Nástup italského fašismu po první světové válce
The accession of italian fascism after World War I

Summary/Abstract: The study deals with the advance of Italian fascism between 1919 and 1922. It follows its emergence in March 1919 in Milan, North Italy, the preconditions for its rise, important figures of the movement, national congresses, and program manifestos until the “March on Rome”, when B. Mussolini became Prime Minister of the Italian government in the autumn of 1922. It presents the fascist movement as a diverse platform that, with its pragmatic approach, responded to immediate social events, absorbing them into its program. The study analyses the personality of B. Mussolini, particularly his socialist and journalistic past, which he was able to skilfully utilize for the mobilization of masses after 1919. It points to the wider context of political situation in post-war Italy that contributed to the growth of the fascist movement (G. D’Annunzio, the squadrists etc.). The study thus presents fascism as a phenomenon of post-war Italy, which, despite being on the side of the victorious countries in WWI, found itself in a very complicated situation, such as the financial exhaustion of the country, frequent strikes of workers in industrial North-Italian cities, agricultural hardship, difficult integration of former soldiers into everyday life, growing violence and political radicalism, and the growing political and economic differences between the North and the South. It therefore shows that the advance of fascism was at the same time caused by the retreat of democratic elites from the positions that they should have fiercely protected against the aggressive authoritarian movement.

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