Notes

ITALY & FASCISM

Italy and fascism in the 1920s
Benito Mussolini was in power in Italy during the 1920s, 1930s and through WW2
Ideology of fascism comes from the word "fascio" which means that a bundle of things will be stronger than an individual (unity, official strenght)

IDEOLOGY OF FASCISM
* Force in politics (black shirts)
* The state should have total control (TOTALITARIAN)
* Agressive of foreign policy (belief of cultural superiority)

TIMELINE OF ESTABLISHING FASCISM

1915 - ousted from the Socialist Party
End of 1914 and then in the early 1915 - he established the Fasci d´Azione Rivoluzionaria or also known as the Milan Fascio
--- Mussolini wanted to enter the war in the Entente group ---
1919 - When Mussolini comes back from the war he decides to establish his own group, known as the Fasci d´Azione Rivoluzionaria (collection of 200 people aprox, with the ideology of anti - socialist /bolshevik) later on he changes its name to Fasci Italiana di Combattimento and their ideology wasnt very established only it was pro - nationalism (interests of one nation, the state above of other things, seen as a right wing group) this seems weird since at the start Mussolini was in a pro - socialist group

IDEOLOGY ON THE FASCI ITALIANA DI COMBATTIMENTO
* Their anti socialist ideology comes from the situation of Europe at that time:
* Russia was lead by the communists which were spreading across Europe
*And the leading governemnt in Italy in those times was the socialists
*So Mussolini had this urge to change things and change this idea that the socialist were stronger and that they were the ones who would conquer Europe
*Nationalists groups had the idea to intimidate the left - wing parties, through their force in politics. (They would wear these Black Shirts)

TIMELINE ON EVENTS

1919 - their influence grows (although in a very little way)

1921 - Fasci di Combattimento was now considered as a real nationalist party and renamed themselves as the National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista) Mussolini gets elected to the Chamber of Deputies
Although they are becoming main stream, they dont give up their use of force or intimidation

1922 - people arent happy with the left wing, they had to much control on the country and the middle class wasnt happy with them

October - 1922 - conference of 40,00 fascist and bring the idea of marching on rome to bring order to itality and demand a stronger gov
200,000 fascists march on rome
This makes the current gov to be ousted, so the king makes Mussolini prime minister (dictatorial powers for a year) he can pass laws at will

1923 - blackshirts become a formal national malitia for national security (MVSN)

1923 - The Acerbo law was passed (as long as a party gets more than 25% of the vote they will get 2/3 of the seats in parliament
fascists didnt have the majority so thats why they wanted to pass the law...)

1924 - elections - fascists get 2/3 of the votes, some people think that the fascists could get enough votes because of their intimidations methods (blackshirts) which were in the election rooms

June 1924 - Giacomo Matteotti he was anti - fascist , he talks about the corruption and violence of the fascists. After a few days giving these speeches he gets killed by the blackshirts.

1924 - 1925 - Aventine Secession - socialists wanted to boycott the parliament due to the murder of Matteotti
by boycotting the parliament this would convince the king to get rid of Mussolini
Blackshirts tell Mussolini that if he doesnt handle the situation and take action they will do it without him

Early 1925 - January speech formal start of his absolute dictatorship
Bans the Italian socialist party and takes responsability for the blackshirts all though he doesnt actually say that he killed Matteotti

Late 1925 - christmas eve law passed by parliament and essentially puts no checks on Mussolini´s power

1926 - fascists under Mussolini take absolute control and they´re banning other parties. Control of the press

Mid 1930s he becomes more agressive with the foreign policies (more alligned with the Germans)

1935 - Italians invade Abyssinia (Ethiopia) cruel and chemical warfare

December 1935 - Hoare - Laval secret agreement between Britain and France in which they say that Abyssinia should be partioned by Italy (the idea was to satisfy Italy for a war not to occur) But later on this pact was leaked to the press and b and F didnt like it

1936 - spanish civil war and decides to support the nationalist ( Francisco Franco) this action brings him closer to the germans

1937 - Italy joins the Anti - Comintern Pact with Germany and Japan, axes power. International anti - communism group

April 1939 - invade Albania (imperial ambitions)

May 1939 - Formal military alliance with the Nazis called the Pact of Steel

1940 - Italy declares war on Britain and France (formal entry to the WW2 as part of the axis powers)