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Benito Mussolini 1 Benito Mussolini Benito Mussolini Head of Government of Italy and Duce of Fascism In office 24 December 1925 25 July 1943 Monarch Victor Emmanuel III Preceded by Office created Succeeded by Office abolished 27th Prime Minister of Italy In office 31 October 1922 25 July 1943 Monarch Victor Emmanuel III Preceded by Luigi Facta Succeeded by Pietro Badoglio Duce of the Italian Social Republic In office 23 September 1943 25 April 1945 Preceded by Office created Succeeded by Office abolished First Marhsall of the Empire In office 30 March 1938 25 July 1943 Preceded by Office created Succeeded by Office abolished Personal details Born Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini 29 July 1883 Predappio, Forlì Kingdom of Italy Died 28 April 1945 (aged 61) Giulino di Mezzegra, Como Kingdom of Italy Resting place San Cassiano cemetery, Predappio, Forlì, Italian Republic
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Page 1: 169803411 Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini 1

Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini

Head of Government of Italy andDuce of Fascism

In office24 December 1925 – 25 July 1943

Monarch Victor Emmanuel III

Preceded by Office created

Succeeded by Office abolished

27th Prime Minister of Italy

In office31 October 1922 – 25 July 1943

Monarch Victor Emmanuel III

Preceded by Luigi Facta

Succeeded by Pietro Badoglio

Duce of the Italian Social Republic

In office23 September 1943 – 25 April 1945

Preceded by Office created

Succeeded by Office abolished

First Marhsall of the Empire

In office30 March 1938 – 25 July 1943

Preceded by Office created

Succeeded by Office abolished

Personal details

Born Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini29 July 1883Predappio, ForlìKingdom of Italy

Died 28 April 1945 (aged 61)Giulino di Mezzegra, ComoKingdom of Italy

Resting place San Cassiano cemetery, Predappio, Forlì, Italian Republic

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Benito Mussolini 2

Nationality Italian

Political party Republican Fascist Party(1943–1945)National Fascist Party(1921–1943)Italian Fasci of Combat(1919–1921)Fasci of Revolutionary Action(1914–1919)Autonomous Fasci of Revolutionary Action(1914)Italian Socialist Party(1901–1914)

Spouse(s) Rachele Mussolini

Relations Ida DalserMargherita SarfattiClara Petacci

Children Benito Albino MussoliniEdda MussoliniVittorio MussoliniBruno MussoliniRomano MussoliniAnna Maria Mussolini

Profession Dictator, politician, journalist, novelist, teacher

Religion (See this section for details.)

Signature

Military service

Allegiance Kingdom of Italy Italian Social Republic

Service/branch Royal Italian Army

Years of service active: 1915–1917

Rank First Marshal of the EmpireCorporal

Unit 11th Bersaglieri Regiment

Battles/wars World War IWorld War II

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (Italian pronunciation: [beˈnito mussoˈlini]; 29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945) was anItalian politician, journalist and leader of the National Fascist Party, ruling the country as Prime Minister 1922 to hisousting in 1943. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he dropped all pretense of democracy and set up adictatorship that ruled the country until 1943. Known as Il Duce ("the leader"). Mussolini was one of the key figuresin the creation of fascism.Originally a member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), Mussolini was expelled from the PSI due to his opposition to the party's stance on neutrality in World War I. Mussolini denounced the PSI, and later founded the fascist movement. Following the March on Rome in October 1922 he became the youngest Prime Minister in Italian history. After destroying all political opposition through his secret police and outlawing labor strikes,[1] Mussolini and his fascist followers consolidated their power through a series of laws that transformed the nation into a one-party dictatorship. Within five years he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary

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means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. Mussolini remained in power until he was deposed by King VictorEmmanuel III in 1943. A few months later, he became the leader of the Italian Social Republic, a German clientregime in northern Italy; he held this post until his death in 1945.[2]

Since 1939, Mussolini had sought to delay a major war in Europe until at least 1942. Germany invaded Poland on 1September 1939, starting World War II. On 10 June 1940, Mussolini sided with Germany, though he was aware thatItaly did not have the military capacity in 1940 to carry out a long war with France and the United Kingdom.[3]

Mussolini believed that after the imminent French surrender, Italy could gain territorial concessions from France andthen he could concentrate his forces on a major offensive in Egypt, where British and Commonwealth forces wereoutnumbered by Italian forces.[4] However the UK refused to accept German proposals for a peace that wouldinvolve accepting Germany's victories in Eastern and Western Europe, plans for a German invasion of the UK didnot proceed, and the war continued.On 24 July 1943, soon after the start of the Allied invasion of Italy, Mussolini was defeated in the vote at the GrandCouncil of Fascism, and the King had him arrested the following day. On 12 September 1943, Mussolini wasrescued from prison in the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces. In late April 1945, with total defeat looming,Mussolini attempted to escape north, only to be quickly captured and summarily executed near Lake Como by Italianpartisans. His body was then taken to Milan where it was hung upside down at a service station for public viewingand to provide confirmation of his demise.

Early life

Birthplace of Benito Mussolini, today used as amuseum.

44.10613°N 11.980451°E [5]

Mussolini was born in Dovia di Predappio, a small town in theprovince of Forlì in Emilia-Romagna on 29 July 1883. In the Fascistera, Predappio was dubbed "Duce's town", and Forlì was "Duce's city".Pilgrims went to Predappio and Forlì, to see the birthplace ofMussolini. His father Alessandro Mussolini was a blacksmith and asocialist,[6] while his mother Rosa Mussolin (née Maltoni), a devoutlyCatholic schoolteacher. Owing to his father's political leanings,Mussolini was named Benito after Mexican reformist President BenitoJuárez, while his middle names Andrea and Amilcare were from Italiansocialists Andrea Costa and Amilcare Cipriani.[7] Benito was the eldestof his parents' three children. His siblings Arnaldo and Edvige

followed.

As a young boy, Mussolini would spend some time helping his father in his smithy. Mussolini's early political viewswere heavily influenced by his father, Alessandro Mussolini, a revolutionary socialist who idolized 19th centuryItalian nationalist figures with humanist tendencies such as Carlo Pisacane, Giuseppe Mazzini, and GiuseppeGaribaldi.[8] His father's political outlook combined views of anarchist figures like Carlo Cafiero and MikhailBakunin, the military authoritarianism of Garibaldi, and the nationalism of Mazzini.[9] In 1902, at the anniversary ofGaribaldi's death, Benito Mussolini made a public speech in praise of the republican nationalist.[9] The conflictbetween his parents about religion meant that, unlike most Italians, Mussolini was not baptized at birth and wouldnot be until much later in life. As a compromise with his mother, Mussolini was sent to a boarding school run bySalesian monks. After joining a new school, Mussolini achieved good grades, and qualified as an elementaryschoolmaster in 1901.

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Emigration to Switzerland and military service

Mussolini's booking photograph following hisarrest by Swiss police, 1903

In 1902, Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland, partly to avoid militaryservice. He worked briefly as a stonemason in Geneva, Fribourg andBern, but was unable to find a permanent job.

During this time he studied the ideas of the philosopher FriedrichNietzsche, the sociologist Vilfredo Pareto, and the syndicalist GeorgesSorel. Mussolini also later credited the Marxist Charles Péguy and thesyndicalist Hubert Lagardelle as some of his influences.[10] Sorel'semphasis on the need for overthrowing decadent liberal democracy andcapitalism by the use of violence, direct action, the general strike, andthe use of neo-Machiavellian appeals to emotion, impressed Mussolinideeply.

Mussolini became active in the Italian socialist movement in Switzerland, working for the paper L'Avvenire delLavoratore, organizing meetings, giving speeches to workers and serving as secretary of the Italian workers' union inLausanne. In 1903, he was arrested by the Bernese police because of his advocacy of a violent general strike, spenttwo weeks in jail, was deported to Italy, set free there, and returned to Switzerland. In 1904, after having beenarrested again in Geneva and expelled for falsifying his papers, he returned to Lausanne, where he attended theUniversity of Lausanne's Department of Social Science, following the lessons of Vilfredo Pareto. In December 1904,he returned to Italy to take advantage of an amnesty for desertion, for which he had been convicted in absentia.Since condition for being pardoned was serving in the army, on 30 December 1904, he joined the corps of theBersaglieri in Forlì. After serving for two years in the military (from January 1905 until September 1906), hereturned to teaching.

Political journalist and socialistIn February 1909,[11] Mussolini once again left Italy, this time to take the job as the secretary of the labor party in theItalian-speaking city of Trento, which at the time was part of Austria-Hungary. He also did office work for the localSocialist Party, and edited its newspaper L'Avvenire del Lavoratore (The Future of the Worker). Returning to Italy,he spent a brief time in Milan, and then in 1910 he returned to his hometown of Forli, where he edited the weeklyLotta di classe (The Class Struggle).During this time, he published Il Trentino veduto da un Socialista (Trentino as seen by a Socialist) in the radicalperiodical La Voce.[12] He also wrote several essays about German literature, some stories, and one novel: L'amantedel Cardinale: Claudia Particella, romanzo storico (The Cardinal's Mistress). This novel he co-wrote with SantiCorvaja, and was published as a serial book in the Trento newspaper Il Popolo. It was released in installments from20 January to 11 May 1910[13] The novel was bitterly anticlerical, and years later was withdrawn from circulationafter Mussolini made a truce with the Vatican.By now, he was considered to be one of Italy's most prominent Socialists. In September 1911, Mussolini participatedin a riot, led by Socialists, against the Italian war in Libya. He bitterly denounced Italy's "imperialist war" to capturethe Libyan capital city of Tripoli, an action that earned him a five-month jail term.[14] After his release he helpedexpel from the ranks of the Socialist party two "revisionists" who had supported the war, Ivanoe Bonomi, andLeonida Bissolati. As a result, he was rewarded the editorship of the Socialist Party newspaper Avanti! Under hisleadership, its circulation soon rose from 20,000 to 100,000.[15]

In 1913, he published Giovanni Hus, il veridico (Jan Hus, true prophet), an historical and political biography aboutthe life and mission of the Czech ecclesiastic reformer Jan Hus, and his militant followers, the Hussites. During thissocialist period of his life Mussolini sometimes used the pen name "Vero Eretico" (sincere misbeliever).

