Italy+1920-1930

Italy 1920-1930

Alex Stefanidis Daniel Cavarretta Mrs. Story American History II CP 9-January-2014 __Italy in the 1920s__ Similar to many European nations, Italy was faced with severe economic and political challenges after World War I. Fear of becoming a communist nation pushed many people to the opposite extreme, fascism. This whole movement was brought up and strongly enforced by a man named Benito Mussolini. Thanks to the help of his right hand man Giovanni Gentile, he was successful in the dominance of the Fascist party over Italy at the time ( "Giovanni Gentile”). Being against World War I Mussolini organized rallies in opposition of Italian politics. These men wore black shirts and were highly influenced by Mussolini. When the blackshirts built enough influence they pushed towards national recognition. Thriving off the middle classes anger towards the war, Mussolini declared that he would either be given power or take power. While militias drove towards Rome the Italian government collapsed. On October 31, 1922 King Victor Emmanuel III named Benito Mussolini the prime minister and gave him one year of dictatorial powers ( "Benito Mussolini Marches on Rome: 1922") .  Now that Mussolini had a dictatorship over a fascist nation Italy struggled to survive. Obsessed with power, Mussolini joined the Axis force to enter World War II ( "Benito Mussolini Marches on Rome: 1922"). The success of Mussolini mainly lied in his social policies. He enforced his power through a secret police force. Any political party that opposed his fascist ordeals was outlawed and members of the party were exiled. Mussolini controlled the media to use propaganda to manipulate Italy’s mindset. He also made it a law of public schools to teach the Roman Catholic religion. This gave him power and support from the church which at the time was a major power of Italy. Mussolini’s social policies were a success and he is still recognized for them today ( Heinemann). Unlike the successful social policies that Mussolini enforced, the economic policies were a failure. In the 1920s Italy entered its own depression. Mussolini started the War on Wheat with the goal of increasing the production of wheat to produce a self sufficient nation. By encouraging farmers to grow wheat Italy decreased their production of fruits and vegetables. While production of wheat doubled and importation of wheat was cut by three fourths, Italy was left in a deficit of other food. This caused Italy to increase their importation of meats, fruits, and vegetables. Having the knowledge that Italy was in need of food, countries increased the price of the food that they exported to Italy. This significantly damaged the Italian economy. Studies would later prove that it would have been cheaper to import 100% of its wheat than to start the War on Wheat ( Heinemann). This was not Mussolini’s only plan to improve Italy that failed. Mussolini believed that if he lied that the Italian currency was worth more than it actually was, Italy would prosper. After World War II international trading was already damaged by high tariffs and low exports. When the world realized the value of the Italian currency was worth less than Mussolini claimed, the economy crumbled. Running Italian businesses out of work Mussolini once again hurt his own country ( Heinemann). Italy affected America’s and Great Britain’s foreign policy through trade. By increasing tariffs and creating a fake currency value other countries no longer benefited from trading with Italy. Not only could they not trade but when America and Great Britain joined the Allies in World War II they were officially at war with Italy. Italy in the 1920s was a hard time and the country is still recovering from Mussolini’s corruption today ( Heinemann).

Timeline: 1920- Rise of the Fascist. Bloody Christmas occured in 1920, which is when a number of battles took place in Rijeka, causing the Rijeka campaign to begin under the fascist supporter Gabriele D’Annunzio. 1921- The reformist unions stopped the conflicts, creating an opportunity for the two black years “Biennio Nero”. 1922- The March on Rome occurred. In the late summer of 1922, Mussolini's followers began their "March on Rome", pillaging many towns along their way. By September of that year, Mussolini and his supporters had now ruled almost all of Italy to the north. On the 24th of October, Mussolini began his plan of an attack on the Capitol city, Rome. On October 31st, Mussolini was crowned the prime minister of Italy. 1923- The Corfu incident. An Italian General was murdered in Greece, so Italy attacked the island of Corfu for revenge. This move decided by Mussolini was a very aggressive one, which gave him a stronger reputation within Italy. This also proved the failure that was the League of Nations, because of their inability to fix problems when a larger power confronted a smaller one. 1923 also marks the time that Mussolini let Giovanni Gentile reform all of the educational systems of Italy at the time, limiting many freedoms on learning about things like religion. 1924- The Murder of Matteotti. Matteotti, the leader of the Socialist party, was one of the first ones not scared enough to speak out towards Mussolini, however this cost him his life. 1925- On January 3rd 1925, Mussolini won enough votes to be able to officially declare himself dictator of Italy. This also marked the year that the Battle for Grain took place. Mussolini tried to make the Italian economy a lot stronger, so he decided it should grow wheat. The problem however, was that this meant that vegetables and fruits would no longer be made, even though they are much cheaper and easier to grow. The prices of grain products rose and this caused many other problems throughout the country. 1926- Suppression of opposition parties. The novelist Grazia Deledda is the first Italian woman who is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. 1929- Lateran Treaty creates state of Vatican City.

Pictures: Benito Mussolini Giovanni Gentile Fascist party logo Works Cited "Benito Mussolini Marches on Rome: 1922." Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History.  Vol. 4: Europe. Detroit: Gale, 2013. World History in Context. Web. 9 Jan. 2014. "Giovanni Gentile." World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 8 Jan. 2014. Heinemann, Toby. "Silvapages." Domestic Policies under Benito Mussolini. IBATPV, 18 Jan. 2010.  Web. 08 Jan. 2014. < [|__http://ibatpv.org/projects/italy/mussolini.domestic.policy.htm__] >.
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