Syracuse University SURFACE Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects Projects Spring 5-1-2011 The Contrasting Image of Italian Women Under Fascism in the 1930’s Jennifer Linda Monti Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone Part of the European History Commons, and the Other History Commons Recommended Citation Monti, Jennifer Linda, "The Contrasting Image of Italian Women Under Fascism in the 1930’s" (2011). Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects. 714. https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/714 This Honors Capstone Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Chapter 1 The Italian Condition Prior to 1919 Women are angels or demons, born to take care of the household, bear children, and to make cuckolds. Benito Mussolini In this chapter, I will examine Italy in the period before 1919 in order to understand the context into which Fascism was born. I will analyze the political, social and economic condition that existed in the Italian peninsula between the beginning of the Twentieth century and World War One, and try to explain why Fascism became so popular in so little time, and why it was able to establish such a long-term dictatorship. Italian Fascism was an antidemocratic and antisocialist movement that developed in Italy at the end of World War I, more precisely on March 23, 1919 when Benito Mussolini founded his new organization called Fasci di Combattimento in Piazza San Sepolcro in the city of Milan.