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While Mussolini was associated with socialism, he also was supportive of figures who opposed egalitarianism. Forinstance Mussolini was influenced by Nietszche's anti-Christian ideas and negation of God's existence.[16] Mussolinisaw Nietzsche as similar to Jean-Marie Guyau, who advocated a philosophy of action.[16] Mussolini's use ofNietzsche made him a highly unorthodox socialist, due to Nietzsche's promotion of elitism and anti-egalitarianviews.[16] Mussolini felt that socialism had faltered due to the failures of Marxist determinism and social democraticreformism, and believed that Nietzsche's ideas would strengthen socialism.[16] While associated with socialism,Mussolini's writings eventually indicated that he had abandoned Marxism and egalitarianism in favor of Nietzsche'sübermensch concept and anti-egalitarianism.[16]

Expulsion from the Italian Socialist PartyWith the outbreak of World War I a number of socialist parties initially supported the war when it began in August1914.[17] Once the war began, Austrian, British, French, German, and Russian socialists followed the risingnationalist current by supporting their country's intervention in the war.[18] The outbreak of the war had resulted in asurge of Italian nationalism and the war was supported by a variety of political factions. One of the most prominentand popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war was Gabriele d'Annunzio who promoted Italian irredentism andhelped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war.[19] The Italian Liberal Party under the leadership ofPaolo Boselli promoted intervention in the war on the side of the Allies and utilized the Società Dante Alighieri topromote Italian nationalism.[20][21] Italian socialists were divided on whether to support the war or oppose it.[22]

Prior to Mussolini taking a position on the war, a number of revolutionary syndicalists had announced their supportof intervention, including Alceste De Ambris, Filippo Corridoni, and Angelo Oliviero Olivetti.[23] The ItalianSocialist Party decided to oppose the war after anti-militarist protestors had been killed, resulting in a general strikecalled Red Week.[24]

Mussolini initially held official support for the party's decision and, in an August 1914 article, Mussolini wrote"Down with the War. We remain neutral."[25] He saw the war as an opportunity, both for his own ambitions as wellas those of socialists and Italians. He was influenced by anti-Austrian Italian nationalist sentiments, believing thatthe war offered Italians in Austria-Hungary the chance to liberate themselves from rule of the Habsburgs. Heeventually decided to declare support for the war by appealing to the need for socialists to overthrow theHohenzollern and Habsburg monarchies in Germany and Austria-Hungary whom he claimed had consistentlyrepressed socialism. He further justified his position by denouncing the Central Powers for being reactionary powers;for pursuing imperialist designs against Belgium and Serbia as well as historically against Denmark, France, andagainst Italians, since hundreds of thousands of Italians were under Habsburg rule.[23] He claimed that the fall ofHohenzollern and Habsburg monarchies and the repression of "reactionary" Turkey would create conditionsbeneficial for the working class.[23] While he was supportive of the Entente powers, Mussolini responded to theconservative nature of Tsarist Russia by claiming that the mobilization required for the war would undermineRussia's reactionary authoritarianism and the war would bring Russia to social revolution.[23] He claimed that forItaly the war would complete the process of Risorgimento by uniting the Italians in Austria-Hungary into Italy andby allowing the common people of Italy to be participating members of the Italian nation in what would be Italy'sfirst national war.[23] Thus he claimed that the vast social changes that the war could offer meant that it should besupported as a revolutionary war.[23]

As Mussolini's support for the intervention solidified, he came into conflict with socialists who opposed the war. Heattacked the opponents of the war and claimed that those proletarians who supported pacifism were out of step withthe proletarians who had joined the rising interventionist vanguard that was preparing Italy for a revolutionarywar.[26] He began to criticize the Italian Socialist Party and socialism itself for having failed to recognize the nationalproblems that had led to the outbreak of the war.[26] He was expelled from the party due to his support ofintervention.

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The following excerpts are from a police report prepared by the Inspector-General of Public Security in Milan, G.Gasti, that describe his background and his position on the First World War that resulted in his ouster from theItalian Socialist Party.The Inspector General wrote:

Regarding Mussolini

Professor Benito Mussolini, ... 38, revolutionary socialist, has a police record; elementary school teacherqualified to teach in secondary schools; former first secretary of the Chambers in Cesena, Forli, and Ravenna;after 1912 editor of the newspaper Avanti! to which he gave a violent suggestive and intransigent orientation.In October 1914, finding himself in opposition to the directorate of the Italian Socialist party because headvocated a kind of active neutrality on the part of Italy in the War of the Nations against the party's tendencyof absolute neutrality, he withdrew on the twentieth of that month from the directorate of Avanti! Then on thefifteenth of November [1914], thereafter, he initiated publication of the newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia, in whichhe supported – in sharp contrast to Avanti! and amid bitter polemics against that newspaper and its chiefbackers – the thesis of Italian intervention in the war against the militarism of the Central Empires. For thisreason he was accused of moral and political unworthiness and the party thereupon decided to expel him ...Thereafter he ... undertook a very active campaign in behalf of Italian intervention, participating indemonstrations in the piazzas and writing quite violent articles in Popolo d'Italia ...

In his summary, the Inspector also notes:He was the ideal editor of Avanti! for the Socialists. In that line of work he was greatly esteemed and beloved.Some of his former comrades and admirers still confess that there was no one who understood better how tointerpret the spirit of the proletariat and there was no one who did not observe his apostasy with sorrow. Thiscame about not for reasons of self-interest or money. He was a sincere and passionate advocate, first ofvigilant and armed neutrality, and later of war; and he did not believe that he was compromising with hispersonal and political honesty by making use of every means – no matter where they came from or whereverhe might obtain them – to pay for his newspaper, his program and his line of action. This was his initial line. Itis difficult to say to what extent his socialist convictions (which he never either openly or privately abjure)may have been sacrificed in the course of the indispensable financial deals which were necessary for thecontinuation of the struggle in which he was engaged ... But assuming these modifications did take place ... healways wanted to give the appearance of still being a socialist, and he fooled himself into thinking that thiswas the case.[27]

Beginning of Fascism and service in World War IAfter being ousted by the Italian Socialist Party for his support of Italian intervention, Mussolini made a radicaltransformation, ending his support for class conflict and joining in support of revolutionary nationalism transcendingclass lines.[26] He formed the interventionist newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia and the Fasci Rivoluzionari d'AzioneInternazionalista ("Revolutionary Fasci for International Action") in October 1914.[21] His nationalist support ofintervention enabled him to raise funds from Ansaldo (an armaments firm) and other companies to create Il Popolod'Italia to convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war.[28] Further funding for Mussolini's Fascistsduring the war came from French sources, beginning in May 1915.[29] A major source of this funding from France isbelieved to have been from French socialists who sent support to dissident socialists who wanted Italian interventionon France's side.[29]

On 5 December 1914, Mussolini denounced orthodox socialism for failing to recognize that the war had madenational identity and loyalty more significant than class distinction.[26] He fully demonstrated his transformation in aspeech that acknowledged the nation as an entity, a notion he had rejected prior to the war, saying:

The nation has not disappeared. We used to believe that the concept was totally without substance. Instead we see the nation arise as a palpitating reality before us! ... Class cannot destroy the nation. Class reveals itself

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as a collection of interests—but the nation is a history of sentiments, traditions, language, culture, and race.Class can become an integral part of the nation, but the one cannot eclipse the other.[30]

The class struggle is a vain formula, without effect and consequence wherever one finds a people that has notintegrated itself into its proper linguistic and racial confines—where the national problem has not beendefinitely resolved. In such circumstances the class movement finds itself impaired by an inauspicious historicclimate.[31]

Mussolini continued to promote the need of a revolutionary vanguard elite to lead society. He no longer advocated aproletarian vanguard, but instead a vanguard led by dynamic and revolutionary people of any social class.[31] Thoughhe denounced orthodox socialism and class conflict, he maintained at the time that he was a nationalist socialist anda supporter of the legacy of nationalist socialists in Italy's history, such as Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini,and Carlo Pisacane.[32] As for the Italian Socialist Party and its support of orthodox socialism, he claimed that hisfailure as a member of the party to revitalize and transform it to recognize the contemporary reality revealed thehopelessness of orthodox socialism as outdated and a failure.[32] This perception of the failure of orthodox socialismin the light of the outbreak of World War I was not solely held by Mussolini, other pro-interventionist Italiansocialists such as Filippo Corridoni and Sergio Panunzio had also denounced classical Marxism in favor ofintervention.[33]

These basic political views and principles formed the basis of Mussolini's newly formed political movement, theFasci Rivoluzionari d'Azione Internazionalista in 1914, who called themselves Fascisti (Fascists).[34] At this time,the Fascists did not have an integrated set of policies and the movement was small, ineffective in its attempts to holdmass meetings, and was regularly harassed by government authorities and orthodox socialists.[35] Antagonismbetween the interventionists, including the Fascists, versus the anti-interventionist orthodox socialists resulted inviolence between the Fascists and socialists.[36] The opposition and attacks by the anti-interventionist revolutionarysocialists against the Fascists and other interventionists were so violent that even democratic socialists who opposedthe war such as Anna Kuliscioff said that the Italian Socialist Party had gone too far in a campaign of silencing thefreedom of speech of supporters of the war.[36] These early hostilities between the Fascists and the revolutionarysocialists shaped Mussolini's conception of the nature of Fascism in its support of political violence.[36]

Mussolini as an Italian soldier, 1917.

Mussolini became an ally with the irredentist politician and journalist CesareBattisti, and like him he entered the Army and served in the war. "He was sent tothe zone of operations where he was seriously injured by the explosion of agrenade."

The Inspector General continues:He was promoted to the rank of corporal "for merit in war". The promotionwas recommended because of his exemplary conduct and fighting quality,his mental calmness and lack of concern for discomfort, his zeal andregularity in carrying out his assignments, where he was always first inevery task involving labor and fortitude.

Mussolini's military experience is told in his work Diario Di Guerra. Overall, hetotaled about nine months of active, front-line trench warfare. During this time,he contracted paratyphoid fever.[37] His military exploits ended in 1917 when hewas wounded accidentally by the explosion of a mortar bomb in his trench. Hewas left with at least 40 shards of metal in his body He was discharged from the hospital in August 1917 andresumed his editor-in-chief position at his new paper, Il Popolo d'Italia. He wrote there positive articles aboutCzechoslovak Legions in Italy.

On 25 December 1915, in Treviglio, he contracted a marriage with his fellow countrywoman Rachele Guidi, who had already borne him a daughter, Edda, at Forli in 1910. In 1915, he had a son with Ida Dalser, a woman born in

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Sopramonte, a village near Trento. He legally recognized this son on 11 January 1916.

Creation of FascismBy the time he returned from Allied service in World War I, there was very little left of Mussolini the socialist.Indeed, he was now convinced that socialism as a doctrine had largely been a failure. In 1917, Mussolini got his startin politics with the help of a £100 weekly wage from MI5, the British Security Service; this help was authorized bySir Samuel Hoare. In early 1918, Mussolini called for the emergence of a man "ruthless and energetic enough tomake a clean sweep" to revive the Italian nation. Much later in life Mussolini said he felt by 1919 "Socialism as adoctrine was already dead; it continued to exist only as a grudge". On 23 March 1919, Mussolini reformed the Milanfascio as the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (Italian Combat Squad), consisting of 200 members.

Fascist Manifesto published on "Il Popolod'Italia" on 6 June 1919.

