Chapter 541 Mussolini

It is a little surprising that Germany and Austria-Hungary, the defeated countries in World War I, did not collapse, Russia and Britain, which were caught in civil war, did not collapse, and France, which suffered heavy losses, did not collapse. Instead, Italy, which seems to have a low sense of existence, is about to collapse.

The collapse of Italy is no joke. Its situation is so chaotic that even Russia, which is currently in a civil war, has to say it is outrageous.

Before the war, Italy was a standard lower-middle-class power. Although its fiscal revenue and economic conditions are slightly higher than those of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in terms of industry and agriculture, which demonstrate the country's strength, Italy's development is actually not as good as that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

First of all, in terms of industry, Italy's total steel production in 1913 was about 1.42 million tons, but it was lower than that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the same time.

At the same time, Italy only produced 8.1 million tons of grain, making it a veritable grain importing country. Its development lagged far behind other powers, which is why the comprehensive strength of the island country was considered to exceed that of Italy for a period of time.

Of course, the real display of Italy's strength was in the war. Whether it was the war against Ethiopia or the performance in World War I, the world has clearly understood the strength of Italy's army.

Even though Russia had various problems, it was still able to fight back and forth against the German-Austrian coalition. Although there were many disadvantageous battles, it was still no problem to unilaterally beat the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Italy's performance was a bit ridiculous. From beginning to end, Italy only faced the Austro-Hungarian army and basically never saw the Germans.

But Italy's front line always remained within the national border, and the 500,000-strong army was blocked by the 100,000-strong Austro-Hungarian army for a long time.

If the Austro-Hungarian Empire had not collapsed too quickly in other areas, it would have been difficult for Italy to make progress on the front line, and it would have been impossible to gain territory.

Compared with the Italian army, the Italian navy was barely acceptable.

In several blockades in which the Italian navy participated, the training level of the Italian navy was worthy of the strength of the great powers. This is also the reason why Italy's military strength is still considered to be at the level of the great powers after showing its poor military strength.

Because of Italy's poor performance, Italy only obtained part of the conditions promised by Britain and France, namely Trieste and South Tyrol, as well as the Istria Peninsula.

Dalmatia and the Dodecanese Islands, which Italy was eager to obtain, were not assigned to Italy, but were co-managed by a multinational alliance.

This also deprived Italy of the opportunity to fully control the Adriatic Sea, and even allowed other powers to intervene in the Balkan situation, which seriously affected Italy's expansion in the Balkans.

This made the Italian people very dissatisfied. They selectively ignored the poor performance of the Italian army in World War I, and condemned the government for not fighting for Dalmatia and the Dodecanese Islands, causing Italy to suffer heavy losses and even limiting its subsequent expansion.

Orlando, the then Italian Prime Minister, suffered a major impact. He was obviously a hero in the victory of World War I, but he quickly stepped down due to public dissatisfaction.

Then, in just three years, Italy experienced Prime Minister Francesco Saverio Nitti, Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti, Prime Minister Ivanoe Bonomi and Prime Minister Luigi Facta, achieving the achievement of five prime ministers in three years.

Among them, Prime Minister Giolitti, who had the shortest term, stayed in the Prime Minister's Palace for only 42 days before being sent down by opposing parties and the public.

In three years, there were five prime ministers, and the average term of each prime minister was only about seven months.

This caused great interference to the political environment in Italy. Major political parties competed for power and entered a long battle for the prime minister.

At the same time, because the prime minister's term was too short, some policies and plans had not been well implemented and had to be terminated because of the change of prime minister.

In addition, each prime minister had different preferences, and the appointment and removal of officials and the preference for some policies were completely different.

From the end of the war to the present, the political situation in Italy has been in an unspeakable state of chaos.

In other aspects, it is not well reflected. After all, the decline of a country cannot be completed in a short period of time, unless it goes through a war with extremely severe consumption.

But in terms of national security, we can actually get a glimpse of the way.

Because of the chaos in the highest-level politics, Italy's economy did not recover well after the war, and economic growth was extremely slow.

Even because of the impact of influenza, some industries in Italy closed down, a large number of people lost their jobs, and a considerable number of capitalists went bankrupt, which seriously damaged Italy's economic development.

Chaos breeds darkness. The world-famous Italian Mafia is developing wildly in various parts of Italy, even in every major city in Italy.

