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Getting to Know Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini is one the most famous Italian leaders. He was born in July 29, 1883 and died on April 28, 1945. He is a proud member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Order of the Tower and Sword. Mussolini became well known as the leader of the National Fascist Party and the main founder of Fascism. In 1922, his political career flourished as the 40th Italian Prime Minister. As an honorable leader, he was given the title of Il Duce, which he started to use in 1925. Moreover, he was also given the title of His Excellency Benito Mussolini, Head of Government, Duce of Fascism, and Founder of the Empire in 1936. With the cooperation of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Mussolini has gained overall power over the military of Italy by being recognized as the First Marshall of the Empire, the supreme military rank created by the King and Mussolini himself. His reign over the military force lasted until 1943. After the replacement and short period before he passed away, he is recognized as the well-known Italian Social Republic leader.
Mussolini had great contributions to the foundation of Fascism in Italy. Italian Fascism is attributed with different elements such as nationalism, expansionism, national syndicalism, social progress and corporatism. Moreover, this political movement also promotes anti-communism as well as the restriction of state propaganda and subversives. With his formation of this ideology, he achieved admiration and influenced many political personalities not only in Italy but also all over the world.
Mussolini had several domestic achievements during his political service from 1924 to 1939. Some of the most notable programs that he had created for public works and development include the enhancement of providing opportunities to the masses, dealing with the disputes in the Pontine Marshes and creation of the public transport. He is also responsible for solving the dispute between the Papacy and the Italian government by being the mediator of the famous Lateran Treaty. This popular dispute is well known as the Roman Question. Other achievements also include the improvement of the economy by securing the commercial dependencies and colonies of Italy.
Although Mussolini is a primary leader of the Axis forces, he favored supporting France on its battle against Germany during the early 1930s. It was June 10, 1940 when Italy became a part of the World War II as major part of the Axis powers. Mussolini led the Italy forces for three years until he was ousted by the Grand Council of Fascism after the invasion of the Allies. However, shortly after his confinement, he was rescued by the German Special Forces during the raid of Gran Sasso.
After the successful mission to rescue Mussolini, he became the head of the Italian Social Republic to several Italian regions that are not under the occupation of the Allied forces. With the realization of the possible defeat, Mussolini tried to flee to Switzerland in late April 1945. However, his attempt was unsuccessful and he was captured and executed by Italian supporters near the Lake Como. His remains were brought to Milan and were suspended upside down for the public to witness his downfall.
Early Life of Benito Mussolini
Mussolini came from the small town of Dovia di Predappio located in Forli province of Emilia-Romagna. Due to Mussolini’s popularity during the era of Fascism, the location was nicknamed as “Duce’s town” and Forli was known as the “Duce’s city”. Even nowadays, advocates still visit Predappio and Forli to see his birthplace. His home is now recognized as a national museum.
Mussolini’s family belongs to the working class. Alessandro Mussolini, his father, performs blacksmithing tasks and at the same time participates actively as an Anarchist while Rosa Mussolini, his mother, is a schoolteacher and a devoted Catholic. With his father’s political fascination, his name was derived from President Benito Juarez, a Mexican reformist and his other names Amilcare and Andrea were after Italian Socialists Amilcare Cipriani and Andrea Costa. He is the eldest among three children namely Benito, Edvige and Arnaldo.
During his early years, Mussolini spend time working on his father’s blacksmithing shop. Being exposed to his father’s political leanings at an early age, he started to develop himself his own political views. Although his father was republican and a socialist, Alessandro has nationalistic views as influenced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire reign over the Italians. When it comes to religious beliefs, an important religious argument occurred since his father was not baptized at birth. However, due to the persistence of his mother, he was enrolled to the school managed by monks. As expected from the young Mussolini, he became rebellious and faced expulsion due to behavior problems such as causing disturbances at a Mass, spilling an inkpot to his schoolteacher and stabbing a classmate’s hand. After being transferred to another school, he started to get excellent marks and became eligible to be a schoolmaster for elementary in 1901.
Benito Mussolini as a Soldier and Political Journalist
Mussolini temporarily moved to Switzerland in 1902 in order to prevent being included in the military service. While in Switzerland, he labored as a stonemason and took the time to study different political ideas of sociologist Pareto, syndicalist Sorel and the Nietzsche. His views are also influenced with the ideas of Marxian Charles Peguy as well as another French syndicalist Hubert Lagardelle. Mussolini expressed great fascination to the works of Sorel mainly due to the importance given by this political view to overthrowing capitalism and liberal democracy. According to Sorel’s ideas, this can be effectively done by using direct action, violence, neo-Machiavellian strategies and general strike.
Since it became very difficult for him to search a stable job, he was involved in a vagrancy incident and was put to jail overnight. He used his time in Switzerland to learn German and French. Later on his stay, he became an active member of the socialist party, which led to his deportation to Italy. He returned to his homeland and there he voluntarily signed himself for the military. After being in the armed forces for two years, he continued his teaching career.
Benito Mussolini as a Socialist
Mussolini then became a follower of the Marxian Socialist party. It was February 1908 when he became the Socialist Chamber of Labor secretary in the city of Trento. At that time, Italy was under the Austro-Hungarian regime. While staying in the city, he created the novel entitled “The Cardinal’s Mistress”, which contains several anticlerical views. The publication was then removed from distribution after several years in accordance to Mussolini’s agreement with the Pope. He also worked in the office of the socialist party and became the editor of the L'Avvenire del Lavoratore or “The Future of the Worker”.
In 1910, Mussolini decided to come back to his province in Forli to take the post as editor of the weekly newspaper Lotta di classe. During that time, his career as one of the country’s well-known Socialists is flourishing. In September 1911, a riot involving Socialists broke out in Forli to denounce Italy’s war with Lybia. Mussolini was then an active member of the Socialists and has been participating in the denouncement of the imperialist war. He was captured and jailed for five months as penalty for condemning the war in Tripoli.
After his short imprisonment, he prompted for the expulsion of two revisionists from the Socialist party for the reason of involvement in providing support to the war. These two Socialist members were Leonida Bissolati and Ivanhoe Bonimi. With his actions for the Socialist party, he was awarded with the editor position for the newspaper Avanti! With Mussolini as the editor of the Socialist newspaper, the circulation started to grow from 20,000 copies to about 100,000 copies distributed. He also became an important personality to the police force, even reaching the concerns of the Inspector-General of Public Security in Milan because of his revolutionary actions.
Separating from the Socialist Party
On a police report written by the Inspector-General, he indicated that Mussolini, 38 years of age, is a revolutionary socialist with a police record. Aside from being a schoolteacher for elementary and being eligible to teach secondary education, he is also the former secretary of the Forli chamber, Cesna and Ravenna. The report also indicated that Mussolini’s editorship of the Socialist Party newspaper in 1912 suggested violence and had an obstinate course. The report also mentioned his active participation in opposing the Socialist party of Italy in October 1914. The letter indicated that Mussolini became an advocate to Italy’s active but neutral participation in the War of Nations, which was opposite of the party’s original idea of becoming an absolute neutral party. It also reported Mussolini’s resignation as the director of the newspaper on October 20 of that year.
