Fascism is a form of politics that first arose in the early part of the twentieth-century in Europe. Yet, to categorize it in either the left or the right wing of politics is an impossible task. One thing that historians can seem to agree on is that fascism is both extremely nationalistic and antidemocratic. The only other agreement is that the people of Italy sacrificed their freedom to the government of Mussolini.
The victory of WWI did not help Italian politics. Instead of uniting together under this banner of victory the Italian government fought against each other even harder over what the should receive as compensation from the losers of WWI. Adrian Lyttelton's Seizure of Power: Fascism in Italy 1919-1929, provides an excellent look to the inner workings of an Italian government that gave way to the extremely nationalistic and militaristic government of Benito Mussolini and his Black Shirts. Giampiero Carocci author of Italian Fascism talks also of Mussolini's seizure of power and goes one step further to talk about Mussolini's failure and a few minor success during his reign. .
Though their main focuses are on different aspects of Fascism in Italy, their takes on the origins of Mussolini's power are quite similar. Both agree that main causes to the rise of Fascism with in Italy were: the social unrest that arose after WWI, the fact that Italy didn't become the great powerhouse of Europe that it wanted to be, and the rise of communism. Though one major sub-factor to all of these causes was the Governments thoughts that Italy was short-changed at the Paris Peace Conference in January of 1919. .
Adrian Lyttelton spent many years in Italy researching this book. This gives Adrian a valid image as a leading writer on the subject of Italian Fascism. Obviously Adrian didn't experience Fascism, but did research within state archives and old newspapers and from other historical writings of the time.