What impact did the pursuit of an aggressive foreign policy have on the Italian people, 1922-39?

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What impact did the pursuit of an aggressive foreign policy have on the Italian people, 1922-39?

After being appointed Prime Minister by the King Victor Emmanuel in October 1922, Benito Mussolini went about establishing a firm dictatorship. Soon after he was declared PM, he enforced an aggressive foreign policy that would have major effects, both positive and negative, on the Italian people. Through his foreign policy, Mussolini wanted to make Italy a respectable, powerful country. He wanted to dominate the Mediterranean by "breaking free of the bars" that Britain and France had enforced and part of Africa, especially Abyssinia, believing that land was available for Italy to expand into and increase its Empire.

Mussolini's aggressive foreign policy first became clear during the Corfu incident of August 1923. After heavily bombarding the Greek island and killing at least 15 civilians, the Italians were ordered to withdraw by the League of Nations and Greece were made to apologise and pay the reparations of 50 million lira. With the Italians withdrawing from Corfu, they had not gained any land however, it was still seen as a victory by the Italian people and it meant that Mussolini had gained more support to launch further attacks in the future.

Mussolini's aggressiveness again continued into 1935 where he launched his attack on Abyssinia, the main reasons behind it being to increase Italian prestige and to develop the cult of the Duce. There was also the possibility that oil was available in the African country. At first, there was much support for the war. It was popular amongst the Italian people as they too, like Mussolini, wanted Italy to increase its empire. However, resources soon became low and Mussolini appealed to the Italian people to help provide the resources Italy required. He launched the campaign of women donating their wedding rings in return for a tin replica. The gold that was collected from these rings could then be used to gain money to provide more resources for the Italian attack. The campaign was extremely successful with over 250,000 women in Rome alone donating their rings. This showed that there was a sense of war pride amongst the Italian people, supporting the war in a bid of Italy increasing its empire.

Italy successfully took over Abyssinia in May 1936 despite the sanctions that had been placed on them by the League of Nations. These sanctions which included steel, iron and coal were applied in a bid to prevent Mussolini from being able to continue fighting the war. However, the L.O.N. did not apply the sanction of oil and this is what allowed Mussolini to continue producing the industrial requirements for the war. It was a great victory and was possibly Mussolini's finest hour. He was arguably at the peak of his career. The sanctions that the league applied had rallied the nation together and the people of Italy felt that they had each played a part in the victory. Thousands of people attended Mussolini's speech in Rome announcing the new empire. There was a real sense of pride amongst the people and they strongly believed that Italy was on the way up.

However, what first seemed like a strong victory actually turned out to have a massive effect on Italy. The Abyssinian war was very costly and the budget deficit rose from 2.5billion lire to 16 billion lire after the war meaning that there was less government spending available to the people of Italy. There was a drain on military resources which we were desperately needed if Italy were to go to war with Britain and France and in 1936, the lira devalued by 40 per cent. Although there was a sense of national pride amongst Italy for claiming the Abyssinian Empire, no-one actually enlisted to fight in it. This shows how if anything, the war was quite unpopular. In conclusion, Mussolini didn't really gain that much from the invasion of Abyssinia. It did bring the nation together at first, through mass speeches and the wedding ring campaign however it had more of a negative than positive effect on the Italian people in the long run due to the massive costs which affected the economy and devalued the lira. As well as this, Italy had to fight a guerrilla war until Abyssinia was lost to the British in 1941 showing how Italy didn't even gain the Abyssinian empire and were constantly battling against rebels, meaning more costs were used, to try and claim it.
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After asserting his power in Abyssinia, Mussolini now looked to help the Spanish right-wing governments during the Spanish civil war in 1936-39. By supporting the right-wing government, Mussolini hoped to extend the Fascist influence in Spain, believing a defeat of the left-wing could be seen as another glorious triumph for Fascism amongst the Italian people. Mussolini's commitment was very strong and by 1937, he had applied 50,000 troops, 950 tanks, 7663 motor vehicles and 91 warships. Over 14 billion lira had been spent.

However, similar to the Abyssinian war, there were both advantages and disadvantages to ...

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