Moreover, the report also included his publication of Il Popolo d’Italia in November 1914. The newspaper initiated by Mussolini was a direct opposition to the political views of the socialist newspaper and promoted Italian involvement in the dispute against the militaristic beliefs as the Central Empires insisted. As a result, he was expelled from the Socialist party with accordance to the grounds of being unworthy to the political and moral interests of the movement. The report also indicated Mussolini’s campaign for the Italian intervention as clearly seen on public demonstrations and violent publication in the revolutionary newspaper.
The Inspector-General also wrote several notes about the case of Mussolini. He included in the summary report how esteemed Mussolini was to his comrades and followers for his involvement as editor of the Socialists newspaper. The advocacy of Mussolini to the character of the proletariat has been unmatched earning him the acclaim of being a reliable Socialist leader. His service had no intentions of gaining money or favoring self-interest. However, his sincere advocacy to his political beliefs had led to compromising his political honesty to obtain the needed funds to sustain the newspaper and the movement’s programs to support armed neutrality in war. The Inspector-General even accused Mussolini to use indispensable financial negotiations just to support the struggle of his political views. According to the notes, Mussolini used his membership to the Socialist party in order to hide his subversive actions.
Benito Mussolini in World War I
As an ally to the irredentist journalist and politician Cesare Battisti, Mussolini actively joined the Army in preparation for the war. According to his war memoirs, Mussolini was deployed to the operation zones, which caused him physical injuries due to grenade explosions. As the inspector noted on Mussolini’s participation in war, Mussolini received promotion to corporal because the merits he achieved during the operations. Moreover, he showed excellence when it comes to fighting ability and conduct as well as the needed calmness and persistence during the war. Mussolini’s zeal and determination to finish assigned tasks is exemplary to his comrades especially in being the leader in tasks involving resilience and labor.
The achievements as well as the military experience of Mussolini were retold and published in Diario Di Guerra. His military service lasted nine months mostly in the front line of the warfare. With the hardships and strict conditions of warfare, Mussolini was diagnosed with paratyphoid fever. In 1917, a mortar bomb explosion on the trench where Mussolini was assigned accidentally wounded him, forcing him to withdraw from the war. According the medical report about the incident, about 40 metal shards were found in Mussolini’s body. In August 1917, after fully recovering from his wounds, the hospital discharged him to resume being the editor-in-chief for the newspaper Il Popolo d’Italia.
Mussolini was then married to Rachele Guidi on December 25, 1915. At that time, they already had a daughter named Edda in 1910. Moreover, he also had a child with Ida Dalser from the village of Sopramonte near Trento. He later legally recognized his son on January 11, 1916.
When Mussolini came back from military service for the Allies after the war, he started to believe that the idea of socialism to be a disappointment. In 1918, Mussolini rallied the Italians to be energetic and ruthless to wipe out enemies and obstacles and revive the nation. In 1919, Mussolini had felt that the doctrine of socialism have no future and exists only as resentment. Moreover, Mussolini started several reformations including the foundation of the 200-member Milan Fascio and turned it into Fasci Italiani di Combattimento or Italian Combat Squad on March 23, 1919.
The opposition to the discrimination by the social class of the individual portrayed by fascism earned great support from the masses on the early stage of its development. Fascism strongly disagreed to all variations of class wars and supported nationalistic views including strong unity among the Italians. Fascism involved uniting Italy and remove class discrimination with Mussolini’s hopes of reviving the country’s Roman past. There are several ideological views that served as strong foundations for fascism. Mussolini made use of different resources to formulate the core ideas for fascism such as the ideals of Plato, Nietzsche, Georges Sorel and the various economic and socialist insights of Vilfredo Pareto.
Mussolini expressed great respect for The Republic written by Plato in which he chose to read often to gain helpful insights daily. This work of Plato had several ideas that have been adapted by Mussolini to create fascism. The idea about having elite to make the state as the absolute end had greatly fascinated him. Other fundamental thoughts that Mussolini utilized for developing the pillars of fascism include the antagonism to democracy, rejection of egalitarianism, defending of class system, promoting of the classes, militarization of the nation, demanding citizens to perform tasks for the benefit of the nation and using state intervention to create armed forces that can protect the state and its future rulers. There are many similarities between the Republic and fascism but there is a difference between the aggressiveness when it comes to dealing with disputes. The Republic promotes defensive war as compared to the ideality of fascism to utilize communist ideals to achieve the state’s political interests.
The ideologies of Mussolini and other fascists can be classified as both traditionalist and revolutionary. During that time, this political view was very new among the reigning political ideas and was depicted as “The Third Way”. Within the fascist movement, the Fascisti headed by a close comrade of Mussolini Dino Grandi, started to form armed groups of war experts nicknamed as squadristi or the Blackshirts. The armed squad aims to keep peace over Italy with the use of strict disciplinary measures. The Blackshirts are responsible for restoring the order during demonstrations and parades whether the activities are started by communists, anarchists and socialists. Moreover, the armed group also pacified the clashes between these political factions. The Italian government allowed the Blackshirts to take actions with the fear of having a communist insurgency if the demonstrations continued.
In the two years of reign as the peacekeeper of Italy, the Fascisti grew and transformed to become the National Fascist Party. The development of the Fascisti was approved at the Rome congress. In addition to the success of the fascist party, Mussolini was designated as part of the Chamber of Deputies in 1921. The candidacy of Mussolini to the chamber has been greatly influenced by his active cooperation with the Margherita Sarfatti, Jewish academic and author famously known as the Jewish Mother of Fascism during that time.
Early Years of Mussolini’s Reign over Italy
With the help of a coup d’état known as the March of Rome, the National Fascist Party headed by Mussolini overthrew the Prime Minister Luigi Facta and the party gained power in Italy. This event took place from October 27 to October 29 in 1922. On October 28, 1922, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy removed Facta and assigned the office to Mussolini. By that time, Mussolini was earning the support of the business sector, the military as well as the liberal party of the government.
Mussolini’s initial years of rule as Italy’s Prime Minister was distinguished by the coalition government party comprised mainly of Fascists, liberals, nationalists and a couple of Catholic clerics from Popular Party. Even though, Mussolini was the Prime Minister, the fascist party occupies only a few positions on his government. His domestic goal for accepting the position is to establish an autocratic state and be the Il Duce to gain control all over Italy. His political goals were articulated in the Fascist Il Popolo d’Italia under the editorship of Arnaldo Mussolini.
Mussolini even obtained despotic powers for about a year since the constitution of Italy at that time still allows the legislature to have special control over the country. With the given power to Mussolini, he completely restored the state authority and included the Fasci di Combattimento to the military forces of Italy. The newly reformed armed force was then known as the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale. Mussolini also favored the progressive recognition of the fascist party to the state. Other changes initiated by Mussolini include the approval of legislation that greatly favored the productive agrarian and wealthy industrial classes. These modifications in the political and social economy involved liberalization of rent policies, privatizations and dismantling unions against the government.
