Italian Empire: Difference between revisions

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==== The Fiume Incident and the birth of the Fasci ====

Following Vittorio Veneto, Italy would continue advancing through the territories it claimed, seizing South Tyrol, Venezia Giulia and Trieste. Problems though, quickly arose on the exact borders, as tensions began to rise between with the nascent Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, since both claimed Istria and Dalmatia. When the government began negotiations however, it did not sit well with many irredentist Italians, as the government was signing off territory they claimed as theirs. In the midst of this, legendary poet Gabriele d'Annunzio marched a large contingent of Arditi and idealists of his caliber to seize Fiume (in Croatian Rijeka) and declared the Italian Regency of the Carnaro. What became known as the Fiume incident shook Italia politics to its very core, as P.M.'s Francesco Nitti's Radical government fell apart, while the crippling debt and unemployed soldiers were putting the country in a precarious situation. Even if the whole incident would last only a few months, before the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo, between Italy and the Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, settling the borders and giving Istria to Italy, while Dalmatia would go the soon to be Iugoslavians, and Fiume would become a free city within the Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Among the chaos caused by Fiume, young Benito Mussolini rose to the occasion, having served himself in the war, he created the extremist "Fasci del Combattimento" in Piazza San Sepolcro, Milan, at the time only counting about 50 people. However, Mussolini would quickly become popular among some of the disillusioned populace, and fervent interventionists such as the Futurist movement, and would begin contact with D'Annunzio through Harukichi Shimoi, a young Japanese nobleman who was with D'Annunzio, who nicknamed him "Compare Samurai" or "Comrade Samurai".

Following Vittorio Veneto, Italy would continue advancing through the territories it claimed, seizing South Tyrol, Venezia Giulia and Trieste. Problems though, quickly arose on the exact borders, as tensions began to rise between with the nascent Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, since both claimed Istria and Dalmatia. When the government began negotiations however, it did not sit well with many irredentist Italians, as the government was signing off territory they claimed as theirs. In the midst of this, legendary poet Gabriele d'Annunzio marched a large contingent of Arditi and idealists of his caliber to seize Fiume (in Croatian Rijeka) and declared the Italian Regency of the Carnaro.

[[File:Foto Fiume.jpg|thumb|D'Annunzio at Fiume]]

[[File:1024px-Labaro Reggenza Italiana del Carnaro.svg.png|thumb|Flag of the Italian Regency of the Carnaro]]

What became known as the Fiume incident shook Italia politics to its very core, as P.M.'s Francesco Nitti's Radical government fell apart, while the crippling debt and unemployed soldiers were putting the country in a precarious situation. Even if the whole incident would last only a few months, before the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo, between Italy and the Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, settling the borders and giving Istria to Italy, while Dalmatia would go the soon to be Iugoslavians, and Fiume would become a free city within the Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs.

[[File:Litorale 1.png|thumb|The new borders settled by the Treaty of Rapallo]]

Among the chaos caused by Fiume, young Benito Mussolini rose to the occasion, having served himself in the war, he created the extremist "Fasci del Combattimento" in Piazza San Sepolcro, Milan, at the time only counting about 50 people. However, Mussolini would quickly become popular among some of the disillusioned populace, and fervent interventionists such as the Futurist movement, and would begin contact with D'Annunzio through Harukichi Shimoi, a young Japanese nobleman who was with D'Annunzio, who nicknamed him "Compare Samurai" or "Comrade Samurai".

