In October 1922, there was a coup in Italy, as a result of which Benito Mussolini seized power and became the leader of a new, fascist country. How did a country among the "great victories" of World War I, within four years, turn against its Western allies and create a leader whose activities inspired Adolf Hitler?
Not for the war!
The outbreak of World War I did not encourage Italians to immediately reach for weapons. The mood in the country was divided. The nationalist right and the Republicans were in favor of joining the war, and the socialists, along with the liberals, were in favor of maintaining neutrality. However, this climate has changed over time. Some socialists supported Italy's involvement in the conflict on the side of France and Great Britain, including Benito Mussolini.
In 1914, Mussolini was already the editor-in-chief of the socialist journal Avanti, in which he initially wrote against Italy's joining the hostilities. However, he changed this course at the end of the same year, which resulted in the loss of not only his job, but also his place in the socialist party.
This did not discourage him from further action. In order to proclaim his views, he founded the daily "Il Popolo d'Italia", in which he called on the Italian people to support the actions of the Entente countries. Time was to show that it was not selfless behavior. France and Great Britain, with the support of the French Socialists, were secretly financing the work of the future Duce.
Broken promises
Italy's decision to initially remain neutral also had a double bottom. It was a step by which they opened the door to secret talks with both sides of the conflict in order to opt for the one with better conditions and an action plan.
After long negotiations, taking place secretly with both Vienna and London, the Entente won the game. The secret treaty was signed in the British capital on April 26 under which Italy was to receive after the war:Trento, South Tyrol, Istria and Dalmatia as well as the protectorate over Albania and the rights to the Dodecanese and parts of Little Asia.
And everything could have happened according to the Italian plan, if not for the accession to the war USA.
Vittoria Mutilata
The London Treaty was an incentive for Italy, which, unfortunately, was canceled out when it entered the US battlefield. The then American president, Woodrow Wilson, had his "new world view" that would emerge after the end of the conflict. He presented it on January 8, 1918 in fourteen points that represented "peace without victory." These guidelines were to protect the world from the outbreak of the next great war. And they did not envisage supporting any secret agreements.
Benito Mussolini became a leader that Adolf Hitler modeled for a long time
Thus, at the end of World War I, Italy found itself on the victorious side, but in a losing position, with far fewer new territories than the London Treaty assumed. They won the "Vittoria Mutilata" or crippled victory.
The provisions of the Versailles treaty met with great dissatisfaction among Italians. The Great War claimed over 600,000 Italian lives, while severely straining the country's economy. The country was drowning in debt and inflation. Workers' wages remained meager, and unemployment soared with the demobilization of the army. The mood in Italy was far from winning, and the crisis, which worsened every year, only worsened it.
The time of big changes has come.
The birth of fascism
Social discontent began to manifest in strikes that repeatedly broke out across the country. In this atmosphere, on March 23, 1919, Benito Mussolini organized a meeting during which the veterans' unions created the "Fasci Italiani di Combattimento". This organization of less than 200 people laid the foundations for a party that, in three years, from a minor institution to a party that set new standards in the Italian country.
The fascists' postulates to put the interests of the nation above the interests of a given class, and their open aversion to the Bolsheviks and Italian socialists, were initially not widely appreciated. In their first post-war parliamentary elections in late 1919, they failed miserably in favor of the Socialists.
Mussolini took power as a result of the so-called March on Rome
However, time began to favor them. The Italian socialists became ruthless to those who did not want to join the party, and this was their doom and Benito's victory.
After the elections, the country fell into a socialist madness. Workers occupied factories and landed estates, and non-party members could not count on help from the government. Fascism began to present itself as a response to socialist frolics.
When the striking workers occupied the industrial plants, their owners did not call the state services. They knew the government was not going to come to their aid. That is why they turned to fascist militias. Workers and farmers without party IDs could not work in factories or on lands monopolized by the socialists. The fascists offered them an alternative in the form of working in the factories they supported or for landowners who leased them a non-cultivated land. These were actions that attracted the attention of society more and more, and the inept and stormy rule of the socialists, leading to constant strikes and clashes in the streets, only strengthened the position of Mussolini's organization.
With the support of entrepreneurs, landowners and anti-socialist citizens, and backed by the Black Shirts militias, Benito saw his opportunity and seized power. In October 1922 he set off for Rome, where due to the coup he changed the face of Italy.