How successful was Mussolini's foreign policy between 1922 and 1939?

Section 1: Identification and evaluation of sources

The question of investigation chosen is: How successful was Mussolini's foreign policy between 1922 and 1939? Two secondary sources, which include an article and a dissertation, have been selected as the main resources for this historical investigation. 

Hodgson, Stephanie. "Hitler and Mussolini: A comparative analysis of the Rome-Berlin Axis 1936-1940." E-International Relations Students (2011).

This investigative paper will be analyzing the foreign policy of Mussolini while he served as a fascist leader of Italy. Considering the fact that the paper will be based on some of the foreign treaties and agreements that Italy entered while under the rule of Mussolini in order to establish his foreign policy, I chose this article done by Hodgson. This article is of great aid and relevance to this investigation because it offers quality insights about the Rome-Berlin Axis 1936-1940, a treaty made by Mussolini and Hitler. Studying this treaty gives the clear view of the exact foreign policy, which Mussolini pursued. 

The strength of this article is that it is peer-reviewed and up-to-date hence scholarly. It was done by a student, Hodgson, as a dissertation. A student doing a dissertation is expected to give his all effort on it because it affects his or her grade. Therefore, being a dissertation of a student, this article is undoubtedly of high quality. Moreover, it was published by the E-International Relations Students, which aids history students in understands historical issues. This organization vets and assesses its articles and dissertations thoroughly to ensure they are of great quality before publishing them for use. However, the limitation of this dissertation is that is that it was written by a student, who lacks the experience necessary for giving quite useful historical information. 

Bernhard, Patrick. "Borrowing from Mussolini: Nazi Germany's Colonial Aspirations in the Shadow of Italian Expansionism."  The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History  41, no. 4 (2013): 617-643.

The major foreign policy of Mussolini was basically conquering other foreign lands and expanding the territory of Italy. These conquest and expansionist foreign policy is best captured by this article written by Bernhard and published in the year 2013. To establish the extend of success achieved by the foreign policy of Mussolini, it is imperative that the investigation focuses on finding out the exact events that took place in the course of the specified period of between 1922 and 1939. It is even more important to get the background of the foreign policy implemented by Mussolini. The main point of Bernhard in this article is that Mussolini pursued a conquest and expansionist foreign policy, which inspired colonial desires even within the German society, under the rule of Hitler. 

This article is scholarly and very relevant to the topic of investigation. It is vital to understand that the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History is an impeccable source of insights about the history of European countries. The fact this article was published by the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History earns it more credibility and reliability. Moreover, it is a peer-reviewed article. Its only limitation is that it entails very complex terminologies that are unsubstantiated making it difficult to understand its content. 

Section 2: Investigation

The foreign policy implemented by Mussolini in the period between 1922 and 1939 has been a topic of much debate by the historians. The real foreign policy used by Mussolini can be investigated clearly through analyzing the Franco-Italian relations, participation of Italy in the Spanish Civil War, attack on Greece and the friendship of Italy with the Nazi Germany. 1 Mussolini implemented strategies that saw his foreign policy become fairly successful during his initial years in power, particularly in terms of winning war battles against other nations, but attracted huge failure towards the end of his regime 2 . It is important to understand that Benito Mussolini, a Fascist dictator, took power in the year 1922. When he took the reign, he had a goal of enhancing g the pride of Italy, an agenda that portrayed him as a very passionate statesman and liberal leader. Mussolini then designed a foreign policy meant to help him recreate the Roman Empire and safeguard the interests of the Italian people. To a great extent, this foreign policy helped him attain most of his aspirations for the Italians during the first years of his rule 3 . However, the foreign policy implemented by Mussolini really brought great failure for Italy towards the end of his rule. 

Gooch explains that Mussolini started preparing his subjects way early, spiritually. Mussolini believed that early spiritual preparation was one major component of victory. This strategy worked effectively in delivering success for Italy during the war. It can be learned from this book that Mussolini won the psychological mobilization agenda of his masses even before ascending to power. It can be noted that Mussolini had a successful foreign policy because he had managed to militarize the people on the ground. Therefore, Italians were ready to support his foreign policy even before he started its implementation. 

When he entered power, he had a very clear understanding that the confidence of his people had been brought low by the events of the World War I and the humiliation visited to them by the powers at the peace conference held in Paris. He wanted to boost the economic status of Italians. Top on his agenda was also the need to gain a lot of popularity, which would earn him the loyalty of the people as well as confidence from his friends 4 . Therefore, he set up a foreign policy that involved ensuring that all close neighbors were friendly to Italy. He befriended France and Britain. In fact, he played a very major role in the Locarno talks, where the existing differences were settled and peace restored 5 . The Locarno talks gave him the popularity he had desired in the region. He was then regarded as a very great leader, able to find lasting solutions and restore peace 6 . Therefore, during his first years in power, Mussolini applied much diplomacy as the basis for his foreign engagement. 

