The Roman Myth in Fascist Italy and the Abyssinian War

David Orlović

Early Signs of the Roman Myth in Italy

Mazzini

D’Annunzio

FROM HUMANISTIC AIMS

TO AIMS OF SUPREMACY

Fascism in Power and the Roman Myth

Fascism in Power and the Roman Myth

Mussolini’s Speeches

“Trenta secoli di storia ci permettono di guardare con sovrana pietà talune teorie d'oltr'Alpe, sostenute dalla progenie di gente che ignorava la scrittura nel tempo in cui Roma aveva Cesare, Virgilio ed Augusto! “ (1934)

“Thirty centuries of history allow us to look with utmost compassion at some theories coming from the other sides of the Alps, supported by the descendants of people which did not know how to write while Rome had Ceasar, August and Virgilius!”

“Noi fummo grandi quando dominavamo il mare. Roma non potte’ diventare Impero prima di aver schiacciato la potenza marittima di Cartagine!” (1934)

“We were strong while we ruled the seas. Rome could not become an empire before having crushed the military power of Carthage!”

Militarization of the People

“The Rome that we honor...is not a nostalgic contemplation of the past, but hard preparation for the future.Rome is our departure and reference point. We dream of Roman Italy, i.e. wise and strong, disciplined and imperial”. (Mussolini, 1922)

“We are becoming and we will ever more a military nation. Because we are not afraid of words, we will add, militarist. In full: warlike”. (Mussolini, 1933)

“War would become the measure of how much fascism had succeded in altering the character of Italians”. (Alexander De Grand, “Mussolini’s Follies”, Contemporary European History, Vol. 13, No.2, 2004.)

Italy’s Colonial Expansion

Eritrea: 1890

Somalia: 1905

Libya: 1911-31

Ethiopia: 1935-36

The Abyssinian War 1935-36

Creation of the Italian “Empire”

Creation of the Italian “Empire”

To Conclude..

The Roman myth in Fascist Italy was a model of supremacy.

A source of identity for the regime.

It was aimed at legitimizing Fascism in Italy, as well as to make Italians proud of their nation.

Legitimization of war as a natural aim of Italy, increased militarization rhetoric and practices.

The Abyssinian War of 1935-36 was the symbolic high point in this process, the subsequent institution of the “Empire” was a propaganda ploy to rally Italians around the regime.