==== The Red Biennium and the Rise of the Blackshirts ====

Mussolini's major support, though, came from the Milanese bourgeoisie, who were terrified of the rise of communism in the country. As mentioned before, Italy was in a pitiful state after the Great War, and the populace was furious with the political establishment and while some turned to Mussolini, others turned to communism, as the Russian Revolution spurred on a wave of proletarian movements, especially in the North, which would culminate in the separation of the more radical members of the PSI and the creation of the Italian Communist Party or PCI at a conference in Livorno, in 1921. This time period would go down in popular history as "Il Biennio Rosso" or "The Red Biennium" where on many occasions there was a genuine fear of communist revolution in Italy. Mussolini, in response to the growth of communist street gangs, created his own group, the "squadristi", but they are better known in reference to their iconic black attire, the "Blackshirts". The "blackshirts" would become an essential tool used by Mussolini and factory owners who were members of the PNF. Some iconic examples are, the repression of the general worker's strike at thew Alfa Romeo factory in August, 1920 or the repression of Socialist movements, in the Po Valley following the murder of Bolognese councilor Giulio Giordani. In 1920, when the socialists won many local elections, the Blackshirts responded brutally, dissolving trade unions under the threat of "physical destruction". The Fasci would join Gioltti's anti-socialist National Blocs coalition in the 1921 general election and would succeed in securing 35 seats in parliament, one of which was held by Mussolini himself. After a few weeks, Mussolini dissolved his alliance with Giolitti's Liberal Party (PLI), who then failed to dissolve the "Blackshirts", and Mussolini would sign the "Pact of Pactification" with the Socialists in the summer of that year. That too however, would be dissolved at the Third Fascist on the 7th to 10th of November 1921, where Mussolini would fully espouse his views, declaring a new ideology, fascism and renaming the party to the National Fascist Party, which now counted 320,000 members. In August, 1922, a socialist led anti-fascist general strike was held throughout the country. Mussolini declared that his men would immediately intervene, in such a way that his party would be viewed as the defender of law and order. The "blackshirts" began in Ancona, on August the 2nd, where they would fiercely repress the strikers, proceeding through each striking city, including Genova. On August 3rd and 4th, the PNF thugs captured Milan, burning the iconic Socialist newspaper "Avanti!" and overthrowing, alongside local business owners, they would remove the socialist from the town hall, installing fascists in their stead. And so, Milan became the base of operations for the party.

Mussolini's major support, though, came from the Milanese bourgeoisie, who were terrified of the rise of communism in the country. As mentioned before, Italy was in a pitiful state after the Great War, and the populace was furious with the political establishment and while some turned to Mussolini, others turned to communism, as the Russian Revolution spurred on a wave of proletarian movements, especially in the North, which would culminate in the separation of the more radical members of the PSI and the creation of the Italian Communist Party or PCI at a conference in Livorno, in 1921.

[[File:Flag of the Italian Communist Party.svg.png|thumb|Flag of the PCI]]

This time period would go down in popular history as "Il Biennio Rosso" or "The Red Biennium" where on many occasions there was a genuine fear of communist revolution in Italy. Mussolini, in response to the growth of communist street gangs, created his own group, the "squadristi", but they are better known in reference to their iconic black attire, the "Blackshirts". The "blackshirts" would become an essential tool used by Mussolini and factory owners who were members of the PNF. Some iconic examples are, the repression of the general worker's strike at thew Alfa Romeo factory in August, 1920 or the repression of Socialist movements, in the Po Valley following the murder of Bolognese councilor Giulio Giordani. In 1920, when the socialists won many local elections, the Blackshirts responded brutally, dissolving trade unions under the threat of "physical destruction". The Fasci would join Gioltti's anti-socialist National Blocs coalition in the 1921 general election and would succeed in securing 35 seats in parliament, one of which was held by Mussolini himself. After a few weeks, Mussolini dissolved his alliance with Giolitti's Liberal Party (PLI), who then failed to dissolve the "Blackshirts", and Mussolini would sign the "Pact of Pactification" with the Socialists in the summer of that year. That too however, would be dissolved at the Third Fascist on the 7th to 10th of November 1921, where Mussolini would fully espouse his views, declaring a new ideology, fascism and renaming the party to the National Fascist Party, which now counted 320,000 members. In August, 1922, a socialist led anti-fascist general strike was held throughout the country.

[[File:Flag of the National Fascist Party (PNF).svg.png|thumb|Flag of the PNF]]

Mussolini declared that his men would immediately intervene, in such a way that his party would be viewed as the defender of law and order. The "blackshirts" began in Ancona, on August the 2nd, where they would fiercely repress the strikers, proceeding through each striking city, including Genova. On August 3rd and 4th, the PNF thugs captured Milan, burning the iconic Socialist newspaper "Avanti!" and overthrowing, alongside local business owners, they would remove the socialist from the town hall, installing fascists in their stead. And so, Milan became the base of operations for the party.

==== The March on Rome ====