ABSTRACT
In November 1918, the First World War ended at last. Italy had won. She had gained Trent and Trieste; her historic rival, Austria-Hungary, was destroyed; her monarchy and Liberal institutions were respected and intact. Yet less than four years later the Fascist leader Benito Mussolini was Prime Minister; a few years again, and the old Liberal institutions were no more. This chapter analyzes the death of liberal Italy during the period 1919-25. One major reason for the collapse is that the country's statesmen lost at diplomacy, just when the game mattered most. Italy had won the war but bungled the peace. Liberal Italy might have weathered the storm, given time and a stable political framework. But post-war Italy did not have a stable political framework. The democratic interventionist Republicans, reformist Socialists, pro-war syndicalists were divided among themselves, and in any case were discredited by American President Woodrow Wilson at Versailles.
