Italy and Mussolini Notes
### The Fascist State
- **Philosophy** (Giovanni Gentile):
- Private desires/interests of individuals are secondary to the "common will" of the people.
- Self-sacrifice and obedience to the state allow individuals to achieve unity with the "common
will."
- Rights belong to the people as a whole, not to individuals.
- True freedom comes from submission to the fascist state.
- Gentile: philosopher of Italian fascism, minister of education, author of articles and books on
fascism.
- **Ideology**:
- World peoples engaged in survival of the fittest.
- Natural right of the stronger to conquer and rule the weaker.
- War unites people and proves national superiority.
- Fascist state amplifies individual energy through collective strength (Mussolini).
### Mussolini and the Fascist State
- **Political Actions**:
- 1924: Called new elections; Fascist Party + ally won 66% of the vote.
- Post-election: Closed opposition newspapers, banned protests.
- Declared all political parties illegal except the Fascist Party.
- Outlawed labor unions and strikes.
- Established Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Antifascism.
- Fascist Grand Council rubber-stamped Mussolini’s decrees, bypassing parliament.
- By 1925: Adopted the title Il Duce (the Leader).
### State Policies
- **Support and Leadership**:
- Charismatic leadership gained popular support.
- Great Depression: Public construction projects employed jobless Italians.
- Before WWII: Less severe compared to Nazi Germany.
- Special court for anti-fascists; police crackdowns on dissent.
- Mussolini and Italians were not strongly anti-Semitic.
- Jews participated in WWI and Mussolini’s march on Rome.
- Small Jewish population; anti-Semitic decrees under Nazi influence.
- Late WWII: Germans occupied Italy; 20% of Italian Jews sent to camps.
### Il Duce at War
- **Military Campaigns**:
- 1935: Ordered invasion of Ethiopia.
- 1939: Signed "Pact of Steel" with Hitler.
- 1940: Invaded Greece, rescued by German troops.
- 1941: Sent 200,000 soldiers to aid Hitler in the Soviet invasion.
- 1943: Allies defeated Mussolini’s army in North Africa, took Sicily, bombed Rome.
- **Downfall**:
- July 1943: King Victor Emmanuel and Grand Council voted for Mussolini to resign.
- Mussolini arrested and imprisoned.
- German commandos rescued him; returned as a Nazi puppet.
- April 28, 1945: Tried to escape as Allies neared Milan, captured and shot by anti-fascist
fighters, body hung in Milan.
