“I have never wished anyone dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”
– Paraphrase of defense lawyer Clarence Darrow, in a quote often misattributed to Mark Twain
Mussolini’s fascism arose in Italy in 1922, whereas Nazism did not arise in Germany until 1933 …
People today are fascinated by both sides of World War II, and this is as it should be. To a large extent, this includes an interest in what happened on the Axis side. In particular, history buffs tend to talk about Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, the major players on that side of the war. By contrast, the history of Fascist Italy tends to get relegated to a series of brief historical footnotes. This is understandable, given that Fascist Italy was much smaller than either of these other two nations. Thus, it seems inevitable that its story would become far more obscure outside of the Italian Peninsula. But if history is about learning from the mistakes of others, then we can learn much from the mistakes of Fascist Italy. That is to say, we can learn what went so horribly wrong there, and why Italy went down this terrible road. Most importantly, we can protect ourselves from a similar fate, by learning about this kind of tyranny.
Benito Mussolini, circa 1930’s
This is an Italian-made documentary, which has been dubbed into English
But before I dive into this story, I should mention some things about this documentary. It is simply entitled “Mussolini: The History of Italian Fascism.” It consists of eight episodes, which are (on average) about one hour long. Thus, it is roughly eight hours long in all. Also, this documentary was made by Italians, although this DVD has been dubbed into English for the benefit of people like me. (I don’t speak Italian.) This is of great importance, because it is designed more for people who already know something about Italian culture. They drop the names of a number of prominent Italians, whose names I confess that I’d never heard of before. Thus, they assume some prior knowledge that I admittedly lacked – and still lack, even after watching this series.
Benito Mussolini and Fascist Blackshirt youth in 1935
This is made in a somewhat older style, which is primitive (and even somewhat amateurish)
When this film uses text at the bottom of the screen, it is actually in the Italian language, and I can only guess as to what it means. They often show Italian-language period newspapers as well, including the ones written (or at least edited) by Mussolini himself. I’m sure that an Italian speaker would get much more out of this newspaper text than I did, and would also get much more out of the Italian audio from the footage. For example, they would understand what Mussolini was saying in these recorded speeches, which were not subtitled here. I do not know when this documentary was made, but it was clearly made in a somewhat older style. Among other things, this means that the narration was done at extremely high speed, which interferes with its narrative power. But I could have dealt with its excessive speed somewhat better, if subtitles had been available to help me process it. This would have allowed the documentary to get some more out of its limited budget, and better surpass its primitive filmmaking style. Actually, the filmmaking style is somewhat amateurish, as I will describe shortly.
Mussolini giving a speech at the Fiat Lingotto factory in Turin, 1932
Episode 1: “Mussolini, The Man, The Politician, and His Rise to Power” (this documentary is focused on facts to the detriment of the storytelling)
This documentary is also focused near-exclusively on the facts. In fact, it is so focused on the facts as to interfere with the storytelling. I say this as someone who likes facts, and who admires the objectivity that “sticking to the facts” can bring. But this seems to be done to excess here, with too many names and dates. For example, take their first episode, which is entitled “Mussolini, The Man, The Politician, and His Rise to Power.” I would have expected a brief biography of the pre-dictator Mussolini. I would have liked some analysis of what made him tick, and an attempt to get into his heart of darkness. But they don’t really do any of this, instead giving a facts-only version of his life. Nor do they try to explain what fascism is, or what were some of the problems with it. They briefly mention that Mussolini was a socialist at first, and was influenced by his socialist father. They show that in politics, he switched sides whenever it was convenient for him, and came to power by telling people whatever they wanted to hear (like many another politician, before and since). But without prior knowledge, you don’t really understand his motivations, or how he came to power. You only have whatever knowledge you brought with you. Incidentally, Mussolini’s Fascists came to power in Italy back in 1922 – long before the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933.
