Detailed Information
AE-HN331 - Mussolinis Italy
This course explores the combination of social, political, and cultural dynamics that paved the way for Benito Mussolini’s seizure of power in 1922. It begins with an examination of the crisis of Liberal Italy that reached boiling point at the time of the country’s participation in World War I, and concludes with the dictator’s death and the liberation of Italy in the spring of 1945. It will discuss the origins of Fascist ideology, the role of political violence and squadrismo in creating the conditions behind the March on Rome, and the cult of Mussolini. Important issues, such as the creation of a pseudo-mythology which linked the regime to the heyday of the Roman Empire and provided a justification for Mussolini’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy, will be explored as part of a broader reflection in relation to the manner in which the Italians reacted to the militarisation of their society and the introduction of discriminatory legislation against Jews and the ethnic minorities of Istria and Dalmatia. The sessions will explore the development of the relationship between the dictatorship and the Italian people throughout this period by analysing contemporary sources: laws, songs, films, pictures, and speeches. This approach will be complemented by an overview of selected archival records, propaganda posters and cartoons, photography, film, memoirs and literary sources.
Course Code: Spring AE-HN331
Duration: 8 Wednesdays
Tutor: Dr Chiara Tedaldi
Time: 14.00 - 16.00
Dates: Mar 02, 09, 16, 23, 30, Apr 06, 13, 20
Location: Online
1) The Legacy of the Giolittian Era and World War I
2) Mussolini and the Birth of Fascism
3) The March on Rome and the Seizure of Power;
4) The Establishment of the One-Party State;
5) The ‘Years of Consensus’;
6) The Enemy is within and at the Door: The Persecution of Jews, Slavs, and World War II;
7) The Fall of Mussolini: The Collapse of the Regime and the Defeat of the Salò Republic;
8) The Afterlives of Mussolini and Fascism
For a general introduction to the course topic, please read any of the following books:
- Richard J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini’s Italy: Life under the Dictatorship (Penguin, 2006)
- Martin Blinkhorn, Mussolini and Fascist Italy (Routledge, 1994)
- Christopher Duggan, Fascist Voices: An Intimate History of Fascist Italy (The Bodley Head, 2012)
- Philip Morgan, Italian Fascism 1919-1945 (Palgrave Macmillan, 1995)
For an insightful and very detailed biography of Benito Mussolini, please read any of the following books:
- Richard J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini (Bloomsbury Academic, 2010)
- Denis Mack Smith, Mussolini (Phoenix, 1994)
For an excellent discussion of the events that led to Mussolini’s fall from power please read:
- Philip Morgan, The Fall of Mussolini (Oxford University Press, 2007)
For texts that deal specifically with the relationship between Mussolini and the Italian people and/or daily life under a dictatorship, please read:
- Stephen Gundle, Christopher Duggan, and Giuliana Pieri (eds), The Cult of the Duce: Mussolini and the Italians (Manchester University Press, 2013)
- Roberta Pergher and Giulia Albanese, In the Society of Fascist: Acclamation, Acquiescence, and Agency in Mussolini’s Italy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)
- Victoria de Grazia, How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy, 1922-1945 (University of California Press, 1993)
- Eden K. McLean, Mussolini’s Children: Race and Elementary Education in Fascist Italy (University of Nebraska Press, 2018)
For those interested in reading about the Mussolini regime’s attitude towards other ‘races’, please read:
- Aaron Gillette, Racial Theories In Fascist Italy (Routledge, 2003)
- Shira Klein, Italy’s Jews: From Emancipation to Fascism (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
- Roberta Pergher, Mussolini’s Nation-Empire: Sovereignty and Settlement in Italy’s Borderlands, 1922-1943 (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Dr Tedaldi holds a PhD in Modern European History. Her main area of expertise is Cultural History. Her research focuses on the political and media debate surrounding the introduction of 'memory legislation' in Italy and Spain. Since completing her doctorate, she has been the recipient of two IRC post-doctoral fellowships and has worked as Senior Tutor, Occasional Lecturer and Assistant Professor in the School of History at University College Dublin.
- Evaluate the impact of the short, medium and long-term social, economic, political and cultural factors that explain Mussolini’s rise to prominence and the reasons for the popular support behind Fascism;
- Develop an awareness of how ideology and politics affected the daily lives of ordinary people;
- Demonstrate an understanding of the history of dictatorship, as well as the reasons why Fascist ideology and the figure of Mussolini continue to elicit interest so many decades after his death;
- Engage with primary and secondary sources in a critical manner.
Weekly sessions will consist of an interactive lecture (i.e. students will be encouraged to ask questions and contribute anecdotes, if they have any that they wish to share with their peers), followed by a seminar. Weekly lectures will provide overviews of weekly topics, with a focus on key historical trends, debates and events and their relevance at a time that is witnessing a world-wide resurgence of interest in ‘strong men/leaders’. Weekly seminars will consist of task-based learning methods using both secondary and primary sources related to the weekly topic. Autonomous learning is highly encouraged (see the recommended reading options), although no mandatory readings will be assigned. Student-led debate and discussion of the concepts and materials examined in class will be welcomed.