The Personality of Benito Mussolini - Essay Example

Benito Mussolini Benito Mussolini was a well-known world leader of Italian descent and one that shaped the modern world based on a number of factors that range from religion and culture to politics. This is all based on his political philosophy that saw many changes during his reign in Italy by bringing in fascism in an attempt to bring back the Roman Empire. As a result, this essay seeks to discuss the philosophy, objectives and achievements of Benito Mussolini, as well as assess the impact of Mussolini today. Benito Mussolini held a philosophy of politics, which he dubbed fascism, and was based on the total dominance of the government on all levels starting from political, social and economic affairs to cultural life. He believed that man is only man by virtue of the spiritual process which he contributes towards as a member, which is in regard to being a member of a group, society, family or nation, in which altogether, in history, nations make their contributions. His philosophy fell under the influence of ancient Rome, in which was ruled by Romulus, Aeneas and the Caesars and it sought to establish a link between ancient Rome and the then Italy. As such, his personal philosophy went as far as to state that he did not merely accept the opinions of other people as his own but instead search for his own with a spirit of analysis in both his world and the ancient world. This was such that he explored deeply based on history and the sources of the Italian nation in order to compare the capacities of the Italian people against those of the rest of the world. His philosophy was some form of rebound philosophy after he quit his support for the socialist party, as he had supported socialism for a long time, since he was a teenager and well into his young adulthood (Mussey, n.d.). His support for socialism went well into the time when he was a teacher and until he became a socialist journalist, where he worked for a socialist newspaper in Austria. This might have been the turning point for his fascist beliefs in that he asked for the return of Trent to the Italians, in which case fascism, his philosophy would apply. However, after expulsion from Austria, he joined the top socialist newspaper in Italy as an editor, until the First World War broke out. This might have marked the point of no return for him in embracing fascism as he had earlier done in Austria. This is because, the socialist party wanted to avoid all international disputes, and since Italy was socialist, it should interfere in disputes between nations. As such, Mussolini was expelled from the party, which changed his overall outlook on politics in that he believed Italy should join the allied forces in a war against Germany. Following his beliefs, when Italy joined the war, Mussolini enlisted and served in the army until he was wounded, which marked the final straw for him in political philosophy because he founded his own political party by the name Fasci di Combattimento. This leads back to his belief in the connection between ancient Rome and Italy in that the translation of the name was the symbol of authority in ancient Rome, which Mussolini strived to bring into Italy. As such, his philosophy of fascism in politics was such that fascism represented unbreakable power that was absolute, with that, he sought to control the government in all its aspects as absolute power was what he would gain with his party and philosophy (Mussey, n.d.). Mussolini’s promises of his party were that he would bring back the glory that the romans had lost by being a nationalistic movement that was against socialism and liberalism. His philosophy, which sought to bring everything together and deliver power to the people, was popular with the Italians as it made them view him as a hero. True to the fascist way of absolute power and control on the government and its activities, Mussolini called for a march to Rome to take over government. This only serves to prove how committed Mussolini was to his philosophy of fascism and how much power should be governed. As such, he seized power by banning all other states and changing Italy into a fascist state, which was a form of strong disciplined leadership needed by the people. In advocating for nationalism, philosophically, the nation grew from strength to strength based on the infrastructure that the he put up and attempts to ensure that every arm of the government was within reach (Barron, 2009). In a fascist’s terms, this was overall development by integrating the government to look after the needs of the people by investing in every aspect through power brought together. In relation to liberalism, his party was anti-liberalism and as a result saw the abolition of all trade unions as they marked a threat to the absolute power of the government and threatened nationalism. Mussolini’s philosophy was both a success and failure in that he strictly followed it to the end, but failed to incorporate the aspects that could have seen fascism develop to a completely new level. His failures in fascism as a philosophy were that he could not tolerate other opinions that did not auger well with his own. In spite of sticking to fascism, absolute power, to Mussolini, was not entirely for the purpose of nationalistic needs of the people. Instead, it served to keep him in power for a long time in that, by integrating all arms of the government, he used the police as his personal army. This he sued to enforce his own rule and imprisoned those of contrary views, which would be a threat to his stay in power. The above is a thing that if