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Mussolini's rise to power

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How far do you agree, that the Bienno Rosso was the most important reason for Mussolini and Fascism’s rise to power in Italy, 1919-22?

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.

The Biennio Rosso was a vital factor that contributed to …show more content…

The main political alignments of the newly unified Italy were the liberalists, socialist and the Catholic Church supporters and they all had different views and opposed each other. When Giolitti was in power he tried to win over all the key groups in order for them to accept and support the liberal state, however he was unable to do so because in trying to please one section he would end up alienating the other.
During the years of the liberal system the development of industry in the North led to the founding of trade unions and cooperative organizations, which then resulted in a significant growth of socialism.
The First World War had started reinforcing nationalism, and a desire of great achievements and glory for the nation. These sudden nationalist beliefs created among the Italians of the Risorgimento were made stronger by the fear of a possible socialist revolution. The conditions of growing industry of the Risorgimento had caused the growth of the socialist movement, which then helped Mussolini gain power due to his anti communist beliefs.
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.

Another reason that led to Mussolini’s rise to power was the Biennio Rosso which took place in the years

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