What were the main factors that enabled Mussolini to rise to power and consolidate his position in Italy between 1918 and 1926?

• Dissatisfaction with the results of the First World War;
• Mutilated victory
• Nationalists furious of the terms of the treaties and had the impression that the Italians had been betrayed by the Allies who failed to give Italy greater gains and by the Italian government who failed to stand up for Italian interests.
• Economic depression;
• The Italian economy failed to elegantly transition from wartime to peacetime, which proved painful
• Prices increased 50% and unemployment peaking at 2 million in 1919
• Political instability;
• After the war to electorate was extended to all adult males and introduced proportional representation but the government failed to adapt.
• Governments of 1918-22 were unstable because of the groups being incapable of working together to form a strong coalition
• Support by industrialists;
• The industrialists supported Mussolini as he took a stand against the workers and the peasants uproars and trade unions
• The rise of Fascism
• After the 1919 election which were a failure for Mussolini he moved Fascism to the right in order to secure more votes
• In 1922 the socialists and communists called a general strike to protest against Fascist violence, but the Fascist Squads broke up the strike, which led to the propertied classes to believed that a government containing Mussolini was the only one that could maintain peace and order. Mussolini also made clear his commitment to support the monarchy. 
• March on Rome in 1922
• Mobilized 30,000 poorly armed squadristi to march on Rome – bluff as they would have been no match for the regular army. The PM asked for the King to declare martial law in preparation of the march, and even though he initially agreed he lost his nerve and cancelled the order. The pm in turn resigned from office.
•  Liberals and conservatives close to the king advised him to appoint Mussolini as PM as the believed that he could be tamed, and the as a part of a coalition with the Liberals and the Nationalists they would induce to moderate their behaviour and programme. He was appointed PM on 29 october 1922, marched on rome 30 ovt as a victory parade.
• The Acerbo Electoral Law;
• 1923, Mussolini and the Fascist Grand Council introduced the Acerbo Law. This law changed election results. Now if one party got just 25% (or more) of the votes cast in an election, they would get 66% of the seats in parliament.
• The Matteotti affair;
• 1924 – moderate Socialist leader Matteotti is abducted killed just 2 weeks after he publicly condemns the illegal methods employed by the fascists during the recent election.
• Clearly being murdered by Fascists Mussolini’s position as PM is threatened. He remains in control by dismissing the head of the Fascist press office who was directly linked to the murder. The opposition was also weak and divided and made the mistake of walking out of the chamber, which did not undermine Mussolini’s position. Mussolini also had continuing support from the king and the Vatican, who favoured Mussolini over a revolt from the left or the extreme fascists.    
• The Vidoni Agreement
• 1925-26 – Abolished all independent trade unions, such as the Catholic and the Socialist, which meant that the Fascist unions were the only ones left. This gave Mussolini a greater control over the workers within the industry.
• Fear of communism
• Middle and upper class feared Communism and felt that Mussolini was the only answer to end the increasing violence and chaos in the country (even though it was Mussolini’s black shirts who created a lot of the violence and chaos)
• Both the Church and the Monarchy supported Mussolini over the Communists.
• The elimination of opposition
• 1922 – arrested the leaders of the Communist Party
• 1925 – PSI was banned
• 1925 - censorship increased
• 1926 – All opposition parties banned. PNF the only legal party
• 1926 – OVRA, secret police, established. Arrests hundreds of people every week
• Historians:
• A. Lyttleton: “The king was the only one who could stop Mussolini, but he was convinced of his importance”

The other World War I Treaties

·         The Treaty of St. Germain 1919 

o    Treaty dealing with Austria (Austria-Hungary had been split up) 

o    Territories were given to Czechoslovakia, who also annexed Bohemia and Moravia 

·         Territories included 3 million German citizens  

·         France supported this 

o    Creation of independent states of: Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (would become Yugoslavia) 

o    This meant Austria lost: Slovenia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina   

o    Poland gained Galicia 

o    Italy received South Tyrol, Trentino, and Istria 

o    Romania obtained Transylvania 

o    Austria was forbidden to unite themselves with any other country, without the consent of the League 

o    Reduced the size of the Austrian army, imposed reparations, and finally made Austria admit to causing damage. 

·         Treaty of Neuilly 1919 

o    Treaty dealing with Bulgaria  

o    Bulgaria lost access to the Aegean Sea 

o    Greece was returned Macedonia, who also received West Thrace (territory giving access to Aegean Sea) 

o    Bulgaria recognized the independent Yugoslavia, and borders were adjusted 

o    Reduced the size of the Bulgarian army and imposed reparations. 

·         Treaty of Trianon 1920 

o    Treaty dealing with Hungary 

o    The new state of Hungary had lost a lot of territory compared to the old Kingdom of Hungary 

·         More than 3 million Magyars (ethnic group associated with Hungary) was now under foreign rule 

·         Halved the size of the Hungarian population 

o    Czechoslovakia received Ruthenia and Slovakia 

o    Croatia and Slovenia joined what would become Yugoslavia 

o    Romania received Transylvania 

o    Reduced the size of the Hungarian army, imposed reparations, and finally made Hungary admit to causing damage. 

o    Romania was the big winner, which was favored by the Allies 

·         They would now become a buffer-zone between Russia and the Dardanelles Straits (access to Mediterranean Sea) 

·           Treaty of Sèvres 1920 

o    Treaty dealing with Turkey 

o    Ottoman Empire subject to principle of self-determination  

·         Had to find out what parts were of Turkish ethnic majority 

o    Weakening of Turkey = Strengthening of Greece 

o    Britain took controlled mandates in Palestine and Iraq (large oil resources in Mosul) 

o    France received Lebanon and Syria as mandates 

o    Greece gained East Thrace, Smyrna, and many Aegean islands. 