An important factor in fascism gaining support in its earliest stages wasthe fact that it claimed to oppose discrimination based on social classand was strongly opposed to all forms of class war. Fascism insteadsupported nationalist sentiments such as a strong unity, regardless ofclass, in the hopes of raising Italy up to the levels of its great Romanpast. The ideological basis for fascism came from a number of sources.Mussolini utilized works of Plato, Georges Sorel, Nietzsche, and thesocialist and economic ideas of Vilfredo Pareto, to create fascism.Mussolini admired The Republic, which he often read forinspiration.[38] The Republic held a number of ideas that fascismpromoted such as rule by an elite promoting the state as the ultimateend, opposition to democracy, protecting the class system and promoting class collaboration, rejection ofegalitarianism, promoting the militarization of a nation by creating a class of warriors, demanding that citizensperform civic duties in the interest of the state, and utilizing state intervention in education to promote the creation ofwarriors and future rulers of the state.[39] The Republic differed from fascism in that it did not promote aggressivewar but only defensive war. Also unlike fascism, it promoted very communist-like views on property. Plato was anidealist, focused on achieving justice and morality, while Mussolini and fascism were realist, focused on achievingpolitical goals.[40]

The basic underlying idea behind Mussolini's foreign policy was that of spazio vitale (vital space), a concept inFascism that was analogous to lebensraum in German National Socialism.[41] The concept of spazio vitale was firstannounced in 1919, when the entire Mediterranean, especially so-called Julian March was redefined to make itappear a unified region that had belonged to Italy from the times of the ancient Roman province of Italia,[42][43] wasclaimed as Italy's exclusive sphere of influence. The right to colonize the neighboring Slovene ethnic areas andMediterranean, being inhabited by what were alleged to be less developed peoples, was justified on the grounds thatItaly was suffering from overpopulation.[44]

Borrowing the idea first developed by Enrico Corradini before 1914 of the natural conflict between "plutocratic"nations like Britain and "proletarian" nations like Italy, Mussolini claimed that Italy's principle problem was that itwas "plutocratic" countries like Britain that were blocking Italy from achieving the necessary spazio vitale thatwould let the Italian economy grow.[45] Mussolini equated a nation's potential for economic growth with territorialsize, thus in his view the problem of poverty in Italy could only be solved by winning the necessary spazio vitale.[46]

Though biological racism was less prominent in Fascism than National Socialism, right from the start there was astrong racist undercurrent to the spazio vitale concept, in which Mussolini asserted there was a "natural law" forstronger peoples to subject and dominate "inferior" peoples such as the "barbaric" Slavic peoples of Yugoslavia asMussolini claimed in a September 1920 speech, when Mussolini stated:

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When dealing with such a race as Slavic - inferior and barbarian - we must not pursue the carrot, but the stickpolicy ... We should not be afraid of new victims ... The Italian border should run across the Brenner Pass,Monte Nevoso and the Dinaric Alps ... I would say we can easily sacrifice 500,000 barbaric Slavs for 50,000Italians ...—Benito Mussolini, speech held in Pula, 20 September 1920

Mussolini addressed the crowd in a poster promoted by thefascist propaganda.

During the period of occupation between years 1918 and1920, five hundred "Slav" societies (for example Sokol),and slightly smaller number of libraries ("reading rooms")had been forbidden, and specifically so later with the Lawon Associations (1925), the Law on Public Demonstrations(1926) and the Law on Public Order (1926), the closure ofthe classical lyceum in Pazin, of the high school in Voloska(1918), the closure of the five hundred[47] Slovene andCroatian primary schools followed. One thousand "Slav"teachers were forcibly exiled to Sardinia and elsewhere toSouth Italy.

In the same way, Mussolini argued that Italy was right tofollow an imperalist policy in Africa because all blackpeople were "inferior" to whites.[48] Mussolini claimed thatthe world was divided into a hierarchy of races (stirpe), though this was justified more on cultural than on biologicalgrounds, and that history was nothing more than a Darwinian struggle for power and territory between various"racial masses".[48] The very fact that Italy was suffering from overpopulation was seen as proving the cultural andspiritual vitality of the Italians, who were thus justified in seeking to colonize lands that Mussolini argued on ahistorical basis belonged to Italy anyway, which was the heir to the Roman Empire.[48] In Mussolini's thinking,demography was destiny; nations with rising populations were nations destined to conquer, and nations with fallingpopulations were decaying powers that deserved to die.[48] Hence, the importance of natalism to Mussolini, sinceonly by increasing the birth rate could Italy ensure its future as a great power that would win its spazio vitale beassured.[48] By Mussolini's reckoning, the Italian population had to reach 60 million to enable Italy to fight a majorwar—hence his relentless demands for Italian women to have more children to reach that number.[48]

Mussolini and the fascists managed to be simultaneously revolutionary and traditionalist; because this was vastlydifferent to anything else in the political climate of the time, it is sometimes described as "The Third Way". TheFascisti, led by one of Mussolini's close confidants, Dino Grandi, formed armed squads of war veterans calledBlackshirts (or squadristi) with the goal of restoring order to the streets of Italy with a strong hand. The blackshirtsclashed with communists, socialists, and anarchists at parades and demonstrations; all of these factions were alsoinvolved in clashes against each other. The government rarely interfered with the blackshirts' actions, owing in partto a looming threat and widespread fear of a communist revolution. The Fascisti grew so rapidly that within twoyears, it transformed itself into the National Fascist Party at a congress in Rome. Also in 1921, Mussolini waselected to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time. In the meantime, from about 1911 until 1938, Mussolini hadvarious affairs with the Jewish author and academic Margherita Sarfatti, called the "Jewish Mother of Fascism" atthe time.

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March on Rome and early years in powerThe March on Rome was a coup d'état by which Mussolini's National Fascist Party came to power in Italy andousted Prime Minister Luigi Facta. The "march" took place in 1922 between 27–29 October. On 28 October KingVictor Emmanuel III who according to the Statuto Albertino had both the executive and the Supreme military power,refused Facta's request to declare martial law, which led to Facta's resignation. The King then handed over power toMussolini by inviting him to form a new government. Mussolini was supported by the military, the business class,and the liberal right-wing.

Italia Irredenta: regions considered Italianbecause of ethnic, geographic and/or historicalreasons, claimed by the Fascists in the 1930s:green: Nice, Ticino, and Dalmatia; red: Malta;

violet: Corsica; Savoy and Corfu were laterclaimed.

Mussolini and the Quadrumviri during the Marchon Rome in 1922: from left to right: Michele

Bianchi, Emilio De Bono, Italo Balbo and CesareMaria De Vecchi

As Prime Minister, the first years of Mussolini's rule werecharacterized by a right-wing coalition government composed ofFascists, nationalists, liberals, and two Catholic clerics from thePopular Party. The Fascists made up a small minority in his originalgovernments. Mussolini's domestic goal was the eventualestablishment of a totalitarian state with himself as supreme leader (IlDuce) a message that was articulated by the Fascist newspaper IlPopolo, which was now edited by Mussolini's brother, Arnaldo. To thatend, Mussolini obtained from the legislature dictatorial powers for oneyear (legal under the Italian constitution of the time). He favored thecomplete restoration of state authority, with the integration of the Fascidi Combattimento into the armed forces (the foundation in January1923 of the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale) and theprogressive identification of the party with the state. In political andsocial economy, he passed legislation that favored the wealthyindustrial and agrarian classes (privatizations, liberalizations of rentlaws and dismantlement of the unions).

In 1923, Mussolini sent Italian forces to invade Corfu during the CorfuIncident. In the end, the League of Nations proved powerless, andGreece was forced to comply with Italian demands. Writing ofMussolini's foreign policy, the American historian Gerhard Weinbergsaid:

"If the new regime Benito Mussolini installed in 1922 onthe ruins of the old glorified war as a sign of vitality andrepudiated pacifism as a form of decay, the lesson drawnfrom the terrible battles against Austria on the Isonzoriver—in which the Italians fought far better than popularimagination often allows—was that the tremendousmaterial and technical preparations needed for modernwar were simply beyond the contemporary capacity of thecountry. This was almost certainly a correct perception,but, given the ideology of Fascism with its emphasis on themoral benefits of war, it did not lead to the conclusion thatan Italy without a big stick had best speak very, very softly. On the contrary, the new regime drew theopposite conclusion. Noisy eloquence and rabid journalism might be substituted for seriouspreparations for war, a procedure that was harmless enough if no one took any of it seriously, but acertain road to disaster once some outside and Mussolini inside the country came to believe that the"eight million bayonets" of the Duce's imagination actually existed."[49]

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Acerbo LawIn June 1923, the government passed the Acerbo Law, which transformed Italy into a single national constituency. Italso granted a two-thirds majority of the seats in Parliament to the party or group of parties that received at least 25%of the votes.[citation needed] This law applied in the elections of 6 April 1924. The national alliance, consisting ofFascists, most of the old Liberals and others, won 64% of the vote.

Squadristi violence

Socialist leader Giacomo Matteottiwas murdered a few days after he

openly denounced Fascist violenceduring the 1924 elections

The assassination of the socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti, who had requestedthat the elections be annulled because of the irregularities,[50] provoked amomentary crisis in the Mussolini government. Mussolini ordered a cover-up,but witnesses saw the car that transported Matteotti's body parked outsideMatteotti's residence, which linked Dumini to the murder.

Mussolini later confessed that a few resolute men could have altered publicopinion and started a coup that would have swept fascism away. Dumini wasimprisoned for two years. On his release Dumini allegedly told other people thatMussolini was responsible, for which he served further prison time.The opposition parties responded weakly or were generally unresponsive. Manyof the socialists, liberals, and moderates boycotted Parliament in the AventineSecession, hoping to force Victor Emmanuel to dismiss Mussolini.

On 31 December 1924, MVSN consuls met with Mussolini and gave him anultimatum—crush the opposition or they would do so without him. Fearing arevolt by his own militants, Mussolini decided to drop all trappings ofdemocracy. On 3 January 1925, Mussolini made a truculent speech before theChamber in which he took responsibility for squadristi violence (though he did not mention the assassination ofMatteotti).

Building a dictatorship

Assassination attemptsMussolini's influence in propaganda was such that he had little opposition to suppress. Nonetheless, he was "slightlywounded in the nose" when he was shot on 7 April 1926 by Violet Gibson, an Irish woman and daughter of LordAshbourne, who was subsequently deported after her arrest.[51] On 31 October 1926, 15-year-old Anteo Zamboniattempted to shoot Mussolini in Bologna. Zamboni was lynched on the spot. Mussolini also survived a failedassassination attempt in Rome by anarchist Gino Lucetti, and a planned attempt by the Italian anarchist MicheleSchirru, which ended with Schirru's capture and execution.

Police stateAt various times after 1922, Mussolini personally took over the ministries of the interior, foreign affairs, colonies,corporations, defense, and public works. Sometimes he held as many as seven departments simultaneously, as wellas the premiership. He was also head of the all-powerful Fascist Party and the armed local fascist militia, the MVSNor "Blackshirts", who terrorized incipient resistances in the cities and provinces. He would later form the OVRA, aninstitutionalized secret police that carried official state support. In this way he succeeded in keeping power in hisown hands and preventing the emergence of any rival.

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A young Mussolini in his early yearsin power.

Between 1925 and 1927, Mussolini progressively dismantled virtually allconstitutional and conventional restraints on his power, thereby building a policestate. A law passed on Christmas Eve 1925 changed Mussolini's formal title from"president of the Council of Ministers" to "head of the government" (though hewas still called "Prime Minister" by most non-Italian outlets). He was no longerresponsible to Parliament and could only be removed by the king. While theItalian constitution stated that ministers were only responsible to the sovereign,in practice it had become all but impossible to govern against the express will ofParliament. The Christmas Eve law ended this practice, and also made Mussolinithe only person competent to determine the body's agenda. Local autonomy wasabolished, and podestàs appointed by the Italian Senate replaced elected mayorsand councils.

All other parties were outlawed following Zamboni's assassination attempt in1926, though in practice Italy had been a one-party state since Mussolini's 1925speech. In the same year, an electoral law abolished parliamentary elections.

