DOCTRINE OF FASCISM
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
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War is inevitable, as it is simply the manifestation of the strength and vigour of the Italian people that wishes to expand itself, never looking back. Peace was considered as merely a “mask to surrender and cowardice.” Mussolini stressed that Italians required “forces, duty, and sacrifice” in order to rise again to their former greatness, that of the Roman Empire. This is also Mussolini’s rationale for harsh and severe actions against any who would resist or try and undermine fascism. Finally, there remains perhaps the most basic and yet most profound idea present in the entire doctrine; being the notion that life is a struggle. The entire doctrine constantly discusses this concept, and in fact Mussolini uses it to justify the entire doctrine. Mussolini states that, “fascism wants a man to be active and absorbed in action with all his energies,” a desire which he considers synonymous with fascism’s own desire to be constantly progressing. Italians were not only encouraged to frequently be taking action, but it was considered their “duty to conquer out of life what was really worthy to them.” Mussolini is essentially stating that he believes that a virtuous Italian should be constantly struggling with his life, never becoming complacent and always fighting to better himself. Fascism, being an extension of the human spirit, naturally mirrored these qualities. Wolfgang Schieder, analyzes
During the Second World War, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was the leader of the Italian Nationalist Fascist government. He was head of the Italian government from 1922 till 1943. The significance of Mussolini is that he played a key role acting as the Italian Prime Minister and established a totalitarian regime, during this time, as the unchallenged supreme leader, known as ‘Il Duce’. Fascism consisted of many contributors of which Mussolini with all his quirks was the key to most of its failures and successes, making him the most significant player that is worthy of being investigated. This topic is worthy of being investigated as Mussolini made a lot of decisions that lead to the death of many, but the question as to
It was here that the term fascism took its ideological term (Heywood 2012: 199). In 1922 Mussolini managed to assume the post of Prime Minister, mostly by a show of force by his armed men the ‘Black Shirts’. The government in Italy was paralyzed and fear of a civil war by the King Victor Emmanuel III opened to the door for Mussolini and his National Fascist Party to assume complete control in Italy. He used his paramilitary soldiers to crush all opposition to his authority, something all the rest of the fascist states in Europe would follow. Around the same time another fascist movement began to emerge in Germany – it was called ‘The National Socialist German Workers Party’; it was led by Adolf Hitler. Fascists in Germany followed the same concepts as Italian ones. In less than 15 years he had become the supreme leader of Germany – creating a totalitarian state, to what we know today as Nazi Germany. Both of these fascist movements had most of their support from the middle class, the industrialists and the respective militaries. It was not until 1935 with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the Spanish fascists struggle for power and Hitler’s constant aggressions in Europe – that we today inherit military aggression with fascism. Nazi Germany and Italy would eventually lose
The following critical review of the factors that brought Benito Mussolini to power will look at fascism and how Mussolini came to gain political power. This review will present both aspects of how historians have reacted to various hypotheses about fascism and Mussolini gaining power, positive reviews that support different theories and others who oppose certain ideas. The main finding was that Mussolini’s rise to power owes more to the failures of others than to his own strengths.
Fascism is a political philosophy that emphasizes the nation and national security at the expense of the individual (Galgano). Fascism was a new form of government that was started in Italy by Benito Mussolini when he returned from fighting in WWI. The old Italian government did not satisfy the needs of its citizens, many were unemployed because the failing economy. This was the perfect scenario for fascism to gain popularity and take over. Fascism became popular because Benito Mussolini made use public work camps which improved the unemployment. Hitler saw how well fascism was working in Italy, so he incorporated many of its ideals into the Nazi party (Boyanowski). The advantages of fascism are economic growth, enhances in military/security, and promotion of patriotism. The disadvantages of fascism are no governing
Mankind has almost always been ruled by different forms of government. From Democracy to Dictatorships, mankind choose which they thought was best for their country. Some took advantage and ruled the way that they thought was best for themselves and created their version of the best country. One of these people was Benito Mussolini; He was the Italian Prime Minister and dictator after World War I and during World War II. Mussolini believed that he could change the way that Italy was ruled, and start the new "Roman Empire" in his own image. Mussolini played a key role in changing the Italian government, unifying Italy, World War II, and he changed the world with the creation of Fascism in Europe during his rule.
Fascism was a political movement that emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to its leaders. Mussolini used his former allies, the socialist to build power, but betrayed them by supporting fascism. He wanted to make Italy a major power and create an Italian colonial empire. Mussolini
This paper examines changes to Rome during Mussolini’s rise and rule of Italy from 1922-1945. Mussolini saw himself as the next great Caesar, and wanted the power of his radical political ideology, Fascism, to be projected throughout the city. As Mussolini’s changed from the leader of an empire city to a puppet of Nazi Germany, so did the city. Mussolini states his love of Rome in his autobiography, My Rise and Fall: “I have given particular attention to the Capital. Rome is a universal city, dear to the hearts of Italians and the whole world” .
