Wolfpaw
Banned
I don't disagree with you here. The majority of the Italian populace were unenthusiastic about war when it came, and they never really got behind it. The problem is, Mussolini has to placate the radicals in his party who are only hungrier after their rape of Abyssinia. And there are a lot of restive young people who are being inculcated with a cult of heroism, which is never good in a country with a sluggish economy.I disagree. OVRA (Fascist Secret Police) reports, including of course some never showed to the Duce himself, showed that Italian people was more than relieved by the starting non-belligerent stance and that feelings toward Germany were not warm at all.
The problem is that fascist regimes are inherently unstable; they depend on momentum and machismo and were always very tense. Mussolini's regime was getting old, unpopular due to the exceptionally rampant corruption, and the radical ras were getting increasingly restive.Popularity of Fascism as many other dictatorships was strongly influenced by how the people itself felt satisfied by his everyday life, that even not being comparable with (for example) United Kingdom, was better than the former Liberal Italy era for sure. Several historians say that this would have been accomplished anyway being general momentum of history towards progress. We will never know it, anyway.
So the basic thing is, if the Fascist state does not go to war, it will not radicalize. Therefore, it'll more than likely fall apart due to entropy.