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Papal States taken over by new nation of Italy
The Papal states were taken over by Italy until Lazio was given up by the Pope. -
Formation of an independent Italy
The Resurgence was a political movement that unified countries of the Italian Peninsula into a single nation of Italy separate from the Roman Empire -
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Failure of First Italo-Ethiopian War with the Battle of Adowa (Adwa)
Italy invaded Ethiopia and then Ethiopia outnumbered the Italian soldiers and they won. -
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Italy invades and takes over Libya
Italy invaded Turkey and started the Italo-Turkish War and won. -
Mussolini kicked out of Socialist Party for pro-nationalistic sentiments regarding WW I
Mussolini was expelled from the Social Party for advocating military intervention in World War I, in opposition to the party's stance on neutrality. -
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Mussolini begins work as editor for the Socialist Party newspaper Avanti
Avanti! Supported neutrality. After being hired, Benito Mussolini pushed the socialist newspaper into an interventionist campaign with his articles as director. -
Treaty of London
A secret treaty between the Triple Entente and the Kingdom of Italy that brought Italy into World War I on the Allied side. -
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Beginning of Biennio Rosso
Intense social conflict was at an all time high in Italy especially during WWI. Caused Mussolini to violently revolt with the Blackshirts and start a march. -
Fascio di Combattimento formed in Milan
Mussolini formed these fasci groups which mainly included post-war veterans who were upset at the result of WW1 for Italy. The ideology of this group was centered around Mazzinian politics and was very anti-socialist, and was influential in Mussolini gaining support and rising to power. -
D’Annunzio takes Fiume
D’annunzio orders his men to storm Fiume in order to take the city back from Austria because Italy was promised the city after being on the winning side of WWI. He faced very little opposition. This caused a lot of commotion in Italy. -
Mussolini forms alliance with Giolitti
Mussolini formed the “National Blocs,” an alliance of right-wing political parties, for the 1921 Italian election with Giovanni Giolotti, who was the former liberal prime minister of Italy. It ended up receiving 19.1% of the votes, giving the party 105 out of 535 spots in parliament, 35 of whom were fascist. So, this alliance proved beneficial for Mussolini to advance his power. -
Mussolini forms the PNF (Fascist Party)
This was a right wing facist political party created by Mussolini to spread Italian Nationalism. Mussolini wanted to outmaneuver the Ras. Continuing on with the victories Mussolini wanted to reform the political party, which was seen as a way to convince people that he is a good leader. -
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March on Rome and Mussolini becomes Prime Minister
Some leaders of the fascist party had planned an insurrection, and Mussolini agreed because he wanted to maintain their support. It was an organized mass demonstration that ended up with Mussolini the prime minister of Italy. The current prime minister Luigi Facta had wanted to declare “a state of siege,” but King Emmanuell III didn’t let this happen, which was significant in that it allowed Mussolini to become the prime minister without violent conflict. -
Acerbo Law passed
The Acerbo Law was an electoral law in Italy proposed by Baron Giacomo Acerbo, and its purpose was to put Mussolini’s fascist party in the majority. It was passed, it was designed to give the majority of the seats to the party that gained at least 25% of the votes. In addition, force and coercion were used. -
Corfu Incident
Between Italy and Greece, the Corfu Incident was a military crisis caused by an Italian general being murdered in Greece. Mussolini declared an ultimatum on Greece, which wasn’t accepted causing Mussolini to send troops to occupy Corfu in Greece, defying the League of Nations and showing how weak the League was. -
Matteotti Crisis
Giacomo Matteotti was a socialist who openly said that the Fascists committed fraud through violence in the 1924 election. Eleven days later he was kidnapped and killed by the Fascists, showing the extent of fear and coercion the Fascists used to gain power. -
Aventine Secession
The Aventine Secession was a meeting that took place on Aventine Hill. The meeting was about the murder of Giacomo Matteotti (picture above). The king was going to bring Mussolini down from his high political standpoint, but Mussolini threatened the king that he would start a revolution in the country. The King then took the blame off of Mussolini, however, people still blamed Mussolini for the death of Giacomo Matteotti. -
Battle for Grain
Started due to poor harvests which caused an increase in grain imports. The purpose was to have Italy grow more cereals, specifically wheat, in order to reduce foreign imports of grains. This caused the need to import more other fruits and Olive oil instead. -
Locarno Treaty Signed
Countries like Germany, France, Great Britain, Belgium and Italy came together to sign the Locarno Treaty. Essentially, it was signed to mutually create peace between European Nations. Specifically, it secured the borders between the countries. The political cartoon shows how Italy and some other countries did not achieve peace with the Locarno Treaty. -
Battle for Land and Battle for the Lira
Land - an attempt to turn marshland into suitable farming land. Many marshes were drained to make small farms.
