The Fall of MussoliniFrom Personal Dictatorship to Execution 1925-1945

The Fall of Mussolini Recap

How had Mussolini created a ‘personal dictatorship’?

Propaganda

Fear

Nepotism / Corruption

Apathy

Some success…

The Fall of Mussolini Successes - Economic

Lower taxes and a balanced budget

Captains of industry involved in planning – Confindustria

Weak lira made imports cheap – tariffs placed on foreign grain to help farmers

Battle of the Marshes a success to an extent

Government investment and projects helped Italy weather the Depression

Successes – Social

Most Italians tolerated if not supported Fascism

Education infiltrated by Fascist ideology

Youth groups were popular

Dopolavaro activities popular with the working class

Social policies encouraging family life were generally accepted

The Fall of Mussolini Successes – Religion

Concordat with the Church brought the State and Catholic Church together

Anti-Socialism and social conservatism provided a common ground

1929 Lateran Pacts secured the autonomy of the Church yet gave Mussolini power over appointments and the group who could threaten him most

Successes – Propaganda

Control over new forms of communication to promote ‘Superman’ myth

King Victor Emanuel II was reduced to a figurehead

Ovra successfully drove pre-war opposition underground

Successes – Foreign Policy

Negotiated Italy's role in the Locarno Treaties and League of Nations

Successfully joined the Stresa Front and then manipulated it

Won victories in Albania and Abyssinia and denied Hitler’s Anschluss in 1934

Joined the Axis at the height of it’s power

Delayed Italy’s entry into WWII

The Fall of Mussolini Negatives – Economic

The ‘Third Way’ of corporatism was largely propaganda

Unions were banned and worker rights suppressed

Weak lira made exporting expensive

Policies favoured the Northern farmers not the Southern growers of olives etc.

Richest 0.5% still owned 40% of the land

Rural – urban migration and low standards of living still apparent

Post-Axis reliance on Germany for raw materials and fuel

Negatives - Social

Resentment of Government interference and intrusion

Mussolini’s charisma and image waned over time

Battle of Births did not work – women remained employed and birth rate fell

Voting rights eroded

Consumer spending and pay low

The Fall of Mussolini Negatives – Religion

Most Italians remained at least partly if not fully loyal to the Church before the State

Increasing anti-Semitism fractured the relationship

Catholic Action clashed with the State’s youth groups for control of hearts and minds

Negatives – Propaganda

The King and the Fascist Grand Council still retained the power to dismiss Mussolini

Mussolini was in reality a paranoid hypochondriac

Ovra was far less pervasive than the Gestapo and opposition remained

Many Italians did not accept Fascist values beyond the rhetoric

Negatives – Foreign Policy

Following the Abyssinian invasion Mussolini essentially led Italy into a decade of war

His actions over Abyssinia left him isolated by the late 1930s

His reliance on Nazi Germany left him vulnerable

Even having delayed his decision to join the war Italy lacked the manpower, machinery or economy to engage in Total War

The Fall of Mussolini Mussolini and World War Two

May 1939 – Pact of Steel negotiated by Count Ciano. Germany manipulate terms

September 1939 – Ciano and Grandi urge Mussolini to stay non-aligned as Italy not ready for more war

Early 1940 – Ciano falls out of favour as Mussolini is jealous of German success and wants spazio vitale

June 1940 – Joins war and immediately blockaded by British navy

September 1940 – Attack the British in Egypt and need German help before eventual defeat in 1941

October 1940 – Attacks Greece and a series of disastrous campaigns aided by Germany

June 1941 – Mussolini autonomously sends 227,000 poorly trained and equipped troops to the Russian Front

July 1943 – Allies land in Sicily and are aided firstly by the Southern Mafia and then a new Italian Government after King Victor Emanuel II removes Mussolini

September 1943 – Mussolini installed as puppet ruler of the Salo Republic

April 1945 – Civil War ends with Mussolini shot and strung up in Milan

The Fall of Mussolini Why did Fascism Collapse during WWII?

Martin Clark – Decades of controlling all aspects of society and economy were exposed by the war. The lack of innovation and the inefficiency of the Fascist regime were exposed by a total, industrial war.

