Fascist Italy

Fascist Italy is a term used to describe the Kingdom of Italy governed by the National Fascist Party from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as prime minister and dictator. The Italian Fascists imposed totalitarian rule and crushed political opposition, while promoting economic modernization, traditional social values and a rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church.

According to Payne (1996), "[the] Fascist government passed through several relatively distinct phases". The first phase (1922–1925) was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, albeit with a "legally-organized executive dictatorship". In 1923, Italy launched the Second Italo-Senussi war. The second phase (1925–1929) was "the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper". During the third phase (1929–1935), the fascist Italian regime perpetrated the Libyan genocide. The fourth phase (1935–1940) was characterized by an aggressive foreign policy: the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, which was launched from Eritrea and Somaliland; confrontations with the League of Nations, leading to sanctions; growing economic autarky; the invasion of Albania; and the signing of the Pact of Steel. The fifth phase (1940–1943) was World War II itself which ended in military defeat, while the sixth and final phase (1943–1945) was the rump Salò Government under German control.

Italy was a leading member of the Axis powers in World War II, battling on several fronts with initial success. However, after the German-Italian defeat in Africa, the successes of the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front, and the subsequent Allied landings in Sicily, King Victor Emmanuel III overthrew and arrested Mussolini. The new government signed an armistice with the Allies in September 1943. Nazi Germany seized control of the northern half of Italy and rescued Mussolini, setting up the Italian Social Republic (RSI), a collaborationist puppet state still led by Mussolini and Fascist loyalists.

From that point onward the country descended into civil war, and the large Italian resistance movement continued its guerrilla war against the German and RSI forces. Mussolini was captured and killed on 28 April 1945 by the resistance, and hostilities ended the next day. Shortly after the war, civil discontent led to the 1946 institutional referendum on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, the present-day Italian state.