Skip to main content

What was Mussolini's role in the outbreak of World War 2?

Benito Mussolini did not play a very direct role in the outbreak of WWII.  Italy did not start the war.  In fact, it did not even enter the war until Germany had already defeated France.  Therefore, we cannot say that Mussolini played a very large role in starting the war.


While Mussolini did not play a direct role in starting the war, he contributed to it in three indirect ways.  First, Mussolini was an inspiration for Hitler and the Nazis.  Mussolini and his fascist movement took power in Italy more than a decade before the Nazis came to power in Germany.  The Nazis shared many beliefs with the Italian fascists and the rise of fascism in Italy helped inspire Hitler and the Nazis to believe that they could take power in Germany.  By helping Hitler come to power, Mussolini helped start WWII.


Second, Mussolini helped bring about WWII by allying Italy with Germany.  With Italy as an ally, Germany did not have to worry about having to fight a war in the south when it started WWII.  This allowed Hitler to be more confident about invading Poland and then France.  He knew that he would not have to fight two enemies at once.  By giving Hitler this security, Mussolini helped start WWII.


Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Mussolini helped to discredit the League of Nations, which was supposed to help keep the peace after WWI.  One of the things the League was supposed to do was to prevent countries from fighting wars of aggression against one another.  However, when Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935, the League did nothing.  This helped show that the League was really powerless and that there was nothing to stop an aggressive country from taking what it wanted by military force.  By helping to expose the weakness of the League of Nations, Mussolini helped to convince Hitler that he could take what he wanted through the use of military force.  This, too, helped to start WWII.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more