Paper 1 - Italy

background

• italy fought alongside the allies during WW1

• suffered severe losses - worse than England’s

• public were dissatisfied with the Paris peace settlement as Italy gained no colonies or land as promised, and Mussolini used this to gain support

• inflation, strikes and unemployment increase and it appears Italy is about to fall to communism

• so the king appoints Mussolini president in Oct 1922

mussolini rise to power

• became a strong fascist force, especially in the north due to a weak and divided government as well as a lack of authority at state level

• he used public dissatisfaction with the current and ineffective governmental system to garner support

• denouncing the political class and calling for Italian unity, playing on peoples upset with the treaty of versailles

• despite this, the fascist party only won 35 seats in 1921

• march 1922 Mussolini and his fascist black shirts marched on Rome

• the elite allowed Mussolini to take control after this, mostly because they were terrified of a “red revolution”

Abyssinia

• in the 1890s the Italian government had pursued African expansion by trying to conquer Abyssinia

• they were defeated in 1896 at the battle of Adowa and this became a source of national shame

• 3rd October 1935 Mussolini invades Abyssinia believing he had France and Britain’s blessing

international responses to the invasion of Abyssinia

• Emperor Haile Selassie of the Ethiopian empire pleaded with the league for intervention and was cat-called by Italian fascist member present

• the league placed economic sanctions on Italy but did not take military actions because they wanted to keep Italy as an ally against Germany

• Japan was busy occupying Manchuria

• the US was having an election year and pursuing isolationism

• Britain was still under the 10yr rule of no military advancements

spanish civil war

• 1936-9

• foreign intervention on both sides

• Germany and Italy see this as a chance for another fascist ruler to emerge - Franco

• he is airlifted to Spain from Morocco by Germany

• italy provided 50,000 troops, 660 planes and 150 tanks

• this gains Italy military prestige in and outside the country

• but also leaves the military exhausted which leads Mussolini to declare neutrality at the start of WW2

non-intervention pact committee for Spanish civil war

• 1936

• britain, France, Italy, ussr, and germany agree not to get involved

Axis Alliance

• 22nd may 1939: Pact of Friendship and alliance/ pact of steel between germany and Italy

• 25th November 1936: anti-comintern pact between Germany and Japan

• 27th September 1940: tripartite pact between Japan, germany and Italy

1920s

• Rapallo Treaty 1922 between germany and ussr

• Italy recognised the Soviet Union in 1924

• Kellog-Briand pact 1928

1930s

• 1934: political crisis in Austria and chancellor Engelbert Dolfus was murdered

  • Mussolini moved troops to the Austrian borders as a warning to hitler which he heeds

• march 1935: hitler announces conscription and re-armament, a direct violation of the treaty of versailles

• 14th April 1935: Stresa Front between Italy, France and the UK to resist any future German attempts at violating the ToV

  • undermined by anglo-german naval agreement in June 1935 stating Germany could have a navy 35% of Britains

start of ww2

• Italian army is weak and outdated after invasion of Abyssinia

• hitler calls on Mussolini’s support in marching on Austria and Poland but Mussolini is reluctant

  • he sends hitler a military “shopping list” so hitler excuses him

1940s

• italy declares war on France and Britain in June and France surrenders

• September and October Mussolini waged war on greece

• he was shot in 1943 by an Italian communist