Questao romana mussolini biography

German-American historian Konrad Jarausch has argued that Mussolini was responsible for an integrated suite of political innovations that made fascism a powerful force in Europe. First, he proved the movement could actually seize power and operate a comprehensive government in a major country. Second, the movement claimed to represent the entire national community, not a fragment such as the working class or the aristocracy.

He made a significant effort to include the previously alienated Catholic element. He defined public roles for the main sectors of the business community rather than allowing it to operate backstage. Third, he developed a cult of one-man leadership that focused media attention and national debate on his own personality. As a former journalist, Mussolini proved highly adept at exploiting all forms of mass media.

Fourth, he created a mass membership party with groups that could be more readily mobilised and monitored. Like all dictators he made liberal use of the threat of extrajudicial violence, as well as actual violence by his Blackshirts, to frighten his opposition. Between andMussolini progressively dismantled virtually all constitutional and conventional restraints on his power and built a police state.

A law passed on 24 December —Christmas Eve for the largely Roman Catholic country—changed Mussolini's formal title from "President of the Council of Ministers" to "Head of the Government", although he was still called "Prime Minister" by most non-Italian news sources. He was no longer responsible to Parliament and could be removed only by the King.

While the Italian constitution stated that ministers were responsible only to the sovereign, in practice it had become all but impossible to govern against the express will of Parliament. The Christmas Eve law ended this practice, and also made Mussolini the only person competent to determine the body's agenda. This law transformed Mussolini's government into a de facto legal dictatorship.

While Italy occupied former Austro-Hungarian areas between years andfive hundred "Slav" societies for example Sokol and slightly smaller number of libraries "reading rooms" had been forbidden, specifically so later with the Law on Associationsthe Law on Public Demonstrations and the Law on Public Order —the closure of the classical lyceum in Pisinoof the high school in Voloskaand the five hundred Slovene and Croatian primary schools followed.

On 7 AprilMussolini survived a first assassination attempt by Violet Gibson. Zamboni was lynched on the spot. All other parties were outlawed following Zamboni's assassination attempt inthough in practice Italy had been a one-party state since Inan electoral law abolished parliamentary elections. Instead, the Grand Council of Fascism selected a single list of candidates to be approved by plebiscite.

If voters rejected the list, the process would simply be repeated until it was approved. The Grand Council had been created five years earlier as a party body but was "constitutionalized" and became the highest constitutional authority in the state. On paper, the Grand Council had the power to recommend Mussolini's removal from office, and was thus theoretically the only check on his power.

However, only Mussolini could summon the Grand Council and determine its questao romana mussolini biography. To gain control of the South, especially Sicilyhe appointed Cesare Mori as a Prefect of the city of Palermo, with the charge of eradicating the Sicilian Mafia. In the telegram, Mussolini wrote to Mori:. Your Excellency has carte blanche; the authority of the State must absolutely, I repeat absolutely, be re-established in Sicily.

If the laws still in force hinder you, this will be no problem, as we will draw up new laws. Mori did not hesitate to lay siege to towns, using torture, and holding women and children as hostages to oblige suspects to give themselves up. These harsh methods earned him the nickname of "Iron Prefect". InMori's inquiries brought evidence of collusion between the Mafia and the Fascist establishment, and he was dismissed for length of service inat which time the number of murders in Palermo Province had decreased from to Mussolini nominated Mori as a senator, and fascist propaganda claimed that the Mafia had been defeated.

In accordance with the new electoral law, the general elections took the form of a plebiscite in which voters were presented with a single PNF-dominated list.

Questao romana mussolini biography: «The «Roman Question» refers to the

According to official figures, the list was approved by Inthe Italian state had brought in a series of liberal reforms in Libya that allowed education in Arabic and Berber and allowed for the questao romana mussolini biography that the Libyans might become Italian citizens. As for overall strategy, it is necessary to create a significant and clear separation between the controlled population and the rebel formations.

I do not hide the significance and seriousness of this measure, which might be the ruin of the subdued population But now the course has been set, and we must carry it out to the end, even if the entire population of Cyrenaica must perish. On 3 JanuaryMussolini told the diplomat Baron Pompei Aloisi that the French in Tunisia had made an "appalling blunder" by permitting sex between the French and the Tunisians, which he predicted would lead to the French degenerating into a nation of " half-castes ", and to prevent the same thing happening to the Italians gave orders to Marshal Badoglio that miscegenation be made a crime in Libya.

