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Formation of an Independent Italy
This photo shows how cramped Italy was before it was unified, and emphasizes the effort and time it took for Italy's lands to be taken back from countries like Austria. -
Papal States taken over by new nation of Italy
This photo shows the state of the kingdom of Italy before taking Rome, as it was the last city to be annexed before all of Italy was united as one whole. -
Failure of the first Italo-Ethiopian War / Battle of Adwa
This painting is of Ethiopian forces winning the battle, painted in 1899. This would start a trend of Italy losing battles very quickly that would continue into the 20th century. -
Italy invades and takes over Libya
Another constant of Italian history is forces taking countries and cities their people were promised with force. This photo highlights Italy's intent to use as much force as they could to take what, supposedly, was rightfully theirs, as Italian claims over Libya date back to the Berlin Conference in 1878. -
Mussolini begins work as editor for Avanti!
This screenshot of an Avanti! paper is purely to demonstrate Mussolini being a radical socialist at the time, but his differing ideals to traditional socialism would result in him being kicked out of the Italian Socialist Party. -
Mussolini expelled from Italian Socialist Party for pro-war sentiments
This is a snippit of Mussolini's own paper that he founded after being expelled from the Italian Socialist Party for his radical values that were not traditionally socialist. Mussolini began to develop his ideals more after his supposed cancellation. -
Treaty of London
This photo shows the areas Italy was promised for their entry into World War I on the side of the Entente. This treaty and the failure to uphold the agreements would have lasting consequences for Italy's then-government and would indirectly play a role in fascist supremacy. -
Beginning of the Biennio Rosso
The 'two red years' as it translates to in English marked a rise of socialist unrest in Italy following the methods of the Russian Revolution, which would be met with violent attacks by the blackshirt fascists. -
Fascio di Combattimento formed
Mussolini and his group were nationalists, and they endorsed claims over Fiume and Dalmatia, two areas which were promised to the state of Italy for assisting the Entente powers during World War I. The photo is just to show how many people Mussolini had backing his ideals at this point. -
D'Annunzio takes Fiume
Following Mussolini's call to action, Gabriele D'Annunzio took an armed nationalist group and occupied Fiume for a brief period. No serious opposition was met. The photo highlights ideals of Italian supremacy above all others, and in tandem with the info given continues highlighting the fascists knack for violence being used as a force in politics. -
Mussolini allies with Giovanni Giolitti
Mussolini allying with Giolitti highlights his eventual success at rising in the ranks of political power, as soon he would become prime minister of Italy himself. So Giolitti would be a powerful arsenal to have, even though Giolitti himself only did so to try and gain control of the Fascist movement. -
Mussolini forms the PNF (National Fascist Party)
Mussolini reformed his own political party as an expression of Italian fascism and as a reorganization of the Fascio di Combattimento. The party ruled Italy after the March on Rome in 1922 until the fascist regime collapsed entirely. The photo below is simply the logo of the new party placing Mussolini as a totalitarian ruler. -
March on Rome and Mussolini becomes Prime Minister
Victor Emmanuel III did not intercept the March on Rome and instead gave Mussolini the opportunity to be prime minister as an attempt to quell the fascist movement, and as mentioned earlier, this did not work out as planned. The photo below depicts the March on Rome and in turn, a key moment of the fascist movement. -
Corfu Incident
Italians forming a bounty delegation were murdered on Greek land, forcing Mussolini to order a naval bombardment on the area, significantly damaging Mussolini's reputation in the aftermath. The photo below simply depicts the general area the event took place on the world map. -
Acerbo Law passed
The Acerbo Law was one of the methods Mussolini's party used to maintain power as much as possible for as long as possible. The law was proposed by Giacomo Acerbo, who is depicted in the photo. The law stated that whichever party gained majority vote would have guaranteed two-thirds of the seats in parliament. -
Matteotti Crisis
Giacomo Matteotti, an Italian Socialist politician, after criticizing Mussolini's victory through fascist violence, was abducted and murdered by the blackshirts, and a majority of the blame was put on Mussolini, damaging his reputation as a leader for a brief period. The photo below depicts Matteotti while he was alive. -
Aventine Secession
The picture of the people boycotting, directly symbolizes the way politicians and citizens opposed the Italian government, and shows their defiance of the regime through the mass of people holding signs. This picture from the protest shows the spirit of the Secession and shows the communist/socialist group that seceded to Aventine Hill in hopes of their protest would overturn the governments decision to restrict political freedoms and local councils. -
Battle for Grain
This propaganda poster from 1925 does a great job at portraying the Battle for the Grain as based on it's context as a propaganda poster it sends a great need of urgency to the cause of the Grain. Additionally the poster does a good job at showing the situation Italy was in, in which it prioritized wheat over the cattle and aimed to strengthen the Autarky. Overall it does a great job at representing the aim of the policy. -
Locarno Treaty signed