Mussolini and the Quadrumvirs during the March on Rome in 1922
They should have mentioned how Italy fought on the Allied side in the First World War
It also seems like English-speaking viewers would have benefited from some items of historical context that most Italians may already know. Most Americans are unaware that Italy actually fought on the Allied side in the First World War. In effect, Italy offered its services to the highest bidder in this war. Only later did Italy enter into its fateful alliance with the more powerful Germans. This explains why Mussolini fought against the German-speaking Austrians in World War One, on the trenches of the “Italian front.” Ironically, Mussolini was a fairly good soldier, as this documentary points out. In later years, he would be dismissed by others as “weak,” in part because of his country’s smaller size in comparison with Germany. But unfortunately, he was a dangerous man from very early on in his career, whom Hitler would use as a model. If Italy had been a larger nation, the threat posed by Mussolini would have been far worse.
Members of Italy’s Arditi corps in 1918 holding daggers, a symbol of their group – The Arditi’s black uniform and use of the fez were adopted by Mussolini in the creation of his Fascist movement
Episode 2: “The Matteotti Affair and the Birth of the Totalitarian State,” and Episode 3: “Fascist Policy at Home and Abroad”
The second episode is entitled “The Matteotti Affair and the Birth of the Totalitarian State.” In this episode, they briefly discuss the murder of Giacomo Matteotti. Many suspect that this murder was orchestrated by Mussolini himself – or, if not him, then certainly by someone else in the Fascist Party. They also give the argument that Mussolini then consolidated his power, and that the totalitarian state was delayed until some years after his initial rise to power. The third episode is called “Fascist Policy at Home and Abroad.” It discusses a number of topics. For domestic policy, they talk about the decline of the Italian economy, and the shortages of food at home. For foreign policy, they discuss relations with Britain and France, contact with Hitler’s Germany, and Italian involvement in the Balkans, the Mediterranean islands, and distant Africa. In particular, they discuss the Italian colonies in Africa, in places like Ethiopia. They also mention the unfortunate Libyan genocide, which occurred during and after the Senussi War there. But surprisingly, this episode’s greatest focus was on the Italian involvement in the Spanish Civil War, on the side of Franco’s Nationalists. They mention that Mussolini was initially reluctant to enter into an alliance with Nazi Germany, which would alienate both the British and the French. They also suggest that there was little ideological similarity between the Nazis and the Italian Fascists, but they do not pause to examine the differences between them. Indeed, as mentioned earlier, they do not even explain what fascism is in the first place.
Italian troops in Addis Ababa – Ethiopia, 1936
Mussolini and Vatican delegation prior to signing the Lateran Treaty
Episode 4: “The Vatican Agreement and Initial Contact With Hitler,” and Episode 5: “The Opponents and Intellectuals of the Regime”
The fourth episode is entitled “The Vatican Agreement and Initial Contact with Hitler.” They first discuss the complicated relations between Mussolini’s Fascist government and the Roman Catholic Church. It was at this time that Vatican City became a separate country, an isolated enclave within the city of Rome. They then discuss Mussolini’s ironic resistance to the idea of allying with the more powerful Germans. This included calculated German moves to get Italy into the Nazi orbit, eventually causing Mussolini to agree to the alliance with Nazi Germany. The fifth episode is entitled “The Opponents and Intellectuals of the Regime.” They mention the opposition to the regime, and people fleeing Italy for other countries. Mussolini’s Fascist government disliked the opposition, but they did not initially clamp down on them. Some opposition newspapers were initially tolerated, and other newspapers were smuggled into Italy from places like France. Leaflets were also dropped into Italy. The intellectuals of the regime sometimes agreed with fascism, while others pretended to agree to protect themselves. They also mention the role of the Catholic Church in these debates.