The “Corfu incident” in 1923 allowed Mussolini to order armed forces to raid Corfu. With the dictatorial powers of Mussolini, the League of Nations did not have the ability to interfere and the Greeks were forced to surrender and comply with the demands of Italy.
The Acerbo Law
With the approval of the Acerbo law in June 1923, Mussolini’s government successfully transformed Italy to become a solitary national constituency. With the passing of this law, parties that attained at least twenty-five percent of the votes are granted to be part of the two-thirds of the Parliament majority seats. The law was approved by election on April 6, 1924. With the use of violence and intimidating voters to favor the fascist party, the national alliance, which comprises of fascists, old liberal members and others, garnered 64% of the votes.
Squadristi Violence during Mussolini’s Reign
The assassination of socialist Giacomo Matteotti led to a crisis that greatly affected the reign of the Mussolini government. Matteotti was targeted by Mussolini for his request to annul the elections with the evidences of irregularities in the results. The one responsible for the tragic death of Matteotti was executed by Amerigo Dumini, who is member of the Squadristi. With the potential threat of being exposed to the public, Mussolini tried to cover up the incident. However, several eyewitnesses saw the automobile used for the crime to be directly linked to Dumini, which strongly created and evidence for the involvement of the squadristi to the assassination.
The incident rallied the opposition to demand explanation about the killing of the fascist violence critic. This was a great shock to Mussolini and his government for it may cause a coup to overthrow fascism. As a result, the alleged murderer was sentenced with two-year imprisonment. When Dumini was released, he voiced out the truth and condemned Mussolini to be the mastermind for the killing. He was then returned to jail for spreading the commotion. To pacify him, Mussolini and the fascists provided income to the Dumini family for 15 years.
Although there are strong evidences that are enough to question the fascist government, the opposition weakly responded or totally did not respond to the incident. However, other members of the parliament such as the socialists, moderates and liberals withdrew their participation to the Chamber in Aventine Secession with the hopes of forcing King Victor Emmanuel to dismiss Mussolini from being the Prime Minister. Although the communists are under the headship of Antonio Gramsci and the socialist and liberals were supported by known politicians such as Pietro Nenni, Giovanni Amendola and Piero Gobetti, the antifascist had no powers to match the Mussolini government. Even the king is fearful of what the dethroning of Mussolini may cause. Therefore, the king was forced to let Mussolini remain in office. Since there are no members of the Parliament to oppose legislations presented by Mussolini, the boycott even favored the fascist government in passing laws. The political aggression created by the squadristi was a success for Mussolini, as clearly seen with the absence of demonstrations against the assassination of Matteotti.
Aside from the problems arising from the unrest of the opposition, the party under Mussolini also had doubts and disagreements over his dictatorship.
The problem increased as the Blackshirts forced Mussolini to defeat the opposition or else they would withdraw their support. On December 31, 1924, The Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale or squadristi even threatened the dictator to do the necessary procedures or they would continue to harass the opposition without Mussolini’s interference. As a response to the call of his own party, Mussolini completely crushed democracy in Italy. His aggressive speech on January 3, 1925 allowed him to take responsibility of the violence of the squadristi. Moreover, he gave the ultimatum about crushing the rebel forces that may be hindrance to the progress of Italy. Prior to his speech, the Blackshirts have already harassed the members of the opposition to prevent any counter publication about the speech to be released to the public. The Mussolini government made up a scenario that would influence the public opinion on seeing an organized majority of the Parliament. This was the onset for the start of Mussolini’s reign as the dictator of Italy.
The lack of planning for the takeover of Mussolini led to the development of a new economic and political system. Mussolini’s government is a combination of nationalism and totalitarianism as well as the ideas that oppose liberalism, capitalism and communism. The state created by Mussolini bound all classes under the “Third Way” or commonly known as corporatist system. With this political and economic system, the state government would have full power over the essential industries. Using the ideas of state power and nationalism, Mussolini’s fascism started to develop Italy to depict the historical Romans with the blend of modern utopia.
Assassination Attempts against Benito Mussolini
Surprisingly, Mussolini had encountered minimal opposition from his political enemies during his start of being a dictator. However, he experienced several demonstrations of distress over his reign from assassination attempts executed by common people. On April 7, 1926, Mussolini incurred minor wounds when an Irish woman named Violet Gibson shot him. The shooter was known to be the daughter of Edward Gibson, the first Baron Ashbourne. Another attempt on the life of Mussolini was on October 31, 1926 when Anteo Zamboni tried to shoot him on his visit to Bologna. The 15-year-old child was lynched by the supporters of Mussolini after being captured. Mussolini even survived other assassination attempts such as the one executed by Gino Lucetti in Rome. The assassination plan headed by an American Anarchist named Michael Schirru ended when Schirru was captured and executed. In 1938, members of the anti-fascist organization known as the TIGR also held responsible for unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Mussolini during the visit to Caporetto.
The Emergence of the Police State
During his reign as Prime Minister of Italy, Mussolini took over several ministries personally. Some of the ministries he had personally handled include the ministries of foreign affairs, interior government, colonies, defense, public works and corporations. It even occurred that Mussolini handled seven departments at the same time including the roles of the Prime Minister. At that time, he is also the overall leader of the Fascist Party as well as the recognized head of the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale. He personally handles the plans for terrorizing resistances in provinces and cities under his rule. During his regime, Mussolini also organized the Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell'Antifascismo, the secret police to stop any activities of anti-fascists. With these forces under his command, he managed to keep dictatorship and prevent any rival from opposing his plans.
From 1925 to 1927, Mussolini succeeded into turning Italy into police state. This allowed him to dismantle anything that would limit his dictatorial powers. On December 24, 1925, Mussolini declared a law to change his position from being president of the Council of Ministers and he became the head of the government. With this change on his formal title, he is in no need of the Parliament and his reign can only be stopped by the orders of the king. Since it is stated in the Constitution of Italy that only the sovereign is the concern of the ministers, this means that a leader should have the approval of the Parliament. The law passed by Mussolini trashed this political practice and he became the sole person that can decide and approve any of the state’s agenda. Moreover, this also resulted to the abolishment of autonomy and the councils and mayors of the cities were replaced with the appointed podestas of the Senate.
In 1928, other political parties were removed and the formation of parties was outlawed by the Italian government. With the law passed by Mussolini, Italy became a single party state. Moreover, an electoral policy was passed to remove the parliamentary elections and replace the voting system with the Grand Council of Fascism. The new council selected candidates for the approval by the masses through a plebiscite. The council was created as a body in 1923 but was constitutionalized by Mussolini and was turned into the top constitutional body in Italy. With this power given to the council, this party is the only constitutional authority that can remove Mussolini as the head of the state. However, this became very improbable since only Mussolini can determine the agenda and direct the activities of the council.
Mussolini had made actions to capture the South part of Italy such as Sicily. To gain control over these prime spots, he recommended Cesare Mori to become the city of Palermo prefect. Mori was instructed to eliminate the Mafia for the benefit of Mussolini’s political plans. Mori’s telegram indicated full support of Sicily to provide carte blanche to Mussolini. The telegram even proclaimed the formation of new laws to favor the interests of the Fascist government.
