In Mussolini and Fascist Italy Martin Blinkhorn explains the significance of the man, the movement and the regime which dominated Italian life between 1922 and the closing stages of the Second World War. He examines: those aspects of post-Risorgimento Italy which provided the longterm context vital to an understanding of Fascism the social and political convulsions wrought by economic change after 1890 and by Italy's intervention in the First World War the Fascist movement's rapid rise from obscurity to power and the subsequent establishment of Mussolini's dictatorship the history of the Fascist regime until its demise during the Second World War the ways in which Italian Fascism has been understood by contemporary analysts and by historians.The third edition of this best-selling Lancaster Pamphlet provides an expanded and fully updated analysis. New features include additional material on Fascist totalitarianism and a completely revised consideration of the ways in which Fascism has been interpreted.

Foreword. Time Chart. Maps. Note on Usage 1. Introduction 2. The Setting: Liberal Italy, 1861-1915 3. The Seedbed of Fascism 4. The Conquest of Power, 1919-25 5. Italy Under Fascism 6. Diplomacy and Imperialism, 1922-36 7. The Decline and Fall of Fascism, 1936-45 8. Interpreting Italian Fascism. Conclusion. Suggested Reading