·         A plebiscite were to be held in Smyrna, which enraged Turks as it ignored the principle of self-determination 

o    Cyprus became officially British - under British occupation since 1878 

o    Germany's shares in Turkish Petrol Company were given to France 

o    Italy acquired Adalia, Rhodes, and the Dodecanese islands 

o    Armenia and Kurdistan were to become independent states 

o    Land was given to Bulgaria, causing territory around Constantinople (Istanbul) to be the only Turkish territory in Europe 

o    Britain, France, and Italy were to keep troops in Turkey 

o    Dardanelles and Bosporus Straits were opened for shipping, and governed under international commission consisting of Britain, France, Italy, and Japan 

o    Turkey forced to pay reparations and its army limited to 50,000 men 

o    The Treaty was, however, never accepted by the Turks who went to war with Greece and won. The results of the Greco-Turkish War caused a new treaty to be drafted 

·         Treaty of Lausanne 1923 

o    East Thrace returned to Turkey - including Constantinople, Smyrna, some territory along the Syrian border, and several Aegean islands 

o    Turkish sovereignty over the Bosporus straights and Dardanelles Straits were recognized 

·         Area was still demilitarized and subject to international conventions 

o    Foreign troops were withdrawn from Turkey 

o    Reparations and demilitarization clauses were removed 

o    Turkey promised to renounce all territories outside the new boundaries and undertook to guarantee the rights of minorities. 

o    Arabs were disappointed with the establishment of a new Jewish state in Palestine. 

Compare and contrast the economic policies of Khrushchev and Gorbachev

Outline

-       Intro

-       1^st p

o   Aims

§  Khrushchev

·      1) Raise living standards for Soviet citizens 

o   i) Raise grain production

o   ii) Switch focus from heavy industry to consumer industry 

·      2) Decentralize government power and economy. Khrushchev sought to limit government control by making the state “wither away”

§  Gorbachev

·      Overcome economic stagnation by modernising the system

·      Reduce detailed centralised planning with more self-management at local enterprise level

·      Reducing the power of the CPSU and the Soviet state industrial ministers in Moscow over the economy

-       2^nd p

o   Policies

§  Khrushchev

·      Agriculture

o   Increased the amount that they state paid for grain and reduced some quotas as well as the taxes on farming profits from private plots

o   Merged many collectives into larger state farms over which the government had greater control to where experts were sent from Moscow to advise on more modern methods

o   Virgin Lands January 1954

§  Idea was to farm land that had not previously been used for agriculture

·      Industry

o   May 1956

§  Khrushchev establishes 105 regional ministries based on the existing administrative structures

o   Feb-Mar 1957

§  Abolished most of the All-Union economic ministries in Moscow and reformed Gosplan

o   1957

§  Seven-Year Plan to concentrate on consumer production, light industry, chemicals and plastics, as well as mineral resources

o   In total 40% of investments were directed to the relatively neglected eastern regions of the Soviet Union as Khrushchev wanted to focus on regional development in an attempt to create a more balanced soviet economy

§  Gorbachev

·      Perestroika

o   Reduction of centralised planning with more self-management at local enterprise level

§  Factory and farm manager were given a greater say in what they produced and whom they employed

§  Self-financing was phased in

·      Enterprises paid for their own operating costs out of their profits

o   Ended subsidised prices

o   The policy became effectively a partial re-privatisation in agriculture and service industry

§  Nov 1986 Law on Individual Labour Activity

·      Allowed individuals in the service sector to start private enterprises

o   Reduced the number of industrial ministries

o   Dec 1986 Law on Joint Enterprises

§  Supposed to encourage foreign companies to invest in joint schemes in the USSR

o   Reducing state control

§  Jan 1988 Law on State Enterprises

·      60% of state enterprises were shifted from tight central control to control by their managers

·      1989 the remaining 40% of state enterprises were similarly released from state control

§  May 1988 Law on Co-operative

·      Allowed small and medium sized private co-operative enterprises to operate in the service sector and in manufacturing and foreign trade

·      Workers’ co-operative and small private businesses could be set up

§  From 1988 the agriculture continued to move towards privatisation

·      Extending the private plots that peasants already had

·      Peasants and farmers were now allowed to take out long-term leases on land belonging to the collective (the ownership of the land would therefore still belong to the state)

-       3^rd p

o   Outcome

§  Khrushchev

·      Agriculture

o   Virgin Lands

§  In the first year 2.4 million hectares were ploughed but many of the new farms failed because people did not understand the local weather conditions and there were often shortages of fertiliser to rejuvenate the quickly exhausted soil

o   Despite record harvest in 1962, which did however fall short in many places of the target, the harvest in 1963 was disastrous. Grain production dropped by nearly 30% creating a serious shortage in animal feed. This led to large quantities of North American and Australian grain that had to be bought

o   Historians John Keep and Peter Kenez have also pointed out that despite some sound attempts to improve agriculture the underlying problems still remained.

·      Industry

o   By 1965 the gross national income had grown by 58%, industrial output by 84% and consumer goods by 60%

§  Gorbachev

·      In 1987 there was reported a decline in economic growth, which resulted in a large and increasing budget deficit. In 1985 it was 3% of the national income and by 1989 it was 14%

·      The end of subsidies prices led to an increase in prices and unemployment

o   In 1990 25% of Soviet citizens were below the poverty line

o   Products were often scarce

o   By the end of 1988 rationing had to brought in for certain foods in some areas

·      Labour unrested occurred from 1989 to 1991

·      The reduced party and state control of the economy meant that the government/party was increasingly unable to take strong actions to solve the problems. This led to further unemployment and an increasing economic slowdown

-       Conclusion