In the 1930s, a lot of events took place in Italy, which required Mussolini’s foreign policy to clearly be seen working. For instance, there was the Customs Union Crisis started, although it did not affect Italy. Mussolini was greatly concerned with this crisis 7 . Since Mussolini was much focused on increasing the prominence of Italy within the League of Nations, he became deeply concerned with the prospects of Germany’s popularity rising as a result of the union with Austria 8 . Mussolini felt that this union would bring a huge threat to the borders of Italy. In a quick move, Mussolini signed a deal with Austria and Hungary to strengthen the military defenses. This pact was signed in the year 1934 9 . This pact gave Italy security against the advances of Germany. Worried by the prospects of being attacked by Germany, Mussolini sent Italian soldiers to Austria to ensure Hitler did not take up this country. He indeed managed to block Hitler from taking over Austria and this marked another success of his foreign policy. Moreover, he succeeded in enhancing his already towering popularity as a great leader.

There was the invasion of Ethiopia in the year 1935. Mussolini had a strong belief that it was only one war that could make Italy become a coveted military giant, which was his agenda. He faced high hostility from other nations and was likened to Hitler 10 . However, he succeeded in invading and taking over Ethiopia. 

He later started befriending Hitler at a time when the Spanish Civil War started. Hitler and Mussolini would even help each other with arms. This civil war offered a great accomplishment for Mussolini as his dream of Fascism succeeded. Mussolini and Hitler would later sign a pact as a commitment of their friendship. It was referred to as the Rome- Berlin Axis. Mussolini understood that with Germany being a strong nation, his friendship with Hitler would earn him a higher chance of strengthening his foreign policy. However, the two started to have a shaky relationship when Hitler decided to invade Prague 11 . The pact of friendship that they had signed involved an agreement allowing Mussolini to take over Sudetenland in the event he did not go into war against France and Britain. Mussolini decided to invade Albania before Hitler.

Other nations then started viewing Mussolini as an enemy of peace with his foreign policy that involved invading other territories and going into war. This perception of him marked the start of the failure of his foreign policy. It is vital to understand that the foreign policy of Mussolini was underpinned by three main factors. The first one was his attitude that was largely egotistical and the grandiose ambitions of expanding the territory of Italy into foreign countries, which was quite unattainable. Mussolini thought he could win foreign territories through easy victories in war. What Mussolini failed to acknowledge was the fact that Italy did not have the necessary military strength for excessive foreign expansion. Mussolini did accept the fact that Italy was simply a small military power when compared to other European countries. The second factor was his obsession with popularity and the need to overshadow the Nazi Germany led by Hitler. Thirdly, Mussolini wanted to divert the attention of the Italian people from the failures of the Fascism. He, therefore, needed to win short sharp wars in order to convince the Italian people that Fascism was, in fact, a success 12 . These three factors informed his foreign policy, which brought him success in the 1920s, but caused him huge failure in the 1930s, in the build-up to the World War II.

The failure of his foreign policy was highlighted by Italy’s great defeat by Greece. Four Italian diplomats died in Greece through murder. After learning about their deaths, Mussolini called for a public apology from the Government of Greece. He also demanded 50 million lire as compensation for the deaths of his people. When the Greek government refused to act accordingly, Mussolini sent Italian soldiers to attack Greece and occupy the Greek island of Corfu as a retaliatory move. However, with many nations knowing Mussolini as a disturber of peace, they demanded the Italian troops to leave Corfu. The European nations also demanded that Greece pay the compensation money. However, despite the compensation Italy still went a huge loss since the occupation of Corfu had cost it 30 million lire more than the 50 million lire demanded. Many historical observers opine that attacking Greece was wrong foreign policy move made by Mussolini. 13

The other highlight of the failure of Mussolini’s foreign policy was the invasion of Abyssinia in Africa in the year 1935 14 . It has to be understood that by this time, Italy was highly dependent on the military assistance of the Nazi Germany. Abyssinia was greatly interested in colonial territories since the Italian people increasingly becoming disillusioned with the corporate state of Fascism. The attack on Abyssinia was done as a revenge for the humiliating defeat of Italy in 1896. In the invasion war that ensued, Italy still struggled to defeat the Abyssinian primitive army. Italian army resorted to brutality in order to win the war. Poisonous gas was used on the civilian population in Abyssinia. For this action, the League of Nations imposed sanctions on Italy, a move that greatly destroyed the reputation of this country. The popularity that Mussolini had desired started dwindling as the country started being alienated by other countries.

Moreover, the dependence on the arms of Nazi Germany for military activities of Italy made the country appear very weak 15 . The foreign policy implemented by Mussolini continued to bring much humiliation to Italy as the country approached the World War II. The involvement of Italy in World War II was again a series of failures from the defeats the country got. Therefore, it has to be noted that Mussolini’s foreign policy, which was mainly about war against other nations backfired at the end, despite the successes it started with in the 1920s. 

