Question

Look at the newspaper clipping given below and answer the questions that follow:

1. Who is referred to as ‘Black Shirt Leader’ in the newspaper clipping shown above? Why did he enter Rome?
2. Who was the ‘King’ with whom the ‘Black Shirt Leader’ was to confer? What did the King do?
3. State any three consequences of the incident.

Answer 1

1. Bentino Mussolini is the king known as the ‘Black Shirt Leader’. The Fascist Party convened a convention in Naples in October 1922. The event attracted approximately 40,000 armed volunteers. Mussolini threatened to assault Rome with his volunteer army if his demands were not met during the summit. Mussolini marched on Rome because the Italian government refused to meet his demands. The march took place in October 1922.
2. King Victor Emmanuel III, with whom the ‘Black Shirt Leader’ would confer. The King invited Mussolini to create a new administration, which he did.
3. He regained the islands of Rhodes and Dodecanese, formerly lost to Greece, and the city of Fiume. He made Albania a protectorate of Italy. He signed economic and diplomatic relations with France and Russia. In 1936, he captured Abyssinia against objections from the League of Nations. Italy exited the League of Nations. Following that, Italy’s relations with England and France deteriorated, and it gravitated toward Germany.