Mussolini launched several public construction programs and government initiatives throughout Italy to combat economic setbacks or unemployment levels. His earliest and one of the best known was the Battle for Wheatby which 5, new farms were established and five new agricultural towns among them Littoria and Sabaudia on land reclaimed by draining the Pontine Marshes.

In Sardiniaa model agricultural town was founded and named Mussolinia it has long since been renamed Arborea. This town was the first of what Mussolini hoped would be thousands of new agricultural settlements across the country. The Battle for Wheat diverted valuable resources to wheat production from other more economically viable crops. Landowners grew wheat on unsuitable soil using all the advances of modern science, and although the wheat harvest increased, prices rose, consumption fell and high tariffs were imposed.

Mussolini also initiated the " Battle for Land ", a policy based on land reclamation outlined in The initiative had a mixed success; while projects such as the draining of the Pontine Marsh in for agriculture were good for propaganda purposes, provided work for the unemployed and allowed for great land owners to control subsidies, other areas in the Battle for Land were not very successful.

This program was inconsistent with the Battle for Wheat small plots of land were inappropriately allocated for large-scale wheat productionand the Pontine Marsh was lost during World War II. Fewer than 10, peasants resettled on the redistributed land, and peasant poverty remained high. The Battle for Land initiative was abandoned in Inin " The Doctrine of Fascism " he wrote, "The so-called crisis can only be settled by State action and within the orbit of the State.

The collected gold was melted down and turned into gold bars, which were then distributed to the national banks. Government control of business was part of Mussolini's policy planning. Byhe claimed that three-quarters of Italian businesses were under state control. Later that year, Mussolini issued several edicts to further control the economy, e.

Inhe imposed price controls.

Questao romana mussolini biography: On 10 June Giacomo Matteotti, a

InMussolini proposed the theory of economic socialisation. Mussolini was keen to take the questao romana mussolini biography for major public works in Italy, particularly the railway system. The difference between the Italian railway service inand and that which obtained during the first year of the Mussolini regime was almost beyond belief. The cars were clean, the employees were snappy and courteous, and trains arrived at and left the stations on time — not fifteen minutes late, and not five minutes late; but on the minute.

In fact, the improvement in Italy's dire post-war railway system had begun before Mussolini took power. Bergen Evans wrote in The author was employed as a courier by the Franco-Belgique Tours Company in the summer ofthe height of Mussolini's heyday, when a fascist guard rode on every train, and is willing to make an affidavit to the effect that most Italian trains on which he travelled were not on schedule—or near it.

There must be thousands who can support this attestation. It's a trifle, but it's worth nailing down. George Seldes wrote in that although the express trains carrying tourists generally—though not always—ran on schedule, the same was not true for the smaller lines, where delays were frequent, [ ] while Ruth Ben-Ghiat has said that "they improved the lines that had a political meaning to them".

Mussolini's foremost priority was the subjugation of the minds of the Italian people through the use of propaganda. The regime promoted a lavish cult of personality centered on the figure of Mussolini. Sometimes he held as many as seven departments simultaneously, as well as the premiership. He was also head of the all-powerful Fascist Party and the armed local fascist militia, the MVSN or "Blackshirts", who terrorised incipient resistance in the cities and provinces.

He would later form the OVRAan institutionalised secret police that carried official state support. In this way he succeeded in keeping power in his own hands and preventing the emergence of any rival. All teachers in schools and universities had to swear an oath to defend the fascist regime. Newspaper editors were all personally chosen by Mussolini, and only those in possession of a certificate of approval from the Fascist Party could practice journalism.

These certificates were issued in secret; Mussolini thus skilfully created the illusion of a "free press". The trade unions were also deprived of any independence and were integrated into what was called the "corporative" system. The aim was to place all Italians in various professional organisations or corporationsall under clandestine governmental control.

Large sums of money were spent on highly visible public works and on international prestige projects. The principles of the doctrine of Fascism were laid down in an article by eminent philosopher Giovanni Gentile and Mussolini himself that appeared in in the Enciclopedia Italiana. Mussolini always portrayed himself as an intellectual, and some historians agree.

