Move To Global War - Italy - IB Paper 1 - By Dan Guiney

She died in captivity in Italy - a personal heartbreak for Selassie.

Britain and France, often under the guise of the League of Nations, essentially directed most European affairs. The League by 1933 included almost all European states, with the exception of the Soviet Union which would join the next year. The Manchurian Crisis proved that the League's collective security policy was fundamentally flawed. Governments were still responsible to their citizens and if a state's citizens objected to sending troops to distant lands they did not have to. The strongest states involved were Britain and France

Abyssinia lay neatly between Italian possessions in East Africa (Eritrea and Somaliland) in the Horn of Africa.

Women in Mussolini's Italy were supposed to stay at home and produce strong, healthy children for Italy's future armies, while men should be warriors for the state. Those women who had the most children were given awards. Various youth groups were founded by the Fascist Party to learn about fascism, to learn to march, and even to learn to shoot - in short, to be future soldiers.

Mussolini wanted living space - 'spazio vitale', a phrase you might be familiar with in its later German Nazi form. Italian expansionism looked to Africa, the Adriatic, and the Austro-Hungarian border.

The Socialists were against Italian involvement in the war.

As a result of overproduction and over speculation the Wall Street Crash rocked the world from New York on 'Black Tuesday' on 29th October 1929.

In terms of foreign policy fascism supported war and imperialism. Only through war could Italy become the great nation it was destined to be. Mussolini wanted to control the Balkans and the Mediterranean (which the Romans used to call 'Mari Nostra' - 'our sea')

Orlando left the proceedings because of his disappointment with how Italy were treated. Later in life he was proud of this.

1,000 Abyssinians asked the Italians to leave and for reasons that have never been fully revealed there was a skirmish between the two sides between 5th to 7th December.

Italy's Empire included Eritrea (which still has the same name) and Somaliland (today's Somalia). Between these were Abyssinia (today's Ethiopia), which was therefore Italy's small foothold into a wider Empire. Italy went to war over this ... and lost.

The Great Depression meant war was something many could ill afford and others feared a resurgent Germany more than Italy.

Italy had worked with France and Britain to isolate Germany after the First World War. In 1934 members of an Austrian version of the Nazi Party assassinated Engelbert Dollfuss, Austria's dictator. The plan was to overthrow the state and merge Austria with Germany. Mussolini immediately announced Italian troops would move to the border with Austria, knowing that Germany was too weak militarily. As a result Hitler's government did not intervene. Mussolini had shown his people that Italy was increasingly becoming a significant military power.

His Fascist Party and its programme called for glory, war, and empire and was popular after the struggles of 'liberal democracy' that had had so many problems before. Fascism was a ruling philosophy of nationalism, which supported industrialists and supposedly workers, emphasised order and obedience to the state, and enforced a single-party government. In short, the state is more important than the people who make it up.

Like lots of European countries Italy had taken part in the carving up of Africa in the Nineteenth Century but it did not gain much.

This was embarrassing for Italy, especially at the Battle of Adwa; a European nation being defeated by a relatively technologically less advanced African nation.

Soon (January 1925) Mussolini was simply called Il Duce (the Duke) of The Leader although his full title was actually 'His Excellency Benito Mussolini Head of Government Duke of Fascism'. A bill called the Law on Powers of the Head of Government in December 1925 gave him Supreme Executive Authority in Italy with no-one able to check his power except for the King - who wouldn't because Mussolini had popular support. Mussolini's political party, the National Fascist Party, was soon the only political party allowed.

In terms of foreign policy though Italy was economically weak and therefore militarily weak. An embargo on fuel by the USA or Britain, for example, would severely restrict the economy. Reduction in food imports from France would cause food shortages in Italy. Foreign policy had to be necessarily cautious. As a result Italy's foreign policy in the 1920s was primarily opportunist. In the 1920s Italy responded to the assassination of military officers who were ostensibly mapping Albania’s borders by shelling Greece's island of Corfu in 1923. Mussolini in sent his army in to seize it and although the League of Nations condemned it Greece, far weaker than Italy, had forced to ask Italy to pay an indemnity which Italy accepted due to British interests in the area and this was a show of strength from the Brits.

