Another reason for Mussolinis success was the weakness of the political system. The current political system, let fascism rise, this was made possible by parliaments system
However, in reality it made it hard for Italy to sell abroad (due to the higher prices), so Italy lost its competitiveness on the world market. In addition, serious deflation took place and by 1936 the government was forced to devalue the Lira. To summarise, the reform was a failure as – although in the short run, Italy seemed powerful, in the long run the economy suffered. The battle for the Lira was a propaganda victory in which Mussolini successfully confirmed the image that the fascists were bringing stability and prosper to Italy, without actually doing so. Mussolini also had two other battles; that for
Mazzini was a prolific publicist continually publishing letters and articles and was feted by many European liberals. Mazzini’s ideas encouraged several attempted invasions in the years 1833-48 and in 1849 Mazzini was able to take advantage of the Pope’s flight from Rome to declare a Roman Republic. This shows that Mazzini had a profound effect in accelerating the growth of autocracy and the nature of foreign intervention by exercising his opportunism in favourable conditions. He did so to cater to his own desires for a unified Italy and to fulfil the aims of Young Italy. Mazzini had
The weaknesses of the Italian liberal regime 1870-1914 The creation of liberal Italy in 1870 after the merging of each separate state lead to many political, social and economic issues which lasted and were subsequently added to until the breakdown of liberalism itself. By focusing on issues created by unification itself as well as problems that existed before the creation of the liberal government this essay will outline the main weaknesses of the Italian liberal regime 1870-1914. Firstly, economic problems were one of the main weaknesses of the Italian liberal regime 1870-1914. The state of Italy’s economy pre 1870 was poor; this only proceeded to worsen after unification itself, as the cost of this large scale project brought with it huge debts as well as little or no solutions to pre existing problems. The fact that Italy had a very limited industry and lack of an efficient infrastructure also meant that hardly any money was being created to pump into the economy to keep it running or pay for these debts.
“To what extent was the unification of Italy due to the weakness of Austria?” Throughout Europe between 1815 and 1848 swept feelings of nationalism and a desire for unification, including the states collectively known as Italy. This lack of identity was underlined when Count Metternich said “Italy is just a geographical expression.” Nationalism promoted the belief in one language, one culture and the pride in one’s identity. Before unification, life in Italy was frustrating for those who wanted unification. The North and the South states were economically different; the pope influenced the central states. Nevertheless, the process began from 1861 and by 1871 boundaries had been settled.
How far do you agree that the limited appeal of Mazzini’s ideas was the main reason for the slow progress of national unity in Italy in the years 1815-1848? Nationalism is an ideology that elicits the belief that people of the same race, language, culture and traditions should be united in an independent nation of their own. This idea existing throughout ‘Italy’ at the time would have influenced and encouraged the motive of Italian unification. Since the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Italy was divided up into eight different states, which made it clear that there would be divisions between the people, making the aim of unity appear more and more unrealistic. From this emerged a number of evident figures such as Guiseppe Mazzini who were advocates for Italian Unification.
Nationalism was very important as regards to the unification of Italy. It played various roles which led to success of the Italian unification, which means that nationalism is the main reason the unification of Italy occurred. The unification of Italy was as a result of the reaction against the congress of Vienna. The congress of Vienna forced direct Austrian rule in many Italian states. Unification also led to economic development and was thereby supported by conservative Politicians.
This period saw the gradual strengthening of Prussia with the Zollverein and economic reforms. Also with the failure of the congress of Vienna, which was aimed to control the liberalist and nationalist ideas, Austria started suffering more problems as the Austrian leader was much more conservative about these ideas than Bismark, so the Austrians lost influence amongst the people. Futhermore, Prussia was in advantage because Bismark was much more popular than the Austrian leader. Bismark was more effective; the type of economic progress contented the majority of the middle classes. Kleindutch supporters saw in Prussia a more cohesive state, which was less archaic and more progressive economically.
Cavour did many things and has many contributions to Italy. But the main aim was not unified Italy. He hoped that Piedmont would be strong enough to assume the leadership of Italy in the event of another wars with Austria, France and the House of Hapsburg of Austria. Many facts and evidence could see that Cavour did not want a unified Italy. He tried to prevent it and the "unification" was only Piedmontization (tried to extent the influence of Piedmont).
(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.