Assess the reasons why so many Italians came to support fascism during the years 1919-22

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Assess the reasons why so many Italians came to support fascism during the years 1919-22

Mussolini’s rise to power was a rapid one. At the begging of 1919 there was no fascist party but by 1922 Mussolini was the prime minister of Italy. There are a number of reasons to explain Mussolini’s swift rise to power.

The effects of World War 1 were socially meant that Italy lost half a million men with 1,000,000 seriously wounded. The war also lead to unemployment and by 1919 over 2,000,000 Italians were jobless.

The economic effects meant that Italy was bankrupted causing Inflation as Italy spent so much money on the war. This affected every section of society; workers suffered as prices quad tripled, with wages increasing very slowly. Industrialists did well during the war, as the government bought lots of equipment for the army but when the war ended spending cut back and profits declined. Inflation destroyed savings, hitting the middle class in particular. Italy was unable to continuing export trade, which lead to more problems. Lots of strikes went forward after the war as wages were low and prices of goods had increased rapidly.

After the war the Liberals were blamed for all the after effects and lost support from many Italians. On the other hand Mussolini gained a few votes.

The war also affected the political system in Italy. The Liberal party had always dominated Italian politics since 1860 but after the war in the 1919 general elections, they were faced with serious competition with the Socialist and Catholics. Even though the fascist didn’t have any seats in that election, the elections still helped Mussolini, as the Liberals no longer had an overall majority and complete control over Italy.

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The 1919 general elections were the first election where all men could vote. The liberals still were the largest party with 180 seats but for the first time had strong opposition. The socialists had 156 seats and the catholic party had 100. This lead to the Liberals collating with the Catholics even though they didn’t entirely trust each other. It became clear that the Liberals were unable to deal with Italy’s problems and Italian workers began to favor the socialists. Lots of workers joined socialist trade unions, went on strikes, were in favor of a socialist republic and by ...

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