Question

Write a paragraph to summarize Benito Mussolini’s radio address. Include the main point of his speech, and provide the key ideas that he develops over the course of the text. << Read Less

Answer 1

On his radio address of 2 October, 1935, Mussolini defended the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and rallied the Italian people to stand by the Fascist dictatorship against the threat of international sanctions.

Step-by-step explanation:

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) was the dictator of Fascist Italy between 1922 and 1943. He was the creator of the openly nationalistic, chauvinistic and terroristic political system known as Fascism. Under his rule, one of his goals was the restoration of Italy to a great European power. As part of this, he sought to invade Ethiopia. On a radio address on 2 October, 1935, Mussolini defended the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and rallied the Italian people to stand by the Fascist dictatorship against the threat of international sanctions. He stressed the unity of the Italian peoples behind Fascism, and how the Italians had been betrayed by their former allies during World War I, which now threatened Italy with sanctions if it carried on with its invasion of Ethiopia. Mussolini rejected the threats, promising he would respond to them with force. Finally, he invoked the great deeds of Italian and Roman history, and called for its people to support the Italian troops in East Africa. Italian troops would cross the Ethiopian border the very next day, and by May 1936, Ethiopia had been defeated and annexed by Italy as the "Italian East Africa".

Answer 2

"Il Duce" (The Leader) of Italy, Benito Mussolini, gave more than one radio address. So I won't pretend to summarize here which radio address you have in front of you as an assignment. But you can do that part on your own. Go through the document and highlight the main thoughts in each paragraph. Those will become the key ideas that you'll then highlight as you write your essay.

In whichever speech you're examining, look for ways that Mussolini expressed his Fascist energy and agenda. "Fascism" is what Mussolini termed his movement. The term goes back to the Latin "fasces" which was a bundle of rods with an ax sticking out -- a symbol of power. Mussolini's movement was all about projecting the power of his personality and the strength of Italy as a nation. There really wasn't a big philosophy behind fascism itself -- mostly it was about projecting an image of power.

If you want a fun version of what a speech by Mussolini was like, on the television show "The Office," there was an episode where the character Dwight Shrute was giving a speech to a room full of salespeople, and his co-worker Jim Halpert had given him a script to use which was modeled after speeches by Mussolini. You can probably find a video clip of "Dwight's Speech" online. It won't help you answer your essay question, but will put you in the mood!