Mussolini+4

= = = = = __Bonito Mussolini__ = = = =__Economy-__= = = 1. Create more farmland 2. Strengthen the National Currency 3. Create a self sufficient economy
 * Italy's economy was in a very bad state. It had not yet recovered from World War I. Italy was not industrialized and had an agricultural economy that was relatively small compared to many of the other western nations (ex: Britain and France). Mussolini had a plan to fix there economic troubles. His plan consisted of three steps:

Since Italy's economy was based on agriculture Mussolini decided to create more land. He planned on using this land for farming and building roads which he believed would in turn strengthen the economy. He planed on doing this by clearing the Pontine Marshes. He believed that in and agriculture economy that more farmland would help it grow. He also planed to build roads which would improve the infrastructure of the country. The clearing of the marshes and the building of the roads created many jobs which were scarce at the time.

Mussolini believed that in order to have a strong economy and be viewed as a strong European power they needed a strong currency. He tried to do this by raising the prices on exports. Due to the small economy of Italy this caused unemployment and many business fail because they couldn't sell there goods.

In order to create a self sufficient economy Mussolini increase the production of grain. When he did this he cut the production of fruits and vegetables which were cheaper to produce than grain. Because** **of the price of producing grain the price of bread greatly increased. This was a problem for the poor and working class whose main food was bread.**


 * Because of the small economy that wasn't industrialized Mussolini's efforts did not succeed in strengthening the economy of Italy.**

=__Political Environment-__=
 * Mussolini had one simple goal when he was elected into government. What he said was, "My objective is simple. I want to make Italy great, respected and feared." He wanted Italy to be the most powerful country of the Mediterranean countries just like in ancient Rome. The only thing that was stopping him was Britain and France because Britain had most of it's naval ports along the Mediterranean Sea and Britain and France's control over the Suez Canal. In his view, the country that had the most power was the country that had the most conquered countries.**


 * In June of 1933, Mussolini held a meeting in Rome with representatives from France, Britain, and Germany. This meeting was about the Four Power Pact which was about that larger, colinizing countries shouldn't give smaller, colonized countries any say in what the government does. This made Mussolini think that he was leading the rest of Europe by leading this meeting, which, I do believe, increased his confidence and self-esteem.

Mussolini knew that he could be the dictator of Italy if he got support from the Italian peoples. He realized that he could get that support from the Italian peoples by leading the March of Rome. The result from leading the March of Rome was Mussolini becoming the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 even though his office had some troubles because it contained a lot of men with different opinions. While Mussolini was in office, he needed more support to stay in power. Mussolini was so determined to stay in office, you could say that he bought his way into staying in office. He started by benifiting the working class and the buisness owners. He increased the workers' working hours to eight hours. Most of the money that someone made in their lifetime now would go towards their family other than the government. Mussolini also encouraged schools to teach religion so that he would get support from the Roman Catholic Chuch. According to this web link:** **http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jschildk/dictators/index.htm, " Mussolini had never intended to share power with the liberals who were in the government. He introduced a Fascist Grand Council which would decide policy for Italy without consulting the non-fascists in the government first." In Febuary of 1923, the Facist Grand Council released the Acerbo Law which changed the election results of Italy. Also according to this web link:http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jschildk/dictators/index.htm, "Now if one party got just 25% (or more) of the votes cast in an election, they would get 66% of the seats in parliament." When it came time for Parlament to vote, some polititions liked an idea of if there were any facists in the government, they would pretty much be fired. Another quote from the previous website is," The gallery in the hall in which the politicians voted was filled with armed fascist thugs who had a good view of anybody who spoke out against the law. The threat was clear and real. If you voted for the law, you would be fine. If you did not, then you were certainly in danger from fascist thugs." When it was time to vote, 2/3 of the parlament voted yes on the Acerbo Law. **

= = =__Social Aspects of The Country-__ =

=== All Italians were expected to obey the dictations of Mussolini and his Fascist Party. Mussolini's laws were enforced by the Blackshirts. The Blackshirts were usually ex-soldiers whose job was to bring into line those who opposed Mussolini. Though they didn't use murder tactics, the Blackshirts were able to keep anyone from opposing Mussolini. Beyond the Blackshirts, Mussolini had a secret police called OVRA. The group was established in 1927. The secret police handled serious offenses and, if necessary, administered the death penalty. This group, however, was rarely used. From the year it was issued to 1940, the OVRA only arrested 4,000 people. The people arrested by Mussolini's groups were sent to remote islands in the Mediterranean Sea. All of these tactics, used by Mussolini and his Fascist Party, were used to keep the Italian people under government control. ===

=== Youth education changed dramatically when the Fascists came to power in Italy. The dictator wanted children to grow up learning and believing Fascist ideas rather than what they would have learned before the prewar years. Beginning in 1922, boys were expected to grow up to be fierce soldiers. Girls were stressed that they should be good mothers that would provide Italy with the great population needed for Industrialization. School children of the time were also taught that Mussolini was great; they were indoctrinated that the dictator would be the only one who could bring Italy back up to power. Schoolboys were also encouraged to attend one of the three youth programs after school. Another addition to youth education was the cultural beliefs of the Fascists. The children were taught (to boys) that violence was natural. The girls were taught that giving birth was an important and natural phenomenon. Children were also taught obedience. The schools had become training camps for future fighters and birth givers. ===

=== Another major change that took place upon Mussolini's rise to power was the change of the roles in society for women. Like in Nazi Germany, women were expected to have lots of children. Mussolini thought that the number of Italians in the world was too small and he made increasing the population an initiative. He rewarded large families by supplying them with benefits and tax cuts. Those who remained unmarried, however, lost some of their benefits and got an increase in their taxes. Mussolini's goal was to have control over a country populated by 60 million by the 1950's. He failed to meet his goal due to the fact (not just that he had lost the war) that the birth rate of Italy still declined from the late 20's to the early 30's. ===