Mussolini(TM)s rise to power up to 1922 owes more to the failures of others than to his own strengths. To what extent is this true?

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Mussolini's rise to power up to 1922 owes more to the failures of others than to his own strengths. To what extent is this true?

In the 1922 general election, Mussolini won no more than 2% of the parliamentary seats yet, by the end of the year the leader of the Fascist Party had become dictator of Italy. He had nowhere near enough electoral backing to establish a government and, had his march on Rome gone ahead his squads could easily have been crushed. He was handed the position by a few governing élites; there was no election, little resistance and no seizure of power. The issue of who was to blame for this unelected success in Italy's so-called democracy is highly controversial and undecided amongst historians. While most historians accept that there were numerous contributing factors, there is disagreement as to the significance of each factor. In his book 'Modern Italy', Martin Clark1 places the emphasis on the failure of the King and the elite. However E. Tannenbaum primarily blames the governmental failure to rebuild a strong Italy after the unification2. In my opinion both are important, as are other factors such as Mussolini's own skills, the political system and the politician's failure to work together in strong coalitions. In this essay I will discuss the argument that the failures of others played a greater role in Mussolini's rise to power than his own strengths. I will explore all the contributing factors to his rise to power in order to reach my conclusion.

Problems

The Liberal governments had been unable to solve Italy's problems caused by her unification in 1861; leaving her vulnerable to extremists such as Mussolini in 1922. Mussolini's skills enabled him to exploit the situations in Italy to help his own means. The famous historian Denis Mack Smith stresses the role of Mussolini in manipulating a complex situation3. The élite had agreed that they had to create a unified nation; D'Angelo famously said "we have made Italy; now we must make Italians"4. The North/ South divide in Italy was a key problem for the formation of this unified nation as the North was far more industrialised than the South which was mainly rural and backward. These problems were further aggravated by the First World War. Southern savings were used to finance Northern industrial investments and only a few regions enjoyed a wartime boom. The government were unable to make gains in the Paris peace negotiations or to maintain order and to rebuild the economy. This amplified the growing social unrest; which in turn gave rise to extremists. At the time of Mussolini's growth, public services were in a bad condition. There were also a high crime, unemployment and inflation rates. Such social problems and the politics of post war Italy gave Mussolini and his fascists the chance to really use their propaganda to increase their image. Fascism stressed national identity and appeared to offer direct solutions to the complex economic and grievances.. Most people blamed this on the current government and felt that Italy needed a strong leader to restore her; Mussolini was increasingly seen as the man to do this.

David Williamson believes that Mussolini was aware that in a situation of widespread discontent public opinion could easily be swayed, agreeing with the view that his rise to power was more down to his own strengths. For example in his book he said; "for an ambitious politician like Mussolini it soon became clear that there was potentially a lot of support to be gained by projecting himself as a strong man who could restore law and order and simultaneously make Italy great abroad"5. Mussolini mainly did this through the publication of his newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia which was widely read and vital for recruitment and for getting his message across. He skilfully pinpointed his support base, focusing on the ex-soldiers who had fought in the war and were resentful to the Politicians who had opposed the war and felt betrayed by the mutilated victory. During the war their welfare had been neglected with low wages, and low rations. These ex-soldiers were a very diverse group whose efforts during the war had been ignored by most parties, leaving them discontented and with a want for the change which Mussolini offered them. They were useful to Mussolini for his terror tactics which were taking place as early as April 1919 when the Offices of the Socialist newspaper Avanti were destroyed.

System

The Italian political system prevented strong Governments who would have been able to fix Italy's problems and prevent Mussolini's rise to power. Martin Clark, in Modern Italy emphasizes the many structural weaknesses at the top of Italian political life6. The system of Trasformismo meant that parties were not clearly defined; governments relied on consensus between the different political parties as no one had an overall majority. This coalition system encouraged politicians to use bribery and political favours, and did nothing to restore the public's faith in their democracy or to solve the social and economic problems. These coalitions were unstable, governments were weak and didn't last long; between June 1919 and October 1922 there were four different Prime Ministers in power. This lack of stability meant that problems didn't get fixed, leading to heightened discontent and a weakened country.

Politicians

Giovanni Giolitti attempted to create a stronger Italy in the decade before 1914 by reforming the politics; seeking cooperation and trying unite all social groups. However, in trying to please one group he upset another. Had he succeeded to create a unified Italy, people may have gained faith in their political system, making them less fearful of the threat from the left and less inclined to support the fascist violence.
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Violence

The violence gave the impression of an unstable society which was on the edge of breakdown. Mussolini had a growing cult of personality and the socialist violence did a lot to improve this. Events such as the 1919 violence in many of Italy's cities provided Mussolini with the opportunity to increase this by acting as a saviour and a great leader. The Socialist general strike of August 1922 gave Mussolini another opportunity to increase his image as the saviour from the Socialist violence. The government had failed to act to the violence allowing the Fascists to ...

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