The Glory of Rome:

The Rise of Fascism in Italy

Clay Derdeyn

AP World History

December 1, 2019
 It is April 28, 1945 and Benito Mussolini, once loved by the people, is now being

executed in front of a crowd of people who used to be his supporters. He was the famed dictator

of Italy, but became nothing more than a lowly criminal by the end of his reign. Italy was

devastated after the end of the First World War, with them being one of the losers. The Italian

people were unsatisfied with their government, and want a change to bring back the power that

Italy once had in the world arena, something that fueled a new movement called fascism.

Fascism originated in Germany, but Italy was the first European country to take it as its own

ideology. In the early 1900’s fascist movements among the lower classes appeared, but they

didn’t gain enough traction to control a government, until the movement found a place in Italy

with the National Fascist Party. This movement had a head, and the man who took that position

was Benito Mussolini, a charismatic journalist. Mussolini eventually created a fascist party

through the splitting up of the National Socialist Party. Soon, the new National Fascist Party, led

by Mussolini, gained power, and eventually took over the government, allowing Mussolini to

become dictator of Italy. The National Fascist Party became the most prominent party in the

early-to-mid 1900’s, before the Great Depression. Fascism rose in Italy due to its declining

economy encouraging the people to disapprove of their government, the efforts of Mussolini,

offering the Italian lower class an ideology that works for them, and the rise of socialism in Italy,

which contributed to the popularity of the National Fascist Party.

Italy, no doubt, was one of the lesser countries in Europe economically in the early

1900’s, with their currency steadily decreasing in value; infrastructure, particularly railroads

were becoming almost unusable.​1​ Italy was in a period of economic decline, causing unrest in

the public scene. For example, even the Italian Socialist Party supported capitalism after World

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War 1.​2​ This demonstrates the radicalizing effect of the steadily declining economy on the

political scene of Italy. Italian fascism had many solutions to these economic problems, most of

which appealed to the youth and the lower classes of Italy. For example, Italian Fascism

developed a plan with the goal to develop maximum economic efficiency in order to regain its

place as a leader of the worldwide economy.​3​ The fascist movement was favorable for the

poorer classes, as it supported giving land to those who worked on it, something the vast

majority of Italian population wanted.​4​ It also placed a great emphasis on land ownership,

allowing even more popularity with the general population. To the people of Italy, fascism was

seemingly able to change and transform with the times, instead of being set in stone like most

other traditional ideologies.​5​ The Italian economy changed after World War 1, with agricultural

profits steadily rising, making the Italian people change their economic interests. This caused

them to move from the socialist views of the economy towards fascist economic policies, since

they were more in line with their individual economic views. One of these views was that

Fascism would give the land to the peasants, not to the tenant system that had been prevalent in

decades past.​6​ Fascism’s ability, or perceived ability to modernize with the rapidly changing

economic stage was something that most of Italy needed. While in some regards the fascist

economic policies didn’t work, the regime did produce some good economic effects for Italy.

For example, Mussolini’s regime was responsible for the economic response to the Great

Depression, and allowed for the relatively stable economic structure we see in modern day Italy.​7

Italian fascism was a very important movement, and only rose because of its leaders.

As with any movement, Italian fascism had to have a head, and that head was none other

than Benito Mussolini. Some of the Italian people even saw him as a sort of savior, believing

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that he would save them from poverty.​8​ Mussolini appealed to the younger generation in order

to seize power, and they took on his ideals to a notable extent. To younger people, the fascist

revolution represented a new order, one led by the younger generation of Italy to overthrow the

government that didn’t work for them.​9​ Mussolini was a charismatic speaker, and was able to

convince many people through his speeches. For example, in one of his speeches he said “why

[is] the unity of the [our] country...summed up in the symbol and the name of Rome?”​10​ He

made the Italian people, mainly the younger generation, question the divinity that Italy had

previously given to Rome, and if they need to supply that divinity in order to create a new order.

