Why Conditions Were Favourable for Fascists to Seize Power in 1922?

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Why Conditions were favourable for Fascists to Seize power in 0ctober1922 The three major reasons why conditions were favourable for the Fascists to seize power were down to the weaknesses of the coalition government, economic problems and the socialist threat, in addition to the actions of the Fascists. The increasing rise of Socialism was very much a result of the economic problems Italy faced, with the First World War causing devaluation of the currency and a 50% rise in prices, causing many working class people to turn to socialism in hope of getting better wages. This increase in Socialism in turn caused the middle-class, in particular the petit bourgeois, to support Fascists, who used violence against the socialists. The violence employed by the Fascists against the Socialists also won them support, for example when the socialist strike of August 1922 was not dealt with by the government the Fascists stepped in breaking up the strike and in some cases when the transport workers continued their strike, took over trains and ran the system themselves. This highlighted the weakness of the government and showed the Fascists offered a no nonsense attitude that the government did not, many saw the fascist violence as necessary to fight off Socialism, with many agents of the government co-operating with the violence due to their disgust of the weak government. Moreover, the change in stance of the fascist movement and party into more nationalistic ideals and the new more respectable face of fascism Mussolini presented, meant that they were not seen as so extreme and Mussolini’s decision to not make a detailed political programme made it easier to unite the varied support of the Fascists. The appeal of the idea of National greatness, unification of Italians, strong leadership and anti-socialism was great in Italy and Fascism offered it all, this can be seen by the
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