The fascist establishment utilized harsh methods such as torture, siege to the towns and abduction of children and women to force any opposition to surrender. With these activities of the government, Mori’s rule was nicknamed as “Iron Perfect”. Nevertheless, his investigation had led to the discovery of the conspiracy of the government to the Mafia resulting to his dismissal in 1929. To cover up the controversial collusion, Mussolini gave Mori a senatorial position and the government launched a propaganda proclaiming the defeat of the Mafia.
Economic Policies of the Fascist Government
For the economic interests of Italy, Mussolini started several government projects and public construction programs to improve the employment level and effectively prevent the economy from slowing down. One of the best-known economic programs launched by Mussolini was the “Battle for Grain”, Italy’s version of the Green Revolution. With this agricultural project, Mussolini was able to generate 5,000 new farms and transformed five towns to become agricultural centers by utilizing the Pontine Marshes. Moreover, he also founded a model agricultural town in Sardinia, which was named Mussolinia and later had been renamed as Arborea. The town became the standard of Mussolini’s hopes of developing thousands of agricultural settlements in Italy. With the reformation, valuable resources to be used for less viable crops were diverted to prioritize the grain production. The tariffs were set at extremely high levels and the subsidies received by the farmers from the government are too much to be supported by the country’s budget. As a result, the agricultural program pushed Italy to incur large debts. In 1928, Mussolini started the “Battle for Land” policy, which reconstructed the outline of land reclamation. Although the campaign was successful in improving the agricultural system and employment near the Pontine Marsh, other areas failed to develop from the Battle of Land policy. Moreover, the program became inefficient due to inconsistencies with the Battle of Grain program. There are too small plots of land allotted for the projected wheat production. In addition, the Pontine Marsh was captured by the Allied forces during the World War II. The policy resulted to the settlement of about 10,000 peasants to the land, which greatly increased the poverty issues of the settlers. The worsening problem of the Battle for Land project was later abandoned in 1940.
Mussolini also launched other initiatives to fight the economic recession such as the introduction of the “Gold for the Fatherland”. This government initiative encouraged the masses to swap their valuable gold possessions such as gold necklaces and wedding rings for steel wristbands marked with the program’s slogan. Even Rachele, the wife of Mussolini, offered her wedding ring for the cause. The accumulated gold was turned onto gold bars and was deposited to the national banks.
Mussolini also used his dictatorship government to control businesses. By 1935, about 75% of the Italian business was under the control of the state. Within the same year, he initiated further involvement of the state to controlling the economy by forcing all Italy’s businesses, banks and private citizens to transfer their foreign stocks to the state’s bank. He even set controls on the wage of workers and prices of commodities. Mussolini also attempted restructuring the trade industry to a self-sufficient autarky by putting high restraints on trading with foreign countries except Germany. Mussolini recommended the theory of economic socialization in 1943.
The Italian Government under Mussolini’s Rule
Mussolini practiced his dictatorship powers by giving priority to the suppression of sentiments of the Italians that can overthrow his government. He also focused on generating propaganda to keep away demonstrations against his regime. All modes of national communication such as radio, press, education and even films were meticulously assessed by the government to create an illusion of the effectiveness of fascism. Mussolini believed that his doctrine would replace democracy and liberalism towards the twentieth century.
The doctrine’s principles were distributed to the masses through the article written by Giovanni Gentile, which was signed by Mussolini. This article in fascism was then published in the Enciclopedia Italiana in 1932. Moreover, the Lateran treaties with the Vatican resulted to the recognition of the Italian state by the Roman Catholic Church. With the treaty, the independence of Vatican City was recognized by Italy. This also includes the responsibility of the Italian government to protect the interests of the Pope. Mussolini was baptized in 1927 by the Roman Catholic Church to eliminate the doubts of opposition between the government and the Papacy. With Mussolini’s actions and anti-communist ideologies, he was able to entice Catholics to support his regime. However, Pope Pius XI released the Non abbiamo bisogno as a response to the policies of the Fascist government against Catholic activities and education morals.
Using his dictatorship, Mussolini restructured the law codes of the Parliament. With the modification on the laws of the parliament system, all teachers are obliged to teach their students how to defend the interests of the fascist government. Moreover, the newspaper editors are personally selected by Mussolini through the issuance of approval certificates from the government prior to practicing journalism. The agreements for the journalism policy were done in secrecy, allowing Mussolini to portray “free press” on his regime. Aside from the suppression of public journalism, the independence of trade unions was also removed. Trade unions were integrated to the corporative system created by the fascist party. The main goal of this political and economic system is to place all Italian citizens into corporations that are under the supervision and control of the government.
To give a positive impression on the success of Mussolini’s regime, the government allotted large budget to highly noticeable public construction projects as well as international development plans. Mussolini gave priority to several prestigious projects such as the development of the Macchi M.C. 72, popularly known as the fastest seaplane, the SS Rex Blue Riband ocean liner and the transatlantic Italo Balbo flying boat cruise. These projects were acclaimed by Italy’s international audience especially the flying boat cruise, which he used in landing to Chicago on his visit to the United States.
Youth Organizations and Education Promoting Fascism
After the war, nationalists had expected conflicts from the dominating and liberal institutions created by Giovanni Giolitti, which were integrated into the traditional education of Italy. One catalyst for the fascism movement was futurism, a cultural and revolutionary movement that Filippo Tommaso Marinetti started in 1919. Futurism promoted the teaching of physical courage and patriotism the schools and universities of Italy as opposed to the troglodyte promoted by the Latin and Greek courses. Instead, the futurism movement endorsed the teaching of exercises with relevance to the Arditi soldiers, which educate students about combat tactics and actual procedures during warfare. The formation of the Avanguardie Giovanili Fasciste or the fascist Youth Vanguards in 1919 started the openness of the fascism ideology to the youth. This was followed by the Gruppi Universitari Fasciti or also known as the Fascist University Groups in 1922.
Right after Mussolini’s take over because of the March on Rome, the Fascists considered teaching the Italian society about the ideologies of fascism. Mussolini even assigned Renato Ricci, the ardito and deputy-secretary for Education, to initiate changes in the views of the youth on both moral and physical aspects. Ricci had a meeting in England with Robert Baden-Powell, also known as the founder of Scouting, to formulate ideas for educating the Italian youth. He also collaborated with Bauhaus artists in Germany to get inspirational thoughts about the new educational system. On April 3, 1926, Mussolini proclaimed in a decree the creation of the Opera Nazionale Balilla, which was headed by Ricci for eleven years. The organization was comprised of children ages 8 to 18 and was distributed to groups such as Balilla and Avanguardisti.
Mussolini’s insight about a fascist education is that it involved important aspects such as moral, social, physical and military with the goal of developing a human with complete fascist ideas according to the standards set by his government. According to Mussolini, adolescents as well as children in their early ages are not properly nourished by just abstract education but instead should be taught with realities that can significantly appeal to their fantasies as well as the desires of their hearts.
By this educational principle, Mussolini was able to promote quality education by providing actions and examples to students. Fascism greatly opposed the concepts of idealism and favored teaching rationalism. Mussolini used the Opera Nazionale Balilla as an opportunity to impose hierarchy and evangelize the ideas of Mussolini to the students.
