5. Mussolini’s Speeches
“Trenta secoli di storia ci permettono di guardare con sovrana pietà talune teorie
d'oltr'Alpe, sostenute dalla progenie di gente che ignorava la scrittura nel tempo in cui
Roma aveva Cesare, Virgilio ed Augusto! “ (1934)
“Thirty centuries of history allow us to look with utmost compassion at some theories
coming from the other sides of the Alps, supported by the descendants of people which
did not know how to write while Rome had Ceasar, August and Virgilius!”
“Noi fummo grandi quando dominavamo il mare. Roma non potte’ diventare Impero
prima di aver schiacciato la potenza marittima di Cartagine!” (1934)
“We were strong while we ruled the seas. Rome could not become an empire before
having crushed the military power of Carthage!”
6. Militarization of the People
“The Rome that we honor...is not a nostalgic
contemplation of the past, but hard preparation for
the future.
Rome is our departure and reference point. We
dream of Roman Italy, i.e. wise and
strong, disciplined and imperial”. (Mussolini, 1922)
“We are becoming and we will ever more a military
nation. Because we are not afraid of words, we will
add, militarist. In full: warlike”. (Mussolini, 1933)
“War would become the measure of how much
fascism had succeded in altering the character of
Italians”. (Alexander De Grand, “Mussolini’s
Follies”, Contemporary European History, Vol.
13, No.2, 2004.)
11. To Conclude..
The Roman myth in Fascist Italy was a model of supremacy.
A source of identity for the regime.
It was aimed at legitimizing Fascism in Italy, as well as to make Italians proud of their
nation.
Legitimization of war as a natural aim of Italy, increased militarization rhetoric and
practices.
The Abyssinian War of 1935-36 was the symbolic high point in this process, the
subsequent institution of the “Empire” was a propaganda ploy to rally Italians around
the regime.
