Caroline RothsteinVerified account

Perhaps this was one of the more, and arguably the only, positive impacts that Mussolini would have on Italy. Not only did the treaty settle a half-century long dispute between the church and state, but also it established the Vatican City, which remains an important holy area.

Mussolini’s foreign policy was aggressive and destructive as he aimed to make Italy a great power, renewing the ancient Roman Empire. He involved himself in smaller nations for conquest, attempting to provide Italy with a sense of power and international importance.

For example, in 1923, Mussolini bombarded the small Greek island of Corfu claiming it was compensation for Italians that had been killed mapping the Albanian border. Perhaps more damage was caused when in 1935, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia,

bearing the ideas for expansion and prestige through conquest and colonization in mind. It claimed to be revenge for the Italian defeat in Adowa in 1896, in a hope to currently link the Italian colonies of Eritrea and Somalia.

War in Africa distracted Italy from her own domestic dilemmas. By June 1936, the conquest was complete and Mussolini enthroned Victor Emmanuel as the new emperor. The Ethiopian War gave the illusion that Italy was more powerful under the control of Mussolini.

Mussolini also involved his troops in the Spanish Civil War. However, the ultimate impact that his foreign policy had on Italy was minimal and can only be seen as negative as it would ultimately drive Italy into World War II.

It was the treaty signed with Germany in 1936 and Italy’s entering the war on Germany’s side in 1940 that would destroy Italy and seal Mussolini’s negative impact on the country. Italy was defeated in the war as Allied forces invaded Italy from the south.

Italian forces were left inadequate from both the Ethiopian War and the Italian involvement in the Spanish Civil War. Finally, Victor Emmanuel called for Mussolini to resign in 1943.