White examines the "middle ground" as both a place (the pays d'en haut of the Great Lakes region between 1650-1815) and a process of mutual accommodation between Algonquian-speaking Indians and French, British, and Americans. The middle ground consisted of creative misunderstandings in which Indians and Europeans attempted to build a set of mutually understandable practices. Several conditions are necessary for a middle ground process: a nonfunctioning or weak state authority, a relatively evenly-balanced distribution of power between peoples, the inability of one side to effectively use force over the other, and the need or desire to interact with one another (such as for trade goods). Both sides then try to engage in practices that the other side might find intelligible, such as European leaders consciously taking on the role of a patriarch that distributes gifts, mediates conflicts, and "covers" violent deaths. Indians, meanwhile, began participating in a market economy, compromised on legal punishments, and submitted to a limited degree to European oversight. The middle ground took place on both formal diplomatic levels (European powers budgeting for gift-giving) and the more everyday scale of individual interactions (sex and violence). People on both sides tried to justify their actions in terms of what they THOUGHT the other side's cultural framework to be (creative misunderstandings). Perhaps the best example is that of how they treated homicide, with both sides compromising - Europeans would sometimes cover the dead, while Indians would sometimes allow for individual perpetrators to be punished.
The narrative arc of The Middle Ground begins with a story of refugees, as Algonquian-speaking Indians flee northward from brutal warfare at the hands of the Iroquois during the 1640s-1660s. This places them in the orbit of French traders and missionaries and allow for the middle ground to flourish. The first half of the eighteenth century was a golden age for the middle ground, as Algonquians developed a relationship with Onontio (the title for a French governor) in which he was expected to act as a father in disbursing gifts and mediating conflicts. During this period the fur trade became deeply entangled with gift-giving, representing a hybrid form of exchange that was necessary for the system to function for both sides. During the 1740s and 1750s the French-Algonquian alliance began to weaken with increased competition from British. White drives home the point that in the pays d'en haut local, village politics were inseparable from imperial politics - instead of a hierarchical system of competing nation-states, the world of the middle ground took place between village alliances, intermarriages, and the decisions of specific chiefs that ended up reverberating across imperial politics.
1. Night of the Long Knives - happened in 1934, it was a series of politically motivated murders.
2.Wannsee Conference - happened in 1942, concerned the final solution
3.Auschwitz opens - in 1940
4.Kristallnacht - happened in 1933, it was a night of Anti-semitic attacks and arrests
So the order is 4, 1, 3, 2
Why was Benito Mussolini an effective leader?
Still have a question? Ask your own!
What is your question?
Ad by Officevibe
Give more effective feedback to your team.
Our team of leadership & engagement experts built a simple leadership assessment. Collect answers now!
Learn More
1 ANSWER

Ibrahim Khan, Babson College Class of 2020
Answered May 9, 2016
Hope this helps
The term effective leader has different meaning for different people. Benito Mussolini in many ways can be described as an effective leader. He is after all still referred in history as the father of fascism.
The only way one can successfully judge a man's success is by closely evaluating the platform they were given by their parents and what they were able to achieve on top of that. Mussolini was born in Dovia di Predappio, a small town in the province of Forlì in Romagna on 29 July 1883. His father Alessandro Mussolini was a blacksmith and a socialist, while his mother Rosa Mussolini was a devoutly Catholic schoolteacher. His father instilled in him a passion for socialist politics and a defiance against authority. Though he was expelled from several schools for bullying and defying school authorities, he eventually obtained a teaching certificate in 1901 and, for a brief time, worked as a schoolmaster.
His father's political views greatly influenced him but the ideas of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, the sociologist Vilfredo Pareto, and the syndicalist Georges Sorel were the one's that greatly influenced him. Mussolini also later credited the Marxist Charles Péguy and the syndicalist Hubert Lagardelle as some of his influences. He created a Neo-Machavillian approach toward politics.
In 1902, Benito Mussolini moved to Switzerland to promote socialism, and quickly gained a reputation for his magnetism and remarkable rhetorical talents. While engaging in political demonstrations, he caught the attention of Swiss authorities and was eventually expelled from the country. In 1904, Mussolini returned to Italy and continued promoting a socialist agenda. He was briefly imprisoned and, upon release, became editor of the organization's newspaper, Avanti, which gave him a larger megaphone and expanded his influence.
Mussolini initially condemned Italy's entry into World War I, but soon saw the war as an opportunity for his country to become a great power. His change in attitude broke ties with fellow socialists, however, and he was expelled from the socialist party.
After the war, Mussolini resumed his political activities, criticizing the Italian government for weakness at the Treaty of Versailles. He organized several right-wing groups into a single force and, in March 1919, formed the Fascist Party—the movement proclaimed opposition to social class discrimination and supported nationalist sentiments, hoping to raise Italy to levels of its great Roman past.
Capitalizing on public discontent, Mussolini organized a para-military unit known as the "Black Shirts," who terrorized political opponents and helped increase Fascist influence. By 1922, as Italy slipped into political chaos, Mussolini declared that only he could restore order and was given the authority. He gradually dismantled all democratic institutions, and by 1925, had made himself dictator, taking the title "Il Duce". To his credit, Mussolini carried out an extensive public works program and reduced unemployment, making him very popular with the people. He stayed in power until his death in April, 1945. He would've stayed in power for even longer if it hadn't involved himself in the World War II. However, a megalomaniac like himself couldn't resist the urge to be a key player in the global political scenario of that time.
( A leader is someone who can convince the people to believe in him and in his vision. This is exactly what he was able to do. His rise to power is unparalleled in history. He to many historians was the Napolean of his time.
