Benito Mussolini was born a socialist but eventually transformed into a fascist. His rise to power was characterized by political, social, and economic violence. His ambition was to ensure the supremacy of Italy at all costs. Additionally, he intended to weaken democracy and institute his preferred rule. Throughout his control, he was successful in disrupting the initial government through intimidation and forcefulness. Moreover, his foreign policy was motivated by the need to prove the success of fascism as well as divert the populace form his failures. Additionally, he wanted to show his military prowess by waging war on other nations.
During Benito Mussolini’s times, he forged an ideology on fascism. This was characterized by violence, which was necessitated for the movement’s success. They were able to use violence to just like dictators do to intimidate the opposition from turning against them (Stevenson, 2018). Through fascism, they adored the use of violence to achieve the ends of the state at all costs. The fascist supporters disrupted the political atmosphere by destroying union halls, killing and injuring socialist leaders. Notably, the propagators of fascism were locals who were conversant with the region and waged attacks against socialists whether economic or political (Ebner, 2017). Mussolini was able to advance his ideology into a political influence by getting fascists elected to parliament although he did not support democracy. His intention was to weaken the democratic structure from within. Through the Black-shirts movement, they marched on Rome thereby demanding he is appointed as the prime minister a position that was very powerful in parliament. He was willing to use violence in getting the position if King Victor Emmanuel did not grant his wish.
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From within government, Benito was able to use dictatorship in an effort to create political change. In his first speech as prime minister, he dictated parliament to obey him or get dissolved (Stevenson, 2018). His threat was taken seriously as some of the fascist deputies came to the chamber of deputies dressed in military regalia as well as carrying revolvers. This an indication that they were ready to enforce their objectives at all costs. Mussolini’s people used violence on voters so that he would gain a large number of representatives in parliament. He is successful in intimidating anyone that posse a threat to his regime. This is seen through political assassination. One of his strongest challengers Giacomo Mattaetti is killed and he takes responsibility implying that he was above the law. He further gave amnesty to the men faulted of killing Giacomo.
Additionally, he gags the press by banning any negative reporting. Once the freedom of the press is denied they are denied the liberty of covering the real situation on the ground. The press is only left with the option of reporting Mussolini to avoid facing ruthless consequences. Moreover, he also used the police to intimidate citizens. The police had the powers to arrest, detain, and send people into internal exile (Stevenson, 2018). The media was used as a tool for propaganda. The fascists steered censorship actions informally without legal authority by violent raids on bookstores and attacking those that breached their prohibitions (D’Amato, 2016). This was with the aim of stopping the spread of a different ideology other than fascism.
Mussolini was successful in creating a good image for himself. He positioned himself as a competent and only leader for his people. He was seen as a hero in all spheres, a hard worker, and a man of the people (Stevenson, 2018). By indoctrinating the people to view him in this was a way of connecting with the world. He used radio as a medium to spread his propaganda across Italy. This inspired other world leaders like Adolf Hitler who borrowed his tactics to rule Germany. For instance, just like the black-shirts Hitler used the brown-shirts and the Nazi salute. However, Benito came into conflict with the Geneva Convention when he waged war on Ethiopia and used chemical weapons that were banned after the First World War. His intention was to unite the people towards a nationalistic agenda as well as destabilize the opposition in an effort to distract them from the problems they were facing such as economic struggles and unemployment. Although his Ethiopian invasion was condemned by the international community Hitler supported it.
His foreign policy was motivated by the urge for foreign expansion, the need to surpass Nazi Germany, and to distract his people from the failures of fascism (Dumitrache, 2016). Nevertheless, Benito did not put into consideration that Italy did not have the power to use excessive foreign expansion. His aim was to ascertain that fascism was a success and was the right thing for his people. He believed that Italy has to get the respect it deserved as seen when he demanded a public apology from Greece after four Italian diplomats were killed. In reprisal, Mussolini sent troops to occupy the Greek island of Corfu, which saw the League of Nations demanding Italians vacate the island. Consequently, the occupation had cost Italy thirty million lire more than the compensation they were owed.
In conclusion, fascism did not help the advancement of Italy. Moreover, it brought about dictatorship, censorship on the press, economic, social, and political unrest. The ideology was used to frustrate the progression of democracy and the establishment of a forceful rule. As seen from the video the liberties of the people were controlled and some of the adversaries of the regime were assassinated and others intimidated. Furthermore, the employment of war on other nations was an economic burden that Italy was not ready for. Italy at the time would have been better under a democratic rule as fascism leads to civil disruption.
References
D’Amato, D. (2016). Mussolini and the Press . Libertarianism.org. Retrieved from https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/mussolini-press.
Dumitrache, G. (2016). CAMBRIDGE AS HISTORY: AIMS MUSSOLINI FOREIGN POLICY . Slideshare.net. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/georgedumitrache399/cambridge-as-history-aims-mussolini-foreign-policy.
Ebner, M. R. (2017). How Fascists Took Over Italy with Widespread, Intensely Personal Acts of Political Violence. Retrieved from https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/01/how-italian-fascists-succeeded-in-taking-over-italy.html
Stevenson, M. (Director), & Cameron, P. (Producer). (2018). Benito Mussolini [Video file]. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved from Academic Video Online: Premium database.
