Rise of Fascism and Mussolini's March on Rome I Between 2 Wars I 1922 Part 1 of 2 - YouTube (2)

Nationalism, not by Socialism.

He argues that Italy has been stopped in its growth toward new greatness by the ‘plutocratic'

nations like Great Britain blocking her from land expansion to fill the needs of the Italian

people.

He believes the that the high birth rate in Italy is proof they are a superior race that

deserves more land at the expense of ‘lesser people' like the slavs.

Or as he says in 1920:

“The Italian border should run across the Brenner Pass, Monte Nevoso and the Dinaric

Alps ... I would say we can easily sacrifice 500,000 barbaric Slavs for 50,000 Italians

…”

He even thinks that birthrates need to increase to double the population to 60 million or

more, which by his calculations is the size to properly militarise Italy as a strong,

independent power.

His goal is to expand Italy throughout the Mediterranean and subjugate non Italian speaking

people that he classifies as Slavs, Black Africans, and Arabs, all servile client races

of the Italians.

Now this goes much, much further than the more easily justifiable claims for regions

with large Italian speaking populations in Austria-Hungary, so he promotes a mythical

connection between ancient Rome and Italy to justify his expansive ideas.

He now embraces traditional gender values, folklore as an ideal for the ethnic nation,

and a ‘return' to truly Italian traditions.

He plans a strong militarisation of Italy to enforce his goals at home and abroad.

He abandons his anti-capitalism to instead embrace private entrepreneurship, with an

element of Syndicalism thrown in to give workers more influence without eliminating the traditional

employer/employee relationship in a corporatist structure.

And he proposes that the only solution to Italy's woes is a strong mighty leader - and

although he doesn't spell it out, he means Benito Mussolini.

From this perspective it's perhaps not astonishing that he's infuriated with Italy not receiving

Dalmatia and other land in the Versailles Treaty, and going so far as to say that Great

Britain and France had spat on the Italian sacrifice in the war.

Meanwhile he's consolidating the various Fasci splinter groups into a cohesive unit

under the Fascist party banner.

The Fasci are by now the only way of keeping order and have been armed and funded by the

state - in effect Mussolini, a disenfranchised socialist and aspiring politician from provincial

Romagna without a seat in parliament is becoming more powerful than the actual government.

The liberal prime minister Giovanni Giolitti invites Mussolini to be part of a centre to

right National Bloc against left-wing opposition and calls for elections in May 1921.

Mussolini does get a seat in Parliament, but the National Bloc fails to achieve a majority.

Mussolini continues his consolidation of the Fascis.

His party rallies are now gathering tens of thousands of supporters and party membership

soars to 320.000, of which 2,200 are armed Blackshirts.

In November the party changes name to Partito Nazionale Fascista, the National Fascist Party.

Yet another government fails, and in February 1922, King Vittorio Emanuel asks the centre

right liberal Luigi Facta to form a new government, but this too is paralysed as the Fascis continue

to wreak havoc, and the Fascist calls for a new order grow louder and louder.

On October 24th, 1922, Mussolini arranges a Fascist rally in Naples; 60.000 attend.

He addresses the crowd, and in a huge reversal of policy, proclaims his support for the monarchy

and the King.

He lambastes democracy, complaining that it has only weakened Italy, and proposes that

only a strong united leadership can rule the nation.

He concludes: “Today, without a shot being fired, we captured

the vibrant soul of Naples, the soul of all Southern Italy.

The demonstration is an end in itself and can not turn into a battle, but I say to you

with all the solemnity that the moment requires: either we will be given the government or

else we must take it by marching on Rome.”

So, he is ready to take the power by violence, demands at least 6 government positions for

the Fascist party.

30,000 Fascist supporters set out on a 150 mile march on Rome.

False rumours of hundreds of thousands of marching and plundering Fascists circulate

and panic spreads through the country.

But Prime Minister Facta knows the truth and that the army could easily stop this, so he

goes to the king for permission to call in the military to stop the Fascists.

For reasons that remain unclear, the King refuses.

Facta is shocked and immediately resigns, and the king promptly calls on Mussolini to

form a new government.

Mussolini joins the march just before Rome and enters the city to accept the post of

Prime Minister of Italy.

So you would think that that was it, he was now in charge right?

But here's the thing- Mussolini was not dictator yet, he was merely the next in a

long line of prime ministers.

No one expected him to stay in power, and why would they?

The Fascists only have a minority of the government posts and Mussolini has lost the trust of

almost every party in parliament.

Everyone agrees that Mussolini will quickly be replaced like all of the other prime ministers.

They're wrong... with continued para-military support, Mussolini will stay in power.

Over the next five years his Blackshirts will continue to intimidate, oppress and murder

Fascist opponents into submission and by 1927 Mussolini will have become Dictator of Italy.

His rise to power and his violent methods will not only cause great havoc in Italy,

but will serve as a blueprint for all future Fascist inspired movements.

In Germany, with the addition of some German efficiency, Mussolini's methods will be

soon be taken to an even more aggressive and oppressive level.

To get our episodes ahead of time and support the effort to make more content like this,

join The TimeGhost Army on Patreon, or directly on our timeghost.tv site.

There you can also sign up to our Forum for free.

Links in the description.

If you missed our episode about how Hitler formed the Nazi Party in 1920 and the German

people resisted an extreme right wing coup, it's right here.

And if you haven't already - subscribe to TimeGhost and World War Two on YouTube.

World War Two week by week starts on September 1 2018.

See you next time, Salute!