“Mussolini's Economic and Social Policies Only Had Limited Success.” How Far Do You Agree?

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.

Within Italy, The Great War caused many problems and a great amount of distress. As a result of this, hundreds of new fascist groups started to emerge. In October 1922, Benito Mussolini became the Prime Minister of Italy and contributed a lot to the nation. He developed his power by forming the Fascist National Party in 1923 and eliminating political opposition. Mussolini and his followers ruled Italy through an authoritarian dictatorship. He made it clear that the war was a turning point for Italy and the returning of combat soldiers would form a new elite and bring about a new type of state to transform Italian politics and society. Mussolini set many

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?

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.

Furthermore, to answer the main question, violence was always Mussolini’s goal but in order for that to happen Mussolini had to make sure he had the people’s trust. With that trust, he was able to manipulate individuals. Actually, some of the workers joined the Fascist squad and became just as violent as the soldiers were. During the Afternoon’s speech Mussolini also states, “But let us not dwell on the details. Of all questions to be resolved, the first that interest us the most is that of creating a governing class and endowing it with the necessary powers” (Stone 2013, 39). Prior to this he talked about political reforms and having equal rights for both men and

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

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

The state of Mussolini’s Fascist Italy and Hitler’s Nazi Germany, can be highly comparable in their policies and ideologies. Fascism is a political ideology, in which the country is to be racially and culturally pure. Mussolini said himself that “Fascism desires the state to be strong and organic and to always be prepared for conflict”. Fascism includes things such as nationalism, hostility to democracy, racism, the love of symbols such as uniforms, parades and army discipline. It is a totalitarian philosophy which worships the state and nation. Fascism is an extreme right-wing that celebrates the nation or race as a pure community which exceeds all other loyalties and expectations (Downing, 2001). Most of the time it celebrates masculinity and male supremacy, rarely it will promote female solidarity (De Grand, 1995). Fascist aims are to prepare for conflict and violence and to prepare and educate the youth. Both were able to gain support from military associations,

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

It became the foundation of the fascist movement in Italy following World War I. Mussolini used the newspaper to spread his ideas of fascism. On June 6, 1919, an issue of Il Popolo d’Italia listed and described the goals of fascism. However, fascism did not begin to take off until October of 1922.

The fascists had support anywhere that either feared socialism or was nationalistic. The original support came from war veterans and the Italian army which was in general sympathetic to the cause. However as Mussolini changed the party agenda making it less extreme and right wing the backbone of fascist support arrived in the form of the petty bourgeoisie. Fascism also gained the support of the elite in Italy meaning that the party now had funding from big industrialists which it could use to secure its power. Fascism now had a strong appeal throughout Italy as it was now a respectable party not a political movement which had the support of powerful people that would enable it to crush the threat of socialism and restore the nation to its former (roman) glory. The actions of the fascists up to 1922 were the reason why Mussolini came to power or was able to seize it.

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%.

Mussolini and the fascists managed to rise to power and take control of Italy in 1922. Mussolini’s rise to power took place mainly due to a combination of conditions that characterized the liberal Italian state, which existed before his take over. The main factors that led to Mussolini’s rise to power were the impact of the First World War, the weaknesses of the Risorgimento, the Biennio Rosso , the elite’s support for the Fascist Party, and the March on Rome. All of these factors contributed to Mussolini and the fascist’s rise to power.