The support from the catholic church and the traditional elites was a very important reason that Mussolini was able to consolidate his power in 1922-1924 because both of these groups of people had a very large influence on the people of Italy at the time. However, I think that the actions of the current king; Victor Emmanuel III, was a far greater reason for Mussolini’s success because he was the only one who could’ve thrown Mussolini out of power but he didn’t. Unless he did something, Mussolini’s opponent’s options were very limited. The Catholic Church and the Elites were very important for Mussolini to establish a dictatorship. To gain power, Mussolini had to gain support from as many people as he could, he realised that people listened, and followed the church.
Firstly, Italy was only partially politically united, namely due to a number of liberal policies. The voting reforms of 1912 allowed universal male suffrage, which thus widened the electorate and allowed more Italians to vote for a majority government, therefore increasing political stability and unity, as opposed to unstable coalitions. The election deals of 1912 somewhat united the liberals and Catholics, as it widened liberal support due to their adoption of Catholic policies (which appealed to the Catholic voter, a large majority of Italians), which somewhat increased stability due to a widened electorate. Finally, the liberals invited moderate socialists to form policies with the Catholics as part of trasformismo, which partially increased political unity for a short time due to the pretence of a unified coalition and the attempt at unifying two polarised political parties. Overall, all these policies somewhat increased political unity, albeit temporarily, as they widened the electorate and allowed the Italian masses the chance to vote in a majority government.
He even quoted ‘we were prepared for anything, except a liberal Pope. The Risorgimento movement believed they could trust on the Pope’s support as they thought he wanted a unified Italy. However, in his speech on 29th April 1848 he stated that
In education especially the control of the church was used to influence future generations in its favour. Leaders of the church were sympathetic to nationalists if there was no violence involved in their movements but after the Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921, they were in favour of the free state. During the civil war they even would excommunicate republicans so when there was peace in 1923 bishops were confident to be highly influential in the new state especially since it was a mostly catholic population. In the 1920s many Free State citizens thought the granting of independence as a triumph for the long time suffering Irish catholic against the officially protestant British state. This strengthened the view of the catholic religion with Irish identity and with a widespread decline of the Irish language; many valued their catholic religion as one of their main signs of their Irish identity.
As part of the United Kingdom she would have the direct support and backing of Great Britain in the eventuality of a rebellion or invasion. In addition, a united system of government would discourage division and inefficiency amongst the two fronts, reinforcing instead a sense of camaraderie and loyalty for a united cause. A single government residing in Westminster would secure success in the middle of a great war. Furthermore, becoming part of the wider British economy, Ireland would benefit significantly as it would encourage prosperity, just as had been the case with the Scottish Union of 1707. Finally, in a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Roman Catholics would no longer be seen as the overwhelming and threatening majority but rather as cooperating fellow citizens, thus transforming Protestant views of fear and loathing.
Therefore it was not to a great extent that the English Church needed reformation in the 16th Century. Those historians, who would claim that the English Church needed reformation, would begin with the issue of The Papacy. As the Catholic Pope in Italy was the head of the Church, this gave a foreign authority a great deal of power in England. This did not sit well with Henry VIII or his people. Therefore by reforming the English Church and removing the Pope and making Henry VIII the Supreme Head of the Church in England, there was a revolution in the relationship between Church and State.
Garibaldi was called back from his successful march and resigned with a brief telegram reading only Obbedisco. Victor Emmanuel II in Venice Even after Italys poor success in the war, Prussia's success on the northern front obliged Austria to cede Venetia. Under the terms of a peace treaty signed in Vienna on October 12, Emperor Franz Joseph had already agreed to cede Venetia to Napoleon III in exchange for non-intervention in the Austro-Prussian War, and thus Napoleon ceded Venetia to Italy on 19 October, in exchange for the earlier Italian acquiescence to the French annexation of Savoy and Nice. In the peace
Rome had once led an empire that dominated the world. But that was long ago and now other European powers had empires (Britain, France) or wanted them. Hitler came to power in 1933, begun to rearm Germany and looked to re-unite Germany with Austria. Mussolini looked for a way to show Italy’s strength to the rest of Europe. Italy had tried and failed to conquer Abyssinia in 1896.
Because of their right-wing standing, it meant that businesses would always favour their service rather than that of the left-wing Republicans, as the Republican ideals would pave the way for more intimidating economic circumstances. Likewise, the elite of Spain’s army naturally gravitated towards the generals that took the side of the Nationalists. Additionally, their right-wing standing meant that they also had the attention and favour of the fascist states of Germany and Italy. These were powerful allies for the Nationalists to have; they provided them with many additional ground troops and air superiority, both of which would prove to be of great assistance in the war. This air force was superior due to the Republicans not having particularly impressive air power at all – this too was inevitable, as the only country willing to provide support for the Republicans was the USSR, whose support was not nearly as impressive.
To what extent had the liberal government created a united Italy by 1900? The liberal government of Italy, founded in 1871 after the unification that made the nation, adopted the task of creating a ‘united’ Italy. The government made certain prosperous changes such as the vast improvements in education and steel production; however there were several matters they had to overcome along the way, including the strong influence from the Pope and the strong North South divide, as well as the fact that the new liberal government was corrupt, these all contributed to Italy being by no means united by 1900. The new Government were condemned from their beginning as The Roman Catholic church had ordered Italians not to vote for the government as it had lost a lot of land during unification; also the Pope refused to recognise the legitimacy of the kingdom of Italy and instructed Italian Catholics to boycott Italian politics. This proved a problem for the newly formed government as Italy was a predominantly Catholic country and many Italians were devoted to the Pope.