Instead, the Grand Council of Fascism selected a single list of candidates to be approved by plebiscite. The GrandCouncil had been created five years earlier as a party body but was "constitutionalized" and became the highestconstitutional authority in the state. On paper, the Grand Council had the power to recommend Mussolini's removalfrom office, and was thus theoretically the only check on his power. However, only Mussolini could summon theGrand Council and determine its agenda. To gain control of the South, especially Sicily, he appointed Cesare Mori asa Prefect of the city of Palermo, with the charge of eradicating the Mafia at any price. In the telegram, Mussoliniwrote to Mori:

"Your Excellency has carte blanche; the authority of the State must absolutely, I repeat absolutely, bere-established in Sicily. If the laws still in force hinder you, this will be no problem, as we will draw up newlaws."[52]

Mori did not hesitate to lay siege to towns, using torture, and holding women and children as hostages to obligesuspects to give themselves up. These harsh methods earned him the nickname of "Iron Prefect". In 1927 Mori'sinquiries brought evidence of collusion between the Mafia and the Fascist establishment, and he was dismissed forlength of service in 1929, at which time the number of murders in Palermo Province had decreased from 200 to 23.Mussolini nominated Mori as a senator, and fascist propaganda claimed that the Mafia had been defeated.[53]

Economic policy

The inauguration of Littoria in 1932

Mussolini launched several public construction programs andgovernment initiatives throughout Italy to combat economic setbacksor unemployment levels. His earliest, and one of the best known, wasthe Battle for Wheat, by which 5,000 new farms were established andfive new agricultural towns (among them Littoria and Sabaudia) onland reclaimed by draining the Pontine Marshes. In Sardinia, a modelagricultural town was founded and named Mussolinia, but has longsince been renamed Arborea. This town was the first of what Mussolinihoped would have been thousands of new agricultural settlementsacross the country. The Battle for Wheat diverted valuable resources towheat production away from other more economically viable crops.

Landowners grew wheat on unsuitable soil using all the advances of modern science, and although the wheat harvest increased, prices rose, consumption fell and high tariffs were imposed.[54] The tariffs promoted widespread

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inefficiencies and the government subsidies given to farmers pushed the country further into debt.Mussolini also initiated the "Battle for Land", a policy based on land reclamation outlined in 1928. The initiative hada mixed success; while projects such as the draining of the Pontine Marsh in 1935 for agriculture were good forpropaganda purposes, provided work for the unemployed and allowed for great land owners to control subsidies,other areas in the Battle for Land were not very successful. This program was inconsistent with the Battle for Wheat(small plots of land were inappropriately allocated for large-scale wheat production), and the Pontine Marsh was lostduring World War II. Fewer than 10,000 peasants resettled on the redistributed land, and peasant poverty remainedhigh. The Battle for Land initiative was abandoned in 1940.

Corporatism

Politicsportal

He also combated an economic recession by introducing the "Gold for the Fatherland" initiative, by encouraging thepublic to voluntarily donate gold jewellery such as necklaces and wedding rings to government officials in exchangefor steel wristbands bearing the words "Gold for the Fatherland". Even Rachele Mussolini donated her own weddingring. The collected gold was then melted down and turned into gold bars, which were then distributed to the nationalbanks.Mussolini pushed for government control of business: by 1935, Mussolini claimed that three-quarters of Italianbusinesses were under state control. That same year, he issued several edicts to further control the economy,including forcing all banks, businesses, and private citizens to give up all their foreign-issued stocks and bonds to theBank of Italy. In 1938, he also instituted wage and price controls.[55][citation needed] He also attempted to turn Italyinto a self-sufficient autarky, instituting high barriers on trade with most countries except Germany.In 1943 he proposed the theory of economic socialization.

Government

After taking power, Mussolini wasoften seen in military uniform

Mussolini's foremost priority was the subjugation of the minds of the Italianpeople and the use of propaganda to do so. A lavish cult of personality centeredon Mussolini was promoted by the regime.

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Standard of Benito Mussolini.

The principles of this doctrine were laid down in the 2-part article onfascism (Giovanni Gentile wrote the first part, Mussolini the second)that appeared in 1932 in the Enciclopedia Italiana. In 1929, aconcordat with the Vatican was signed, the Lateran treaties, by whichthe Italian state was at last recognized by the Roman Catholic Church,and the independence of Vatican City was recognized by the Italianstate.

The 1929 treaty included a legal provision whereby the Italiangovernment would protect the honor and dignity of the Pope byprosecuting offenders.[56] In 1927, Mussolini was re-baptized by a

Roman Catholic priest. After 1929, Mussolini, with his anti-Communist doctrines, convinced many Catholics toactively support him.

The law codes of the parliamentary system were rewritten under Mussolini. All teachers in schools and universitieshad to swear an oath to defend the fascist regime. Newspaper editors were all personally chosen by Mussolini and noone who did not possess a certificate of approval from the fascist party could practice journalism. These certificateswere issued in secret; Mussolini thus skillfully created the illusion of a "free press". The trade unions were alsodeprived of any independence and were integrated into what was called the "corporative" system. The aim (nevercompletely achieved), inspired by medieval guilds, was to place all Italians in various professional organizations orcorporations, all under clandestine governmental control.Large sums of money were spent on highly visible public works, and on international prestige projects such as theBlue Riband ocean liner SS Rex and aeronautical achievements such as the world's fastest seaplane the MacchiM.C.72 and the transatlantic flying boat cruise of Italo Balbo, which was greeted with much fanfare in the UnitedStates when it landed in Chicago.

Role of education and youth organizations

Benito Mussolini and Fascist Blackshirt youth in1935.

Nationalists in the years after the war thought of themselves ascombating the both liberal and domineering institutions created bycabinets—such as those of Giovanni Giolitti, including traditionalschooling. Futurism, a revolutionary cultural movement which wouldserve as a catalyst for Fascism, argued for "a school for physicalcourage and patriotism," as expressed by Filippo Tommaso Marinettiin 1919. Marinetti expressed his disdain for "... the by now prehistoricand troglodyte Ancient Greek and Latin courses," arguing for theirreplacement with exercise modelled on those of the Arditi soldiers("[learning] to advance on hands and knees in front of razing machinegun fire; to wait open-eyed for a crossbeam to move sideways overtheir heads etc."). It was in those years that the first Fascist youth wings were formed: Avanguardia GiovanileFascista (Fascist Youth Vanguards) in 1919, and Gruppi Universitari Fascisti (Fascist University Groups) in 1922.

After the March on Rome that brought Benito Mussolini to power, the Fascists started considering ways to politicizeItalian society, with an accent on schools. Mussolini assigned former ardito and deputy-secretary for EducationRenato Ricci the task of "... reorganizing the youth from a moral and physical point of view." Ricci soughtinspiration with Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, meeting with him in England, as well as withBauhaus artists in Germany. The Opera Nazionale Balilla was created through Mussolini's decree of 3 April 1926,and was led by Ricci for the following eleven years. It included children between the ages of 8 and 18, grouped asthe Balilla and the Avanguardisti.

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According to Mussolini: "Fascist education is moral, physical, social, and military: it aims to create a complete andharmoniously developed human, a fascist one according to our views". Mussolini structured this process taking inview the emotional side of childhood: "Childhood and adolescence alike ... cannot be fed solely by concerts,theories, and abstract teaching. The truth we aim to teach them should appeal foremost to their fantasy, to theirhearts, and only then to their minds".The "educational value set through action and example" was to replace the established approaches. Fascism opposedits version of idealism to prevalent rationalism, and used the Opera Nazionale Balilla to circumvent educationaltradition by imposing the collective and hierarchy, as well as Mussolini's own personality cult.

Foreign policyIn foreign policy, Mussolini soon shifted from the anti-imperialism of his lead-up to power to an extreme form ofaggressive nationalism. He dreamt of making Italy a nation that was "great, respected, and feared" throughoutEurope, and indeed the world. An early example was his bombardment of Corfu in 1923. Soon after he succeeded insetting up a puppet regime in Albania and in ruthlessly consolidating Italian power in Libya, which had been looselya colony since 1912. It was his dream to make the Mediterranean mare nostrum ("our sea" in Latin), and heestablished a large naval base on the Greek island of Leros to enforce a strategic hold on the eastern Mediterranean.His first steps into foreign policy seemed to portray him as a "statesman", for he participated in the Locarno Treatiesof 1925 and the attempted Four Power Pact of 1933 was Mussolini's brainchild. Following the Stresa Front againstGermany in 1935, Mussolini's policy took a dramatic turning point and revealed itself once again to be that of anaggressive nature. This domino effect of war began with the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. He also disagreed withHitler's treaties with the Soviet Union.WP:NOTRS

Conquest of Ethiopia

Il Duce standing on top of a tank.

In an effort to create an Italian Empire – or as supporters called it, theNew Roman Empire – Italy set its sights on Ethiopia with an invasionthat was carried out rapidly. Historians are still divided about thereasons for the attack on Ethiopia in 1935. Some Italian historians suchas Franco Catalano and Giorgio Rochat argue that invasion was an actof social imperialism, contending that the Great Depression had badlydamaged Mussolini's prestige, and that he needed a foreign war todistract public opinion.[57] Other historians such as Pietro Pastorellihave argued that the invasion was launched as part of an expansionistprogram to make Italy the main power in the Red Sea area and theMiddle East. A middle way interpretation was offered by the Americanhistorian MacGregor Knox who argued that the war was started for both foreign and domestic reasons, being both apart of Mussolini's long-range expansionist plans and was also intended to give Mussolini a foreign policy triumphthat would allow him to push the Fascist system in a more radical direction at home. Italy's forces were far superiorto the Abyssinian forces, especially in air power, and they were soon victorious. Emperor Haile Selassie was forcedto flee the country, with Italy entering the capital Addis Ababa to proclaim an empire by May 1936, making Ethiopiapart of Italian East Africa.

Although all of the major European powers of the time had also colonized parts of Africa and committed atrocities intheir colonies, the Scramble for Africa had finished by the beginning of the twentieth century. The internationalmood was now against colonialist expansion and Italy's actions were condemned. Retroactively, Italy was criticizedfor its use of mustard gas and phosgene against its enemies and also for its zero tolerance approach to enemyguerrillas, allegedly authorized by Mussolini.

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Spanish Republican poster against"the Italian invader".

When Rodolfo Graziani, the viceroy of Ethiopia, was nearly assassinated at anofficial ceremony, with the guerrilla bomb exploding among the people there, avery strong-handed reaction followed against the guerrillas, including those whowere prisoners according to the International Red Cross. The IRC also allegedthat Italy bombed their tents in areas of guerrillas' military encampment; thoughItaly denied it had intended to, insisting that the rebels were targeted. It was notuntil the East African Campaign's conclusion in 1941 that Italy lost its EastAfrican territories, after taking on a fourteen-nation allied force.

Spanish Civil War

Italian military help to Nationalists against the anti-clerical and anti-Catholicatrocities committed by the Republican side worked well in Italian propagandatargeting Catholics. On 27 July 1936 the first squadron of Italian airplanes sentby Benito Mussolini arrived in Spain.[58] This active intervention in 1936–1939

on the side of Franco in the Spanish Civil War ended any possibility of reconciliation with France and Britain. As aresult, his relationship with Adolf Hitler became closer, and he chose to accept the German annexation of Austria in1938 and the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in 1939. At the Munich Conference in September 1938, he posed asa moderate working for European peace, helping Nazi Germany seize control of the Sudetenland. His "axis" withGermany was confirmed when he made the "Pact of Steel" with Hitler in May 1939, as the previous "Rome-BerlinAxis" of 1936 had been unofficial. Members of TIGR, a Slovene anti-fascist group, plotted to kill Mussolini inKobarid in 1938, but their attempt was unsuccessful.

Axis

Rome-Berlin relations

Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in Munich,June 1940.

