Key actors Italy 1914 - 1945 for IB History Paper 2 Authoritarian States

As you prepare for your IB History Paper 2 exam, it is crucial to have a clear understanding of the key actors in the history of the authoritarian states you are studying. Being able to recall the names, dates, and locations of notable people and important events will greatly improve your ability to earn top marks on your exam. The list of key actors in Italian history from 1914–1945 found below is an excerpt from our IB history study guide History SL & HL Paper 2 Authoritarian States: Italy 1914 - 1945 written by Joe Gauci, which offers a complete review of the syllabus as well as exam tips. Use this article as you progress through your studies and prepare for your IB exams to ensure your understanding of the historical context is correct.

Who’s Who in Italy

Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863 – 1938): Leading Italian writer and Nationalist politician. Already a famous author and poet before the First World War, he served in the Italian air force in the war. In 1919 – 20 he and a group of Nationalist supporters illegally occupied the port of Fiume, which he was forced to withdraw from in 1920. He joined the Fascist Party but did not play a prominent part in it after Mussolini came to power.

Marshal Pietro Badoglio (1871 – 1956): Professional soldier, appointed chief of staff of the Italian army in 1925. He commanded Italy’s forces in the invasion of Abyssinia (1935 – 6). He resigned from the army in 1940 and played a leading role in Mussolini’s deposition in 1943. Hew was appointed prime minister and signed an armistice with the Allies in 1943. He retired from public life in 1944.

Italo Balbo (1896 – 1940): served in the First World War. Joined the Fascist Party after the war and played a leading role in Mussolini’s March on Rome in 1922. Appointed air minister in 1929, he helped develop the Italian air force.

Arturo Bocchini (1880 – 1940): Appointed chief of police by Mussolini in 1926, which he remained until his death in 1940. Bocchini had control of both the state police and the OVRA, Mussolini’s secret police force.

Ivanoe Bonomi (1873 – 1951): Moderate Socialist politician, first elected to the Italian Chamber (Parliament) in 1909. Appointed war minister in 1920 and prime minister in 1921. He resigned in 1922 and withdrew from politics when Mussolini came to power. He joined the anti-Fascist movement in 1940 and became its leader in 1942. Prime minister in 1944, he played a key part in reconstructing Italy after the Second World War.

Giuseppe Bottai (1895 – 1939): Intellectual and journalist who joined the Futurist movement and took part in D’Annunzio’s occupation of Fiume (1919 – 20). Elected as a Fascist MP in 1921, he held a variety of key posts under Mussolini, including minister of corporations and minster of education. As a member of the Fascist Grand Council, he voted for Mussolini’s arrest in 1943.

Galeazzo Ciano (1903 – 1944): Early supporter of Mussolini, took part in the March on Rome (1922). Served as a diplomat and then married Mussolini’s daughter Edda in 1930. Mussolini appointed him foreign minister in 1936. In 1940 he unsuccessfully tried to dissuade Mussolini from entering the Second World War. He was sacked as foreign minister in 1943 and supported Mussolini’s arrest in the same year. He was captured and shot by German forces in 1944.

Ivanoe Bonomi

Author: George Grantham Bain

Source: Public Doman, US Library of Congress

Alberto De Stefani (1879 – 1969): Liberal Italian politician. Served as Mussolini’s minister of finance from 1922 – 5. De Stefani favoured free trade and limited government control over the economy. He was sacked as finance minister in 1925 but remained on the Fascist Grand Council until 1943.

Luigi Facta (1861 – 1930): Liberal politician, first elected to the Italian Chamber (Parliament) in 1891. Appointed prime minister in February 1922, he was in office at the time of Mussolini’s March on Rome in October 1922. He advised King Victor Emmanuel III to use the army to stop the Fascist March on Rome but the King refused to do so, sacked Facta, and replaced him with Mussolini.

Roberto Farinacci (1892 – 1945): Early and radical supporter of Mussolini’s Fascist movement. He was local Fascist party boss or ‘ras’ in Cremona and advocated the use of violence against opponents. He was secretary general of the Fascist Party from 1925 – 6 but was sacked by Mussolini in 1926 after criticising Mussolini for being too moderate. He was reconciled with Mussolini in 1935 and became a key go-between for Mussolini with Nazi Germany. He was executed by Italian partisans in 1945.

