Take Home DBQ Italian Fascism

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In response to the democratic backlash after World War I, in response to the Treaty of Versailles and the economic failure after the war, countries turned to a totalitarian, fascist government, regulating every facet of life of the people it ruled. Fascist Italy was no exception—over the years 1921-1943, Italy instituted a population policy, controlling it and causing it to rise. Italy’s population policy consisted of the regulation of family size, often exercising Mussolini’s bid for control in extreme manners. The reactions consisted of an economic counterpoint of family size, and disapproval of this new regime.
Benito Mussolini enacted his population policy to place emphasis on the power and prestige of the homeland, having a high population to counteract the losses in the first World War. To begin, he enacted parliamentary decrees, calling for a personal tax on bachelors to fund the Protection of Mothers and Children (Doc 1). The emphasis on protecting the mothers and their children shows Mussolini’s need to reinvigorate Italy through a higher population. With the women and children surviving, Mussolini created a way for his population to keep rising. In a speech by Il Duce himself, he states that the working woman lowers the birth rate, thus depriving men of work and dignity (Doc 5). A tenet of fascism is the belief of masculinity, an idea that would be challenged by the notion of the working woman, which Mussolini did not believe in. In order for the man and the masculinity to be emphasized, they must not stick to the wayside of the working woman. Another notion of “female insubordination” that is addressed is shown in document 8. In this document, Paolo Orano describes how the working women resist the notion of marri...

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... document it is said that they sent it to Mussolini, so it could be possible that he implored them and other families like theirs to take pictures and send them to him, so he could be reminded of his population policy control. The family appears to be very bitter, almost regretful of how large their family turned out to be .
Mussolini’s population policy was a clear effort to exercise his authoritarian control over the people of Italy, regulating the most personal and private details of their lives. In his bid for complete control, he used new laws, propaganda, and sometimes brutal tactics in order for his wishes to be recognized. It is during the 1920’s to the 1940’s that totalitarian control over the state escalated into full dictatorships, with the wills of the people being manipulated into a set of beliefs that would promote the fascist state and “doctrines.”

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