The march to power

Like the Nazi seizure of power ten years later, the Fascist March on Rome encompassed two parallel movements. In the country the Fascists conducted a systematic, often province-wide campaign of direct action in 1921 and 1922. But such violence, even when successful, could never ensure power. If the aim had merely been to defeat an already prostrate left, neither the Fascist nor Nazi movements would have been included in the government. Clearly, other interests had to come into play. No doubt the considerable base in the country that had been built up by both movements was vital, but alone it was insufficient. The Fascists, in particular, were still a relatively small parliamentary grouping of thirty-five deputies after the 1921 elections.