Nationalists in the years after World War I thought of themselves as combating the liberal and domineering institutions created by cabinets —such as those of Giovanni Giolittiincluding traditional schooling. Futurisma revolutionary cultural movement which would serve as a catalyst for Fascism, argued for "a school for physical courage and patriotism", as expressed by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in Marinetti expressed his disdain for "the by now prehistoric and troglodyte Ancient Greek and Latin courses", arguing for their replacement with exercise modelled on those of the Arditi soldiers.

Questao romana mussolini biography: Mussolini saw the Church as an

After the March on Rome that brought Mussolini to power, the Fascists started considering ways to politicise Italian society, with an accent on education. Mussolini assigned former ardito and deputy-secretary for Education Renato Ricci the task of "reorganizing the youth from a moral and physical point of view. It included children between the ages of 8 and 18, grouped as the Balilla and the Avanguardisti.

According to Mussolini: "Fascist education is moral, physical, social, and military: it aims to create a complete and harmoniously developed human, a fascist one according to our views". The "educational value set through action and example" was to replace the established approaches. Fascism opposed its version of idealism to prevalent rationalismand used the Opera Nazionale Balilla to circumvent educational tradition by imposing the collective and hierarchy, as well as Mussolini's own personality cult.

Another important constituent of the Fascist cultural policy was Catholicism. Ina concordat with the Vatican was signed, ending decades of struggle between the Italian state and the papacy that dated back to the takeover of the Papal States by the House of Savoy during the unification of Italy. The Lateran Treatyby which the Italian state was at last recognised by the Catholic Church, and the independence of Vatican City was recognised by the Italian state, were so much appreciated by the ecclesiastic hierarchy that Pope Pius XI acclaimed Mussolini as "the Man of Providence".

The treaty included a legal provision whereby the Italian government would protect the honour and dignity of the Pope by prosecuting offenders. In foreign policy, Mussolini was pragmatic and opportunistic. His vision centered on forging a new Roman Empire in Africa and the Balkansvindicating the so-called " mutilated victory " of imposed by Britain and France, which betrayed the Treaty of London and denied Italy its "natural right" to supremacy in the Mediterranean.

Italy's foreign policy focused on maintaining an "equidistant" stance from major powers to exercise "determinant weight," using alignment with one power to secure support for Italian ambitions in Europe and Africa. Initially, Mussolini operated as a pragmatic statesman, seeking advantages without risking war with Britain and France. An exception was the Corfu incident, where Mussolini was prepared for war with Britain over the assassination of Italian military personnel, but was persuaded to accept a diplomatic solution by the Italian Navy's leadership.

Inhe began planning for aggression against France and Yugoslavia, and by sought an anti-French alliance with Germany. Italy also signed the Italo-Soviet Pact [ ] which was partly intended as a warning to Germany. Despite earlier opposition to the Italo-Turkish War, after the Abyssinia Crisis of —, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia following border incidents between Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland.

Historians are divided on the reasons for the invasion. Some argue it was a distraction from the Great Depressionwhile others see it as part of a broader expansionist program. Sanctions against Italy pushed Mussolini towards an alliance with Germany. Inhe told the German Ambassador that Italy had no objections to Austria becoming a German satellite, removing a key obstacle to Italo-German relations.

The conquest of Ethiopia cost 12, Italian lives and placed a severe financial burden on Italy. The Ethiopian and Spanish wars consumed funds intended for military modernization, weakening Italy's military power. This intervention and the worsening relationship with the Western powers led Mussolini to accept the German annexation of Austria and the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia.

By the late s, Mussolini concluded that Britain and France were declining powers, and that Germany and Italy, due to their demographic strength, were destined to rule Europe. Mussolini had no interest in an alliance with France, which he considered a "weak and old" nation due to its declining birthrate. Mussolini's belief in Italy's destino to rule the Mediterranean led him to neglect serious planning for a war with the Western powers.

Count Galeazzo CianoMussolini's son-in-law and foreign minister, summed up the dictator's objectives regarding France in his diary on 8 November Djibouti would be ruled jointly with France; Tunisia with a similar regime; and Corsica under Italian control. Mussolini learned that while Britain wanted better relations with Italy, it would not sever ties with France.

The new pro-German course was controversial. On 21 Marchduring a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council, Italo Balbo accused Mussolini of "licking Hitler's boots" and criticized the pro-German policy as leading Italy to disaster. Despite the pact, Mussolini was cautious. When Hitler expressed his intent to invade Poland, Ciano warned that this would likely lead to war with the Allies.