Roger Absalom – The political leadership of Fascist Italy was so fragile by 1940 that it could not mobilise society or the economy to go into war. Fascism was a populist reaction to the failings of the Liberals and the impact of WWI. It did not permeate society and as such when the war went badly the public were quick to turn on Mussolini.

Denis Mack Smith – Mussolini sacrificed substance for effect – see the Italian Air Force. He was obsessed with being in control and unilaterally making decisions on how to conduct the war. Propaganda dominated the war effort, which was a disaster from the invasion of France to the debacles in Greece and North Africa.

The Fall of Mussolini Conclusion?

Italy was exhausted after a decade of war and would not be ready in military or economic terms until 1943. Mussolini joined the Nazis as he sensed an easy victory, and then expanded his efforts against ‘weak’ opponents like Greece and the British Empire. He hoped that claims to ‘blot out the sun’ would lead bigger powers to appease him as they had Hitler. When he failed in Greece, how might that affect the N. Africa campaign?

He was also intrinsically locked into the fate of Nazi Germany, as Autarky had not worked and he was reliant on German resources. He did not place military production high enough up the country’s economic agenda and underestimated how his use of nepotism and personal rule had sapped Italian bureaucracy and Government of efficiency, enterprise and initiative.

By July 1943 Italy was blockaded, under bomb attack and facing invasion of the mainland. Mussolini reacted by sacking half of the Cabinet, leading industrialists and Fascists such as Farinacci to call a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council. A vote of 19-7 saw Mussolini ordered to stand down and the next day the King ordered his arrest. A popular movement also saw Fascism ‘’melt like snow in the sun’’ according to Hitler. A new Government led by Marshal Badoglio banned Fascist organisations and joined the Allies.

The Fall of Mussolini ‘’The Head of the Government has spoken of the unpardonable errors

committed by military leaders and by the armed forces that he himself personally commands. But Mussolini, Head of Government and the minister in charge of all the armed services, has had seventeen years to create, organise, prepare and to select the officer corps, the troops and the equipment…Military preparedness was..the major task for the man who had the honour of guiding the destiny of the nation…’’

Grandi to the Grand Council of Fascism

The Fall of Mussolini The Italian Social Republic (Salo Republic) 1943-45

The Italian Government in the South joins the Allied cause in 1943.

German held-territory in the North of Italy fights back against the Government and a Catholic / Communist abolition of resistance.

Mussolini is rescued from a Chalet in Gran Sasso by SS Commandos and flown to Berlin to receive orders.

He is instilled as the Head of the Salo Republic, a puppet Government for the German occupiers.

He claimed he had a chance to instil true Fascism without interference by the Church or the Monarchy.

The reality was that the German control and the inevitable advance of the Allies meant little could be done.

Denis Mack-Smith – ‘The Republic could decide on anything and enact little or nothing’

In May 1945 Mussolini tried to flee to Germany and was caught by the Resistance. He was recognised and shot, his body displayed in a Piazza in Milan

The Fall of Mussolini Historians views on the Axis

Elizabeth Wiskemann – From 1936 Mussolini surrendered Italian Foreign Policy to Hitler’s ambitions

Alan Cassels – Mussolini entered a relationship with Germany freely, but within 18 months the reliance on Germany for economic reasons left them entrapped

Martin Blinkhorn – Mussolini was awestruck by Hitler’s control and military might – after allowing the Anschluss in 1938 (he didn’t in 1934) he became Hitler’s junior partner

Martin Clark – Mussolini tried to use Hitler to ‘barter’ with Britain and France as war approached, hoping to gain territory at the expense of the loser. By 1940 the time was right to take sides.

Richard Overy – The relationship was based on negative cohesion and mutual benefit. Both countries had lost out in 1919, both had become isolated internationally by their conduct in the 1930s and both had something to gain. For Mussolini Germany provided economic assistance, for Hitler Italy gave a Southern buffer to Central Europe. Their ideological likenesses were propagandised.

The Fall of Mussolini Judging Mussolini

Use you packs to build up a glossary of historians and their views on Mussolini

Read through and paraphrase the views of different historians on various aspects of Mussolini’s Italy

When finished / for homework research the historians, bearing in mind the following:

What is their background?

When were they writing?

What factors may affect their judgement of Mussolini?