How Far Mussolini Succeeded in Creating a Nation of Fascists Essay

Overall, the fascist experiment in Italy was a failure. Benito Mussolini aimed to make the world safe for the middle class, small business owners, property owners, and people in the agricultural area. Through this, Mussolini gained support of the majority of the population. There is no doubt that most of the support was actually the work of propaganda and rhetoric rather than the ‘real thing'. The government made desperate attempts to significantly increase the birthrate in Italy. In 1927, Mussolini launched the "Battle for births". The task of young women was to get married quickly and have a lot of children. And the more children they get, the more benefits they get from the government. Mussolini's population policy failed to produce

Life in Italy in the 1930’s caused difficulty to some Italians during that time period. During the 1930’s a large number of Italians who had opposed the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini arrived in the United States. After the news spread in Italy about the bombing of Pearl Harbour almost all Italians supported the war against Benito Mussolini. At this point, Italy was slowly becoming under the Nazi rule, the significance of a woman’s role in Italy was emphasised as they were expected to accept the fascist ideology. Girls were expected to get married and conceive lots of children. Many young women in Italy felt the pressures of politics that were dominated by men and felt that women’s rights were disappearing

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

Mussolini consolidation of fascist power in Italy in the years 1922-1929 could have been mainly due to the use of force and intimidation. However this was not a straightforward process, since fascism was a new thing. In the years 1922 to January 1925 marked the transition from the liberal parliamentary system to the fascist state. Like many political transitions, it was an untidy and complicated process. Although from the start Mussolini’s intentions were quite difficult to establish, however it could be that Mussolini wanted to set up from the beginning a totalitarian one party state.

In Italy the strong presence of Catholic religion and organizations influenced Mussolini’s policies concerning women. Although the fascist ideology intended to abolish class struggle by establishing a new corporative society, its ideas about the role of women in such a society remained very conservative. Hitler had similar beliefs about the role of women in a Nazi society but he never tried to force them to stay home, indeed, he supported their participation in industrial production.

In Italy the strong presence of Catholic religion and organizations influenced Mussolini's policies concerning women. Although the fascist ideology intended to abolish class struggle by

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.

Since World War II, Italian society has profoundly changed, with a significant impact on daily life. One of the main elements of change is the more visible role women play in society outside the home, such as increased participation in higher education and various professions. One aspect of this changed role is that Italy records one of the lowest average numbers of children per woman in the world, as well as some of the lowest birth and fertility rates. (Brittanica Online Encyclopedia)

The social policies implemented by the Fascists secured their control of the lives of every person, young or old, in Italy in particular through education and the Dopolavoro. Education was heavily manipulated to only teach the youth a positive view of the Fascists. It became necessary for all teachers and lecturers to swear loyalty to Mussolini. Textbooks were heavily censored to exclude any part of history which showed the Italians being defeated or in a negative way, in 1926, 101 textbooks were banned and a single textbook became the only source teachers were allowed to use in 1936, and Mussolini was always portrayed as a brave fatherly figure. This meant that Italian children in education were only being exposed to a positive image of the Italy and the Fascist government. This was an important element in indoctrinating the next generation and a way of gaining support from them. Education itself was not favoured by Mussolini who believed that bravery was of much more significance rather than well educated people. This is illustrated through the 1930 census report which revealed that 20% of adults were illiterate yet this figure could have, in fact, been double this figure in the South although literacy rates were not mentioned

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

Molinari, professor of statistics in his report for the Central Institute of Statistics in 1932 said, “the search for a better life and the desire for economic well-being are the primary and most important reasons the the voluntary limitation of childbirths…” Being that the desire to live a better life limited family size, many people would much rather care more for themselves and increase their lifestyles than have larger families than they do. This shows how unsuccessful the population policies were because as Molinari also said “even if one could eliminate poverty and other economic disadvantages, the desire to improve one’s economic standing and rise above circumstances will have an effect on the decision to have children.” (Document 3) This meant that even if people were well off monetarily, there would still be talk about how many children to have and what life style they should choose because of the more children you have, the more money gets taken away from what can be spent on yourself. The more money spent on the children, the less luxury you can have for yourself. Having children is choosing a completely different life style than not having them at all. Another reason why Mussolini was shown to be unsuccessful was when a letter was sent to Edda Mussolini Ciano (his daughter) in 1940. This mother had eleven children and did not realize what she was getting herself

Benito Mussolini was the founder of Italian Fascism and premier of Italy from 1922-43 and ruling as a dictator from about 1925. In 1919

Fundamentally, both Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler had the same burning desire to each make their nation a respected and economically impregnable Great Power. Mussolini wanted to return Italy to its glory days of the ancient Roman Empire, a domestic policy amongst others which was used as propaganda and to ultimately consolidate his power. A strong economy and a united state were vital for both countries in case of the outbreak of yet another catastrophic war. "Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state", stated Mussolini in need of desperate backup at home. Post WWI left both Germany and Italy with grave problems economically, which further repelled into social problems such as high unemployment and

Fascism was first detected after World War I in Italy. After the war, the people of Italy were ready for a new political aspect. Benito Mussolini was the man who brought this fascist ideology to Italy. Mussolini has been looking for the perfect opportunity to take complete control of a country and now was the time to do so. “In 1919 Mussolini and his followers, mostly war veterans, were organized along paramilitary lines and wore black shirts and uniforms.”(Halsall pg.2) After defeats at the polls Mussolini used his new financial backing to clothe a gang of thugs who

Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister in 1922 due to the depriving affects that world war one had on Italian society. The war destroyed Italy economically leading to a rise in socialism. This in turn lead to highlighting the weaknesses of the liberals as the country was torn apart in the red years. This strengthened the appeal of fascism as it was the cure that Italy needed to get rid of the socialists. The fascists needed only to organise their party and take advantage of the open opportunity to seize power in Rome.