The relationship between Mussolini and Adolf Hitler was a contentiousone early on. While Hitler cited Mussolini as an influence andexpressed privately great admiration for him,[59] Mussolini had littleregard for Hitler, especially after the Nazis had assassinated his friendand ally, Engelbert Dollfuss the Austrofascist dictator of Austria in1934.

With the assassination of Dollfuss, Mussolini attempted to distancehimself from Hitler by rejecting much of the racialism (particularlyNordicism and Germanicism) and antisemitism espoused by theGerman radical. Mussolini during this period rejected biologicalracism, at least in the Nazi sense, and instead emphasized "Italianizing"the parts of the Italian Empire he had desired to build. He declared that the ideas of eugenics and the racially chargedconcept of an Aryan nation were not possible.

When discussing the Nazi decree that the German people must carry a passport with either Aryan or Jewish racialaffiliation marked on it, in 1934, Mussolini wondered how they would designate membership in the "Germanicrace":

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Mussolini in the company of Charles Edward,Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, presiding oversporting events in honor of German veterans in

Rome, 19 March 1938.

“But which race? Does there exist a German race? Has it ever existed? Will it ever exist? Reality, myth, or hoax of the theorists?

Ah well, we respond, a Germanic race does not exist. Various movements. Curiosity. Stupor. We repeat. Does not exist. We don't say so.Scientists say so. Hitler says so. ”

—Benito Mussolini, 1934.

When German-Jewish journalist Emil Ludwig asked about his views on race, Mussolini exclaimed:

“Race! It is a feeling, not a reality: ninety-five percent, at least, is a feeling. Nothing will ever make me believe that biologically pure races canbe shown to exist today. Amusingly enough, not one of those who have proclaimed the "nobility" of the Teutonic race was himself a Teuton.Gobineau was a Frenchman, (Houston Stewart) Chamberlain, an Englishman; Woltmann, a Jew; Lapouge, another Frenchman. ”

—Benito Mussolini, 1933.

In a speech given in Bari, he reiterated his attitude toward German racism:

“Thirty centuries of history allow us to look with supreme pity on certain doctrines which are preached beyond the Alps by the descendants ofthose who were illiterate when Rome had Caesar, Virgil and Augustus. ”

—Benito Mussolini, 1934.[60]

Mussolini's rejection of both racialism and the importance of race in 1934 during the height of his antagonismtowards Hitler contradicted his own earlier statements about race, such as in 1928, when he emphasized theimportance of race:

“[When the] city dies, the nation—deprived of the young life-blood of new generations—is now made up of people who are old and degenerateand cannot defend itself against a younger people which launches an attack on the now unguarded frontiers [...] This will happen, and not justto cities and nations, but on an infinitely greater scale: the whole White race, the Western race can be submerged by other coloured raceswhich are multiplying at a rate unknown in our race. ”

—Benito Mussolini, 1928.[61]

Though Italian Fascism varied its official positions on race from the 1920s to 1934, ideologically Italian fascism did not originally discriminate against the Italian Jewish community: Mussolini recognised that a small contingent had

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lived there "since the days of the Kings of Rome" and should "remain undisturbed". There were even some Jews inthe National Fascist Party, such as Ettore Ovazza who in 1935 founded the Jewish Fascist paper La Nostra Bandiera("Our Flag").By 1938, the enormous influence Hitler now had over Mussolini became clear with the introduction of the Manifestoof Race. The Manifesto, which was closely modeled on the Nazi Nuremberg laws, stripped Jews of their Italiancitizenship and with it any position in the government or professions. The German influence on Italian policy upsetthe established balance in Fascist Italy and proved highly unpopular to most Italians, to the extent that Pope Pius XIIsent a letter to Mussolini protesting against the new laws.[citation needed] Mussolini and the Italian Army in occupiedregions openly opposed German efforts to deport Italian Jews to Nazi concentration camps.[62] Italy's refusal tocomply with German demands of Jewish persecution influenced other countries. Only after Mussolini was deposeddid the German Army transfer 50,000 Italian Jews from German occupied Italy starting in September 1943.It has been widely speculated that Mussolini adopted the Manifesto of Race in 1938 for merely tactical reasons, tostrengthen Italy's relations with Germany. Mussolini and the Italian military did not consistently apply the lawsadopted in the Manifesto of Race. In December 1943, Mussolini made a confession to Bruno Spampanato that seemsto indicate that he regretted the Manifesto of Race, as Mussolini put it:

“The Racial Manifesto could have been avoided. It dealt with the scientific abstruseness of a few teachers and journalists, a conscientiousGerman essay translated into bad Italian. It is far from what I have said, written and signed on the subject. I suggest that you consult the oldissues of Il Popolo d'Italia. For this reason I am far from accepting (Alfred) Rosenberg's myth. ”

—Benito Mussolini, 1943.

Mussolini also reached out to the Muslims in his empire and in the predominantly Arab countries of the Middle East.In 1937, the Muslims of Libya presented Mussolini with the "Sword of Islam" while Fascist propaganda pronouncedhim as the "Protector of Islam."

Munich Conference, war looming

From left to right, Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini andItalian Foreign Minister Count Ciano as they prepare to sign the

Munich Agreement.

By the late 1930s, Mussolini's obsession withdemography led him to conclude that Britain andFrance were finished as powers, and that it wasGermany and Italy who were destined to rule Europe iffor no other reason than their demographic strength.[63]

Mussolini stated his belief that declining birth rates inFrance were "absolutely horrifying" and that the BritishEmpire was doomed because one-quarter of the Britishpopulation was over 50.[64] As such, Mussolinibelieved that an alliance with Germany was preferableto an alignment with Britain and France as it was betterto be allied with the strong instead of the weak.[65] Theonly things that held Mussolini back from fullalignment with Berlin were his awareness of Italianeconomic and military weaknesses, which requiredfurther time to rearm, and his desire to use the Easter Accords of April 1938 as a way of splitting Britain fromFrance.[66] A military alliance with Germany as opposed to the already existing looser political alliance with theReich under the Anti-Comintern Pact (which had no military commitments) would end any chance of Britainimplementing the Easter Accords.[67] The Easter Accords in turn were intended by Mussolini to allow Italy to take

on France alone by sufficiently improving Anglo-Italian relations that London would presumably remain neutral in the event of a Franco-Italian war.[67] In turn, the Easter Accords were intended by Britain to win Italy away from

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Germany.Mussolini had imperial designs on Tunisia, and had some support in that country. In January 1939, the British PrimeMinister Neville Chamberlain visited Rome, during which visit, Mussolini learned that though Britain very muchwanted better relations with Italy, and was prepared to make concessions, that Britain would not sever all ties withFrance for the sake of an improved Anglo-Italian relationship.[68] With that, Mussolini grew more interested in theGerman offer of a military alliance, which first been made in May 1938.[68] The new course was not without itscritics. On 21 March 1939, during a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council, Italo Balbo accused Mussolini of "lickingHitler's boots", blasted the Duce's pro-German foreign policy as leading Italy to disaster, and noted that the "openingto Britain" still existed and it was not inevitable that Italy had to ally with Germany.[69] Through many gerarchi likeBalbo were not keen on closer relations with Berlin, Mussolini's control of the foreign-policy machinery meant thisdissidence counted for little.[69] In April 1939, Mussolini ordered the Italian invasion of Albania. Italy defeatedAlbania within just five days forcing king Zog to flee, setting up a period of Albania under Italy. Until May 1939,the Axis had not been entirely official, but during that month the Pact of Steel treaty was signed outlining the"friendship and alliance" between Germany and Italy, signed by each of its foreign ministers. The Pact of Steel wasan offensive and defensive military alliance, though Mussolini had signed the treaty only after receiving a promisefrom the Germans that there would be no war for the next three years. Italy's king Victor Emanuel III was also waryof the pact, favoring the more traditional Italian allies like France, and fearful of the implications of an offensivemilitary alliance, which in effect meant surrendering control over questions of war and peace to Hitler.Hitler was intent on invading Poland, though Galeazzo Ciano warned this would likely lead to war with the Allies.Hitler dismissed Ciano's comment, predicting that instead that Britain and the other Western countries would backdown, and he suggested that Italy should invade Yugoslavia. The offer was tempting to Mussolini, but at that stageworld war would be a disaster for Italy as the armaments situation from building the Italian Empire thus far was lean.Most significantly, Victor Emmanuel had demanded neutrality in the dispute. Thus when World War II in Europebegan on 1 September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland eliciting the response of the United Kingdom andFrance declaring war on Germany, Italy did not become involved in the conflict.

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War declared

Mussolini in an official portrait.

As World War II began, Ciano and Viscount Halifax were holdingsecret phone conversations. The British wanted Italy on their sideagainst Germany as it had been in World War I. Frenchgovernment opinion was more geared towards action against Italy;they were eager to attack Italy in Libya. In September 1939,France swung to the opposite extreme, offering to discuss issueswith Italy, but as the French were unwilling to discuss Corsica,Nice and Savoy, Mussolini did not answer. Historian AlexanderGibson stated that Allies were certain that Italy would join the waron the Axis side, and tried to provoke Italy into fighting while shewas still unprepared.

So long as the Duce lives, one can rest assured that Italywill seize every opportunity to achieve its imperialistic aims.

—Adolf Hitler, late November 1939Convinced that the war would soon be over, with a Germanvictory looking likely at that point, Mussolini decided to enter thewar on the Axis side. Accordingly, Italy declared war on Britainand France on 10 June 1940. Mussolini regarded the war againstBritain and France as a life-or-death struggle between opposingideologies - Fascism and "the Masonic, democratic, capitalist world" - describing the war as "the struggle of thefertile and young people against the sterile people moving to the sunset; it is the struggle between two centuries andtwo ideas",[70] and as a "logical development of our Revolution".

Italy joined the Germans in the Battle of France, fighting the fortified Alpine Line at the border. Just eleven dayslater, France surrendered to the Axis powers. Included in Italian-controlled France was most of Nice and othersoutheastern counties. Meanwhile in Africa, Mussolini's Italian East Africa forces attacked the British in their Sudan,Kenya and British Somaliland colonies, in what would become known as the East African Campaign. BritishSomaliland was conquered and became part of Italian East Africa on 3 August 1940, and there were Italian advancesin Sudan and Kenya.Just over a month later, the Italian Tenth Army commanded by General Rodolfo Graziani crossed from Italian Libyainto Egypt where British forces were located; this would become the Western Desert Campaign. Advances weresuccessful, but the Italians stopped at Sidi Barrani waiting for logistic supplies to catch up. During 25 October 1940,Mussolini sent the Italian Air Corps to Belgium, where the air force took part in the Battle of Britain for around twomonths. In October, Mussolini also sent Italian forces into Greece starting the Greco-Italian War. After initialsuccess, this backfired as the Greek counterattack proved relentless, resulting in Italy losing one-quarter of Albania.Events in Africa had changed by early 1941 as Operation Compass had forced the Italians back into Libya, causinghigh losses in the Italian Army. Also in the East African Campaign, an attack was mounted against Italian forces.Despite putting up a resistance, they were overwhelmed at the Battle of Keren, and the Italian defense started tocrumble with a final defeat in the Battle of Gondar. When addressing the Italian public on the events, he wascompletely open about the situation saying, "We call bread bread and wine wine, and when the enemy wins a battleit is useless and ridiculous to seek, as the English do in their incomparable hypocrisy, to deny or diminish it." Part ofhis comment was in relation to earlier success the Italians had in Africa, before being defeated by an Allied forcelater. In danger of losing the control of all Italian possessions in North Africa, Germany finally sent the Afrika Korpsto support Italy. Meanwhile Operation Marita took place in Yugoslavia to end the Greco-Italian War, resulting in anAxis victory and the Occupation of Greece by Italy and Germany.