Mussolini’s Policies for Foreign Affairs
Mussolini changed his foreign policy alignment from being an anti-imperialism pacifist to an aggressive nationalist. He had a dream of turning Italy into a highly respected nation that can be recognized all throughout Europe and to the world. His quest for world power was clearly shown on the aggressive attack in Corfu in 1923. Mussolini also had continuous success starting from the puppet regime he had set up in Albania as well as the consolidation of the Italian force in Libya. He also intended to control the Mediterranean region through the establishment of a naval base in Leros to serve as a strategic post to conquer the eastern part of the Mediterranean. Mussolini’s initial political steps about implementation of foreign policies started from his participation in the Locarno Treaties and the Four Power Pact that happened in 1925 and 1933 respectively. After his participation in the Stresa Front, Mussolini changed his foreign policies to return on becoming aggressive. These events were eventually succeeded by the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.
The Invasion of Ethiopia
To further advance on his conquest and the recognition of the Italian Empire, also termed as the New Roman Empire, Mussolini launched an immediate invasion attack to Ethiopia. With the strength of Mussolini’s army, the Abyssinian forces are no match to the power displayed by the Italians. The powerful air attacks launched by the Italian army decided the war against Ethiopia. Towards the end of this war, Emperor Haile Selassie was forced to leave the country allowing Italy to turn the capital Addis Ababa as part of the Italian East Africa. The proclamation of Ethiopia as a part of Mussolini’s empire was made in May 1936.
Towards the beginning of the twentieth century, the colonization of different parts of Africa, also known as the Scramble of Africa, has been abolished internationally. With the sudden downturn of the international mood towards colonial expansion, Italy was condemned for continuing conquest on the African region. Moreover, Mussolini’s utilization of phosgene and mustard gas to suppress enemies was greatly criticized by the world peacekeepers. In addition, the use of the zero tolerance approach against rebel groups, which was widely practiced by Mussolini’s forces were also strictly prohibited.
An attempt to assassinate Rodolfo Graziani, the viceroy of Ethiopia, with the use of a guerilla bomb created a major commotion to the situation of Italians invasion. Although the blame for the incident was said to have been caused by the rebel forces, the International Red Cross gave enough evidence to testify that Italy was the one behind the bombings. Mussolini’s forces lost possession of Ethiopia in 1941 during the East African Campaign. The Italian forces were overwhelmed by the alliance of fourteen nations with the leadership of the British Empire.
Italy’s Participation in the Spanish Civil War
Italy provided military assistance to the Nationalists’ battle against the Republicans in response to the anti-Catholic and anti-clerical movements. Mussolini’s participation in this dispute was a great success to the Italian propaganda against the Catholics. Mussolini personally sent Italian airplanes as aid for the Civil war on July 27, 1936. His favored involvement to Franco during the war between 1936 and 1939 had resulted to the irreconcilable dispute between France and Britain. Mussolini’s actions were recognized by the Germans, which resulted to a close relationship with Adolf Hitler’s government. In 1938, the alliance between Mussolini and Hitler had been strengthened by the German annexation of Austria and was then followed by the dismembering of Czechoslovakia a year later. Mussolini even acted as the mediator for European peace restoration at the Munich Conference in September 1938. This peace conference aimed to free Sudetenland from the Nazi Germany rule. This was then followed by the “Pact of Steel” between Mussolini and Hitler in May 1939, which confirmed the alliance previously made on the Rome-Berlin Axis of 1936. With his involvement in such alliance pacts with the German forces, members of the TIGR organization made a plot to assassinate Mussolini in Kobarid during his visit in 1938. However, the anti-fascist groups’ attempt to kill the dictator failed.
Mussolini in the Axis Power: Rome-Berlin Relations
The Mussolini-Hitler alliance had gathered controversy especially when Hitler cited Mussolini to be an influence. On the other hand, Mussolini put little regards to his relationship with the Fuhrer. Critics even say that the Nazis assassination of Engelbert Dollfuss in 1933, which was the Austrofascist dictator of Austria and a close comrade to Mussolini, had made the Il Duce dismayed about Hitler’s government.
The death of Dollfuss resulted to Mussolini withdrawing support for Hitler’s racialism mostly Gemanicism and Nordicsm. He also contradicted ideas of anti-Semitism, which was one the characteristics of the German radical. Although Mussolini has his own Italianizing goals on the parts of the Italian Empire, he openly rejected the biological racism promoted by the Nazis. He believed that superiority of a nation is based on its culture and that it is impossible to have a biologically superior race.
Mussolini even expressed susceptibility to the accusations of the Germans that Italians belong to a mongrelized race. He reacted aggressively to the indictment by pointing out the Germans’ failure to achieve racial purity on several incidents. In the summer of 1934, Mussolini commented to the Nazi’s decree about requiring Germans to carry passports indicating their racial affiliation. He wondered how the government would classify which of the Aryan and Jewish people are to be included in the supposed Germanic race. He even said that the Germanic race is inexistent and is just a fluff concept of scientists and Hitler.
In the interview with the German-Jewish journalist Emi Ludwig in 1933, Mussolini proclaimed his skepticism with the ideas of having a race. He indicated that many people who believed that pure races exist do not even have the characteristics of what they proclaim as noble race.
However, Mussolini’s view about the absurdity of the races was also contradicted by his own statements in 1928. He used several classifications such as White and Western races in which he described to be potential threats to Italy’s interest.
Although Italian Fascism changed sides multiple times on its views about the concept of race from 1920 to 1934, it continued its support to the Italian Jewish community. Mussolini did not allow any discrimination issues against the Jews. The National Fascist Party even has members who are Jews such as Ettore Ovazza, the founder of the La Nostra Bandiera in 1935.
By 1938, Hitler’s influence over Mussolini became stronger with the beginning of the Manifesto of Race. The manifesto is said to be in accordance to the Nuremberg laws of the Nazis. With the Manifesto being implemented in Italy, the Jewish community was prohibited to have any profession or position in the government. This German influence over Mussolini’s actions initiated imbalance to the members of the Fascist party and even resulted to the involvement of the Vatican. Pope Pius XII protested against Mussolini decision as well as other policies that were against the interests of the Jews.
Many critics have speculations that Mussolini accepted the Manifesto of Race only to develop a strong relationship with Germany. It was detailed on the confession made by Mussolini to Bruno Spampanato about his regrets on being part of the Manifesto of Race.
According to Mussolini, he should have made a move to avoid the Manifesto of Race. In 1943, he clarified that he has approved a more different manifesto and he would still believe on his ideas written on the Il Popolo d’Italia.
Mussolini also gained favor from the Moslem community under his regime as well as other Moslem groups in the Middle East. He was even recognized by Libya as the Protector of Islam in 1937.
The Start of War: Munich Conference
Mussolini decided to start his invasion from Tunisia, in which he has already achieved sufficient support. During that time, the world was focused on the German invasion of Czechoslovakia to regain composure from the defeat to the Italians in Albania. Mussolini’s five-day attack of Albania resulted to the fleeing of king Zog, which led to the total surrender of Albania to Italy. By May 1939, the Pact of Steel treaty was starting to develop, which strengthened the alliance of Germany and Italy. The treaty was signed by each of the foreign ministers and representatives of both countries. However, the king of Italy was not in favor of the alliance to the Germans, instead asked Mussolini to reconsider the previous alliance to Britain and France.