Luigi Federzoni (1878 – 1967): Nationalist politician first elected to the Italian Chamber (Parliament) in 1913. He joined the Fascist Party in October 1922 and served as minister of the interior from 1924 – 6. Part of the Fascist Grand Council, he voted in favour of Mussolini’s arrest in 1943.

Giovanni Gentile (1875 – 1944): Leading Italian philosopher, appointed minister of education by Mussolini in 1922, a post he held until 1924. Member of the Fascist Grand Council from 1925 – 9, Gentile’s political influence declined thereafter.

Giovanni Giolitti (1842 – 1928): Leading Liberal politician, who was the prime minister five times between 1892 and 1921. In the 1921 elections Giolitti formed an electoral alliance with the Fascists and Nationalists. After Mussolini was appointed prime minister in 1922, Giolitti at first gave Mussolini his support but withdrew that in 1924 as Mussolini’s regime became more authoritarian.

Antonio Gramsci (1891 – 1937): Radical intellectual and politican. Having joined the PSI (Italian Socialist Party) in 1914. Gramsci led a breakaway by radical members of the PSI in 1921 to set up the PCI (Italian Community Party). In 1924, Gramsci became leader of the PCI and was elected to the Italian Chamber. In 1926 he was arrested, after Mussolini outlawed the PCI. He died in prison in 1937.

Dino Grandi (1895 – 1988): Joined the Fascist squadristi after the First World War and took a prominent part in the March on Rome in 1922. Served as foreign minister from 1929 – 32. He opposed Italy’s entry into the Second World War. As chairman of the Fascist Grand Council in 1943, he proposed a vote of no confidence in Mussolini, which led to the latter’s arrest.

Giacomo Matteotti (1885 – 1924): Leading Socialist politician who was first elected to the Italian Chamber (Parliament) in 1919. In May 1924, Matteotti, in a speech in the Chamber, denounced Fascist violence. The following month, he disappeared and his body was discovered a few weeks later. Most people assumed he had been murdered by the Fascists and this led to a serious political crisis that looked likely to bring Mussolini’s government down.

Benito Mussolini, 1941–43

Author: Muzej Revolucije Narodnosti Jugoslavije

Source: US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Benito Mussolini (1883 – 1945): After a short spell as a school teacher, Mussolini became involved in left-wing journalism in the decade before the First World War and was appointed editor of the Socialist Party’s newspaper, Avanti!, in 1912. He was sacked as editor because he supported Italy’s intervention in the First World War. During the war, Mussolini set up a nationalist newspaper, Il Popolo D’Italia, and also joined the Italian army. In 1919, Mussolini created the Fascist movement, initially a mix of left and right – wing views. In 1921 Mussolini relaunched his movement as the Fascist Party and moved it firmly to the right politically. In 1922, after threatening to march on Rome with his armed supporters, King Victor Emmanuel appointed Mussolini as prime minister. From the beginning of 1925, Mussolini introduced increasingly authoritarian measure, transforming his regime into a dictatorship. In 1940, Mussolini took Italy into the Second World War as an ally of Nazi Germany and, after a succession of Italian defeats, the Fascist Grand Council deposed and imprisoned Mussolini in 1943. Mussolini was rescued by German troops and installed by the Germans as leader of the so – called Salò Republic in northern Italy. He was captured an executed by Italian partisans in 1945.

Francesco Nitti (1868 – 1953): Liberal politician and economist, first elected to the Italian Chamber (Parliament) in 1904. Served as prime minister from 1919 – 20, as head of a weak coalition government. Retired from active politics in 1924.

Vittorio Orlando (1860 – 1952): Liberal politician, first elected to the Italian Chamber (Parliament) in 1897. Prime minster of Italy from 1917 – 19, he resigned after failing to win more territory for Italy at the Paris Peace Conference. When Mussolini became prime minister in 1922, Orlando initially supported him. However, Orlando broke with Mussolini as a result of Matteotti’s murder in 1924. Orlando resigned from the Chamber in 1925.

Pope Pius XI (1857 – 1939): Pope from 1922 – 39. Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Mussolini, which ended the rift between the Catholic Church and Italian state that dated back to the foundation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Pius had growing misgivings about Mussolini’s regime, particularly after Mussolini introduced anti – semitic laws in 1938, which he was on the point of publishing a condemnation of when he died in February 1939. He was succeeded by Pius XII who took a less confrontational line towards the Fascist government.

