mussolini's rise to power

name 3 factors of how mussolini seized intiative from may 1921- october 1922

1. government instability

2. appealing to major groups

3. fascist violence

name 3 ways government instability helped m seize initative?

1. PPI withdrew its support for giolitti and introduced a tax that would hit the vatican’s financial investments.
   liberals had relied heavily on catholic votes due to their coalition. left someone open to m to work with
   

2. liberals were divided and the three governments from may 1921-october 1922 had fallen under the stress of the strikes
   m took advantage of this and played on their weaknesses by showing he was a stronger leader than the liberal leaders
   

3. created the nationalist fascist party in october 1921 which stopped it being just a movement and became a legitimate party
   this meant that they could get proper votes over the liberals and lack of support for liberals would translate into fewer votes for them 

how many liberal govs between may 1921-october 1922?

3

when was the nationalist fascist party created?

october 1921

what different groups did mussolini want to appeal to to seize initative?

1. confindustria

2. church/ppi

3. traditionalists/conservatives 

how did mussolini appeal to the confindustria?

• 1921 programme

• changed working hour ideas as well as liberty of opinion ideas

1919: Eight hour work day needed as well as guaranteed minimum wage
→ 1921: eight hour day with exceptions for agricultural and industrial requirements (appeals to elites by giving loopholes to allow business owners more work)

1919: freedom of opinion
→ 1921: freedom limited in interests of country (appealed to business owners and elites due to strikes and trade unions)

• observed what influential and wealthy people like and supported about the government and what they didn’t and changed it to appeal to rich people

how did m appeal to the church/ppi?

• 1921 programme changed removal of church property from 1919 and made no references to changing it

• agreed to abolish divorce

• ppi got 20% vote in nov 1921 elections
  attempted to win over catholics when they were disagreeing with liberals. this opened them up to forming a coalition if they didn’t get 50% and also to push support towards the fascists 
  
  FUTURE PACTS (depending on timeline)

how did m appeal to traditionalists/conservatives?

• began to make speeches about how fascism was against socialism, democracy and parliament

• he distanced himself from fascist violence as well and claimed not to support it publicly (but did in private) and said they’d be disciplined 

• stated he was for expansion and having a strong and controlling government

• issue: matteoti crisis
  made them feel like there was little to lose with fascism since they wanted to revert back to before the liberal government. preferred italy being controlled by one head

name 3 ways fascists use violence for mussolini to seize initative?

1. 1921- socialists were attacked and killed by squads. happened even in parliament when a socialist deputy was beaten up on the floor chamber
   more radicals saw this and supported him and thought he was strong while liberals were weak and not stopping socialism
   however, looked bad to the conservatives who saw this as too radical and not okay, also looked down on by PPI and church
   

2. spring 1922- fascists squads rampaged through italy attacking socialist town councils and trade union property. 
   may- town council of bolonga was driven out of office
   july- street fighting took place in northern cities 
   police were reluctant to intervene and even loaned weapons to fascists sometimes
   showed m took issue of socialism extremely seriously and fascists would fight unlike liberals. police were on their side which showed democracy wasn’t working at all
   

3. use of castor oil.
   socialists/communists were purged with castor oil by forcing them to drink large amounts of castor oil. this caused severe dehydration and diarrhoea and then they were often beaten until they had wounds that would be infected, heightening chance of death
   humiliated and traumatised opposition so that they don’t speak out again or diss the fascist party. other people are unlikely to do so to avoid this

what % of deputies were fascist by the end of 1922?

7%

who announced the general strike and when?

turati

july 1922

why was the general strike done? how did mussolini use this?

• a response to the rise of fascism and this was to try and force the government to act against them

• it was to go against their violence and intimidation
  

• he showed that the left was still a threat and if the government didn’t stop the strike in 48 hours then he would using violence

how did fascists go about ending the general strike?

took over public transport, postal system and beat up strikers

but the strike was poorly organised and only had partial support (ended in a few days easily)

what was the result for mussolini in the general strike?

could now present fascists as defenders of law and order and allowed for conservative support

showed how fascism is necessary to stop bigger things like biennio rosso

what divisions were there in the liberal party over mussolini?

1. government
   - traditional establishment which wanted giolitti or salandra as head
   - october- liberal politicans met to plan for this government and include mussolini to tame him
   

2. facta’s faction
   - wanted military preparations to be made
   - wanted to use d’annunzio to get support to challenge m
   - facta and d’annunzio planned for a rally to “stop mussolini”

   
   extremely divided over M

name 4 long term reasons for appointment as pm

1. no representation in parliament

2. humiliation of battle of adowa

3. catholic dislike for socialists

4. lack of unification 

name 4 medium terms for appointment as pm

1. ww1

2. catholic support for fascism

3. universal male suffrage in 1918

4. ½ lire a day on front line while workers were striking

name 4 short term reasons for appointment as pm

1. biennio rosso

2. paris peace conference

3. failure of general strike

4. fascist violence

explain the immediate reason to appoint m as prime minister

march on rome!!!

why did the march on rome happen?

• m had lots of conversations about what cabinet posts should be allocated to fascists → keeping his ambition to be PM a secret

• at the same time he was talking about organising a coup de tat with the squads
  → many fascists wanted to seize power at the end of the general strike but M disuaded them
  → he thought he could seize power without a coup but considering it kept fascists happy and means he could intimidate liberals

• october 1922- started to increase pressure by organising fascist march on rome

what happened at the march on rome

• squads organised into a milita and made plans to seize major towns and cities in central and northen italy

• 30,000 fascists could converge on the capital and install themselves in power

• they would crush any resistance

• october 27th night- fascists squads seized town halls, phone exchanges, railways, etc

• october 28th morning- facta’s gov persuaded king to authorise martial law so police and troops couldstop squads

• october 28th 9am- king victor emmanuel changed his mind and didn’t allow martial law

name 4 reasons the king took back martial law

1. overestimated number of fascists marching

2. feared a civil war 

3. didn’t want his cousin (duke of aosta) to dispose him since he liked M

4. king didn’t like liberals and and supported the fascist’s nationalist and anti-socialist views

what happened as a result of the march on rome

• fact'a’s gov resigned after this 

• king approached salandra and asked him to be PM and form new gov

• salandra tried to negotiate with fascists but it was clear it would only end with M being PM

• other liberals refused to join salandra’s gov and the king needed a new PM and new gov

• M was asked to be PM on October 29th 1922

what is a coup de’tat?

military organisation to overthrow existing gov by a small group

when did mussolini start to organise march on rome? why?

beginning of october 1922

to increase pressure 

how many fascists took part in march on rome?

30,000

what happened at what time during march on rome?

october 27th, night:
squads seized town halls, phone exchanges, railways, etc

october 28th, morning:
facta’s gov persuaded king to authorise martial law

october 28th 9am:

king took martial law back

who did the king ask after facta’s gov resigned?

salandra

when was mussolini made pm?

29th october 1922