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In July 1923 the Acerbo Law was passed. This stated that any party in Italy that gets the most votes in an election will receive two-thirds of the Parliamentary seats. This meant that a party without a majority could have a plurality of the votes, so even though Mussolini only had 26% of the vote it was going to receive 66% of the seats in the legislative body.

By signing the Treaty of London in which it was promised territories along the Adriatic and in Austria-Hungary. These promises were simply to be largely ignored by the victorious allies however.

Italy's main trading partners were Britain, France, and the USA. Because of increased trade barriers these countries put up though Italy turned away from Western markets and traded much more with Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. This meant in terms of foreign policy Italy had less fear of economic retaliation than it had before. So, in effect, the Great Depression gave Italy more freedom to operate its foreign policy than previously and more in line with the government's fascist policies.

Countries did not just erect trade barriers, though; they also turned to their colonies and established systems known as Imperial Preference. The French Empire, for example, covered just over 9% of the globe and was a market for one-third of France's industrial production. It was clear to smaller industrialised states, including Italy, that having an Empire could provide raw materials, food, markets, and land to settle their surplus population and would therefore help alleviate their economic crises in a time of enormous economic turmoil

Benito Mussolini was named Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 (over a decade before Hitler came to power) and ruled the country as a Fascist dictator until 1943.

Black Shirts - a paramilitary group which took their name because they wore shirts which were black. At first they had 15 zones of 133 legions but they grew enormously.

Italy's Empire included Eritrea (which still has the same name) and Somaliland (today's Somalia). Between these were Abyssinia (today's Ethiopia). It has two letters S and one letter N. Get it right! :-0

Between 1936-39 Italy got heavily involved in Spain, supporting the conservative nationalist General Franco during the Spanish Civil War. This cost money, troops, and supplies that Italy could ill afford. This meant Italy decided to look for European territory too, and Albania soon became a prize Mussolini sought. Albania under King Zog was a small country with few people and lots of resources such as fields, metals, and petroleum. Mussolini gave Zog an ultimatum in March 1939 requesting troops be placed there, an Italian minister be placed in government, and Italian colonists be given land. Zog refused these and offered smaller concessions and so on 7th April 30,000 soldiers invaded and in just three
days took over Albania. Italy's King was now also the King of the Albanians.

Britain and France, often under the guise of the League of Nations, essentially directed most European affairs. The League by 1933 included almost all European states, with the exception of the Soviet Union which would join the next year. The Manchurian Crisis proved that the League's collective security policy was fundamentally flawed. Governments were still responsible to their citizens and if a state's citizens objected to sending troops to distant lands they did not have to. The strongest states involved were Britain and France.

Abyssinia was a small African country of about 12 million people. Today we call it Ethiopia. It lacked a modern army and material resources.

The Labour Party believed that having large stockpiles of weapons actually made war more likely (based on the experiences of the causes of the First World War) and this meant Britain would remain militarily weak in this period, preventing aggressive responses to any Italian or German aggression. Moreover, economic problems meant the UK did not have the funds to invest in rearmament.

The Soviet Union was being run by Stalin after his successful rise to power from around 1928. In the late 1920s the Soviets began massive industrialisation with  the First Five Year Plan. The reorganisation of industry and the collectivisation of agriculture led to millions dying but ultimately it should be added ensured that the Soviet Union was strong enough to defeat Nazi Germany in war by 1945 (suffering a further 23 million deaths). The Soviets, busy with their own affairs, were not particularly affected by the world depression as they were relatively uninvolved in world diplomacy.

Italy was united as a nation into the Kingdom of Italy only as recently as 1861. Most of its strength rested in the north and the nation was effectively a Constitutional Monarchy with a Royal Family at its head.

The First World War for Italy was a disaster - even though they were on the winning side. 600,000 Italian soldiers died in very similar trench warfare on the Austrian border that you may be familiar with from the Western Front.