Kidnapping, extortion, vendettas, fights and drugs are staged in every dark corner of Italy, and even many well-known Italian capitalists have suffered greatly.

But at this time, the Italian political arena has always focused on the competition for the prime minister, and the situation of the lower-class people is unknown.

Or in other words, the Italian top leaders do not care about the situation of the lower-class people at present. Compared to caring about the grassroots people, the current competition for the position of Italian Prime Minister is the most important thing.

It is precisely because of this that the Italian Mafia has become more arrogant and even began to collude with local government officials, forming a huge force with overwhelming power.

In this extreme chaos, an ordinary journalist broke into the Italian political arena, and because of his unique ideas, he quickly gained a considerable number of supporters.

The name of this ordinary journalist is Mussolini, whose full name is Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, born in Ferrara Province, Italy in 1883.

Mussolini, who was only 37 years old, had an extraordinary life experience.

Mussolini's father, Alessandro Mussolini, was an anarchist, an active member of the socialist movement and an atheist.

Under the influence of his father, Mussolini had a different idea about politics, because he laid the foundation for his later rule in Italy.

Before World War I, Mussolini became a leading member of the Italian Socialist Party and a reporter for the party newspaper Avant-Garde, but was expelled from the Socialist Party for inciting Italy to join the war.

But Mussolini was not discouraged. Before Italy joined the war, he founded the Italian People's Daily and took the opportunity to promote his political ideas.

When the political situation in Italy was very chaotic, Mussolini founded the Fighting Fascist Organization, and quickly attracted a considerable number of loyal members, and had his own political foundation.

After having a certain strength, Mussolini changed the name of the organization to the Italian National Fascist Party, and legitimately became the leader of the Fascist Party.

After the official name change, the National Fascist Party has become one of the few major parties in Italy, and has a certain influence in major cities in Italy.

A large number of Italians who were disappointed with the government joined Mussolini's party, and fanatically called Mussolini the leader, believing that he was the chosen one who could save Italy and all Italians.

Under various coincidences, Mussolini's party solved a strike crisis for the government, which also made Mussolini and his party well-received in Italy.

But at the same time, the Blackshirts Stormtroopers that Mussolini used to solve the strike crisis also caused dissatisfaction among some people in the government.

The advisers of King Emmanuel III of Italy suggested that the king arrest Mussolini, on the grounds that Mussolini's Blackshirts were a highly dangerous private armed force, and that Mussolini had excessively persecuted the interests of the people in his actions to resolve the workers' strikes and marches.

But at this time, Emmanuel III rejected the advisers' suggestion to arrest Mussolini because he was worried about the influence of the workers' party on Italy and its anti-monarchy characteristics.

At this time, Mussolini, whose power and status had been extremely expanded, was naturally not satisfied with being just the leader of a political party, but set his sights on the highest throne of the Italian government.

Thanks to the experience of suppressing workers' marches in recent years, Mussolini's Blackshirts have gained a lot of combat experience, and the total number has been effectively expanded.

Mussolini was very satisfied with the fanatical eyes of these young men looking at him. As long as the leader gave an order, these young men would advance like swords to wherever the leader pointed.

Finally, Mussolini felt that he was ready.

With the release of Mussolini's "Revolutionary Manifesto", tens of thousands of black shirts began to march towards Rome. This is the famous march to Rome in history.

Because they knew that their purpose was not to start a civil war, the black shirts basically did not clash with the government army and the police when they marched into Rome.

A small number of political parties and believers blocked the black shirts, but they were quickly suppressed by the black shirts with a larger number of people.

Italy's territory is not large. This group of Montenegrin troops marched from Naples and approached Rome in just a few days.

Some political parties that opposed Mussolini along the way surrendered one after another, and even the distinguished Italian parliamentarians had to condescend to go to Milan in person to seek Mussolini's opinion.

Of course, the peace requests of these political parties and parliamentarians were not important to Mussolini. In the current situation in Italy, Mussolini urgently needs the most official recognition, that is, King Emmanuel III of Italy, who represents the Italian monarchy and the entire kingdom.

The good news is that compared to some political parties that oppose the monarchy, Emmanuel III trusts Mussolini's party more.

Mussolini was soon invited by the King's Guards, and was officially informed that the King appointed Mussolini as Prime Minister and asked Mussolini to form a new cabinet.

The first update of 3,000 words, please vote for me, please support me!