The reason I chose this political cartoon is that not only does it do a good job at summarizing what happened at the Locarno treaty in which Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, and the UK gave peace to Europe following WWI, but it also does a good job at showing the broader and wider narrative of the treaty, in that it was just a stepping stone in the disarmament of Europe and could finally lead to true peace within Europe. -
Battle for Births
The image of the Baby basket gets the point across directly at what the Battle for Births was about, more babies. It shows the Italian governments attempts to send women out of the workforce and back into the home so that they could make as many kids as possible and increase the population that would be needed for further wars and spreading the fascist ideology Mussolini preached. -
Battle for Land and Battle for the Lira
The picture of the Italian Lire does a good job at representing the Battle for Land and the Battle for the Lira, because the crux of both "battles" were economic, which is obviously represented through the monetary currency ofthe Lira. Both battles were based in strengthening the Italian economy and increasing the Autarky of the Italian Fascist Nationalist state, which is why Money represents it so well. -
Kellogg-Briand Treaty signed
The large group of men signing the Kellogg-Briand Treaty not only represents it in a direct sense, but the number of people also represents it's aim. The treaty was a hope by all these countries that they'd be able to stop using war and be able to negotiate conflicts peacefully. However there hope also represents the irony in the treaty itself, in that a room full of men of papers signed the treaty, and like the treaty had no real way of enforcing it. -
Lateran Treaty with Pope
The flag of the Vatican represents the Lateran Treaty with the Pope best as it shows the direct outcome of the treaties. Although Mussolini came in with the intention in order to gain the support of the pope and thus ease tensions by winning over the religious population of Italy, at it's core outcome the treaty resulted in the creation of the Vatican as an independent state, and the flag that represents that state, best represents the treaty that created it. -
Stresa Front
The reason I took the Locarno treaty thumbnail and just put a recycle symbol on it was because at it's core the Stresa Front was a recycle. The Stresa Front Re-Affirmed the Locarno Pact of 1925 and it guaranteed the borders between Germany and it's neighbors. Additionally the treaty made it so that Germany would resist and attempts to change its borders. -
Abyssinian Crisis
This map shows the Abyssinian Crisis by directly showing Italy's involvement. This can be seen from the Arrows ingrained with the Italian flag coming from the Italian Somaliland, going into Abyssinia which shows the crux of the Abyssinian Crisis perfectly. Mussolini and the armed forces of fascist Italy invaded (current day) Ethiopia. Additionally the portrayal of the crisis as a war map shows the League of Nations inability to actually do anything -
Italian involvement with Spanish Civil War
The propaganda poster of an Italian booth Crushing Spain shows Italy's involvement within the Spanish civil war. The poster does a good job at revealing the levels of Italian Nationalism along with the success as a result of their involvement as the country is putting out the fire as a result of Italy involving itself and helping the Spanish people. Also the soldiers in the boot shows the military aid Italy gave to General Francisco Franco against the Republican forces. -
Rome-Berlin Axis Treaty signed (Pact of Steel)
The handshake between Galeazzo Ciano of Italy and Joachim von Ribbentrop of Germany does a great job at showing the most important part of the Rome-Berlin Axis Treaty, in which Italy and Germany established an alliance with once another, which additionally paved the way for Italy's involvement within the World War II. The treaty made it so both countries would provide mutual support in the event another country were to attack them. -
Munich Conference
This picture of the four representatives of Germany, France, Britain, and Italy represents the core of conference in which the 4 countries met in order to discuss Nazi Germany's demands to annex a region within Czechoslovakia. It shows attempts to not expand on aggression and rather commit to preaceful negotiations . However in the end they just gave into germany's aggression. Them discussing with one another in the photo shows the conference greatly. -
Italy invades Albania
The war map of the arrows coming from Italy onto Albania directly shows Italy invading Albania and the aggression resulting form Italy and it's beliefs of Fascism/nationalism. The war map shows the military campaign launched by Italy, and reveals Italy's conquest and plan to expand itself and come closer to achieving it's vision of a recreating the Roman empire and restoring Italy to it's former glory. -
Italy enters WW II on side of Germany
This picture of Mussolini and Hitler in a car ride together, shows the closeness and respect between the two countries for one another, it shows the beginning of italy's involvement on the world stage and it's involvement in the second world war. It was the ultimate culmination of Italy supporting Germany through the Spansih civil war, and the Rome-Berlin axis treaty -
Mussolini brought down by coup during WW II
The crowd of people outside the building shows the coup acting place in which a group of Italian Fascist Grand Council members and military officials, led by Marshal Pietro Badoglio were able to appoint Badogilo as the new Prime Minister of Italy, which additionally led to Italy's surrender and withdrawl from the second world war. The large group of people greatly represents the FGC's efforts as it represents large opposition -
Mussolini killed
Mussolini Hangs out.