analyzed on many levels could translate to abuse of power and office that the people had supported him to attain, as he had mass following. This was the result of promising to return Italians to the lost glory of the Romans, which he blatantly flouted, despite being a true follower of his belief and philosophical standing. Fascism for Italians may not have been the best thing, but it served to save them face plenty of times by interfering with international disputes, something that socialism would not allow. In addition, his fascism ruined Italy at the time by creating an absolute power for Mussolini to be a dictator, without whom the government could not as all power was vested in him to control the government and the lives of the people. In assessment of the impact of his philosophy in a historical context, Mussolini’s views saw the world develop into what it is today in relation to colonization or its attempts thereof, by Italy. By attempting to restore the glory of Rome, he endeavored aggressively by looking for colonies in Africa and the Mediterranean, where he sought to get as many colonies as Rome at one time controlled most of Europe and the Middle East. It was also because of Mussolini that Hitlers actions were justified in terms of imperialism, where he viewed his rule as imperial. It is because of this that Mussolini changed the pacifist image of his rule in that he believed Italy had come of age and was ready to advance out into the world. It was due to this that his rule employed propaganda on foreign policy based on his roman imperialistic vision. In his conquests, Mussolini suffered defeat at the hands of the Ethiopians, which served to bring forth his imperialist perspective (Barron, 2009). His impact remains to date in that in his decision to join forces with Germany against the allied forces saw the two nations lose their colonies to the point that to date, Italy holds little influence in the global world. This is because, without colonies, there are no issues of funding and the language is little used outside Italy would not be the case had he joined the allied forces against Germany. In addition, Mussolini influenced the world as it is today in that he inspired Hitler on so many levels that following the victories of Italy, Hitler sought to establish a relationship with Italy (Ex-Catholics for Christ , 2013). This was such that the two leaders signed a non-military alliance and later after the invasion of Albania by Italy, they signed a full defensive alliance with Nazi Germany. The result of this, in the modern world, is that Italy does not hold much say despite having been in the front line of German’s expansion program into the world. In addition, Italy does have proper infrastructure owing to Mussolini’s fascist views and sense of nationalism, which saw him pump resources into infrastructure. In spite of the differences in opinion with different bodies in his country, Mussolini tolerated the Catholic Church and even integrated in the culture of the country, where Mussolini in alliance with Hitler saw the rise of today’s modern Vatican City (Ex-Catholics for Christ, 2013). As such, the rise of the Vatican City can be viewed as a global consequence of the rise of Mussolini into power and even be credited in a historical perspective. This shows the value that Mussolini held for religion despite being a declared atheist, yet he was able to create a sanctuary for the catholic faithful across the globe. Culturally, his policy of imperialism prevailed to a point where the ministry of education took over the education system including rural schools that fell under the jurisdiction of the local authorities. With this he attempted to recreate the ancient roman empire with children as the leaders and the beneficiaries of his dream. However, there was no opposition against his cultural order but there was strong opposition against his political views as he was seen as a dictator after he banned trade unions and political parties that threatened his power. Other than this, the other issue lies in political philosophy, which troubled following abandonment of pacifist approaches and onto that of aggression with propaganda against foreign countries. On a personal level, this assignment delves deeper into philosophy to show how much one’s opinion can change how one perceives the world. This is concerning the two philosophies held by Mussolini in the course of his lifetime; socialism and fascism. As such, it shows how power can affect the world in both positive and negative ways as was the case of Mussolini, who started with noble intentions and ended with dictatorship. This creates an avenue to understand different leadership system and what would lead certain aspects of leadership to be adopted shaping my understanding of the world. In conclusion, Mussolini, and his principles and philosophy, have had great impact on the world, in relation to how we know it and how we perceive certain things in life. This is based on his achievements in infrastructure, culture, religion and philosophy, which continues to affect the world, ranging from his role in Hitler’s actions to history as it is known. References Ex-Catholics for Christ. (2013). Benito Mussolini: Was he Hitler’s Pet Italian Mastiff. Retrieved from http://www.excatholicsforchrist.com/articles.php?PageURL=mussolini.htm Mussey, E. (n.d.). Benito Mussolini. Retrieved from http://law.jrank.org/pages/8686/Mussolini-Benito.html Barron, B. (2009). “A Mysterious Revival of Roman Passion”: Mussolini’s Ambiguous and Opportunistic Conception of Romanità. 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