After the end of the First World War, many countries have found themselves on a brink of an unprecedented crisis. With a lot of funds, resources, and human lives being spent fighting in an international conflict of an at the time unimaginable scale, most countries suffered from deep economic, political and humanistic trouble. One such country was Italy, which joined the war effort in 1915 and lost far more than it gained. Having only been able to acquire a few territories, the country has lost more than a million of its people to a combination of direct combat and related losses (Italy in WWI). Many soldiers died in the war, and many more people were killed by food shortages, the national debt, and bad harvests. Bad living conditions and the prolonged recovery period created the ideal conditions for new radical political movements to grow and prosper. Most notably for Italy, this post-war period was the start of fascism. After the war, an unstable government lead to internal skirmishes, and the deep economic decline was in the need of a solution. The people could not base their identity and purpose on a single unified entity, making the process of recovery much less effective. The rise of fascist ideology happened as a response to a combination of political, social, and economic problems that WWI introduced. With the state weakened by death famines and economic instability, many people desired to see a strong leader, a person that could support them in terms of need, and a strong government that would appear as a standard for the people that support it. Benito Mussolini turned out to be one of the perfect candidates for such a position, advertising his views and ideology as the perfect answer to the anxieties of people at the time. In the doctrine of fascism written by the man, one can find some of the founding and most important principles of the ideology that can be used to understand why it was so particularly attractive, both of which were found in Mussolini’s fascism.
A combination of political, social, and economic factors has led to the rise of fascist ideology. Fascism, as a movement, has had its roots in Italian history for quite some time now. Fascists used as their political platform to incite violence, promote military conflict and oppose both communist and socialist agendas of other parties. The action was usually disorganized and coveted, and a big fascist movement can only be noted near the 1920s when they managed to align themselves and their ideology to Conservatives. This move has allowed them to gain a wider audience, and expand their political reach further. After the First World War, the country was unable to effectively utilize the rhetorical implications of its victory to unify the country under stable leadership. The elites of society and the government were not able to ally with either the populists or the socialists, and the presence of two large parties threatened an already unstable balance to tip over into a full-scale civil war (Baravelli). In this uncertain climate, Italian nationalistic ideology took hold fully, and amassed power, allowing fascism to rapidly take control of the government. During a time of fascist unrest in 1922, Mussolini’s people threatened to take over the government by force, and the man was granted the position of prime minister to prevent that (Baravelli). After this event, fascism fully took over, and Mussolini’s political dictatorship began.
Reading Mussolini’s main work and the initial introduction to fascist ideas he wrote, Doctrine of Fascism, one could come to better understand why they so easily spread among the population and the people of Italy. Most notably, fascism is described as a cohesive ideology, a collection of both thought and action that should be followed and incorporated into every aspect of one’s life (Mussolini, 1936). It is noted as less of a political force, but more a spiritual one, a way of life that unites people under the same goals and ideals (Mussolini, 1936). This way of describing political ideology and a worldview makes it more welcoming and easily understandable to common people, as well as integral to the people that subscribe to it. It gives individuals a collective to stand, and define themselves. With the major losses, Italy has suffered after the war, and the post-war recovery period being in full force, the country’s national identity was damaged considerably, and many were searching for some kind of group identity to live with. With the alternative of the fascist ideology, that promoted the idea of Italian people being strong and proud, many were actively choosing that view instead of confronting the reality of their country’s situation. The work also introduces a largely religious understanding of life, with spirituality and faith being a large part of any person’s existence (Mussolini, 1936). During the time of its writing, Christianity and other religions were still largely prevalent in society and gave people an ability to overcome adversity easier. In a similar vein, by providing people with both a philosophical and political framework to follow, fascists have effectively given the Italian population a foundation to rely on, making them more appealing.
References
Baravelli, A. (n.d.). Post-war Societies (Italy). New Articles RSS. Web.
Italy in WWI. Sky HISTORY TV channel. (n.d.). Web.
Mussolini, B. (1936). The Doctrine of Fascism.