THE WORLD TO-DAY 433

been manifested in the creation of the Fascist Dictatorship
in Italy. The Kemal of this new order has been Benito
Mussolini. It is beyond our scope to attempt anything more
than a bare summary of his work and policy. Exploiting
the acute discontent in Italy after the War, Signor Mussolini
—the son of a blacksmith, who had successively been a
school-master, journalist and socialist—led a successful
march on Rome, in October 1922, and captured power for
his party which was called the Fascisti. II Duee, as Mus-
solini is called in Italy, is the head of the Fascist Grand
Council which rules the country in the name of the King,
but really under the command of the Dictator. Mussolini
has revived in his country the ambitions and spirit of ancient
Rome and set the feet of his countrymen on the road to
imperial glory, though in doing so he has upset the peace
of the World. His conquest of Abyssinia (1935) and inter-
ference in the Civil War being still waged in Spain indicate
the trend of his foreign policy. Internally he has achieved
enough unity, efficiency, and prosperity to hypnotise his
people into acquiescence with both his Dictatorship at home
and his chauvinism abroad.

Germany, the principal author and victim of the Great
War, could not also escape from its worst effects, political
as well as economic. In the welter of reactions that follow-
ed, the Kaiser fled the country, and Deutsdiland became a
Republic. A democratic constitution was drawn up at Wei-
mar in February 1919, and Ebert (a sadler) elected first
President. But the internal collapse of Germany was so
complete that under the external pressure of the ruthless re-
parations she could not recover stability without a revolu-
tion. The great economic depression of 1929 found her in
the nadir of her fall. Unemployment rose to fearful pro-
, portions. Out of the several competing solutions to this