Rise Of Mussolini

Essay (Mussolini)

Probably one of the most famous figures in Italian history is Benito Mussolini, due to his dictatorship and way of running the nation. The objective of this essay is to analyze the rise of power of this subject taking into account his skill as well as luck and more factors.

On the 23 March 1919 after several communist demonstrations, Mussolini decided to attempt to revive his fascist movement. After a meeting in Milan the combat group was created. Initially it seemed that the fascists were destined for failure since in the 1919 elections none of their candidates (including Mussolini) won a single seat. By the end of 1919, Mussolini possessed more than 2% of the votes in Milan, less than 5000 votes against 170,000 for the Socialists. By 1921 the membership of this former tiny group was a rival to the size of the Socialists. Mussolini’s skill and luck played a vital role as well as the incompetence of he’s opposition (similar to Stalin’s rise to power in the USSR) many forms of opposition slowed Mussolini’s path towards the top of Italian government. However, most of his opposition came from the Government and the rival Socialist party. After the summer of 1920 the Fascists and their opposition clashed. The fact that the prime minister at the time faced with million workers sitting in factories showed that Italy was far from stable country in 1920. Mussolini did not to gain ground over the Socialist opposition, He was still recovering from his party's humiliating election defeat. After a spontaneous revolutionary movement and strikes many opponents of socialism joined the fascist party. Socialist were the main cause of the strikes so the government at the time searched for allies against the socialists and eventually stood by the side of the fascists (the Vatican had turned against Gioletti) The government at the time saw Mussolini as a figure that could be easy to dominate and once it had the power again it could easily dispose of the fascists. In the winter of 1920 with more power, Mussolini started his campaign of violence against the socialist leaving over 200 dead and 800 wounded, the government did not stop this riots due to it’s alliance with the fascists but instead saw the campaign as a cheap way to get rid of socialist opposition. Later in the election of the 15 of May 1921 government and fascists, by beating up opponents they unseated socialist and catholic deputies. The fascist movement had a strong voice in the parliament now. Mussolini met little opposition to his actions; the police and prefects remained neutral or actively aided the Fascists with transport and arms. The Fascists became an accepted political force with the help of the Prime Minister Gioletti.

One of the main reasons for Mussolini’s rise was the dependence Gioletti created over the Fascists (to take brutal action against the unions and peasant leagues)His unorthodox methods were self-destructive. It seemed that Gioletti and his government had lost the will to govern the country and its people. The strikes

Rise Of Mussolini

after the war debts and such had raised the spectation of revolution so this increased the attraction of the Fascists to the middle-class population and those who feared socialism. It was Mussolini's policies of firm action to prevent revolution that many Italians saw as the only alternative to Bolshevism. Finally, on 26 June 1921 Gioletti's incompetence caught up with him; he was forced to resign due to Fascist opposition in Parliament. A combination of Mussolini's opportunism and skill, and Gioletti's inadequacy to govern Italy had resulted in Gioletti's resignation. After the short rule of Ivanoe Bonomi and Luigi Facta, Mussolini was able to get rid of the strong opposition of Socialism. The other strong opposition was still present tough, the army, king and of course Facta. After a series of events the current prime minister resigned and asked the king for help to stop possible fascist takeover, the king feared a civil war and doubted the ability of the current government to handle the situation. After the failed tries of Facta to the king, Mussolini received total support from the army king and Italian people.

In conclusion, some may describe Mussolini’s career as a trick or bluff, nevertheless he used this tricks in a time were this was more suited to success. It is also appropriate to mention that Mussolini helped the fascist party into power through his own skill. He brought an identity to the party. As everything in history the luck of the fascists of having such incompetence leaders helped Mussolini to get to power.

Tomas Diaz