Alfredo Rocco (1875 – 1935): Professor of Law before the First World War, Rocco joined the Nationalist Party in 1920 and was elected to the Chamber (Parliament) in 1921. From 1925 – 32 he served as minister of justice.

Carlo Rosselli (1899 – 1937): Academic and moderate Socialist writer after the First World War. He and his brother, Nello (1900 – 37), founded an anti-Fascist newspaper in 1925, which was suppressed by Mussolini’s regime. Carlo was imprisoned on the island of Lipari but escaped in 1927. In 1929 Carlo and Nello, with a number of other opposition leaders, set up the organisation Ciustizia e Libertà (Justice and Liberty) to co-ordinate resistance to Mussolini. In 1937, the two brothers were murdered by a French extreme right-wing group, acting on behalf of the Mussolini regime.

Edmondo Rossoni (1884 – 1965): Leading Italian syndicalist who became involved in radical trade union activism before the First World War. Joined the Fascist Party in 1921. Appointed secretary of the National Confederation of Fascist Trade Unions in 1922 and campaigned for syndicates of workers and employers to be established to control all economic activity. He was sacked as secretary in 1928 because Mussolini was alarmed that Rossoni’s radicalism was antagonising big business interests. Rossoni was a member of the Fascist Grand Council and voted to arrest Mussolini in 1943.

Antonio Salandra (1853 – 1931): Conservative politician who held several cabinet posts before the First World War. Prime minister from 1914 – 16, Salandra took Italy in to the First World War in 1915 as an ally of Britain and France. Resigned in 1916. Salandra supported Mussolini’s appointment as prime minister in 1922. Mussolini appointed Salandra a member of the Senate (upper house of the Italian Parliament) in 1928.

Margherita Sarfatti (1880 – 1961): Journalist, art critic, and long-standing mistress of Mussolini. Sarfatti met Mussolini when both worked on the Socialist newspaper Avanti! Before the First World War. From 1919 onwards, she played an important part in the Fascist movement, helping found a new Fascist artistic movement, Novocento. Her political influence was at its height from the mid-1920s to 1933. Sarfatti wrote the official biography of Mussolini, Dux, which was published in 1926. Mussolini ended his relationship with her in 1933, when he began a relationship with Clara Petacci, who remained his mistress until the two were executed together by Italian partisans in 1945.

Giacinto Serrati (1874 – 1926): Leader of Maximalist (more radical) wing of the PSI, although in 1921 Serrati opposed the decision by many of the Maximalists to split from the Reformist wing of the PSI to found the PCI. However, in 1924 Serrati decided to join the PCI. He died of a heart attack in 1926.

Dom Luigi Sturzo (1871 – 1959): Ordained as a priest in 1894, Sturzo helped found the Catholic Political Party, the PPI (Partito Popolare Italiano) in 1919 which won 20% of the seats in the election of that year. Sturzo consistently spoke out against Fascism and led the PPI up until 1923 when he was forced to resign by the Vatican because the Roman Catholic authorities wanted to draw closer to Mussolini following his appointment as prime minister in 1922. Sturzo went into exile in 1924, only returning to Italy in 1946.

Augusto Turati (1888 – 1955): Journalist and Fascist politican. He joined the Fascist movement in 1920. He was secretary of the PNF (Fascist Party) from 1926 – 30 and helped bring the party membership more firmly under Mussolini’s control.

King Victor Emmanuel III (1869 – 1947): King of Italy from 1900 – 46. Largely a constitutional figurehead as head of state but he did make a number of important political interventions, notably backing Italy’s intervention in the First World War (1915), appointing Mussolini as prime minister (1922), and supporting Mussolini’s arrest (1943), replacing him with Marshall Badoglio. He abdicated in 1946 and went into exile when Italy became a republic, following a referendum.

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Continuing your revision

The above resource will help you remember the important players in Italy’s history from 1914 – 1945. Refer back to it throughout your IB History studies to ensure you are correctly remembering the key actors and their actions. If you are looking for additional resources to prepare for your IB History Paper 2 Authoritarian States exam, you can also check out our article Key Actors China 1911 – 1976 for IB History Paper 2 Authoritarian States to help you in any comparative analysis you are undertaking. Remember to visit our IB History resource page for more helpful articles and tools.