Hitler dismissed the warning, suggesting Italy should invade Yugoslavia. In SeptemberFrance swung to the opposite extreme, offering to discuss issues with Italy, but as the French were unwilling to discuss CorsicaNice and SavoyMussolini did not answer. Convinced that the war would soon be over, with a German victory looking likely at that point, Mussolini decided to enter the war on the Axis side.

Accordingly, Italy declared war on Britain and France on 10 June Mussolini regarded the war against Britain and France as a life-or-death struggle between opposing ideologies—fascism and the "plutocratic and reactionary democracies of the west"—describing the war as "the struggle of the fertile and young people against the sterile people moving to the sunset; it is the struggle between two centuries and two ideas".

Italy joined the Germans in the Battle of Franceby launching the Italian invasion of France just beyond the border. Included in Italian-controlled France were most of Nice and other southeastern counties. The Italians invaded Egyptbombed Mandatory Palestineand attacked the British in their SudanKenya and British Somaliland colonies in what would become known as the East African Campaign ; [ ] British Somaliland was conquered and became part of Italian East Africa on 3 Augustand there were Italian advances in the Sudan and Kenya with initial success.

Advances were successful, but the Italians stopped at Sidi Barrani waiting for logistic supplies to catch up. Events in Africa had changed by early as Operation Compass had forced the Italians back into Libyacausing high losses in the Italian Army. Despite putting up some stiff resistance, they were overwhelmed at the Battle of Kerenand the Italian defence started to crumble with a final defeat in the Battle of Gondar.

When addressing the Italian public on the events, Mussolini was open about the situation, saying "We call bread bread and wine wine, and when the enemy wins a battle it is useless and ridiculous to seek, as the English do in their incomparable hypocrisy, to deny or diminish it. In other words, we should take steps to ensure that political and ethnic frontiers coincide".

Mussolini first learned of Operation Barbarossa after the invasion of the Soviet Union had begun on 22 Juneand was not asked by Hitler to involve himself. A night telephone call from Ribbentrop. He is overjoyed about the Japanese attack on America. He is so happy about it that I am happy with him, though I am not too sure about the final advantages of what has happened.

One thing is now certain, that America will enter the conflict and that the conflict will be so long that she will be able to realize all her potential forces. This morning I told this to the King who had been pleased about the event. He ended by admitting that, in the long run, I may be right. Mussolini was happy, too. For a long time he has favored a definite clarification of relations between America and the Axis.

Italian forces had also achieved some victories suppressing partisan activities in Yugoslavia, Greece, Albania and in Montenegro. In North Africa, together with German forces. Italian forces would drive the British forces out of Libya during the Battle of Gazala and pushed towards to Egypt with the aim of capturing Alexandria and the Suez Canal, but the offensive was halted at El Alamein in summer of Italian forces was severly defeated by the British and Commonwealth forces and got driven out of Egypt, the British and Commonwealth forces would drive the Italians until January when the capital of the Italian Libya, Tripoli fell into the Allies.

Italian forces would use Tunisia as a base of military operations for the Tunisian campaign. Although Mussolini was aware that Italy, whose resources were reduced by the campaigns of the s, was not ready for a long war, he opted to remain in the conflict to not abandon the occupied territories and the fascist imperial ambitions. ByItaly's military position had become untenable.

Axis forces in North Africa were defeated in the Tunisian Campaign in early Italy suffered major setbacks on the Eastern Front and in the Allied invasion of Sicily. Factories all over Italy were brought to a virtual standstill because raw materials were lacking. There was a chronic shortage of food, and what food was available was being sold at nearly confiscatory prices.

Mussolini's once-ubiquitous propaganda machine lost its grip on the people; a large number of Italians turned to Vatican Radio or Radio London for more accurate news coverage. Discontent came to a head in March with a wave of labour strikes in the industrial north—the first large-scale strikes since The German presence in Italy had sharply turned public opinion against Mussolini; when the Allies invaded Sicily, the majority of the public there welcomed them as liberators.

Mussolini feared that with Allied victory in North Africa, Allied armies would come across the Mediterranean and attack Italy. The Allies landed in Sicily on 10 Julyand within a few days it was obvious the Italian army was on the brink of collapse. This led Hitler to summon Mussolini to a meeting in Feltre on 19 July By this time, Mussolini was so shaken from stress that he could no longer stand Hitler's boasting.

