Indeed, without the knowledge that this growing movement would win him votes, Giolitti would not have included fascists on the government list for the 1921 elections in the first place. However, the fascists still only won 7% of vote in 1921 elections, which corresponded to just 35 seats out of the 535 in the Chamber of Deputies. Clearly Mussolini was not swept to power on a wave of popular support and was certainly not in a position to demand the post of prime minister on this basis. In the event, the type of people supporting Mussolini proved to be far more important that the raw numbers. The lower middle classes
To what extent was Italy politically and economically united, 1896-1914? Despite official unification in 1870, Italy still remained somewhat divided, especially so under the Liberal government, 1896-1914. Attempted reforms to ease political and economic divisions had limited success, such as the voting reform of 1912 to introduce universal male suffrage (which increased the popularity of socialism) and modernisation in industries such as steel and hydroelectricity (which consequently widened the North/South divide). Italy still remained partially divided, which prevented total unification, both politically and economically. Firstly, Italy was only partially politically united, namely due to a number of liberal policies.
To what extent had the pressing political problems of the 1800s been solved by 1914? After Italy’s unification in 1870 there were immediate political issues facing the new united Italy that needed to be addressed. The government that was formed was incredibly unorganized and not many people knew who was in charge at times, not only this but many of the politicians in power were incredibly corrupt and would happily take bribes, launder money and other underhanded, dishonest actions which would have been frowned upon had people known. The new united Italy was a liberal state which was actually one of the first of its kind, the Liberals had managed to oust the ruling families of each individual state, the old aristocracy and most importantly the pope. However this “liberal” Italy was actually more conservative at heart, the country was a monarchy and not a republic.
Paying off debuts of the revolution became a choice that most states opted out on because their was no force behind the request. This created the daunting task of forming a government that had power to enforce laws without creating a system of government such as parliament, creating a country where the people had a say in how laws and regulations were created and displayed. When George Washington created his presidential cabinet he choose two men who were far apart from seeing eye to eye. These two men being Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton did not believe a democratic government and was stated “It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government.
(Robson, 1992)” However, reviewing the economical, social and political issues this was not to be. After the Unification of Italy in 1870, despite some modernisation occurring, the country still fell behind the other major powers of Europe. The state of the Italian economy was a major problem facing the new Kingdom. It was in huge debt that it had inherited from the states that had been unified to make Italy. The Liberal’s did nothing to make it look like they would attempt to transform the economy, which remained backward and unprepared for World War 1.
And lastly the regency crisis of 1788 meant that Pitt could use this to gain favour with the king and gather support from his own party and draw it away from the opposition. These circumstances proved effective in propelling Pitt’s domination but without his own skill he would not have been able to dominate, for example his financial skill ensured that Britain benefitted from the industrial revolution as was the handling of the regency crisis which completely favoured Pitt but he
How far does Stalin’s position as General Secretary explain his success in defeating his rivals in the years 1924-29? In 1923, Stalin was the least likely candidate to succeed out of Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin and of course Lenin as leader of the party, this was because although he was important in the administrative function during the civil war, he was not glamorous nor intellectual, unlike Trotsky and Bukharin. Stalin was seen by many as the ‘safe candidate’, and a centrist, who therefore could present himself as a sensible and practical politician. Stalin had been appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1922, entitling him to being responsible for appointing people to key positions within the party, and for any promotions. As he had the powers to do so, he also had the power to sack party members.
All of which the north fared in much better than the south. Secondly other issues faced by the liberal regime in Italy from 1870 to 1914 were social ones. The actual creation of Italy itself caused huge problems as the masses had hardly been involved in the fight for unification also each individual state had their own identity and culture so were not happy about losing that to be part of a country they didn’t necessarily want to be in. As well as
It also included no principles governing nature. The reason they may have took on Legalism is because the Hans probably could not think of their own way of governing. The Romans on the other hand, had senates, consuls and elections. They even shared politics to the patricians and showed interest in the people. One similarity they did have was that they both knew that their central government or emperor could not rule the amount of land conquered in their empire.
To what extent did the Nazis remain in power due to support from popular policies? The Nazis ruled germany from 1933 to 1939 and were relatively unchallenged. This is a source of debate given that when they came to power although they were the most popular party they had never won the majority of public support in elections and Hitler had twice been beaten by Hindeburg in the Presidential election. Furthermore once in power the Nazi power was limited as Hitler only had 2 other nazis' in the government. The reason behind their remaining in power has been put down to genuine support gained from popular policies introduced by Hitler.