of history forever, and affected millions of lives. Among the major nations that were involved in the war, Benito Mussolini and his Italian army sought to settle their differences with many nations. Benito’s fascist views, his idea of a nation built by one race, and his relationship with Adolf Hitler ultimately led to his involvement in the war. His responsibility, in essence, was to ally himself with the superpowers of the world, and lead his people into a war that they could not fight.
These factors were all highly important to the Fascists’ control of Italy up to 1939 but it could be argued some of these were of more value to the Fascist domination than others.
The economic instability of Europe developed totalitarian goverments that began rising during the depression in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. Germany, Italy, and Japan all became countries subjected to the rule of dictated military rule leaving no room for opposition. Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922 (Calvocoressi, Wint, p 777, 1999). Mussolini had his own philosophy that his destiny was to rule over Italy as Caesar in a more modern version while re-creating the Roman Empire. In his attempts in
As a result of how Italy was created but not fully unified, the new Italian state suffered from a variety of weaknesses which the new liberal state was unable to tackle these. This made Italy susceptible to the appeal of fascism, and therefore aided Mussolini’s rise to power.