Fascism in Italy and Spain
Mussolini and Franco
Italy after the Great War
• Lira became worth less, prices soared
• Shortage of coal limited production
• Widespread unemployment
• Workers began to strike, spread to rural peasants
Benito Mussolini
• 1919 formed the Fasci di
Combattimento (Fascist party)
• Fascism: glorification of the
state, strong ruler
– Unlike communism there was still
private property and classes
• Followers called “Blackshirts,”
used violence and force against
opponents Fasces: Ancient
Roman symbol of
• Democratic government did Authority;
nothing to stop the Fascists bundle of rods
around an ax
Fascists Seize Power
• October 1922, Fascists
marched on Rome
• Mussolini waited in Milan
to judge reaction
• Cabinet asked King Victor
Emmanuel III to declare
martial law, he refused
• Cabinet resigned and king
made Mussolini the Prime
Minister
• 1924 Blackshirts used
terror to make Fascists win
majority in Italian
Parliament
• Mussolini called himself Il
Duce-“the leader”
Mussolini’s Government
• Became dictator
• Set up a Corporate State
– Banned non-fascist parties
– Ordered Syndicates formed
• Corporations of workers and employers in
each industry
• They would send representatives to the
legislature; set wages, policies, production
• Fascists arrested and murdered any
who opposed Mussolini
Mussolini’s Army
• Italy’s destiny to
recapture glory of
Ancient Rome
• Conscripted all men
to 4 years service; 11
years reserve
• Military training for
youth groups
• Bonuses to large
families (their sons
would be soldiers)
• Hindered by Italy’s
lack of coal, iron, and
oil
What’s up with Spain?
• Civil War: 1936-1939
• Years of social and economic
chaos forced King Alfonso
XIII to abdicate in 1931
– Spain became a republic
• Began reforms: redistributed
land from nobles to peasants;
Catholic Church less power
over education
– Conservatives (right-wing)
opposed reforms wanted the old
regime
• Led by Francisco Franco (El
Caudillo)
• Fought against Spanish
Republicans for three years
Foreign Intervention
• Soviets supported Loyalists
(Spanish Republicans)
• Germany and Italy supported
Franco; Hitler saw it as a way to
strengthen relationship with Italy
and get Spanish iron for the
Luftwaffe (German Air force)
– Formed Condor Legion; German
force who used new military
weapons and technology on
Spanish towns to test them out
• Volunteers from GB, France, US
joined an international brigade to
fight for the Republicans against the
Fascists (the Western governments
refused to intervene)
• Franco eventually won and Spain
became fascist; Franco did not join
with Germany and Italy
• Over 500,000 Spaniards had died
Picasso’s Guernica