Between the Two World Wars
Senior 3 · History and Citizenship
Between the Two World Wars
Lesson 3 of 5
25 min
Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy from 1922, summed up his idea of government in one sentence:
Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.
Source A. Benito Mussolini, a slogan of Fascist Italy from the mid-1920s ("Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato"), translated by Ganzaa.
Analysing the source. Compare this with what you learned about the French Revolution and with Rwanda's Constitution, which protect rights that no government may take away. Mussolini says the opposite: the individual has no rights against the State, no life outside it, and no right to oppose it. A state that tries to control every part of life (politics, work, school, the press, even what people think) is called totalitarian.
Definition
Totalitarianism: a system of government in which one party, led by one leader, controls every part of public and private life and allows no opposition.
Fascism: an extreme nationalist, anti-democratic and anti-communist ideology founded by Mussolini in Italy, which glorified the nation, the leader, violence and war. Its German form, with an extreme racism at its centre, was Nazism.
Dictator: a ruler with total power, not limited by elections, parliament or courts.
Propaganda: information, often false or one-sided, spread to make people believe and support a cause.
Personality cult: the use of propaganda to present a leader as a hero who is always right.
Figure 1. Eight characteristics of a totalitarian state.
| Feature | Fascist Italy (Mussolini) | Nazi Germany (Hitler) | Soviet Union (Stalin) |
|---|---|---|---|
| One party | National Fascist Party; others banned in 1926 | Nazi Party; others banned in 1933 | Communist Party |
| Leader cult | "Il Duce", "Mussolini is always right" | "Der Führer" | "Father of the peoples" |
| Ideology | Nationalism, the State above all | Racism, "living space" in the east | Communism, class struggle |
| Secret police | OVRA | Gestapo and SS | NKVD |
| Youth | Opera Nazionale Balilla | Hitler Youth | Komsomol |
Fascism and Nazism were on the far right: they defended private property and big business and hated communism. Stalin's regime was on the far left. Yet all three governed in a totalitarian way.
On 28 October 1922 Fascist columns began the March on Rome. King Victor Emmanuel III refused to sign an order for the army to stop them, and on 30 October he appointed Mussolini Prime Minister. Mussolini became Prime Minister legally, but under the threat of violence.
| Year | Step |
|---|---|
| 1923 | The Acerbo Law gave two-thirds of the seats in parliament to the party that won the most votes, provided it had at least a quarter of them. With violence at the polls, the Fascists won the 1924 election. |
| 1924 | The socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti, who had denounced the election, was murdered by Fascists on 10 June 1924. Opposition deputies walked out of parliament in protest, which only left Mussolini freer. |
| 1925 | On 3 January 1925 Mussolini told parliament he took responsibility for the Fascists' violence: the start of open dictatorship. |
| 1926 to 1927 | Other parties and free trade unions were banned, the press was censored, and the secret police, OVRA, was created. |
| 1929 | The Lateran Treaty with the Pope created the Vatican City and won Mussolini the support of many Catholics. |
| 1930s | Youth organisations, propaganda, autarky and a "corporate state" in which employers and workers were organised under Fascist control. |
Mussolini wanted a new Roman Empire, and Ethiopia, one of only two African states still independent in 1935 (with Liberia) and a member of the League of Nations since 1923, had defeated an Italian army at Adwa in 1896. On 3 October 1935 Italian forces attacked from Eritrea without declaring war. From December 1935 they dropped mustard gas, in violation of the Geneva Protocol of 1925. The League of Nations condemned Italy and imposed sanctions, but they did not include oil, and the Suez Canal stayed open to Italian ships. Addis Ababa fell in May 1936. On 30 June 1936 the Emperor, Haile Selassie, spoke to the League in Geneva:
It is collective security: it is the very existence of the League of Nations. It is the confidence that each State is to place in international treaties. It is the value of promises made to small States that their integrity and their independence shall be respected and ensured. […] God and history will remember your judgment.
Source C. Haile Selassie I, appeal to the League of Nations, Geneva, 30 June 1936 (English translation).
The League lifted its sanctions in July 1936. Ethiopian patriots kept up their resistance, and with British help Ethiopia was liberated in 1941. The crisis showed two things: Fascism meant war and conquest, and the League could not protect a small African state against a European great power.
Worked example: explaining a rise to power
Question: Explain three reasons why Mussolini came to power in 1922. (6 marks)
Tip
For any dictator, ask two questions: How did he get power? (crisis, fear, violence, help from the old elite) How did he keep it? (laws, terror, propaganda, deals with the Church and business, control of youth). Exam questions use exactly these two verbs: "rise" and "consolidate".
Warning
Mussolini did not seize power by a battle. The March on Rome was a threat, not a victory over the army: the king chose to appoint him. Many dictators come to power with help from people inside the system who think they can control them.
In Unit 1 you saw that Rwanda's Constitution guarantees "equitable power-sharing", a "pluralistic democratic Government" and the rule of law. Choose three characteristics of a totalitarian state from Figure 1 and explain which article or principle of the Constitution is designed to prevent each one.
Practice
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
