Transcript The Fall of Mussolini

The Fall of Mussolini
From Personal Dictatorship to Execution 1925-1945
The Fall of Mussolini
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Recap
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How had Mussolini created a ‘personal dictatorship’?
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Propaganda
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Fear
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Nepotism / Corruption
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Apathy
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Some success…
The Fall of Mussolini
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Successes - Economic
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Lower taxes and a balanced budget
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Captains of industry involved in planning – Confindustria
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Weak lira made imports cheap – tariffs placed on foreign grain to help farmers
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Battle of the Marshes a success to an extent
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Government investment and projects helped Italy weather the Depression
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Successes – Social
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Most Italians tolerated if not supported Fascism
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Education infiltrated by Fascist ideology
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Youth groups were popular
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Dopolavaro activities popular with the working class
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Social policies encouraging family life were generally accepted
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Successes – Religion
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Concordat with the Church brought the State and Catholic Church together
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Anti-Socialism and social conservatism provided a common ground
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1929 Lateran Pacts secured the autonomy of the Church yet gave Mussolini power
over appointments and the group who could threaten him most
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Successes – Propaganda
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Control over new forms of communication to promote ‘Superman’ myth
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King Victor Emanuel II was reduced to a figurehead
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Ovra successfully drove pre-war opposition underground
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Successes – Foreign Policy
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Negotiated Italy's role in the Locarno Treaties and League of Nations
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Successfully joined the Stresa Front and then manipulated it
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Won victories in Albania and Abyssinia and denied Hitler’s Anschluss in 1934
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Joined the Axis at the height of it’s power
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Delayed Italy’s entry into WWII
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Negatives – Economic
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The ‘Third Way’ of corporatism was largely propaganda
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Unions were banned and worker rights suppressed
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Weak lira made exporting expensive
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Policies favoured the Northern farmers not the Southern growers of olives etc.
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Richest 0.5% still owned 40% of the land
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Rural – urban migration and low standards of living still apparent
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Post-Axis reliance on Germany for raw materials and fuel
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Negatives - Social
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Resentment of Government interference and intrusion
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Mussolini’s charisma and image waned over time
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Battle of Births did not work – women remained employed and birth rate fell
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Voting rights eroded
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Consumer spending and pay low
The Fall of Mussolini
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Negatives – Religion
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Most Italians remained at least partly if not fully loyal to the Church before the State
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Increasing anti-Semitism fractured the relationship
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Catholic Action clashed with the State’s youth groups for control of hearts and minds
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Negatives – Propaganda
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The King and the Fascist Grand Council still retained the power to dismiss Mussolini
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Mussolini was in reality a paranoid hypochondriac
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Ovra was far less pervasive than the Gestapo and opposition remained
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Many Italians did not accept Fascist values beyond the rhetoric
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Negatives – Foreign Policy
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Following the Abyssinian invasion Mussolini essentially led Italy into a decade of war
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His actions over Abyssinia left him isolated by the late 1930s
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His reliance on Nazi Germany left him vulnerable
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Even having delayed his decision to join the war Italy lacked the manpower, machinery or
economy to engage in Total War
The Fall of Mussolini
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Mussolini and World War Two
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May 1939 – Pact of Steel negotiated by Count Ciano. Germany manipulate terms
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September 1939 – Ciano and Grandi urge Mussolini to stay non-aligned as Italy not
ready for more war
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Early 1940 – Ciano falls out of favour as Mussolini is jealous of German success and
wants spazio vitale
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June 1940 – Joins war and immediately blockaded by British navy
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September 1940 – Attack the British in Egypt and need German help before
eventual defeat in 1941
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October 1940 – Attacks Greece and a series of disastrous campaigns aided by
Germany
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June 1941 – Mussolini autonomously sends 227,000 poorly trained and equipped
troops to the Russian Front
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July 1943 – Allies land in Sicily and are aided firstly by the Southern Mafia and then
a new Italian Government after King Victor Emanuel II removes Mussolini
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September 1943 – Mussolini installed as puppet ruler of the Salo Republic
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April 1945 – Civil War ends with Mussolini shot and strung up in Milan
The Fall of Mussolini
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Why did Fascism Collapse during WWII?
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Martin Clark – Decades of controlling all aspects of society and economy were
exposed by the war. The lack of innovation and the inefficiency of the Fascist
regime were exposed by a total, industrial war.