Section 3: Reflection

A lot of lessons have been learnt in the course of this investigation. Historians normally use various methods to investigate topics of study, which present challenges to them. Some of the methods used by historians in doing investigations is simply analyzing the secondary sources like books, journals and newspapers written at the time of the event. This method is what I applied in this investigation. While using this method in doing the investigation about the foreign policy of Mussolini, I realized significant limitations. For instance, I depended on second hand information whose level of accuracy is not clear. Historians always use secondary sources of information to do investigations or research about a given topic. Even the primary documents, paintings or photographs taken at the time of the historical event are basically secondary sources of information. This implies that historians report about things they did not witness because most of them happened before they were born. It is a very huge challenge because one cannot identify the biasness in the source being used. 

The challenges facing historians are more than the ones mathematicians or scientists face. Scientists are at an advantage because they can carry out direct observations of events as they collect data for analysis. A historian, on the other hand, cannot directly observe the event because they are past happenings. Scientists do carry out experiments to verify the accuracy of the conclusions made. Experiments also help scientists to establish the truthfulness of a given subject or phenomenon. However for historians, there is no way of verifying the accuracy or truthfulness of a given concept, which in most cases happened before the particular investigator was born. Historians just take information as reported by the person who witnessed it. Therefore, it is very difficult to check the reliability of historical sources. 

The role of a historian is simply to relay historical information to the future generations. The historian tries to analyze the information and make conclusions based on the existing theories so that future generations can have a better understanding of the event. Moreover, the role of the historian is simply to correct the society based on the mistakes learnt in the past. The historian mentions a particular mistake committed in the past so that the society and learn from it and change for better results. Additionally, the correct things done in the past are also mentioned by the historian so that the society can heed and apply them in life for better results. 

Bibliography

Azzi, Stephen Corrado. "The Historiography of fascist foreign policy."  The Historical Journal  36, no. 01 (1993): 187-203.

Barros, James.  The Corfu incident of 1923: Mussolini and the League of Nations . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015.

Blinkhorn, Martin.  Mussolini and fascist Italy . Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2006. 

Burgwyn, H. James.  Italian foreign policy in the interwar period, 1918-1940 . Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997.

Cassels, Alan.  Mussolini's early diplomacy . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015.

Coverdale, John F.  Italian intervention in the Spanish civil war . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015.

Diggins, John Patrick.  Mussolini and fascism: The view from America . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015.

Gooch, John.  Mussolini and his generals: the armed forces and fascist foreign policy, 1922-1940 . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Joanna, Thomas. & Keely, Rogers. The Move to Global War: The origin of Fascism in Italy and its impact on foreign policy . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. 

Knox, MacGregor.  Common Destiny: Dictatorship, Foreign Policy, and War in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Smith, Denis Mack.  Mussolini's Roman empire . Harlow: Longman, 1976.

Villari, Luigi.  Italian foreign policy under Mussolini . Old Greenwich, Connecticut: Devin-Adair Co., 1956.

Hodgson, Stephanie. "Hitler and Mussolini: A comparative analysis of the Rome-Berlin Axis 1936-1940." E-International Relations Students (2011). http://www.e-ir.info/2011/07/29/hitler-and-mussolini-a-comparative-analysis-of-the-rome-berlin-axis-1936-1940/ . 

Bernhard, Patrick. "Borrowing from Mussolini: Nazi Germany's Colonial Aspirations in the Shadow of Italian Expansionism."  The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History  41, no. 4 (2013): 617-643. 

1 Azzi Stephen Corrado, "The Historiography of fascist foreign policy,"  The Historical Journal  36, no. 01 (1993): 189.

2 Burgwyn H. James,  Italian foreign policy in the interwar period, 1918-1940 (Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997), pp.23.

3 Smith Denis Mack,  Mussolini's Roman empire (Harlow: Longman, 1976), pp.34.

4 Knox MacGregor,  Common Destiny: Dictatorship, Foreign Policy, and War in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp.43.

5 Villari Luigi,  Italian foreign policy under Mussolini (Old Greenwich, Connecticut: Devin-Adair Co., 1956), pp.12.

6 Coverdale John F.,  Italian intervention in the Spanish civil war (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015), pp.17.

7 Diggins John Patrick,  Mussolini and fascism: The view from America (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015), pp.21.

8 Barros James,  The Corfu incident of 1923: Mussolini and the League of Nations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015), pp.9.

9 Cassels Alan,  Mussolini's early diplomacy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015), pp.3.

10 Joanna Thomas. & Keely Rogers, The Move to Global War: The origin of Fascism in Italy and its impact on foreign policy (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2015), pp.24.

11 Gooch John,  Mussolini and his generals: the armed forces and fascist foreign policy, 1922-1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp.1.

12 Ibid.

13 Blinkhorn Martin,  Mussolini and fascist Italy (Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2006), pp.13.

14 Gooch John,  Mussolini and his generals: the armed forces and fascist foreign policy, 1922-1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp.2.

15 Joanna Thomas. & Keely Rogers, The Move to Global War: The origin of Fascism in Italy and its impact on foreign policy (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2015), pp.27.