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Factors influencing Mussolini's foreign policy - Coggle Diagram
Factors influencing Mussolini's foreign policy
Nationalist views
"To make Italy great, respected and feared"
Domination of Balkans like during Roman Empire
After WWI nationalists felt betrayed -> side with Mussolini
Earlier humiliations
Treaty of Versailles -> land promised was not gained
International situation
Failure of the state to challenge big landowners to redress poverty in the south (internal situation)
South was less industrialised than the north (internal situation)
America not in the League of nations
Versailles settlement
explains why Mussolini wanted to increase national pride and make Italy a more significant force in international politics
Economic resources
Foreign policy aims were reliant on strengthening the economy
double aim: consolidate power and make Italy self-sufficient, an economy that could support a militarist state
"productivity" -> intent to increase productivity
Mussolini's ideas was the "Corporate state": a new way of organising the economy, different from both capitalism and socialism.
envisioned that all workers would work for the national good
would serve national interest, economy would be regulated, and interests would be protected
Initiatives to launch the economy
1928 - "Mussolini law": programme of land reclamation
Battle for Grain 1925
- Success: fall of 75% in imports, Failure: importation of fertilizers failed to keep the pace
soil in south was not suitable for growing wheat
Battle for the Lira 1926
- Mussolini increased from 154 lira to 90 lira to the British pound, exports fell, not a corresponding benefit to consumers (had to pay more for imported goods due to tarrifs
Increase in value of the lira from 154 lira to 90 lira to the British pound, exposers fell and there was no corresponding benefit to consumers
1927 - 10% wage cut
The Battle of the Marshes (1923): Designed to increase the availability of land, increase employment and demonstrate Fascist dynamism.
Mixed success. Not many changes were made.
Fascist ideology
expansionist aims
Fascist Italy could be the second Roman Empire
Benito Mussolini certainly made use of Roman history in order to popularize his campaigns and his regime, and his rhetorical invocation of history centered on ancient Rome
Romanitá was a powerful source of nationalism which aided a broken down people in building national pride.
Mussolini’s use of romanitá allowed Italians to see in Fascism the opportunity for a new golden age
The emphasis on ancient Rome led people to think of Fascism as a natural descendent of the Roman Empire, and that Mussolini was the destined ruler of a new Roman Empire.