Fascist Italy, 1935-48

About this Course

About the Course

In this course, Professor Richard Bosworth (University of Oxford) explores the nature and development of Italian fascism from 1935-48. In the first module, we look at Italy’s involvement in the second Ethiopian war from 1935-36, and the development of Benito Mussolini as a ‘gangster’. In the second module, we turn to survey the ambiguities and contradictions of the Italian dictatorship from 1922-40, looking at whether we need to treat the fascism and totalitarianism in Italy as distinctively ‘Italian-style’. In the third module, we look at Italo-German relationships from 1936-40, before in the fourth module looking at Italy’s presence as an ‘ignoble second’ from 1940-43. In the fifth and final module, we look at the Italian ‘civil war’, and the flawed foundation of a democratic Italian Republic between 1943-48.

About the Lecturer

Professor Richard Bosworth is a Professor of History at the University of Oxford. He is a leading expert on Benito Mussolini and Fascist Italy and has written extensively on these topics. His most recent publication is Politics, Murder and Love in an Italian Family: The Amendolas in the Age of Totalitarianisms (2022), a biographical study which explores the highs and lows of a family at the centre of Italian politics. Some of his other publications include Mussolini and the eclipse of Italian Fascism: from dictatorship to populism (2021) and Claretta: Mussolini’s last lover (2017).