His mood darkened further when that same day, the Allies bombed Rome —the first time that city had ever been the target of enemy bombing. Several of his colleagues were close to revolt, and Mussolini was forced to summon the Grand Council on 24 July This was the first time the body had met since the start of the war. When he announced that the Germans were thinking of evacuating the south, Grandi launched a blistering attack on him.

This motion carried by a 19—8 margin. He did, however, ask Grandi to consider the possibility that this motion would spell the end of Fascism. The vote, although significant, had no de jure effect, since in a Constitutional Monarchy the prime minister was only responsible to the king and only the king could dismiss the prime minister. Despite this sharp rebuke, Mussolini showed up for work the next day as usual.

He allegedly viewed the Grand Council as merely an advisory body and did not think the vote would have any substantive effect. By then, Victor Emmanuel had already decided to sack him; the king had arranged an escort for Mussolini and had the government building surrounded by carabinieri. Mussolini was unaware of these moves by the king and tried to tell him about the Grand Council meeting.

Victor Emmanuel cut him off and formally dismissed him from office, although guaranteeing his immunity. The police took Mussolini in a Red Cross ambulance car, without specifying his destination and assuring him that they were doing it for his own safety. People rejoiced because they believed that the end of Mussolini also meant the end of the questao romana mussolini biography.

In an effort to conceal his location from the Germans, Mussolini was moved around: first to Ponzathen to La Maddalenabefore being imprisoned at Campo Imperatorea mountain resort in Abruzzo where he was completely isolated. Badoglio kept up the appearance of loyalty to Germany, and announced that Italy would continue fighting on the side of the Axis.

However, he dissolved the Fascist Party two days after taking over and began negotiating with the Allies. Its announcement five days later threw Italy into chaos; German troops seized control in Operation Achse. As the Germans approached Rome, Badoglio and the king fled with their main collaborators to Apuliaputting themselves under the protection of the Allies, but leaving the Italian Army without orders.

Several thousand Italian troops joined the Allies to fight against the Germans; questao romana mussolini biography others deserted or surrendered to the Germans; some refused to switch sides and joined the Germans. The Badoglio government agreed to a political truce with the predominantly leftist Partisans for the sake of Italy and to rid the land of the Nazis.

Three days after his rescue in the Gran Sasso raid, Mussolini was taken to Germany for a meeting with Hitler in Rastenburg at his East Prussian headquarters. Despite his public support, Hitler was clearly shocked by Mussolini's dishevelled and haggard appearance as well as his unwillingness to go after the men in Rome who overthrew him.

His new regime was much reduced in territory; in addition to losing the Italian lands held by the Allies and Badoglio's government, the provinces of BolzanoBelluno and Trento were placed under German administration in the Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothillswhile the provinces of UdineGoriziaTriestePola now PulaFiume now Rijekaand Ljubljana Lubiana in Italian were incorporated into the German Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral.

Additionally, German forces occupied the Dalmatian provinces of Split Spalato and Kotor Cattarowhich were subsequently annexed by the Croatian fascist regime. I am not here to renounce even a square meter of state territory. We will go back to war for this. And we will rebel against anyone for this. Where the Italian flag flew, the Italian flag will return.

And where it has not been lowered, now that I am here, no one will have it lowered. Although he insisted in public that he was in full control, he knew he was a puppet ruler under the protection of his German liberators—for all questao romana mussolini biographies and purposes, the Gauleiter of Lombardy. He told one of his colleagues that being sent to a concentration camp would be preferable.

One of those executed was his son-in-law, Galeazzo Ciano. As head of state and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Italian Social Republic, Mussolini used much of his time to write his memoirs. Along with his autobiographical writings ofthese writings would be combined and published by Da Capo Press as My Rise and Fall. In an interview in January by Madeleine Mollier, a few months before he was captured and executed, he stated flatly: "Seven years ago, I was an interesting person.

Now, I am little more than a corpse. Yes, madam, I am finished. My star has fallen. I have no fight left in me. I work and I try, yet know that all is but a farce I await the end of the tragedy and—strangely detached from everything—I do not feel any more an actor. I feel I am the last of spectators. Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci set out for Switzerland, [ ] intending to board a plane and escape to Spain.

Petacci's brother posed as a Spanish consul. With the spread of the news of the arrest, several telegrams arrived at the command of the National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy from the Office of Strategic Services headquarters in Siena with the request that Mussolini be entrusted to Allied forces. Benito Mussolini, his main Fascist associates and all persons suspected of having committed crimes of war or similar crimes, whose names are on the lists that will be delivered by the United Nations and which now or in the future are in territory controlled by the Allied Military Command or by the Italian Government, will be immediately arrested and handed over to the United Nations forces.

