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Rise of Italian Fascism: About

Rise of Italian Fascism

Link to The pope at war : the secret history of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler by David I. Kertzer in the catalog
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The Rise of Italian Fascism

Italian fascism emerged in the economic crisis of the 1920s and 1930s. It started with a string of violent clashes in the northern part of Italy beginning in 1920. There, tensions over pay and work conditions had put landowning farmers in conflict with Socialist-backed workers. The Fascists, led by Mussolini, formed a street-fighting group called the Blackshirts to support the landowners. When the government chose not to intervene in this conflict, the Fascists used the fighting to gain power in the region. On November 21, "squads" of Blackshirts launched an attack on the Socialists in Bologna. Six people died. The Fascists soon followed up with assaults throughout the region. After nearly two years of fighting and more than one-hundred deaths, the Fascists had defeated the Socialists. Through violence, they had become what one historian called, "a de facto power in northeastern Italy with which the state had to reckon."

The fighting in northern Italy had shaped the Fascist movement in four ways:

  • The fighting nourished the Fascists’ belief in violence as the true path to manhood.
  • It became clear that Socialism was one of Fascism’s main political enemies.
  • The Fascists saw that the liberal state was weak and vulnerable to challenge.
  • The Fascists learned that paramilitary violence was an effective political tool.
  • Finally, the outcome of the campaign affirmed the Fascist view that, at the end of the day, violent struggle led to power. Continue reading from Khan Academy

 

Benito Mussolini

In 1919, Mussolini founded the Italian Fascist movement, which eventually became the Partito Nazionale Fascista (National Fascist Party). By 1921, Mussolini had won election to the Italian Chamber of Deputies. Despite this success, Mussolini and his supporters, known as the blackshirts, were frustrated with the electoral process. Rather than work through the parliamentary system, Mussolini decided to seize power by force. The March on Rome was staged on the night of October 27–28, 1922. Demanding the resignation of Italian Prime Minister Luigi Facta, approximately 30,000 armed Fascists marched into Rome, while Mussolini remained in Milan. Facta ordered martial law in Rome, but King Victor Emmanuel III refused to countersign the order. Instead, the King invited Mussolini to Rome to form a new government. Continue reading from the Holocaust Memorial Museum

 

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"We are not makers of history.  We are made by history" - Martin Luther King, Jr.