Hitler’s invasion of Poland encountered disagreement from Galeazzo Ciano, since the action would definitely result to a war against the Allies. However, Germany ignored the comment, believing that the scenario would be the same as that of the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Hitler even suggested the invasion Yugoslavia by the Italian forces. Mussolini was tempted to accept Hitler’s proposition but he was also aware of the armaments situation of Italy. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, which resulted to the declaration of war from France and United Kingdom. However, Italy still prevented being aggressive during the war.
The Declaration of War
During the start of World War II, a secret communication between Ciano and Viscount Halifax continued. Since Italy and Britain were allies during the World War I, the British forces tried to persuade Italians to fight against the Germans. On the contrary, the French government had intentions of attacking Italy in Libya. The tide turned in September 1939, when France arranged a discussion about the Italian colonies such as Nice, Savoy and Corsica. However, Mussolini did not respond to the call of the French government.
As Mussolini assessed that the war would soon be over and Germany as the victor, he decided to side with the Axis powers. To attest Italy’s support to Germany, Mussolini made a declaration of war to France and Britain on June 10, 1940. This was followed by Italy’s participation in the Battle of France in the side of the Germans. The battle lasted eleven days as France surrendered to the overwhelming forces of the Axis powers. As a result, Italy gained control over Nice as well as other southeastern counties. The Italian East Africa forces also made several attacks to British colonies in Kenya, Sudan and British Somaliland. The East African Campaign of Italy resulted to the invasion of British Somaliland and further advances were made in Kenya and Sudan in August 1940.
A month after the invasion of Africa, General Rodolfo Graziani of the Italian Tenth Army started the Western Desert Campaign resulting to a monumental battle between Italian and British forces in Egypt. Italians were able to infiltrate Egypt but were stopped by the delay of Logistic supplies at Sidi Barrani. On October 25, 1940, Italy ordered the Italian Air Corps to participate in the Battle of Britain to aid the German forces for two months. Mussolini also deployed armed forces in Greece that took part in the Greco-Italian War. Although initial attacks were successful, the Greeks retaliated and occupied about a quarter of Albania under Italy. Germany also sent forces to the Balkans to fight the buildup of the Allied forces.
The battles in Africa turned tide as the Italians were forced to withdraw from Libya by early 1941. The Operation Compass resulted to a major loss of the Italian Army. The Allied invasion during the East African Campaign was also too much for the Italian forces. Mussolini faced more defeats starting from the Battle of Keren and a deciding loss in the Battle of Gondar. Mussolini tried to cover up the losses by opening the situation to the public and mentioning the successful encounters of the Italian Army in Africa. However, the defeats were too significant that Mussolini even accepted that the war would not favor their side. To avoid an essential loss of all the Italian possessions, Germany decided to support the Italian Army by sending the Afrika Korps. Moreover, the Operation Marita in Yugoslavia resulted to the victory of the Axis in the Greco-Italian War. In June 1941, Mussolini declared war on the Soviet Union and summoned the Italian Army to send troops in the war. It was then followed by the declaration of war against the United States, after the bombing of the Pearl Harbor by the Japanese forces.
Dismissal and Arrest of Mussolini
With the Allied forces starting to mass up against the Axis powers, Italy’s position in the war started to became unsustainable. In 1942, the Italian forces had to retreat to Tunisia as a result of their defeat at El Alamein. Italy was then apprehended by the Allied invasion and was finally defeated in the Tunisia Campaign. The Eastern Front of Italy’s defense also broke down when the Allies invaded Sicily. The factories were forced to halt their operations due to insufficiency of raw materials such as oil and coal. The shortage of food was also starting to worsen and the prices of the commodities were extremely high. Mussolini’s supporters started to show dismay as they sought more accurate war news from Vatican Radio and Radio London. A series of strikes in the industrial region of Italy in March 1925 resulted to the stopping of the production of the major factories in Milan and Turin. The factories were turned into evacuation allowances to support the needs of the worker’s families. The increasing number of German forces in Italy negatively affected the image of Mussolini to his jurisdiction. When the Allies invaded Sicily, the public saw this as a relief.
Mussolini pleaded for support from the German government and initiation of the peace talks with Stalin. He begged Hitler to send troops to the West to defend Italy against the forthcoming Allied invasion. The losses in Tunisia convinced Mussolini that Dwight Eisenhower would focus the attacks of the Allied forces to the Italian peninsula. Within a few days after the Allies had landed in Sicily, Mussolini’s army was not able to match the power of the incoming invaders. The invasion of Italy resulted to Hitler summoning Mussolini to an emergency meeting on July 19. During that same day, the Allies launched several bomb attacks in Rome.
With the failures incurred by Italy under Mussolini’s regime, several members of the Italian Fascist government turned against the Il Duce. The opposing members included Mussolini’s son-in-law Galeazzo Ciano and Dino Grandi. With the number of revolting members started to increase significantly, Mussolini summoned the Grand Council of Fascism on July 24. When Mussolini proclaimed the evacuation plans with the Germans to the south, Grandi strongly opposed his decision. Grandi formulated a resolution to request an approval of the recommencing of his constitutional authority. The vote against Mussolini was decided with a 19-7 result. Although the decision was made final and was authorized by the king, Mussolini ignored the proclamation and went to his office the next day. According to Mussolini, the Grand Council would not have the power to oust him from his position as Il Duce. However, that afternoon, King Victor Emmanuel III already decided to overthrow Mussolini. The king did not allow Mussolini to explain further and ordered him to leave his office and be reinstated by Marshal Pietro Badoglio. When Mussolini left the royal palace, the king ordered the soldiers to arrest him immediately.
The public also approved the king’s decision, clearly seen on the absence of resistance when Mussolini was overthrown. To hide his location from the Germans, he was later moved to Campo Imperatore and was sent to an isolated resort in Abruzzo. To avoid conflicts with the large number of Nazi soldiers in Italy, Badoglio considered the continuation of the Alliance with Germany. However, Badoglio dissolved the Fascist Party a couple of days after his appointment. He even made several negotiations with the Allies, considering an armistice on September 3, 1943. A civil war broke out in Italy as a result of the announcement of the truce with the Allies. The chaos forced Badoglio and the king to fled Rome and leave the whole Italian Army without a leader in-command. During the anarchy state of Italy, the remaining Italian forces declared war against the Nazi Germany in Malta on October 13. The troops were divided into two factions, one supporting the war against the Germans and the others switching sides and join the Nazi forces. However, Badoglio made a social truce to consolidate Italian forces for the benefit of the state.
Italian Social Republic
Two months after Mussolini’s dismissal and arrest, the German forces rescued him from prison in the Gran Sasso raid. The rescue mission was successfully performed by the Fallschirmjäger unit on September 12, 1943. This action from the Germans saved Mussolini from being captured and turned over to the Allies, as stated on the armistice agreement. On the other hand, Hitler made plans to arrest Badoglio, the king, the Crown Prince Umberto and other personalities of the Italian government in accordance to the restoration of Mussolini’s power in Rome.
