Italian Fascist Foreign Policy
... One of the main facets of this new political ideology was the implementation of an aggressive and expansionist foreign policy designed to project Italy back into a dominant role in world affairs. This paper will first examine the actual foreign policy platform as well as the international goals of the Fascist state. As a corollary, the paper will also discuss how the foreign policy actions of the Italian Fascist State were ineffective in achieving the movement’s original objectives. Finally this paper will show how these actions led to the eventual collapse of the Italian Fascist State during World War II. ... Italian Fascist Foreign Policy: Platform and Goals Italian Fascist Foreign Policy goals were highly aggressive and optimistic. Unlike Hitler’s great plans for Nazism, Mussolini’s expansionist policy had no grand design (Turner 1972). Fascist foreign policy can be divided into two main objectives. The first directive was to increase Italian political influence in international diplomacy. The more overarching objective was a policy of territorial expansion whereby fascists envisioned the creation of a “Modern Roman Empire,” in the Eastern Mediterranean and Africa (Payne 1995). ... Therefore he designed his diplomatic relations primarily to promote and increase in Italian influence. ... For example, one of Fascisms earliest documents, The Platform of Fasci di Combattimento called for a, “dynamic policy that contrasts with one inclined to reinforce the hegemony of the current plutocratic powers,” (Mussolini, (Cited from Platform of Fasci di Combattimento 1919). ... Fascist attitudes toward Britain in the Mediterranean were similar, however not as pronounced (Payne 1995). ... Mussolini’s diplomatic policy toward other fascist regimes was complex. ... Conversely Italian Fascists wanted to limit German influence within Austria and also viewed Nazism as too socialistic (Schnaap 2000). ... Ultimately Mussolini presumed that an alliance with Germany would be the most beneficial to Italian goals of becoming a major power. ... Although relatively unsuccessful in their attempts, Fascists tried to coordinate other fascist activity worldwide by creating the Comitati d’Azione per l’Universita di Roma (Payne1995). Mussolini looked to the United States and its New Deal policy to help Italy get over the Great Depression, whereas Roosevelt believed Mussolini could help keep European Peace. ... Territorial Expansion In the, “Platform of the Fasci di Combattimento” (1919), the fascists called for, “A foreign policy aimed at expanding Italy’s will and power in opposition to all foreign imperialisms.” It also advocated for a national foreign policy designed to “promote the Italian nation abroad.” Other early fascist documents and platforms were equally as vague and imperialistic. Mussolini’s Program of the National Fascist Party mandated: 1. ... (Mussolini1921 (cited from Schnaap 2000)), The goals in the Platform of the Fasci di Combattimento and the Program of the National Fascist Party were largely derived from D’annunzio’s “mutilated victory,” (Corner). Fascists were disappointed with the results of the Treaty of Versailles, such as the failure to gain Fiume and other Italian communities (Corner). Essentially Mussolini hoped to rewrite this unacceptable post war settlement through a policy known as revisionism (Payne 1995). It is therefore not surprising that during his rise to power Mussolini consistently called for the creation of an Italian Eastern Mediterranean Empire that incorporated parts of the Adriatic Coastline and several of the Greek Islands. Northern and Eastern Africa also provided places suitable for Italian Territorial Expansion.