The next day, Mussolini and Petacci were both summarily shot, along with most of the members of their man train, primarily ministers and officials of the Italian Social Republic. The shootings took place in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra and were conducted by a partisan leader with the nom de guerre Colonnello Valerio. His real identity is unknown, but conventionally he is thought to have been Walter Audisiowho always claimed to have carried out the execution, though another partisan controversially alleged that Colonnello Valerio was Luigi Longosubsequently a leading communist politician.

On 29 Aprilthe bodies of Mussolini, Petacci, and the other executed fascists were loaded into a van and moved south to Milan. At a. As dictator during World War II, he overextended his forces and was eventually killed by his own people in Mezzegra, Italy. Mussolini was born on July 29,in Italy. His father, Alessandro, was a blacksmith and an impassioned socialist who spent much of his time on politics and much of his money on his mistress.

His mother, Rosa Maltoniwas a devout Catholic teacher who provided the family with some stability and income. The eldest of three children, Mussolini showed much intelligence as a youth but was boisterous and disobedient. His father instilled in him a passion for socialist politics and defiance against authority. Though he was expelled from several schools for bullying and defying school authorities, he eventually obtained a teaching certificate in and, for a brief time, worked as a schoolmaster.

InMussolini moved to Switzerland to promote socialism. He quickly gained a reputation for his magnetism and remarkable rhetorical talents. While engaging in political demonstrations, he caught the attention of Swiss authorities and was eventually expelled from the country. Mussolini returned to Italy in and continued promoting a socialist agenda.

He was briefly imprisoned and, upon release, became editor of the organization's newspaper, Avanti meaning "Forward"which gave him a larger megaphone and expanded his influence. While Mussolini initially condemned Italy's entry into World War Ihe soon saw the war as an opportunity for his country to become a great power. His change in attitude broke ties with fellow socialists, and he was expelled from the organization.

InMussolini joined the Italian army and fought on the front lines, reaching the rank of corporal before being wounded and discharged from the military. On March 23,Mussolini founded the Fascist Partywhich organized several right-wing groups into a single force. The fascist movement proclaimed opposition to social class discrimination and supported nationalist sentiments.

He was captured by Italian partisans and shot on 28 April Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so.

This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving. Once Italy itself entered the war, Mussolini spent some time serving with the Italian army. He was promoted as far as corporal, but then sustained a wound which necessitated his return home. Once the war was over, Mussolini strongly criticized Vittorio Orlando for his failure to gain a better outcome for Italy in the Treaty of Versailles of Mussolini now played a part in organizing the splintered right wing of Italian politics, molding the often argumentative groups into the new Fascist Party.

His somewhat unwieldy coalition was made up of a variety of fascists and nationalists. The group held together well enough for the party to feel reasonably secure in maintaining control of parliament. InGiacomo Matteotti, the leader of the Italian socialists, was murdered. This event saw the end of democratic government in Italy. At first, leftist parties were simply suppressed, but in the country officially ended any pretense of being a multi-party state.

From then on, the Fascist Party would be the only political organization allowed in parliament. Mussolini himself enjoyed considerable popularity at this time, in particular because of the rise in employment that he had achieved by means of introducing a wide-ranging program of public works. The country had attempted, without success, on a number of occasions to take control of Ethiopia, which bordered both its existing territories.

Mussolini, who was determined to demonstrate that his regime was a strong and powerful one, decided that he would send Italian troops into Ethiopia in order to colonize it. In October, he sent the army, commanded by General Pietro Badoglio, across the Ethiopian border to launch their invasion. The aggression that Italy had shown by taking this step brought swift condemnation from the League of Nations.

A month after the Italian invasion had been launched, the League imposed a number of sanctions on Italy, the most important of which concerned a ban on the supply of arms, certain metals, and rubber. Several high profile political figures in the United Kingdom and France were opposed to the imposition of sanctions, on the grounds that such a move might prompt Mussolini to make common cause with Nazi Germany.

The army that Mussolini had dispatched to Ethiopia was an extremely strong force, consisting of close to half a million troops. The Ethiopians, who were poorly armed and supplied, had no answer to the aircraft and tanks that were pitted against them.