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Benito Mussolini Dbq

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The Great Depression sent shockwaves of poverty and economic ruin all the way to Italy by the 1920’s. Eventually, this set the stage for Benito Mussolini and his fascist party to rule Italy through an authoritarian dictatorship that lasted for many years (1922-1943). Preoccupied with the appalling situation of Italy, Mussolini quickly reacted to the problems caused by the Great Depression by taking many steps to ensure population growth through many public policies of propaganda and social tactics. However, the resulting policy primarily failed as it was sexist and economically nonsensical, receiving negative reactions especially from women and economists.
As previously mentioned, the fascist Italy attempted to gain supreme control over the …show more content…
This organization essentially aimed to offer women help in caring for their children so they would have more children (Doc 1). Sir Gaetano Salvemini, a political refugee whom left Italy, reported that once the “battle” for births was a failure, Mussolini started implementing new policies, particularly burning slender women because they tended to be more active and generally had fewer children than fat women. In addition, Slavemini, sarcastically called the social persuasion the “battle for births” in order to describe how barrenness was considered treason -- an offense towards [Italy] the fatherland (Doc 4). His statement holds true because the fascist party in Italy tried to politically pressure women into having more children to increase Italy’s population, and consequently increasing its military and workforce. Similarly to the tactics used by the National Organization, the fascist party magazine for women, Motherhood and Childhood, published a law code (1930 Law) that made the sale and use of any form of contraceptive a

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