March on Rome

Giulia Albanese is Associate Professor at the University of Padua. Her research focuses on the origins of Fascism, political violence and authoritarian cultures in the interwar years. Her previous books include Dittature mediterranee. Sovversioni fasciste e colpi di stato in Italia, Spagna, Portogallo (2016). With Roberta Pergher, she edited In the Society of Fascists: Acclamation, Acquiescence and Agency in Mussolini’s Italy (2012).

"It is all very well guffawing when Donald Trump is portrayed as Il Douche. But the actual Duce, Benito Mussolini, was the first modern European dictator, the first fascist and the first totalitarian. His career is worth examining at least as seriously as that of his junior and sometime admirer, Adolf Hitler. How excellent, then, that we now have a solid translation of Giulia Albanese’s detailed study of Mussolini’s accession to power in the so-called March on Rome, part paramilitary coup and part politicians’ backstairs deal. What Albanese starkly underlines is how violent Fascists were from start to finish and therefore how likely it was that, once in office, Mussolini would establish a tyranny for a generation."- R.J.B. Bosworth, Jesus College, Oxford."In this timely and important book, Giulia Albanese forces us to rethink the basis of Fascist rule. Mussolini was far from being simply a showman or a wily operator. The March on Rome demonstrates powerfully that Mussolini’s regime was a dictatorship, with violence at its core, from the very beginning."- Roberta Pergher, Indiana University."Violence remained at the very heart of fascist rule until the end of Mussolini’s rule over Italy. As Albanese reminds us in her eminently readable book, the very essence of fascism can be traced back to the period before and during the March on Rome." - Robert Gerwarth, University College Dublin

• AcknowledgementsPrefaceAbbreviations 1. The Coup d'État PolicySeditious plansThe Fiume exploitFrom Fiume to Rome?2. Political violenceThe struggle for the local hegemonyThe anniversary policyStrategies for violence and seizing powerThe general strike and its aftermath3. Towards the MarchTalk of a coupOrganising the MarchDefending the State4. The March on Rome"It’s pouring": the Fascist mobilisationThe revoking of the state of siegeThe fascists in BolognaThe appointing of MussoliniDemobilisation5. The March after the MarchPaper battlesA 'typically Italian revolution': Diplomacy and the March on RomeThe 'bivouac speech' and the parliamentary debateArmy reportsThe first official representation6. A Year of Fascist DominationViolence and public orderThe transformation of the StateTime to draw a balanceConclusionIndex