Fascism was supposed to make Rome the center of the world again, something many Italians

were led to believe would happen if Mussolini was in charge.​11​ In Mussolini’s speeches, he was

known for bashing other parties, stating that “trends are the sad privilege of the old parties,

comatose associations scattered over all lands”​12​, further appealing to the younger generations’

desire for change. Mussolini had a huge impact on younger people, indoctrinating them into the

fascist ranks. The Special Secretary of the Duce found a “spirited disregard of disciplinary and

hierarchical bonds [at Universities]”​13​ further illustrating how the younger generation was what

Mussolini appealed to, and appealed to well. Early on in his political career, he even talked

about fascism as if it were an Italian ideal, in order to appeal to younger people, many of whom

were nationalist.​14​ Fascism also had one thing that many other ideologies, such as socialism, did

not, it was a very new way of governmental and social structure. This appealed to younger

people, since they had seen or heard of the follies of all other types of governmental structures,

and fascism represented one without flaws. The younger generation were said to have shown the

spirit of fascism, especially university students, with them wanting to choose a new course in

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history, one with Italy at the top.​15​ Even historians note the appeal of Italian Fascism to the

younger generation, noting how the New Order was going to be led by the younger generation.

Mussolini also appealed to the poorer people, saying how he is proud to be their “friend…[and]

brother…Only with Fascism…[will] peasants...[gain] their full rights.”​16

The rise of Socailist ideologies in Italy was what fascism needed to gain popularity, and

the Socialist Party of Italy was directly responsible for fascism’s growth. When the movement

was small, fascism actually began its growth in the National Socialist Party, with the Mussolini

led revolutionaries eventually taking over the party, and Italy not long after. It not only used

some of the socialist ideals, but used the success of the movement to support its own growth. It

is possible fascism could have risen without the Socialist Party, but it would have taken much

longer, since the large party did give people like Benito Mussolini a way to speak about politics

to the general population. While Mussolini and his revolutionaries were kicked out of the

socailist party, they had already become popular, and soon surpassed the socialist movement.

The First World War also acquired new political meaning, especially to those of the younger

generation, giving them a dissatisfaction with previous governmental structures, as they took the

blame for Italy’s loss.​17​ The First World War was extremely important to the formation of

younger generational ideals, demonstrating how weak the governmental structure must have

been in order for a country as glorious as Italy to not win the war, something they believed

Mussolini would be able to change. Many studies, including the study of Snowden (1972),

demonstrated how many people who voted socialist ended up voting fascist. However, the

reason socialism was able to rise, and allow fascism to rise came in its proactive agenda and

economic plans, something that fascism shared. People's own material interests were the reason

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socialism fell, and fascism rose, since fascist ideals were the most ideal for people.​18​ The rise of

fascism was also aided by the fear of socialism, but not nearly as much as earlier historians

theorized.​19​ The growth of socialism not only helped fascism gain traction with some of its

supporters, but also its opponents, making fascism appealing to the clear majority. Some people

even stated how without a new order, Italy would never find salvation.​20​ This demonstrates how

some of the failures of socialism, which came as a product of its growth, fueled the newer

ideology of fascism to become more mainstream, and then rise. The problems of the internal

development after 1890 created an unstable country, something socialism was seen to fix.​21

However, socialism didn’t match with individuals economic and political interests, leading to the

rise of fascism, taking the ideals of Italian socialism that worked and adding the other ideals that

supported the rest of the population.