Lira - Began after the Italian currency dropped in value. The Lira was revalued in order to help the economy. Caused a decline in exports and an incline in unemployment -
Battle for Births
An attempt to increase the Italian population to create a large army when they are old enough to fight for future Italian territories. They encouraged early marriage and offered benefits. It caused the degrading of the status of women and forced them to be housewives. -
Kellogg-Briand Treaty signed
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an agreement to outlaw war and resolve conflict in a more peaceful manner. Originally signed by Germany, France, and the United States but was later signed by many other nations. Caused little change and did not stop WWII. -
Lateran Treaty with Pope
This treaty was part of the Lateran Pacts of 1929, which were agreements between Italy and King Victor Emmanuel III and the “Holy See,” both under Pope Pius XII. This specific treaty recognized the independence of Vatican City governed by the Roman Catholic Church, who was given financial compensation for the loss of the Papal states. This is significant as is ended the conflicts between Italy and the Roman Catholic Church. -
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Abyssinian Crisis
This was an ongoing conflict between Ethiopia and Italy after the Wal Wal incident. It was a crisis that started from territory issues. Italy built a fort at the Wal Wal oasis on Ethopian territory. The League of Nations tried to prevent this crisis from happening. -
Stresa Front
An agreement made between Great Britain, France, and Italy in Stresa, Italy with the goal of reinforcing the Locarno Treaties, declaring independence for Austria, and preventing Germany from changing the Treaty of Versailles. It’s often considered the last chance for Hitler to be stopped, and obviously this was unsuccessful as Great Britain signed the Anglo-German Naval agreement that allowed Germany to increase the size of its Navy. -
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Italian involvement with Spanish Civil War
Italy got involved in the Spanish Civil War and provided military aid to the nationalists in the war. In return, Italy was hoping to gain and create bases in Spain and that is exactly what happened. Spain gave Italy permission to build bases on their land. -
Munich Conference
This conference was held in 1938. Leaders of Britain, France, Italy, and Germany came together to grant Germany the permission to annex parts of Czechoslovakia. France and Britain signed the agreement to ensure that a war does not break out. -
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Italy invades Albania
In the year of 1939, Italy invaded Albania. The invasion was a result of the imperialist ideas that Mussolini imposed on Albania. Mussolini wanted to obtain more territory and land because Hiliter upstaged him in terms of power. The picture displays the army Mussolini created, and the military equipment, such as tanks and ships, he used to invade Albania. -
Italy enters WWII on side of Germany
Italy joined WWII on the Axis side after it became apparent France was going to be defeated. Italy originally wanted to stay out due to lack of resources but eventually joined after the thought of controlling Europe with Hitler. Caused more power for the Axis. -
Rome-Berlin Axis Treaty signed
A military and political alliance that created the Axis Powers. This was also known as the “Pact of Steel” that also included Japan. It was a defense alliance agreement that also wanted to prevent the U.S from getting involved in the war. -
Mussolini brought down by coup during WWII
The fascist grand council voted 19 to 7 to remove him from power. The next day the king formally ordered Mussolini to resign. This shows he was never able to impose a totalitarian regime. This caused an end to the fascist regime in Italy. -
Mussolini killed
At first Mussolini tried to flee the country with the Germans but was recognized by a group of Italians. They brought him to a group of communist led partisans who soon shot both him and his mistress killing them both.