Hitler and Mussolini declare the Rome-Berlin Axis, later to be joined by Imperial Japan
Episode 6: “‘Modernisation’ in Italy and the New African Colonies”
The sixth episode is called “‘Modernisation’ in Italy and the New African Colonies.” In the 1920’s and 1930’s, Italy modernized in spite of the Fascists, although the Fascists did their best to take credit for it, and spin it to their own advantage. For example, there was industrialization and even invention of new technologies, both of which were happening to an even greater degree elsewhere. They also again mention the new African colonies, particularly the one in Ethiopia. This is one of the more interesting segments, where they talk about Mussolini’s expansionist intent. Again, most historians agree that this expansion would have been far worse, if Mussolini had possessed a military the size of Hitler’s.
Italian troops manning a 10 cm howitzer at Guadalajara, Spain – Spanish Civil War, 1937
Italian troops and tanks in Durrës – Albania, 1939
Episode 7: “Italians in the 1930’s and Fascist Support”
The seventh episode is entitled “Italians in the 1930’s and Fascist Support.” They further explore the sometimes-competing goals of the Roman Catholic Church and Mussolini’s Fascists, each of which was forced to adapt to the other. They also mention Italian resistance to the regime – sometimes expressed openly in newspapers, and other times expressed privately in anti-Fascist jokes. Later on, Fascists asserted a tighter control of the press than they had before. Ordinary Italians at this time did not really have any political principles to speak of, good or bad. This distinguished them from the more-fanatical Nazis, who had many bad political principles. The Germans were willing to die for these principles, to an extent that the Italians were not. This may be why the Italians surrendered to the Allies in droves, even as early as World War II’s North African campaign. One wishes that more Germans had done the same. They also mention the degree of Fascist propaganda, and the eventual assertion of control by the party bureaucracy. This bureaucracy did little more than try to drum up support for the Fascist cause.
Italian soldiers taken prisoner by the Germans in Corfu, September 1943
Episode 8: “Defeat, Civil War, and the Death of Il Duce”
The eighth and final episode is entitled “Defeat, Civil War, and the Death of Il Duce.” The first 30 minutes of this last episode are, by far, the best part of the series. This is because this segment talks about the Allied invasion of Sicily, and Allied troops fighting their way into the Italian Peninsula itself. This military situation was the most prominent aspect of Italian life at this time, with much property destruction and loss of life. They don’t talk much about the fighting with the Allies in North Africa, the Mediterranean, or the infamous Russian front. Mainly, this segment focuses on the fighting in Italy itself. In the last part of the last episode, they return to their usual focus on the facts. Their account of the death of Mussolini himself is a little anticlimactic. One could learn more about this part of the history from reading this Wikipedia article. I don’t agree with all of their conclusions, but I will give them credit for being anti-Fascist, and for some good use of period footage.
Mussolini rescued by German troops from his prison in Campo Imperatore on 12 September 1943
Conclusion: This documentary could have been so much more than it was
Nonetheless, this documentary could have been so much more than it was. The documentary is compromised not only by its low budget, but also by its amateurish filmmaking style. They could have focused less on facts, and more on storytelling. They could have slowed their narration a little, so that the meaning of their narrative would have had time to sink in. Thus, the definitive documentary about Mussolini and Fascist Italy has yet to be made. At eight hours long, this documentary is longer than any other on this subject, and so may still be worth having as a collection of relevant period footage. But be prepared for an almost mind-numbing narrative if you do this. You will have a hard time seeing the forest through the trees. It’s almost like listening to someone reading a company’s financial statements, or reading through the minutes of a Congressional meeting. You might have to turn to other media (such as books) to find the true drama of the topic, in all its terror and tragedy.
Footnote to this blog post:
If you decide to get this DVD, some price information may be in order here. Even with the cost of shipping across the Atlantic, I actually found it cheaper to order this DVD from Amazon Britain than from Amazon USA. For all I know, this information may have changed by the time that you read this. But you might consider both of the links below, if you’re worried about prices.
DVD at Amazon USA
If you liked this post, you might also like:
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Fascist Italy
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