Mussolini and Italian Fascism Book

Author's acknowledgements     x
Publisher's acknowledgements     xi
Chronology     xii
Who's who     xvii
Glossary     xx
Background     1
Introduction     3
Perspectives     6
Perspectives on modern Italian history     6
Perspectives on the study of Italian Fascism     9
Mussolini and Italian Fascism     17
The Origins of Italian Fascism, 1870-1917     19
Liberal Italy and its discontents     19
Interventionism     25
The Great War and its aftermath     29
Fascism as Movement, 1917-21     33
The birth of the Fascist movement     33
The biennio rosso and fascism's reaction     36
The Road to Dictatorship, 1921-6     42
The march on Rome: myth and reality     42
The 'bivouac' that might have been: the Duce as prime minister, 1922-4     46
The Matteotti crisis     51
Establishing the Regime     53
The Fascist Regime 1926-36     56
The structure of the Fascist Regime     56
Fascism and religion     61
Making Italians Fascists?     65
The EthiopianWar     77
Mussolini and Hitler, 1936-8     85
The deal with Nazism     85
The apotheosis of the dictatorship     93
Munich: Mussolini's last peace     98
The Second World war and the end of Fascism, 1938-45     102
Understanding Italy's performance in the Second World War     102
The collapse of Fascism     105
The death of a nation: Italy between 1943 and 1945     111
Conclusion     121
The Place of Italian Fascism in European History     123
Documents     129
Patriotism in newly unified Italy     130
Criticism of liberal Italy     130
The Futurist Manifesto     131
The proletarian nation     132
The young Mussolini condemns Italy's war in Libya, 1     133
The young Mussolini condemns Italy's war in Libya, 2     133
Left-wing interventionism     134
The defeat of Caporetto     134
The Arditi     135
The ideal soldier     136
The Legend of the Piave     136
Fascist squadism     137
Early Fascist programmes     138
The 1919 elections     139
Landlords defend themselves      139
Mussolini's first speech to parliament     140
Giolitti supports Mussolini's first government     141
Matteotti's speech to the Chamber of Deputies     142
Mussolini's 'clarification' speech     142
The Lateran Pacts     143
The Fascist conception of the state     144
Respect for state authority     145
Achievements of Fascism     145
The spirit of Fascism     146
Fascist manhood     147
Limited effects of Fascism     147
The conquest of Ethiopia     148
The expected role of women     149
Terrorizing Addis Ababa, 1     149
Terrorizing Addis Ababa, 2     150
Nazism and Italian Fascism     150
The Manifesto of Racial Scientists     151
Hitler's view of Mussolini and Italy     152
German success embitters Mussolini     153
The Pact of Steel     154
Italian lack of military preparedness     154
Declaration of war     155
The Grandi motion     156
Death of the nation?     156
Further Reading     159
References     170
Index     177