Mussolini was then in a very poor health condition and had plans to give up his position. However, Hitler forced him to attend a special meeting in the East Prussia hideout. The Fuhrer specified that Mussolini’s decision would determine the fate of Milan, Turin and Genoa. Mussolini agreed to setup a new government known as the Italian Social Republic or Salo Republic.
Mussolini became a puppet ruler for the German government. During this period, he resided in Gargnano in Lombardy. Hitler and other loyal fascists convinced Mussolini to execute the fascist leaders who have betrayed the party in the Fascist Grand Council meeting. Among the executed officials included Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini’s son-in-law. During his time as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Head of State, Mussolini wrote some of his biographical notes.
Personal Life Experiences of Mussolini
In 1914, Ida Dalser became Mussolini’s first wife, in which their marriage happened in Trento. After a year, they had a son and named the child as Benito Albino Mussolini. Mussolini married again in December 1915, this time with Rachele Guidi, one of his mistresses since 1910. This marriage was the one recognized by his political ascendancy, leaving his first marriage with Dalser to be void. Mussolini had two daughters with Rachele namely Edda and Anna Maria. He also had other relationships including his mistress Margherita Sarfatti and Clara Petacci. Moreover, his biographer Nicholas Farrell reported that Mussolini had other sexual relationships with female supporters.
Mussolini’s Religious Beliefs
Critics had classified Mussolini to be an atheist. However, he pretended to be a Catholic in 1920 to build up his dictatorial power in Italy. Before he was converted to become a Catholic, Mussolini had a pamphlet used for his political campaigns containing the words God does not exist. He even dared God to strike him dead during his speeches. Other comments by Mussolini include his concept that religion is just a mental disease and the histories about the saints are just stories of insane persons. Mussolini even contradicted the beliefs of Christian religion and stated that Christianity is just preaching senseless deeds of cowardice and weakness.
Mussolini’s Death
On April 27, 1945, Mussolini, together with his mistress Clara Petacci, was captured by the communists and was identified by the Political Commissar Urbano Lazzaro. This event happened near the village of Lake Como, which was prior to the transferring of Mussolini to Switzerland in order to escape freely to Spain. To avoid detection, Mussolini dressed as a German soldier to escape with the retreating Nazi forces. The unsuccessful attempts to bring Mussolini to Como, he was then transferred to Mezzegra. Mussolini and his companions spent their last night with the household of the De Marias.
On the next day, Mussolini and his mistress were summarily executed along with the 15 members of the Italian Social Republic. The summary execution was done in the village of Giulino di Mezzegra. According to the witnesses, the shooting was performed by Colonel Valerio, which was identified as Walter Audisio. The National Liberation Committee ordered the communist partisan commander to execute Mussolini and his companions. According to official versions of the execution, Audisio pretended to be the rescuer of Mussolini and checked if they have weapons available. Right after the inspection, the party headed to a nearby location with an empty space. Once they were unloaded from the transports, shorts were fired and Petacci was seriously injured. Mussolini ordered Audisio to shoot him in the chest. The shot went through but it did not kill Mussolini immediately. Audisio fired another shot to finish him completely. Later that night, the other members of the party were also lined up to be executed.
The Body of Mussolini
The remains of Mussolini, Petacci and other executed members of the Fascist party were transported to Milan on April 29, 1945. At 3 AM, the bodies were dumped in the Piazza Loreto. The same ground was renamed as Piazza Quindici Martiri to give honor to the bravery of the 15 anti-fascists killed on the spot.
Peasants who recognized the body kicked, shot and spat on the bodies of Mussolini and his companions. The bodies were then hung upside down using meat hooks on the roof of a local gas a station. The bodies were disgraced by the angry public and were stoned by the civilians. These actions were allowed to discourage any supporters of the Fascist movement to continue the ideals of fascism. The corpse of Mussolini were them became the subject of abuse and ridicule among the public conversations.
A loyal Fascist named Achille Starace was sentenced to death and was taken to the piazzale to view the body of Mussolini. He saluted to the hanged body of Mussolini and was shot dead. The body of Starace was then placed beside the hanged body of the deposed leader.
After the incident, Mussolini’s remains were buried in an anonymous grave in Musocco. The body was located by Domenico Leccisi and two other Fascist supporters. They dug up the grave and relocated the body of Mussolini. With the body of Mussolini on the loose for months, anxiety arises about the reviving of the Fascist movement. However, the body was recaptured in August and was moved to Certosa di Pavia. The concealment of the corpse was too confidential and was believed to have been moved constantly by Mussolini’s supporters. The remains were re-interred at Predappio in Romagna, as requested by Leccisi and the campaign of the Movimento Sociale Italiano.
Lecissi was then a fascist officer when he wrote the autobiography With Mussolini Before and After Piazzale Loreto. The remains of Mussolini were then transferred to the possession of Donna Rachele by Adone Zoli, the Prime Minister of Italy on that time. The move was used to gather the support of the remaining loyalists of the fascist movement. The corpse of the dictator was buried in a crypt in Predappio and was considered as the only posthumous honor given to the former Il Duce. His tomb was covered with marble fasces and was decorated by his bust.
Mussolini’s Legacy
The Mussolini family continued with Donna Rachele Mussolini along with the two sons Romano and Vittorio Mussolini and daughters Edda and Anna Maria. Bruno, the third son of Mussolini, was killed in an accident while testing a P108 bomber plane on August 7, 1941. Anna Maria Scicolone was married to Mussolini’s son Romano. The granddaughter of Mussolini, Alessandra, is now an active member of the Alternativa Sociale. This party is the extreme right wing of the European Parliament. However, other relatives of Mussolini moved to England right after the World War II started.
The National Fascist Party was then dissolved and banned by the Italian Constitution. However, neo-fascists still continue to carry on Mussolini’s legacy. One of the major neo-fascists is Alessandra Mussolini and is also the leader of the Azione Sociale party. The most successful neo-fascist party which was known to be the Movimento Sociale Italiano was disbanded in 1995 and was then replaced by the National Alliance. This party removed concepts of fascism in their ideals and united with the House of Freedoms of Silvio Berlusconi. The National Alliance was headed by Gianfranco Fini, one of the trustworthy advisors of Berlusconi’s party. The House of Freedoms was then removed and was replaced by the L’Unione of Romano Prido in 2006.
Mussolini in Popular Culture
Many accounts Mussolini’s life was used in the modern culture such as Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator in 1940, which used Mussolini as a subject for the satirical Benzoni Napaloni. Other biographical notes of Mussolini’s life can be seen in the film Mussolini: Ultimo atto by Carlo Lizzani. It was also portrayed by George C. Scott in the Mussolini: The Untold Story in 1985. Mussolini’s experiences were also used in the Mussolini: The Rise and Fall of Il Duce movie in 1985. The primary role was given to Bob Hoskins and the other roles were performed by Susan Sarandon as Edda and Anthony Hopkins as Ciano. In the 1993 film Benito - The Rise and Fall of Mussolini, Antonio Banders played the role as Mussolini. Other films dedicated to Mussolini include Lion of the Desert and Tea with Mussolini.
