Settler and fascist colonialism: Giuseppe Finaldi, ‘It is a Fascist Empire. Some points of discussion on the nature of the Italy’s colonialism during the Fascist period, Revista Estudos do Século XX, 24, 2024 | settler colonial studies blog

Settler and fascist colonialism: Giuseppe Finaldi, ‘It is a Fascist Empire. Some points of discussion on the nature of the Italy’s colonialism during the Fascist period, Revista Estudos do Século XX, 24, 2024

08Mar25

Abstract: On May 9, 1936, in one of his most celebrated speeches delivered from the balcony of Rome’s Palazzo Venezia, Mussolini announced to Italy and the world that the nation ‘finally had its empire.’ Italian troops had entered Addis Ababa a few days earlier; Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian king of kings, had fled into exile. The Duce’s words were broadcast across the country and throngs gathered in all of Italy’s piazzas where loudspeakers – sixteen had been set up in Milan’s Piazza Duomo for example[i] – blared out Mussolini’s speech in real time. In the following days newspapers and newsreels ad infinitum repeated what came to be called the declaration of the ‘foundation of the empire’. Vittorio Emanuele, previously merely Italy’s king, was by law now also to be referred to as ‘emperor’. According to historian Renzo De Felice, the blacksmith’s son and former socialist, at the height of his popularity, refused Vittorio Emanuele’s offer to be made a prince, informing the monarch that the Mussolinis came from a long line of peasants, something he was proud of.

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