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General Mario Robotti, Commander of the Italian 11th division in Slovenia and Croatia, issued an order in line witha directive received from Mussolini in June 1942: "I would not be opposed to all (sic) Slovenes being imprisonedand replaced by Italians. In other words, we should take steps to ensure that political and ethnic frontierscoincide,",[71]

Eastern Front

Mussolini addressed the crowd in Rome.

With the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, Mussolinideclared war on the Soviet Union in June 1941 and sentan army to fight there. Mussolini first learned ofBarbarossa after it began on 22 June 1941, and was notasked by Hitler to involve himself. [72] Mussolini tookthe initiative in ordering an Italian Army Corps to headto the Eastern Front, where he hoped that Italy mightscore an easy victory to restore the Fascist regime'sluster, which had been damaged by defeats in Greeceand North Africa. Mussolini told the Council ofMinisters of 5 July that his only worry was thatGermany might defeat the Soviet Union before theItalians arrived.[73] At a meeting with Hitler in August,Mussolini offered and Hitler accepted the commitmentof further Italian troops to fight the Soviet Union.[74] The heavy losses suffered by the Italians on the Eastern Front,where service was extremely unpopular owing to the widespread view that this was not Italy's fight, did much todamage Mussolini's prestige with the Italian people.[74] After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he declared waron the United States on 11 December 1941.WP:NOTRS A piece of evidence regarding Mussolini's response to theattack on Pearl Harbor comes from the diary of his Foreign Minister Ciano:

"A night telephone call from Ribbentrop. He is overjoyed about the Japanese attack on America. He is sohappy about it that I am happy with him, though I am not too sure about the final advantages of what hashappened. One thing is now certain, that America will enter the conflict and that the conflict will be so longthat she will be able to realize all her potential forces. This morning I told this to the King who had beenpleased about the event. He ended by admitting that, in the long run, I may be right. Mussolini was happy, too.For a long time he has favored a definite clarification of relations between America and the Axis".[75]

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Dismissed and arrested

Marshal Pietro Badoglio succeededMussolini as Prime Minister.

By early 1942, Italy's military position had become untenable. After the defeat atEl Alamein at the end of 1942, the Axis troops had to retreat to where they werefinally defeated in the Tunisia Campaign in early 1943. Italy also suffered majorsetbacks on the Eastern Front as well. The Allied invasion of Sicily brought thewar to the nation's very doorstep.[76] The Italian home front was also in badshape as the Allied bombings were taking their toll. Factories all over Italy werebrought to a virtual standstill due to a lack of raw materials, as well as coal andoil. Additionally, there was a chronic shortage of food, and what food wasavailable was being sold at nearly confiscatory prices. Mussolini'sonce-ubiquitous propaganda machine lost its grip on the people; a large numberof Italians turned to Vatican Radio or Radio London for more accurate newscoverage. Discontent came to a head in March 1943 with a wave of labor strikesin the industrial north—the first large-scale strikes since 1925. Also in March,some of the major factories in Milan and Turin stopped production to secureevacuation allowances for workers' families. The physical German presence inItaly had sharply turned public opinion against Mussolini; for example, when theAllies invaded Sicily, the majority of the public there welcomed them as liberators.

Earlier in April 1943, Mussolini had begged Hitler to make a separate peace with Stalin and send German troops tothe west to guard against an expected Allied invasion of Italy. Mussolini feared that with the losses in Tunisia andNorth Africa, the next logical step for Dwight Eisenhower's armies would be to come across the Mediterranean andattack the Italian peninsula. Within a few days of the Allied landings on Sicily in July 1943, it was obviousMussolini's army was on the brink of collapse. This led Hitler to summon Mussolini to a meeting in northern Italy on19 July 1943. By this time, Mussolini was so shaken from stress that he could no longer stand Hitler's boasting. Hismood darkened further when that same day, the Allies bombed Rome—the first time that city had ever been thetarget of enemy bombing.

Dismissal of Mussolini and appointment of Badoglio

Italian radio statement announcing the dismissal of Mussolini and appointment of Badoglio, 25 July 1943.

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Some prominent members of Mussolini's government had turned against him by this point. Among them wereGrandi and Ciano. With several of his colleagues close to revolt, Mussolini was forced to summon the GrandCouncil of Fascism on 24 July 1943: the first time that body had met since the start of the war. When he announcedthat the Germans were thinking of evacuating the south, Grandi launched a blistering attack on him.[76] Grandimoved a resolution asking the king to resume his full constitutional powers, in effect, a vote of no confidence inMussolini. This motion carried by a 19–7 margin. Despite this sharp rebuke, Mussolini showed up for work the nextday as usual. He allegedly viewed the Grand Council as merely an advisory body and did not think the vote wouldhave any substantive effect. That afternoon, he was summoned to the royal palace by King Victor Emmanuel III,who had been planning to oust Mussolini earlier. When Mussolini tried to tell the king about the meeting, VictorEmmanuel cut him off and told him that he was being replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio. After Mussolini left thepalace, he was arrested by Carabinieri on the king's orders.

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Mussolini rescued by German troops from hisprison in Campo Imperatore on 12 September

1943.

By this time, discontent with Mussolini was such that when the newsof his downfall was announced on the radio, there was no resistance. Inan effort to conceal his location from the Germans, Mussolini wasmoved around the country before being sent to Campo Imperatore, amountain resort in Abruzzo where he was completely isolated.[76]

Given the large Nazi presence in Italy, Badoglio announced that "thewar continues at the side of our Germanic ally" in the hopes that chaosand Nazi retaliation against civilians could be avoided.[76] Even asBadoglio was keeping up the appearance of loyalty to the Axis, hedissolved the Fascist Party two days after taking over. Also, hisgovernment was negotiating an Armistice with the Allies, which wassigned on 3 September 1943. Its announcement five days later threw Italy into chaos, a civil war of sorts. Badoglioand the king fled Rome, leaving the Italian Army without orders. Immediately after the Italian surrender wasannounced, German troops started taking over the Italian Peninsula by force as part of Operation Achse andoccupied Rome on 10 September.[77] After a period of anarchy, Italy finally declared war on Nazi Germany on 13October 1943 from Malta; thousands of troops were supplied to fight against the Germans, others refused to switchsides and had joined the Germans. The Badoglio government held a social truce with the leftist partisans for the sakeof Italy and to rid the land of the Nazis.

Italian Social RepublicOnly two months after Mussolini had been dismissed and arrested, he was rescued from his prison at the HotelCampo Imperatore in the Gran Sasso raid by a special Fallschirmjäger unit on 12 September 1943; present was OttoSkorzeny. The rescue saved Mussolini from being turned over to the Allies, as per the armistice. Hitler had madeplans to arrest the king, Crown Prince Umberto, Badoglio, and the rest of the government and restore Mussolini topower in Rome, but the government's escape south likely foiled those plans.

A rain-soaked Benito Mussolini reviewingadolescent soldiers in northern Italy, late 1944

Three days following his rescue in the Gran Sasso raid, Mussolini wastaken to Germany for a meeting with Hitler in Rastenberg at his EastPrussian headquarters. Despite public professions of support, Hitlerwas clearly shocked by Mussolini's disheveled and haggard appearanceas well as his unwillingness to go after the men in Rome whooverthrew him. Feeling that he had to do what he could to blunt theedges of Nazi repression, Mussolini agreed to set up a new regime, theItalian Social Republic,[76] informally known as the Salò Republicbecause of its administration from the town of Salò where he settled injust 11 days after his rescue by the Germans. Mussolini's new regime

faced numerous territorial losses: in addition to losing the Italian lands held by the Allies and Badoglio'sgovernment, the provinces of Bolzano, Belluno and Trento were placed under German administration in theOperational Zone of the Alpine Foothills, while the provinces of Udine, Gorizia, Trieste, Pola (now Pula), Fiume(now Rijeka) and Ljubljana (Lubiana) were incorporated into the German Operational Zone of the AdriaticLittoral.[78]

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Mussolini inspecting fortifications,1944

In addition, the German army occupied the Dalmatian provinces of Split(Spalato) and Kotor (Cattaro), which were subsequently annexed by the Croatianfascist regime. Italy's gains in Greece and Albania were also lost to Germany,with the exception of the Italian Aegean Islands, which remained nominallyunder RSI rule. Mussolini opposed any territorial reductions of the Italian stateand told his associates "I am not here to renounce even a square meter of stateterritory. We will go back to war for this. And we will rebel against anyone forthis. Where the Italian flag flew, the Italian flag will return. And where it has notbeen lowered, now that I am here, no one will have it lowered. I have said thesethings to the Führer".[79]

For two years, Mussolini lived in Gargnano on Lake Garda in Lombardy.Although he insisted in public that he was in full control, he knew that he waslittle more than a puppet ruler under the protection of his German liberators—forall intents and purposes, the Gauleiter of Lombardy. After yielding to pressures from Hitler and the remaining loyalfascists who formed the government of the Republic of Salo, Mussolini helped orchestrate a series of executions ofsome of the fascist leaders who had betrayed him at the last meeting of the Fascist Grand Council. One of thoseexecuted was his son-in-law, Galeazzo Ciano. As Head of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Italian SocialRepublic, Mussolini used much of his time to write his memoirs. Along with his autobiographical writings of 1928,these writings would be combined and published by Da Capo Press as My Rise and Fall. In an interview in January1945, a few months before he was captured and executed by Italian anti-fascist partisans, he stated flatly: "Sevenyears ago, I was an interesting person. Now, I am little more than a corpse." He continued:

“Yes, madam, I am finished. My star has fallen. I have no fight left in me. I work and I try, yet know that all is but a farce ... I await the end ofthe tragedy and – strangely detached from everything – I do not feel any more an actor. I feel I am the last of spectators. ”

—Benito Mussolini, interviewed in early 1945 by Madeleine Mollier.

Death

Cross marking the place in Mezzegra whereMussolini was shot.

Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were stopped by communistpartisans Valerio and Bellini and identified by the Political Commissarof the partisans' 52nd Garibaldi Brigade, Urbano Lazzaro, on 27 April1945, near the village of Dongo (Lake Como), as they headed forSwitzerland to board a plane to escape to Spain. During this timeClaretta's brother posed as a Spanish consul.[80] After severalunsuccessful attempts to take them to Como they were brought toMezzegra. They spent their last night in the house of the De Mariafamily.

The next day, Mussolini and Petacci were both summarily executed,along with most of the members of their 15-man train, primarilyministers and officials of the Italian Social Republic. The shootings took place in the small village of Giulino diMezzegra. According to the official version of events, the shootings were conducted by Colonnello Valerio, whosereal name was Walter Audisio. Audisio was the communist partisan commander who was reportedly given the orderto kill Mussolini by the National Liberation Committee. When Audisio entered the room where Mussolini and theother fascists were being held, he reportedly announced, "I have come to rescue you! ... Do you have any weapons?"

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He then had them loaded into transports and driven a short distance. Audisio ordered, "Get down"; Petacci huggedMussolini and refused to move away from him when they were taken to an empty space. Shots were fired andPetacci fell down. Just then Mussolini opened his jacket and screamed, "Shoot me in the chest!" Audisio compliedand shot him in the chest. Mussolini fell but did not die and was breathing heavily. Audisio went near and he shotone more bullet in his chest. The other members of Mussolini's entourage were also executed by firing squad laterthat same day towards nightfall.

