The Wings of the Eagle are Broken and the Italian Civil War
The Blackshirts March on Rome is commonly seen as a horrible miscalculation by aspiring Fascist Benito Mussolini. But first to understand why he did it, we must understand the context.
In March 1919, Benito Mussolini founded the first "Italian Combat Leagues" (Fasci Italiani di Combattimento) at the beginning of the "two red years" (biennio rosso). He suffered a defeat in the election of November 1919. But, by the election of 1921, Mussolini gained entrance to Parliament.
Out of his "Fascist" party the "Blackshirts" (Squadristi) were formed. In August 1920, the Blackshirts were used to break the general strike which had started at the Alfa Romeo factory in Milan. In November 1920, after the assassination of Giordana (a right-wing municipal counsellor in Bologna), the Blackshirts were used as a repression tool by the state to crush the socialist movement (which included a strong anarcho-syndicalist component), especially in the Po Valley.
Trade unions were dissolved while left-wing mayors resigned. The fascists, included on Giovanni Giolitti's "National Union" lists at the May 1921 elections, then won 36 seats. Mussolini then withdrew his support to Giolitti and attempted to work out a temporary truce with the socialists by signing a "Pacification Pact" in summer 1921. This provoked a conflict with the most fanatical part of the movement, the "Squadristi" and their leaders the "Ras." In July 1921, Giolitti attempted without success to dissolve the squadristi. The contract with the socialists was then broken at its turn in November 1921, Mussolini adopted a nationalist program and founded the National Fascist Party, which boasted 700,000 members in July 1922. In August, an anti-fascist general strike was triggered, but failed to rally the Italian People's Party (Partito Popolare Italiano) and was repressed by the fascists. A few days before the march, Mussolini consulted with the U.S. Ambassador Richard Washburn Child about whether the U.S. government would object to Fascist participation in a future Italian government. Child encouraged him to go ahead. When Mussolini learned that Prime Minister Luigi Facta had given Gabriele d'Annunzio the mission to organize a large demonstration on 4 November 1922 to celebrate the national victory during the war, he decided on the March to accelerate the process and sidestep any possible competition.
On October 24th, 1922 Mussolini declared, in front of 60,000 people at the Fascist Congress in Naples "Our Position is simple, we want to rule Italy". Two days later Prime Minister Luigi Facta was warned of the Fascist's intentions but Facta did not listen and believed Mussolini would rule peacefully beside him, oh how wrong he was. As the Fascists gathered outside Rome Facta, who by this time resigned but still held power, asked the King to declare a State of Emergency. The King initially refused but signed the order after a 3 hour argument with Facta.
The March itself included only about 30,000 Fascists but the King feared a forced seizure of power so when the Blackshirts, led by Mussolini, walked into Rome to present their demands the King ordered the police to open fire. The exchange was short and brief but deadly and is commonly seen as the beginning of the War. The final toll came to 3 policemen dead next to 8 Blackshirts, among them was Benito Mussolini.
