Mussolini's Economic Policy And The Success Of Benito Mussolini

Mussolini, again is similar to Hitler, is popular because he was the one that offered helped when the Italians needed help. People wanted a strong government so that they could restore their former strength. He also succeeds in securing and improving the economy, transportation and job opportunity, which improved a lot of people’s lives.

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

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

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 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.

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

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.

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

Italy also owed a huge amount of war debts. There was hyper-inflation. Enterprises and factories closed down. The economy was going to collapse. People longed for a saviour.

The Fascists’ social and economic policies up to 1939 significantly aided their control over Italy yet may not be cited as the sole cause. The Fascist party’s social and economic policies along with other factors attributed to the overall control of Italy. Through such policies it was a certainty that the Fascist party would hold complete power over the population of Italy in each aspect of an individual’s life whether it was their leisure time through the Dopolavoro or at work under the corporate state system which was formally introduced in 1934. This complete domination of the Italian peoples’ lives could be argued to have been the instrumental factor behind the Fascists’ control over Italy up to 1939. Other factors which assisted the

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.

How far do you agree that Mussolini’s foreign policy in the years 1933-41 was a complete failure?

Both dictators controlled imports, making it so that national goods were bought by the people instead of foreign ones. Overall, Mussolini's policies failed to make any significant changes and managed to do more bad than good to the economy, and as a result of the worsening situation in 1936 the Italian government was forced to devalue the lira. Hitler's economic policies succeeded in stimulating demand and raising the national income. This claim is supported by the GNP figures between 1933-36, which rose by 40%.

5) his popularity revived temporarily with his part in the Munich agreement of September 1938 which seemed to have secured peace. But Mussolini failed to draw the right conclusions from his own people’s relief (that most of them did not want another war) and committed yet another form of aggression.

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.