Mussolini's bodyOn 29 April 1945, the bodies of Mussolini, Petacci, and the other executed Fascists were loaded into a moving vanand trucked south to Milan. There, at 3:00 am, they were dumped on the ground in the old Piazzale Loreto. Thepiazza had been renamed "Piazza Quindici Martiri" in honor of 15 anti-Fascists recently executed there.[81]

The dead body of Mussolini (second from left)next to Petacci (middle) and other executed

fascists in Piazzale Loreto, Milan, 1945

After being shot, kicked, and spat upon, the bodies were hung upsidedown on meathooks from the roof of an Esso gas station. The bodieswere then stoned by civilians from below. This was done both todiscourage any Fascists from continuing the fight and as an act ofrevenge for the hanging of many partisans in the same place by Axisauthorities. The corpse of the deposed leader became subject to ridiculeand abuse. Fascist loyalist Achille Starace was captured and sentencedto death and then taken to the Piazzale Loreto and shown the body ofMussolini. Starace, who once said of Mussolini "He is a god,"[82]

saluted what was left of his leader just before he was shot. The body ofStarace was subsequently hung up next to the body of Mussolini.

After his death and the display of his corpse in Milan, Mussolini wasburied in an unmarked grave in the Musocco cemetery, to the north of the city. On Easter Sunday 1946 his body waslocated and dug up by Domenico Leccisi and two other neo-Fascists.

Tomb of Mussolini in the family crypt in thecemetery of Predappio.

On the loose for months—and a cause of great anxiety to the newItalian democracy—the Duce's body was finally "recaptured" inAugust, hidden in a small trunk at the Certosa di Pavia, just outsideMilan. Two Fransciscan brothers were subsequently charged withconcealing the corpse, though it was discovered on furtherinvestigation that it had been constantly on the move. Unsure what todo, the authorities held the remains in a kind of political limbo for 10years, before agreeing to allow them to be re-interred at Predappio inRomagna, his birthplace.

Leccisi, a fascist deputy, went on to write his autobiography, WithMussolini Before and After Piazzale Loreto. Adone Zoli, the prime

minister of the day, contacted Donna Rachele, the former dictator's widow, to tell her he was returning the remains,as he needed the support of the far-right in parliament, including Leccisi himself. In Predappio the dictator wasburied in a crypt (the only posthumous honor granted to Mussolini). His tomb is flanked by marble fasces, and alarge idealized marble bust of him is above the tomb.

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Personal lifeMussolini was first married to Ida Dalser in Trento in 1914. The couple had a son one year later and named himBenito Albino Mussolini. In December 1915, Mussolini married Rachele Guidi, his mistress since 1910, and with hisfollowing political ascendency the information about his first marriage was suppressed and both his first wife andson were later persecuted. With Rachele, Mussolini had two daughters, Edda (1910–1995) and Anna Maria (born 3September 1929, Forlì, Villa Carpena – died 25 April 1968, Rome), married in Ravenna on 11 June 1960 to NandoPucci Negri; three sons Vittorio (1916–1997), Bruno (1918–1941), and Romano (1927–2006). Mussolini hadseveral mistresses, among them Margherita Sarfatti and his final companion, Clara Petacci. Mussolini had manybrief sexual encounters with female supporters, as reported by his biographer Nicholas Farrell.

Religious beliefs

Atheism and anti-clericalism

Mussolini was raised by a devoutly Catholic mother[83] and an anti-clerical father.[84] His mother Rosa had himbaptized into the Roman Catholic Church, and took her children to services every Sunday. His father never attended.Mussolini regarded his time at a religious boarding school as punishment, compared the experience to hell, and"once refused to go to morning Mass and had to be dragged there by force".[85]

Mussolini would become anti-clerical like his father. As a young man, he "proclaimed himself to be an atheist andseveral times tried to shock an audience by calling on God to strike him dead." He denounced socialists who weretolerant of religion, or who had their children baptized. He believed that science had proven there was no God, andthat the historical Jesus was ignorant and mad. He considered religion a disease of the psyche, and accusedChristianity of promoting resignation and cowardice.Mussolini was an admirer of Friedrich Nietzsche. According to Denis Mack Smith, "In Nietzsche he foundjustification for his crusade against the Christian virtues of humility, resignation, charity, and goodness."[86] Hevalued Nietzsche's concept of the superman, "The supreme egoist who defied both God and the masses, whodespised egalitarianism and democracy, who believed in the weakest going to the wall and pushing them if they didnot go fast enough." On his 60th birthday, Mussolini received a gift from Hitler of a complete twenty-four volumeset of the works of Nietzsche.[87]

Mussolini made vitriolic attacks against Christianity and the Catholic Church, which he accompanied withprovocative and blasphemous remarks about the consecrated host, and about a love affair between Christ and MaryMagdalen.[88] He believed that socialists who were Christian or who accepted religious marriage should be expelledfrom the party. He denounced the Catholic Church for "its authoritarianism and refusal to allow freedom ofthought ..." Mussolini's newspaper, La Lotta di Classe, reportedly had an anti-Christian editorial stance.

Lateran Pact

Despite making such attacks, Mussolini tried to win popular support by appeasing the Catholic majority in Italy. In1924, Mussolini saw that three of his children were given communion. In 1925, he had a priest perform a religiousmarriage ceremony for himself and his wife Rachele, whom he had married in a civil ceremony 10 years earlier.[89]

On 11 February 1929, he signed a concordat and treaty with the Roman Catholic Church. Under the Lateran Pact,Vatican City was granted independent statehood and placed under Church law—rather than Italian law—and theCatholic religion was recognized as Italy's state religion.[90] The Church also regained authority over marriage,Catholicism could be taught in all secondary schools, birth control and freemasonry were banned, and the clergyreceived subsidies from the state, and was exempted from taxation.[91][92] Pope Pius XI praised Mussolini, and theofficial Catholic newspaper pronounced "Italy has been given back to God and God to Italy."After this conciliation, he claimed the Church was subordinate to the State, and "referred to Catholicism as, in origin, a minor sect that had spread beyond Palestine only because grafted onto the organization of the Roman empire."[]

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After the concordat, "he confiscated more issues of Catholic newspapers in the next three months than in theprevious seven years." Mussolini reportedly came close to being excommunicated from the Catholic Church aroundthis time.Mussolini publicly reconciled with the Pope Pius XI in 1932, but "took care to exclude from the newspapers anyphotography of himself kneeling or showing deference to the Pope." He wanted to persuade Catholics that "[f]ascismwas Catholic and he himself a believer who spent some of each day in prayer ..." The Pope began referring toMussolini as "a man sent by Providence." Despite Mussolini's efforts to appear pious, by order of his party, pronounsreferring to him "had to be capitalized like those referring to God ..."In 1938 Mussolini began reasserting his anti-clericalism. He would sometimes refer to himself as an "outrightdisbeliever," and once told his cabinet that "Islam was perhaps a more effective religion than Christianity" and thatthe "papacy was a malignant tumor in the body of Italy and must 'be rooted out once and for all', because there wasno room in Rome for both the Pope and himself."[93] He publicly backed down from these anti-clerical statements,but continued making similar statements in private.After his fall from power in 1943, Mussolini began speaking "more about God and the obligations of conscience",although "he still had little use for the priests and sacraments of the Church,".[94] He also began drawing parallelsbetween himself and Jesus Christ. Mussolini's widow, Rachele, stated that her husband had remained "basicallyirreligious until the later years of his life.[95] Mussolini was given a Catholic funeral in 1957.[96]

LegacyMussolini was survived by his wife, Rachele Mussolini, two sons, Vittorio and Romano Mussolini, and his daughtersEdda, the widow of Count Ciano, and Anna Maria. A third son, Bruno, was killed in an air accident while flying aP108 bomber on a test mission, on 7 August 1941. His oldest son, Benito Albino Mussolini, from his marriage withIda Dalser, was ordered to stop declaring that Mussolini was his father and in 1935 forcibly committed to an asylumin Milan, where he was murdered on 26 August 1942 after repeated coma-inducing injections. Actress SophiaLoren's sister, Anna Maria Scicolone, was formerly married to Romano Mussolini, Mussolini's son. Mussolini'sgranddaughter Alessandra Mussolini was a member of the European Parliament for the far right party AlternativaSociale and currently serves in the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the ruling People of Freedom.Mussolini's National Fascist Party was banned in the postwar Constitution of Italy, but a number of successorneo-fascist parties emerged to carry on its legacy. Historically, the strongest neo-fascist party was the Italian SocialMovement (Movimento Sociale Italiano), which was declared dissolved in 1995 and replaced by the NationalAlliance, which distanced itself from Fascism (its leader Gianfranco Fini once declared that Fascism was "anabsolute evil"). These parties were united under Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms coalition and in 2009 a broadbased group of right-wing parties, including Gianfranco Fini's National Alliance and Alessandra Mussolini's AzioneSociale, were merged to create The People of Freedom party led by Prime Minister Berlusconi.

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In popular culture

American wartime comic advertisingthe government sale of low-returnWar Bonds by showing Mussolini,

Hitler and Hirohito beaten bysuperheroes

Charlie Chaplin's 1940 film The Great Dictator satirizes Mussolini as "BenzinoNapaloni", portrayed by Jack Oakie. In the Three Stooges' I'll Never Heil Again,Cy Schindell plays "Chizzolini", from the then topical insult of "chisler".

More serious biographical depictions include a look at the last few days ofMussolini's life in Carlo Lizzani's movie Mussolini: Ultimo atto (Mussolini: Thelast act, 1974) starring Rod Steiger and George C. Scott's portrayal in the 1985television mini-series Mussolini: The Untold Story.

Another 1985 movie was Mussolini and I, in which Bob Hoskins plays thedictator (with Susan Sarandon as his daughter Edda and Anthony Hopkins asCount Ciano). Actor Antonio Banderas also played the title role in Benito in1993, which covered his life from his school teacher days to the beginning ofWorld War I, before his rise as dictator. Mussolini is also depicted in the filmsTea with Mussolini, Lion of the Desert (also with Steiger) and the award-winningItalian film Vincere.

A Canadian television miniseries named "Il Duce Canadese", aka Il ducecanadese: Le Mussolini canadien aired on CBC Television in 2004.

A comic strip ran in the British comic The Beano entitled Musso the Wop. This strip, which ran from 1940 to 1943,featured Mussolini as an arrogant buffoon.

"Il Duce" is the nickname of a character played by actor Billy Connolly in the movie The Boondock Saints."Il Duce" is a 1985 7" single by noise rock band Big Black.

References[1][1] Haugen, pp. 9, 71[2] Quartermaine, L. (2000). Mussolini's Last Republic: Propaganda and Politics in the Italian Social Republic (http:/ / books. google. fi/

books?id=Vwx6hN8zyIsC& printsec=frontcover& dq="italian+ social+ republic"& hl=en& sa=X& ei=5iLjT7L0Ic7ItAa_qL3FBg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage& q="italian social republic"& f=false). p. 21

[3] MacGregor Knox. Mussolini unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War. Edition of 1999. Cambridge, England,UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. 122–123.

[4] MacGregor Knox. Mussolini unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War. Edition of 1999. Cambridge, England,UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. 122–127.

