fascism and italy - schoolwires...“fascism” comes from the roman “fasces” symbol for power...
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FASCISM AND ITALY Unit 7: Interwar Period
FASCISM
Demagogue: a leader who gains popularity in a democracy by exploiting prejudice and ignorance among the common people, whipping up the passions of the crowd, and shutting down reasoned discussion; often overturns established norms of political conduct
ORIGIN AND DEFINITION
“Fascism” comes from the Roman “fasces”
Symbol for power and authority
Fascism tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one national or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach
WHAT IS FASCISM AGAINST?
Communism
Class struggle
Internationalism
Multi-party system
Liberal democracy
Pacifism
Authoritarianism Militarism
Social Darwinism
Social Unity
Nationalism
Fascism
NATIONALISM
Using the nation-state’s culture and history as a unifying force
Desire to remove foreign influences
Belief in superiority over other nation-states
MILITARISM
Political violence and war to as a means to renew society
Violence necessary for progress
Paramilitary organizations
SOCIAL DARWINISM
Belief that races and nations have evolved as superior to others
“Survival of the fittest”
SOCIAL UNITY
Opposes class-based divisions in society
Promotes collective national society
AUTHORITARIANISM
Fascist Italy’s government was an extreme form of authoritarian called totalitarian
Totalitarianism
•All aspects of individual lives are controlled by the state
•No division of powers
•Persecution of the opposition
POLITICAL SPECTRUM
American
Democrats
American
Republicans
MonarchismNazism
Fascism
American
socialism
True
socialism
Soviet communism
Left Wing Right WingC
ente
r
ITALY
IMPACT OF WWI
Italy joined the Allies after being promised land and funding
Italy suffered terrible losses against Austria
~600,000 dead
~1,000,000 wounded
Italian people accused its gov’t of mismanaging the war
BENITO MUSSOLINI
Mussolini served as a soldier in WWI until injured
Founded the National Fascist Party (PNF) Led the Blackshirts, the paramilitary arm of PNF
Mussolini was a nationalist demagoguePreyed on Italian pride, fear of communism
BENITO MUSSOLINI –IN HIS OWN WORDS
“It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.”
“Democracy is talking itself to death. The people do not know what they want; they do not know what is the best for them. There is too much foolishness, too much lost motion. I have stopped the talk and the nonsense. I am a man of action. Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy.”
“All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”
“Blood alone moves the wheels of history.”
“Obedience, not discussion.”
GOVERNMENT WEAKENS
Italian gov’t weakened by:
“Mutilated victory” in WW1
Prime Minister failed to gain promised territory in Treaty of Versailles
Hugely embarrassing; public disgusted; PM resigns
Gov’t failing strengthened PNF
PNF had wide appeal (no clear doctrine)
Demanded strict law and order
Appeared more respectable than the current party
INCREASED SUPPORT OF FASCISM
Mussolini seen as a defender against rising threat of communism Communists, socialists painted by PNF as violent radicals threatening the very fabric of society
Blackshirts violently attacked PNF opponents
PNF gained support of Catholics
The pope and Mussolini made a deal:
Church gains its own country (Vatican City) in return for official support of the PNF
MARCH ON ROME
1922, Mussolini and Blackshirts march on Rome
Demanded king give up power to Mussolini
King Victory Emmanuel peacefully transfers power to Mussolini
Mussolini rules as totalitarian leader through WWII
…Mussolini’s style and methods were quite different from those of his predecessors. Ignoring Italy’s economic and military weaknesses, he was impulsive, inconsistent and erratic. He valued prestige more than anything else and was never satisfied unless he was in the limelight playing a leading role. He was to become increasingly fond of making grandiloquent statements such as “better to live one day as a lion than a thousand years as a lamb,” and declaring that war was not only inevitable but also desirable, adding “the character of the Italian people must be molded by fighting.” With a “tendency to view European diplomacy through the eyes of a newspaper editor,” he aimed at spectacular gestures without much thought for consequences, resulting in a foreign policy that has been described as “by turn ambivalent, futile and malignant.”
Patricia Knight, 2003, Mussolini and Fascism