In the episode of The Time Tunnel “The Ghost of Nero”, Mussolini was portrayed as the ghost that inhabited the soldier. Other references to Mussolini were used less seriously in popular television episodes of The X-Files, The Simpsons and The Young Ones. Mussolini name was also referenced in the song Cult of Personality by Living Colour. A 1976 remake of Dante’s Inferno used Mussolini as the analog of Virgil. Ray of Everybody Loves Raymond also referenced Benito Mussolini on his comment to his experiences with his father. Jim Dwight of The Office also used some of the speeches made by Mussolini.
BENITO MUSSOLINI: A BIOGRAPHY - Summary
It was the 29th of July 1883 that one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism was born.
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, born of working class background, grew in the small town of Dovia di Predappio in the province of Forli in Emilia-Romagna where he was briefly exposed to his blacksmith father’s significant political beliefs.
After serving as an elementary schoolmaster in 1901, Mussolini emigrated the following year to Switzerland partly to evade mandatory military service. In the subsequent years, Mussolini achieved being a prominent political journalist and socialist and had even been awarded with the editorship of Avanti!, the Socialist party newspaper.
During this time, Mussolini was active in the socialist movement and was in fact treated as one of Italy’s most prominent Socialists. In 1914, however, he found himself in opposition with the Italian government as they failed to support the Triple Alliance. After this incident, he promptly withdrew from the directorate of Avanti! and in the next year, resigned from the Socialist Party as it supported the Allies in World War I.
When Italy engaged in war, Mussolini served the Italian army where he was eventually promoted to the rank of corporal. The promotion is said to have been given for his exemplary conduct and combat quality, and his consistency in efficiently carrying out his assignments. His military exploits were ended by an injury from the explosion of a mortar bomb in 1917 which led him to his return to Milan and assume the editorship of Il Popolo d'Italia, a right-wing newspaper.
When the war ended, Mussolini was fierce in questioning Vittorio Orlando, then Italian Prime Minister and head of the Italian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, for his failure in securing Italy’s interest. In the same year, he organized numerous right-wing groups in Italy to form the Fascist Party.
In 1922, after a series of riots and a coup d’état against the then Prime Minister Luigi Facta, King Vicot Emmanuel III handed over power to Mussolini, in part to avoid a communist revolution in Italy.
As Prime Minister, Mussolini headed a right-wing coalition of fascists, nationalists, liberals, and parliamentary government, with the domestic goal of establishing a totalitarian state with himself as its supreme head.
The murder of the socialist leader and known critic of Fascist violence, Giacomo Matteotti in 1924 caused a momentary crisis to Mussolini’s government. Matteotti’s death provoked cries for justice but left-wing parties were deliberately suppressed.
In 1929, Italy became a one-party-state. Mussolini carried out several extensive construction programs and government initiatives throughout Italy, resulting to the fall in unemployment rates. This move made him a popular figure in Italy.
In an effort to create an Italian Empire, Italy, led by Mussolini, tried to invaded Ethiopia. Before Mussolini’s time, Italy was able to colonize its neighbours Eritrea and Somalia but never Ethiopia itself. But because of a far superior force under Mussolini’s leadership, Italy was soon declared victor, making Ethiopia part of Italian East Africa.
However, the League of Nations did not approve of Italy’s aggression and immediately imposed sanctions. The sanction attempted to include a ban on trade of arms, rubber, and some metals between Italy and other countries. The French and British governments, arguing that it would only push Mussolini to seek Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany for alliance, opposed this attempt.
Determined to show the strength and power of his regime, Mussolini sent over 400, 000 Italian troops led by Commander-in-Chief Pietro Badoglio to fight in Ethiopia. The poorly armed Abyssinian troops were no match to Italy’s modern tanks and air power. With Italy capturing Addis Adaba, the capital of the country, Emperor Haile Selassie was forced to flee to England.
Adolf Hitler, inspired by Mussolini’s successful conquests, formed a close relationship with Italy right after he gained power in Germany. It was in 1936 that the two countries committed to a non-military alliance.
On April of 1939, after signing a defensive alliance called the ‘Pact of Steel’ treaty with Nazi Germany, Italy invaded Albania. Only within five days under attack, Albania was under Italy, restoring their honour from a very old defeat.
Mussolini’s empire also reached out to the Moslems and in the new Moslem states in the Middle East. Mussolini was in fact pronounced as the “Protector of Islam” by 1937.
By the half of the year 1940, Mussolini finally declared war on Britain and France. With the Italian Army based in Libya having over a million men, as compared to British’ s 36,000 in Egypt, Marshall Rodolfo Graziani along with five Italian divisions, began a quick advance into Egypt.
The war on Greece was declared in October 1940. By this time, the Italians have already suffered numerous defeats and heavy casualties. With their attempts to invade Greece ending in failure and the war going badly in North Africa, the Italian Army lost the Tobruk port in Libya to the British Troops.
The end of 1941 saw Italy’s total dependence on Nazi Germany. Dissatisfied with the way Mussolini runs the country, Minister of Foreign Affairs Galaezzo Ciano resigned in 1943 after a series of heated arguments.
Meanwhile, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt were scheming on how to take Italy out of the war at the Casablanca Conference. They decided on invading Sicily, with the hopes of having Benito Mussolini ousted from power in the success of the invasion. Successful invasion would also mean Adolf Hitler’s forced deployment of troops from the Eastern Front to help relieve pressure on the Red Army.
On July 10 , 1943, the Allied troops were able to take Gela, Licata, and Vittoria. Syracuse was also taken on the same day. On the following days, the Allies were able to take Palazzolo, Augusta, Vizzini, Biscani, and Niscemi.
With the loss of Sicily, Italy’s position became more and more untenable. It was apparent that the Allies would use Sicily as base for invading the entire Italy. On the 24th of July, the Fascist Grand Council met and decided, on Galaezzo Ciano’s proposal, for Italy to sign a separate peace with the Allies.
The following day, Mussolini was dismissed from office and was placed under arrest by his successor, former Military Commander-in-Chief, Pietro Badoglio.
Soon after the arrest, Mussolini, through the request of Adolf Hitler, was rescued by Skorzeny from a hotel in the Abruzzi Apennines where he was being held. Mussolini set up a fascist regime in the northern Italy called Salo Republic, which arrested and executed those who had voted against him on the Fascist Grand Council meeting.
On the 18th of May 1944, Monte Cassino was captured, opening a corridor for Allied Troops. They reached Anzio on May 24 and continued to take numerous areas including Grosseto, Assissi, Perugia, Florence, Rimini, and Lorenzo.
The German resistance began to disintegrate, leading to the capture of Parma and Verone. While the Allied troops take over most of Italy, Mussolini attempted to escape to Switzerland with his mistress, Clara Petacci. Italian partisans captured them at Lake Como.
And on the 27th of April 1945, with a legacy the world will never forget, Italian Fascist Benito Mussolini breathed his last.
