How successful was Mussolini in improving the prestige of Italy in the years 1922-43?

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How successful was Mussolini in improving the prestige of Italy in the years 1922-43?

Despite it being on the winning side of the First World War, Italian prestige internationally in 1922 was low- largely due to their failure to complete the promised Italia Irredenta. Benito Mussolini strived to undo this by presenting a return to the Italian ‘Roman Empire’. Mussolini was able to improve prestige via the acquisition of Fiume and Albania, participation in numerous treaties, including the Locarno Pact in 1925, posing Italy as key in European politics, and the defence of Austria against Germany in 1934 which presented a façade of Italian military might. However, Mussolini essentially failed to improve the prestige of Italy by 1943, as the positive relations that were established in the 1920s unravelled in the 1930s due to military disappointments e.g. the humiliation in Greece, the Abyssinian War and alliance with rising power Germany isolated Italy from its previous powerful allies Britain and France.

Mussolini’s foreign policies lead to some successes in improving the prestige of Italy, especially whilst his policies were more cautious in the 1920s, due to his incomplete consolidation of power. Firstly, Mussolini improved the prestige of Italy by acquiring the port of Fiume in 1924 after an Italian-Yugoslav agreement. Whilst forming a new relationship with Yugoslavia, Fiume was essentially a propaganda victory allowing Mussolini to boast his achievement of establishing a new (prestigious) Fascist empire that could discard the grievances of ‘mutilated victory’ that previously-Liberal Italy hadn’t been able to. Fiume also signified Mussolini’s first reach into Eastern Europe and the Adriatic and thus Italy’s first step into their fantasised ‘Italian Empire’. The procurement of Albania as an Italian protectorate improved the prestige of Italy in a similar way. Despite Albania’s weak European standing in 1926, this procurement evidenced Mussolini’s imperialistic promise of Fascist expansion into the Balkans improving the European prestige of Italy by making up for the lack of Italian Western Europe influence which was dominated by Britain and France, and giving promise to Mussolini’s plans of empire creation.

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 In turn, the prestige of Italy was further improved by Mussolini’s involvement in several European treaties. 1925 saw the signing of the Locarno Pacts between Britain, France, Germany and Italy. Although Italy achieved very little territorially in the pact, the prestige of Italy was improved. Mussolini appeared as one of the key-players in Europe due to his association with arguably the three most influential European countries, and appeared as a champion of international co-operation. His seemingly-strong position was emphasised by his participation in the Kellogg-Briand pact in 1928 renouncing war in Europe, partly because Britain- keen to maintain Italy as ...

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