HS 418 - Mussolini and Fascist Italy

(3.00 cr.)

Prerequisite: One HS 100-level course, one HS 300-level course. Genius/buffoon, hero/villain, revolutionary/reactionary-these are only a few of the dichotomous labels attached to Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943 and founder of the modern political conception of totalitarianism. Similar controversy surrounds his regime, which was originally hailed by many in Europe as an exciting new "third way" which eliminated the excesses of both capitalism and communism. This course looks carefully at how Mussolini came to power, what he really managed to accomplish, and why he came to such an inglorious end-lost in the wake of Hitler and his Nazi juggernaut. II