Another success was Fiume in 1923. Within 2 weeks of the settlement of the Corfu crisis, Mussolini installed an Italian military commander to rule the disputed Italian-speaking port of Fiume.
He also experienced success at Locarno in 1925. He enjoyed being taken seriously as a European statesman, and hoped that his apparent moderation would lead to concessions of some sort from Britain and France. He also saw it as an opportunity to enhance his prestige and power at home. He would organise dramatic entrances to international conferences, as when he raced across Lake Maggiore in a flotilla of speedboats to Locarno.
Mussolini had success with Albania in 1926. An opportunity arose in 1924 when an Italian-sponsored local chieftain, Ahmed Zog, managed to take power in Albania on Yugoslavia's southern border. The Fascist government employed Italian officers as advisers to the Albanian army. By the time a Treaty of Friendship was signed in 1926 Albania was little more than an Italian satellite.
Mussolini was also successful and was able to gain prestige by forcing Hitler to abandon plans to annex Austria in 1934. The Chancellor of Austria was an ally of Mussolini but was assassinated by Nazi sympathisers in July 1934. Mussolini was outraged and immediately despatched troops to the Austrian border to deter Germany from attempting an armed Anschluss.
Furthermore, Mussolini experienced success at the Stresa Front in 1935. Mussolini hosted a meeting with the British and the French at the Italian town of Stresa. The three powers issued a joint statement that the ‘Stresa Front’ would collaborate to prevent any further breaches in the Treaty of Versailles by Hitler that might threaten the peace. The meeting at Stresa was presented in the Italian media as yet another diplomatic victory for the Duce.
Mussolini’s international exploits in the 1930s brought him short term success. For example, the defeat of Ethiopia made the Duce immensely popular in Italy. Some Italians, no doubt, had been taken in by the orchestrated press campaign stressing Italy’s right to an East African Empire and suggesting the presence of enormous quantities of valuable resources, and precious metals in Ethiopia.
Mussolini’s involvement in the Spanish Civil War could also be considered. Mussolini’s Spanish adventure demonstrated conclusively the new ideological and expansionist direction of his foreign policy; the ‘decadent democracies’ must learn that this is the ‘century of fascism’. It also helped maintain the momentum for Fascism at home.
Finally, Mussolini’s closer relations with Germany towards the end of the 1930s could be considered a success. Germany promised that they would not interfere with Italy’s ambitions to increase control over the Med, which led to the Rome Berlin axis in Nov 1936. While Germany focused on Northern and Eastern Europe, Italy would be free to create a Mediterranean-African empire. Both countries also agreed to work more closely together in Spain.