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Roger Absalom – The political leadership of Fascist Italy was so fragile by 1940
that it could not mobilise society or the economy to go into war. Fascism was
a populist reaction to the failings of the Liberals and the impact of WWI. It
did not permeate society and as such when the war went badly the public
were quick to turn on Mussolini.
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Denis Mack Smith – Mussolini sacrificed substance for effect – see the Italian
Air Force. He was obsessed with being in control and unilaterally making
decisions on how to conduct the war. Propaganda dominated the war effort,
which was a disaster from the invasion of France to the debacles in Greece
and North Africa.
The Fall of Mussolini
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Conclusion?
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Italy was exhausted after a decade of war and would not be ready in military or
economic terms until 1943. Mussolini joined the Nazis as he sensed an easy
victory, and then expanded his efforts against ‘weak’ opponents like Greece and
the British Empire. He hoped that claims to ‘blot out the sun’ would lead bigger
powers to appease him as they had Hitler. When he failed in Greece, how might
that affect the N. Africa campaign?
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He was also intrinsically locked into the fate of Nazi Germany, as Autarky had not
worked and he was reliant on German resources. He did not place military
production high enough up the country’s economic agenda and underestimated
how his use of nepotism and personal rule had sapped Italian bureaucracy and
Government of efficiency, enterprise and initiative.
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By July 1943 Italy was blockaded, under bomb attack and facing invasion of the
mainland. Mussolini reacted by sacking half of the Cabinet, leading industrialists
and Fascists such as Farinacci to call a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council. A
vote of 19-7 saw Mussolini ordered to stand down and the next day the King
ordered his arrest. A popular movement also saw Fascism ‘’melt like snow in the
sun’’ according to Hitler. A new Government led by Marshal Badoglio banned
Fascist organisations and joined the Allies.
The Fall of Mussolini
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‘’The Head of the Government has spoken of the unpardonable errors
committed by military leaders and by the armed forces that he himself
personally commands. But Mussolini, Head of Government and the minister in
charge of all the armed services, has had seventeen years to create, organise,
prepare and to select the officer corps, the troops and the
equipment…Military preparedness was..the major task for the man who had
the honour of guiding the destiny of the nation…’’
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Grandi to the Grand Council of Fascism
The Fall of Mussolini
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The Italian Social Republic (Salo Republic) 1943-45
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The Italian Government in the South joins the Allied cause in 1943.
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German held-territory in the North of Italy fights back against the Government and
a Catholic / Communist abolition of resistance.
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Mussolini is rescued from a Chalet in Gran Sasso by SS Commandos and flown to
Berlin to receive orders.
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He is instilled as the Head of the Salo Republic, a puppet Government for the
German occupiers.
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He claimed he had a chance to instil true Fascism without interference by the
Church or the Monarchy.
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The reality was that the German control and the inevitable advance of the Allies
meant little could be done.
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Denis Mack-Smith – ‘The Republic could decide on anything and enact little or
nothing’
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In May 1945 Mussolini tried to flee to Germany and was caught by the Resistance.
He was recognised and shot, his body displayed in a Piazza in Milan
The Fall of Mussolini
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Historians views on the Axis
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Elizabeth Wiskemann – From 1936 Mussolini surrendered Italian Foreign Policy to
Hitler’s ambitions
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Alan Cassels – Mussolini entered a relationship with Germany freely, but within 18
months the reliance on Germany for economic reasons left them entrapped
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Martin Blinkhorn – Mussolini was awestruck by Hitler’s control and military might –
after allowing the Anschluss in 1938 (he didn’t in 1934) he became Hitler’s junior
partner
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Martin Clark – Mussolini tried to use Hitler to ‘barter’ with Britain and France as
war approached, hoping to gain territory at the expense of the loser. By 1940 the
time was right to take sides.
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Richard Overy – The relationship was based on negative cohesion and mutual
benefit. Both countries had lost out in 1919, both had become isolated
internationally by their conduct in the 1930s and both had something to gain. For
Mussolini Germany provided economic assistance, for Hitler Italy gave a Southern
buffer to Central Europe. Their ideological likenesses were propagandised.
The Fall of Mussolini
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Judging Mussolini
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Use you packs to build up a glossary of historians and their views on Mussolini
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Read through and paraphrase the views of different historians on various
aspects of Mussolini’s Italy
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When finished / for homework research the historians, bearing in mind the
following:
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What is their background?
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When were they writing?
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What factors may affect their judgement of Mussolini?