Economic circumstances have always been the root of many political and cultural

changes, however many people look at Italian fascism’s rise due only to economic desperation,

ignoring many other causes. Italy was not a distinguished country for decades before fascism

started to rise, and the suddenness of the rise was not only due to the economy, or it would have

come much earlier. Benito Mussolini was responsible for much of Italian fascism’s rise, but the

economic and political circumstances were the reason he was able to gain any kind of power, his

charisma was extremely important, but not the full reason fascism was able to rise. The rise of

Italian socialism is often overlooked in studying this time period, however it has much more

importance than many textbooks give it. Many socialist voters became fascist, and those

alienated by socialism found an appealing ideology in fascism. These three reasons are often

taken separately, ignoring how each interacted with the other in order to create the history the

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world experienced. Socialism’s rise gave Mussolini a platform, eventually falling as Mussolini

was able to create a new party, one with more fascist ideals from the socialist party. The

declining economy gave a platform for new ideologies to rise, but without leaders like Mussolini,

and the popularity of the Socialist Party, fascism would never have gained as much power as it

did. When people look at other countries, especially third world countries with morally

questionable rulers, we fail to see how their rise seems almost inevitable due to the economic and

political circumstances. Those leaders we see today are not in that place because of their

charisma, rather it is due to a sort of domino effect with reasons that we often overlook. With

the knowledge of how past dictators rose, we can critique other countries’ ways of leadership, as

well as our own. We can understand the circumstances allowing dictatorial rulers to arise, and

become more suited to avoiding them.

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1. Kahn, Walter B. "The Italian Economic Situation." ​The Review of Economics

and Statistics​ 3, no. 4 (1921): 1195. doi:10.2307/1928801.

2. Payne, 354.

3. Edward R. Tannenbaum. "The Goals of Italian Fascism." ​The American

Historical Review​ 74, no. 4 (1969): 1183-204. doi:10.2307/1856756.

4. Schmidt, Carl T. "Agricultural Property and Enterprise under Italian Fascism."

Science & Society​ 1, no. 3 (1937): 330-331. ​www.jstor.org/stable/40399072​.

5. Ledeen, Michael A. "Italian Fascism and Youth." ​Journal of Contemporary

History​ 4, no. 3 (1969): 138-139. ​http://www.jstor.org/stable/259736​.

6. Brustein, William. "The "Red Menace" and the Rise of Italian Fascism."
American Sociological Review​ 56, no. 5 (1991): 654-655. ​www.jstor.org/stable/2096086​.

7. Vaudagna, Maurizio. "Structural Change in Fascist Italy." ​The Journal of

Economic History​ 38, no. 1 (1978): 181-201. ​www.jstor.org/stable/2119322​.

8. Maurizio, 182.

9. Brenda Haugen, ​“Death of a Dictator.“ Benito Mussolini Fascist Italian

Dictator​ (Minneapolis, Compass Point Books, 2007), 13.

10. Benito Mussolini. Speech, Udine, September 20, 1922.

11. Leeden, 113.

12. Leeden, 137.

13. Leeden, 140.

14. Leeden, 141.

15. Leeden, 140.

16. Leeden, 138.

17. Schmidt, 329-330.

18. Wanrooij, 417.

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19. Brustien, 652.

20. Brustien, 655.

21. Brustien, 655.

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 Works Cited

Brustein, William. "The "Red Menace" and the Rise of Italian Fascism." ​American Sociological
Review​ 56, no. 5 (1991): 652-64. ​www.jstor.org/stable/2096086​.

Kahn, Walter B. "The Italian Economic Situation." ​The Review of Economics and Statistics​ 3,
no. 4 (1921): 88. doi:10.2307/1928801.

Ledeen, Michael A. "Italian Fascism and Youth." ​Journal of Contemporary History​ 4,

no. 3 (1969): 137-54. ​http://www.jstor.org/stable/259736​.

Mussolini, Benito. Speech, Udine, September 20, 1942.

Schmidt, Carl T. "Agricultural Property and Enterprise under Italian Fascism."

Science & Society​ 1, no. 3 (1937): 326-49. ​www.jstor.org/stable/40399072​.

Tannenbaum, Edward R. "The Goals of Italian Fascism." ​The American Historical

Review​ 74, no. 4 (1969): 1183-204. doi:10.2307/1856756.

Vaudagna, Maurizio. "Structural Change in Fascist Italy." ​The Journal of Economic History​ 38,
no. 1 (1978): 181-201. ​www.jstor.org/stable/2119322​.

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