Evaluate the impact on Italy of Mussolini's domestic and foreign policies between 1922 and 1939.
Evaluate the impact on Italy of Mussolini's domestic and foreign policies between 1922 and 1939
The time period between 1922 and 1939 in Italy was the dictatorship of Mussolini. As a dictator Mussolini radically changed the government policies trying to improve the welfare and economic stability, and also to strengthen his power by influencing public mood. Some of his policies were successful, some were failures, but when Mussolini started to cooperate with Hitler he significantly lost the popularity and could not maintain power for much longer. Mussolini’s domestic policies can be divided in two sectors – economic policies and social policies. For foreign policy, his aims were largely to do with boosting the country's prestige and, as you said, making it "great, respected and feared" - largely it was all to do with propaganda, as opposed to fighting in order to gain resources/territory. Apart from that, the restoration of the Roman Empire was a key aspect in his foreign policy campaigns and that his expansionist ideas were the actions to start it off. Also, with the 'mutilated victory' in 1917 (Italy's rewards for fighting in WW1, seen as a let down to many Italians) and little colonial gain, invading other countries now would make up for it. With the invasion of Abyssinia in particular, it acted as revenge for the Italian's humiliating defeat at Adowa in 1896. Most of these were just secondary objectives though - his main aim was to make Italy (and himself) look good. So this essay will evaluate how successful were these policies and how successful was Mussolini in achieving them.