In his exploration of 20th century fascism between the wars, Payne (1995) described Mussolini as the most liberal of the totalitarian personalities that dominated that period. Perhaps this was a vestige of his earlier involvement with revolutionary socialism, or a reflection from his early years. Yet, the fact remains that Mussolini, along with Hitler, was an architect of fascism and of the policies that led to World War II. The intention in the following pages is to explore Mussolini 's rise to power, including his childhood and youthful political development.
Before Mussolini came into power, there were many problems facing Italy. Italy had been going through a post World War One depression after 1918. Italy was also on the brink of a socialist takeover which caused mass hysteria among Italians. Even after winning the war against Germany, Italy felt they were cheated out of the territorial settlements they thought they were promised to receive (1). All these factors of distrust and poverty enabled Mussolini’s rise to power and allowed him to consolidate his position in Italy between 1918 and 1926.
The period between 1870 and 1923 Italy was in an era commonly regarded as “Liberal Italy” a time when the Italian government was a notoriously weak and unstable liberal democracy. The Italian people now felt that their government lacked two important features entering WW1 , including Mussolini : national identity and strength of government. Italy became a unified state in 1861, although it remained divided at heart due to the diverse culture of each individual city-state . This lack of country unity, lead to a weak and underwhelming Liberal Italy . The democratic governments before the first WW1 were often regarded by the Italian people, the outside world and the future fascist dictator Mussolini as corrupt. Mussolini had written that “this
Fascism is a political ideology that developed once war I in European nation and Germany. Fascism is characterised by sturdy nationalism, an extreme level of tyranny, corporatism, militarization and hostility towards each liberalism and Marxism. (Web 2016) Fascism is created of fourteen purpose that follows. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism from the distinguished displays of flags and bunting to the omnipresent overlap pins, the fervor to show patriotic nationalism, both on the half of the regime itself and of voters held in its hysteria, was always obvious. Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common themes in expressing this nationalism. It was usually including a suspicion of things foreign
He “deems it necessary [for a prince] to secure himself against enemies…to make himself loved and feared by the people, [and] to destroy those who can or must do you harm” (Machiavelli 33). Mussolini exemplified Machiavelli’s treatise on his rise to power. After Italy’s poor showing in World War I, the Italian people were very dissatisfied with the current democratic government. Taking advantage of this, Mussolini created the “Black Shirts,” a group of unemployed war veterans who terrorized political opponents and spread the belief of fascism. Soon Italy was in political turmoil and Mussolini declared only he could bring back stability and was granted the authority he wanted and was able to claim the title of dictator. Under the pretense of protecting the peace he eliminated anyone who threatened his power (Butler 1). Furthermore, Machiavelli illustrated that many princes “cannot maintain their position because they have no forces that are loyal and devoted to them” (Machiavelli 28). Knowing that he needed the people to favor him, Mussolini started many public works projects and reduced unemployment, fostering public support (“Benito” 1). With this, Mussolini accomplished several of Machiavelli’s key ideas that led to his
Mussolini’s authoritarian rule was manifested in his slogans “Nothing has ever been won in history without bloodshed” and “Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands and an infinite scorn in our hearts” (Benito Andrea Mussolini, 1930’s). Mussolini was against equality, and this was reflected in his Fascist policies. It is due to this acceptance of inequality among classes by the Fascist thinking that Sigmund Freud calls Fascism the “return of the repressed” (Finchelstein F , 2008) Mussolini set short term political goals, focusing on practical aspects of his policies rather than the theory, thus not following a set of specific rules or themes. He had firm beliefs in his views and
This inquiry seeks to establish that upon gaining power, Benito Mussolini introduced a fascist program, financed by big business, that pursued autarky and a new Roman Empire. While Fascism states have risen and fallen throughout the world, the original fascist program is that of Benito Mussolini and Fascist Italy. The Fascist Doctrine, which defines all aspects of the fascist life, is a document that explains fascism in all realms, the primary focus of this enquiry will be how the fascist program affected economic policy during the reign of Mussolini and his fascist regime. In order to understand the manner in which Mussolini’s fascist doctrine influenced Italy, one must first have an understanding of who Mussolini is and how he rose to
It was after observing how Mussolini rose to power and ran his Fascist government that Hitler learned how he should run his own. As traditionalist historian Wolfgang Schieder stated in Fatal Attraction: The German Right and Italian Fascism, a section in Hans Mommsen’s The Third Reich between Vision and Reality: New Perspectives on German History, 1918-1945, “Hitler’s rise to power would not have occurred so easily without Mussolini’s precedent”. In terms of domestic policies, one principle that Mussolini focussed on was collectivism. As such, Mussolini got all Italians working for the state so that more could be achieved in less time, as the citizens are no longer divided by individual interests. In doing so, Mussolini also brought Italians closer together and began to abolish regionalism and shift towards intense nationalism that the country