The press leaked it and ridiculed the 'camel's corridor' and nothing came of it. This was a sign however of the West’s willingness to appease Mussolini. Hoare resigned and the English King George V famously quipped "no more Hoares to Paris."

OVRA (Secret Police) was set up in 1926. Trials began to be held without juries with judges appointed by Mussolini's government. The death penalty was expanded to handle movements against the government. Youth movements grew and these would also later be echoed in Nazi Germany.

This is the idea that there is a democratic state in which people can elect representatives and individuals are protected by law (a bit different to how we define 'liberalism' today but it is still a phrase we use for this period). There were free elections but they were not universal - women could not vote and voting in Italy was for wealthy property owners which led to some frustration from the unrepresented.

During the First World War Italy had been a member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. However, the Italians changed sides in April 1915 and joined the Allied forces on the Entente side (France, Russia, and Britain).

Whilst the Treaty of Versailles sorted out what happened with Germany, it was the Treaty of St. Germain (with Austria) and the Treaty of Trianon (with Hungary) which affected Italy the most. Italy was to be deeply frustrated because it did not get what it was promised in the Treaty of London back in 1915 when it changed sides. The Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando left the conference early, never signing the treaty, and resigned in shame.

It was one of the most stirring speeches of the Twentieth Century: "Should it happen that a strong government finds it may, with impunity, destroy a weak people, then the hour strikes for that weak people to appeal to the League of Nations to give its judgment in all freedom. God and history will remember your judgment."

French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau nicknamed him 'the weeper'.

In May 1939 Italy and Germany signed a formal military alliance known as the Pact of Steel, more formally known as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy (a little known fact is it was nearly called the Pact of Blood!). Italy would not, however, be ready for a war for a while and some think Hitler's did this to distract France and to ensure no squabble with Italy (with whom it had a border since the takeover of Austria).

Aerial bombing and 300-500 tonnes of mustard gas were used in villages like Ancober, crops destroyed, water poisoned, and civilians slaughtered. Flame throwers were deployed. Prisoners and even priests were executed. Even Swedish Red Cross buildings were targeted in violation of the 1925 Geneva Convention. In the village of Goggetti it was ordered that all men over the age of 18 be killed and the village destroyed.

In April 1935 Britain, France and Italy agreed the Stresa Front to form a common alliance against Germany. However, almost immediately Britain then signed a bilateral naval agreement with Germany. Italy and France felt betrayed by Britain. 

Economic conditions were so bad that Britain and France suspended indefinitely reparation payments (a moratorium) from the Treaty of Versailles at the Lausanne Conference in 1932 in Switzerland.

He was the kind of man who named his child Benito Mussolini! He had two wives and many mistresses, often from his group of supporters.

Fun fact! Selassie was literally worshipped as a God amongst Rastafarian people in Jamaica from the 1930s onwards.

39% of Italian soldiers were killed or wounded during the war - 4 out of 10 of uniformed soldiers therefore died or were injured. Moreover, Italians experienced rationing on the home front and life was difficult causing existing divisions to grow further.

After the economic boom of the roaring '20s the right-wing Republicans fell from power and they lost both control of Congress as well the Presidency in the 1932 election. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, led the left-wing Democratic Party to victory, winning 57.4% of the vote. He controlled both the House of Representatives (313 to 117) and the Senate (59 to 36) with huge majorities and passed a barrage of laws and executive orders in the first 100 days of his Presidency to mark the beginning of a programme of social welfare known as the New Deal.

Banks were temporarily closed, taxes were raised, government spending increased while government salaries were slashed, and more trade barriers were put up. Roosevelt put forward a policy of deficit spending and the USA isolated itself from most European foreign affairs in the 1930s. This was a retreat to its old pre-First World War policy of avoiding 'entangling alliances' and 'old world' affairs.

The King of Italy Victor Emmanuel II was renamed Emperor of Ethiopia. Although Ethiopia ‘technically’ never surrendered it was a resounding victory.