Battle for the Marshes Flashcards
Explain what the battle was
lso known as the Battle for Land
A massive land reclamation project launched in 1928
In some ways a continuation of the Battle for Grain, in that it was intended to make extensive new land available for wheat production
New towns were built on the reclaimed land, such as Latina, Pontina , Littoria and Sabaudia
Not all of the new towns created were on the area reclaimed by the Pontine Marshes. One new town was built near M’s birthplace, Predappio. Another new town called Mussolinia was built in Sicily
The regime also encouraged a high rural birthrate
The project was known as Bonifica Intergrale
The most ambitious scheme was to drain the Pontine Marshes. They covered an area of 780km in central Italy. In the pre-Roman days, it had been a healthy and well populated area but had been abandoned and lapsed into unhealthy marshland. A series of Roman Emperors and popes had made attempts to reclaim it but none had been successful. The drainage scheme required a massive effort from engineers and labourers and therefore was not completed until the 1930s. Afterwards, the former estates were broken up into smallholdings and given to farmers for permanent settlement, these farms were mostly owned by ex-servicemen
The second major scheme was land reclamation and improvement, and it was equally highly publicised. Previous governments had made a start here, providing money to drain and irrigate farmland. M just expanded these existing schemes
What were the motivations behind the battle?
Create new land for wheat to be grown on, as some regions of Italy were uncultivated marshland unsuitable for cultivation
Propaganda exercise to the outside world to show how fascism galvanised and coordinated its people
Draining the marshlands would conquer malaria and improve the health of the people, as some of the marshlands were malarial
The new towns were intended to boost the economy and provide jobs; but they were also intended to be showpieces of fascist architecture and town planning – providing suitably impressive homes for the expanding population
Part of the regime’s emphasis on the superiority of peasant ideals compared with the ‘wicked cities’. It attempted to stop the flow of migration from the countryside to urban cities
Provide more jobs
Make more grain available in the long run
How did the regime try and achieve these goals?
Laws on reclamation were passed in 1923, 1928 and 1933, extending previous schemes
Private landowners were encouraged to cooperate with drainage schemes
List the successes of the policy
Became an important way of stimulating the economy and providing employment following the Depression
Largely successful in terms of propaganda. The Pontine Marshes were near Rome, and it was easy to dazzle foreign visitors who toured the showpiece new towns
The massive public workers involved in land reclamation provided work for thousands
The drainage of the Pontine Marshes was a massive success and gave Mussolini another excuse to boast the achievements of Italian fascism
List the failures of the battle
The total amount of land reclaimed was less than the ambitious targets set in 1928. Only 58% of land irrigation projects and just 1/3 of irrigation schemes were completed
The number of people who were resettled on the reclaimed land was much smaller than original expectations
Smaller farmers, who were supposedly going to be the chief beneficiaries of the scheme, gained very little, as most of the benefits went to large landowners who got the government subsidies
While the policy of ruralisation may have slowed the movement of people from the countryside to the cities, it did not stop it altogether
In 1920, agriculture made up 45.9% of national income, the largest proportion of all sectors, by 1940 this had fallen to just 30%, with agriculture being overtaken by both services and industry
Since the regime made no real attempt to introduce land reform, the basic problems facing Italian agriculture remained. The plight of the peasantry returned between 1926-34 and the real wages of farmers fell by over 50%
Thousands of men searching for work left their villages and made for the urban industrial centres `
What does De Grand say about the battle?
‘The policy of ruralisation and encouraging a high rural birth rate flew in the face of Italian social trends. Italians were migrating to cities from relatively overpopulated rural areas. By encouraging a high rural birth rate the regime added to unemployment and did little to ease the problems of rural Italy’
Evaluate the overall success of the battle
Overall, land reclamation was a success since it improved public health and provided thousands of jobs during the depression