[5] http:/ / tools. wmflabs. org/ geohack/ geohack. php?pagename=Benito_Mussolini& params=44. 10613_N_11.980451_E_region:IT-FC_type:landmark& title=Birthplace+ of+ Benito+ Mussolini

[6] Mediterranean Fascism 1919–1945 Edited by Charles F. Delzel, Harper Rowe 1970, page 3[7] Living History 2; Chapter 2: Italy under Fascism. ISBN 1-84536-028-1[8][8] Gregor 1979, p. 29.[9][9] Gregor 1979, p. 31.[10][10] Mediterranean Fascism by Charles F. Delzel page 96[11] Georg Scheuer: Mussolinis langer Schatten. Marsch auf Rom im Nadelstreif. Köln 1996, S. 21.[12][12] "The Life of Benito Mussolini" by Margherita G. Sarfatti, p. 156[13][13] taken from WorldCat's entry for this book's title.[14] Mediterranean Fascism 1919–1945 Edited by Charles F. Delzel, Harper Rowe 1970, bottom of page 3[15] Mediterranean Fascism 1919–1945 Edited by Charles F. Delzel, Harper Rowe 1970, page 4[16][16] Golomb 2002, p. 249.[17][17] Tucker 2005, p. 1001.[18][18] Tucker 2005, p. 884.[19][19] Tucker 2005, p. 335.[20][20] Tucker 2005, p. 219.[21][21] Tucker 2005, p. 826.[22][22] Tucker 2005, p. 209.

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[23][23] Gregor 1979, p. 189.[24][24] Tucker 2005, p. 596.[25] Emile Ludwig. Nine Etched in Life. Ayer Company Publishers, 1934 (original), 1969. p. 321.[26][26] Gregor 1979, p. 191.[27] Mediterranean Fascism 1919–1945 Edited by Charles F. Delzel, Harper Rowe 1970, page 6.[28] Dennis Mack Smith. 1997. Modern Italy; A Political History. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 284.[29][29] Gregor 1979, p. 200.[30][30] Gregor 1979, pp. 191-192.[31][31] Gregor 1979, p. 192.[32][32] Gregor 1979, p. 193.[33][33] Gregor 1979, p. 195.[34][34] Gregor 1979, pp. 193, 195.[35][35] Gregor 1979, pp. 195-196.[36][36] Gregor 1979, p. 196.[37] Mussolini: A Study In Power, Ivone Kirkpatrick, Hawthorne Books, 1964. ISBN 0-8371-8400-2[38][38] Moseley 2004, p. 39.[39][39] Sharma, Urmila. Western Political Thought. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors (P) Ltd, 1998. p. 66.[40] Sharma, Urmila. Western Political Thought. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors (P) Ltd, 1998. pp. 66–67.[41][41] Kallis 2002, pp. 48-51.[42] The New Europe by Bernard Newman, pp. 307, 309 (http:/ / books. google. be/ books?id=gTA34DxHx4AC& pg=PA307& lpg=PA307&

dq=Julian+ march& source=web& ots=0Cna8kKpre& sig=lcLKOyjrtZyygVHBjWQnLt2i3jM& hl=en& sa=X& oi=book_result&resnum=3& ct=result#PPA309,M1)

[43] Contemporary History on Trial: Europe Since 1989 and the Role of the Expert Historian by Harriet Jones, Kjell Ostberg, Nico RanderaadISBN 0-7190-7417-7 p. 155 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=4h1nAAAAMAAJ& q=Graziadio+ Isaia+ Ascoli+ venezia+ giulia&dq=Graziadio+ Isaia+ Ascoli+ venezia+ giulia& lr=& pgis=1)

[44][44] Kallis 2002, pp. 50-51.[45][45] Kallis 2002, pp. 48-50.[46][46] Kallis 2002, p. 50.[47] Glenda Sluga (2001) The Problem of Trieste and the Italo-Yugoslav Border: Difference, Identity, and Sovereignty in Twentieth-Century

Europe (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=1C0mJLFrpC0C& printsec=frontcover#v=onepage& q& f=false), SUNY Press, StateUniversity of New York. New York.

[48][48] Kallis 2002, p. 52.[49][49] Weinberg 2005, p. 18.[50] Speech of the 30th of May 1924 (http:/ / it. wikisource. org/ wiki/

Italia_-_30_maggio_1924,_Discorso_alla_Camera_dei_Deputati_di_denuncia_di_brogli_elettorali) the last speech of Matteotti, fromit.wikisource

[51][51] The Times, Thursday, 8 April 1926; p. 12; Issue 44240; column A[52] Arrigo Petacco, L'uomo della provvidenza: Mussolini, ascesa e caduta di un mito, Milano, Mondadori, 2004, p. 190[53] Göran Hägg: Mussolini, en studie i makt[54] Clark, Martin, Modern Italy, Pearson Longman, 2008, p.322[55] The Vampire Economy: Italy, Germany, and the US (http:/ / www. mises. org/ story/ 1935), Jeffrey Herbener, Mises Institute, 13 October

2005[56] Comic escapes prosecution for insulting pope (Oddly Enough) Reuters (http:/ / www. reuters. com/ article/ oddlyEnoughNews/

idUSN1944220320080919), (Friday 19 September 2008 1:15 pm EDT) By Phil Stewart[57] Kallis, Aristotle Fascist Ideology, London: Routledge, 2000 page 124.[58][58] Speech delivered by Premier Benito Mussolini. Rome, Italy, 23 February 1941[59] "If the Duce were to die, it would be a great misfortune for Italy. As I walked with him in the gardens of the Villa Borghese, I could easily

compare his profile with that of the Roman busts, and I realised he was one of the Caesars. There's no doubt at all that Mussolini is the heir ofthe great men of that period." Hitler's Table Talk (http:/ / www. archive. org/ stream/ HitlersTableTalk#page/ n15/ mode/ 2up/ search/ caesars)

[60] Video clip from the speech (http:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch?v=ifFPsaPeocI)[61] Griffen, Roger (ed.). Fascism. Oxford University Press, 1995. Pp. 59.[62][62] Kroener, Muller, Umbreit, p. 273[63][63] Stang 1999, p. 172.[64][64] Stang 1999.[65][65] Stang 1999, pp. 172-174.[66][66] Stang 1999, pp. 173-174.[67][67] Stang 1999, pp. 174-175.[68][68] Kallis 2002, p. 153.[69][69] Kallis 2002, p. 97.

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[70] Mussolini speech on 10 June 1940 (http:/ / globalrhetoric. wordpress. com/mussolini-speech-of-the-10-june-1940-declaration-of-war-on-france-and-england/ )

[71] Tommaso Di Francesco, Giacomo Scotti (1999) Sixty years of ethnic cleansing (https:/ / docs. google. com/ document/pub?id=1Y7G4b7KzqSMXkdLJg-jkHUXWqso_pF33-YztoPdsYe4), Le Monde Diplomatique, May Issue.

[72][72] Weinberg 2005, p. 276.[73][73] Weinberg 2005, pp. 276-277.[74][74] Weinberg 2005, p. 277.[75] Trial of German Major War Criminals, vol. 3, p. 398.[76][76] Moseley 2004.[77][77] Moseley(2004), p. 23[78] A copy of an existing document is available online. It reads

"In addition to my (...) order of the commander of the Greater German Reich in Italy and the organisation of the occupied Italian area from 10September 1943 I determine:The supreme commanders in the Operational Zone Adriatic Coast consisting of the provinces of Friaul, Görz, Triest, Istrien, Fiume, Quarnero,Laibach, and in the Prealpine Operations Zone consisting of the provinces of Bozen, Trient and Belluno receive the fundamental instructionsfor their activity from me.Führer's headquarters, 10 September 1943.The Führer Gen. Adolf Hitler".See second document athttp:/ / www. karawankengrenze. at/ ferenc/ document/ show/ id/ 317?symfony=ad81b9f2cd1e66a7c973073ed0532df1

[79][79] Moseley (2004), p. 26.[80] Toland, John. (1966). The Last 100 Days Random House, p. 504,[81] Time Magazine, 7 May 1945[82] Quoted in "Mussolini: A New Life", p. 276 by Nicholas Burgess Farrell – 2004[83][83] D.M. Smith 1982, p. 1[84][84] D.M. Smith 1982, p. 8[85] D.M. Smith 1982, pp. 2–3[86][86] D.M. Smith 1982, p. 12[87] Peter Neville. Mussolini. Oxon, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2005. P. 176.[88][88] D.M. Smith 1982, p. 15[89][89] Rachele Mussolini 1974, p. 129[90] Roberts, Jeremy (2006). Benito Mussolini. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books, p. 60.[91] Neville, Peter (2004). Mussolini: Routledge Historical Biographies. New York: Psychology Press, p. 84. (http:/ / books. google. com/

books?id=ol6T-Ut_JdgC& pg=PA84)[92] Townley, Edward (2002). Mussolini and Italy. New York: Heinemann Press, p. 49. (http:/ / books. google. com/

books?id=Y7CIAYPTx2gC& pg=PA49)[93] D.M. Smith 1982, pp. 222–223[94][94] D.M. Smith 1982, p. 311[95][95] Rachele Mussolini 1974, p. 131[96][96] Rachele Mussolini 1974, p. 135

Bibliography• 2007. Mussolini's Cities: Internal Colonialism in Italy, 1930–1939, Cambria Press.• Bosworth, R.J.B. 2002. Mussolini. London, Hodder.• Bosworth, R.J.B. 2006. "Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Dictatorship 1915–1945". London, Allen Lane.• Corvaja, Santi. 2001. Hitler and Mussolini. The Secret Meetings. Enigma. ISBN 1-929631-00-6• Daldin, Rudolph S. The Last Centurion. http:/ / www. benito-mussolini. com ISBN 0-921447-34-5• De Felice, Renzo (1965). Mussolini. Il Rivoluzionario,1883–1920 (in Italian) (1 ed.). Torino: Einaudi.• De Felice, Renzo (1966). Mussolini. Il Fascista. 1: La conquista del potere, 1920–1925 (in Italian) (1 ed.).

Torino: Einaudi.• De Felice, Renzo (1969). Mussolini. Il Fascista. 2: L'organizzazione dello Stato fascista, 1925–1929 (in Italian)

(1 ed.). Torino: Einaudi.• De Felice, Renzo (1974). Mussolini. Il Duce. 1: Gli anni del consenso, 1929–1936 (in Italian) (1 ed.). Torino:

Einaudi.

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• De Felice, Renzo (1981). Mussolini. Il Duce. 2: Lo stato totalitario, 1936–1940 (in Italian) (1 ed.). Torino:Einaudi.

• De Felice, Renzo (1990). Mussolini. L'Alleato, 1940–1942. 1: L'Italia in guerra I. Dalla "guerra breve" allaguerra lunga (in Italian) (1 ed.). Torino: Einaudi.

• De Felice, Renzo (1990). Mussolini. L'Alleato. 1: L'Italia in guerra II: Crisi e agonia del regime (in Italian) (1ed.). Torino: Einaudi.

• De Felice, Renzo (1997). Mussolini. L'Alleato. 2: La guerra civile, 1943–1945 (in Italian) (1 ed.). Torino:Einaudi.

• Golomb, Jacob; Wistrich, Robert S. 2002. Nietzsche, godfather of fascism?: on the uses and abuses of aphilosophy. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

• Farrell, Nicholas. 2003. Mussolini: A New Life. London: Phoenix Press, ISBN 1-84212-123-5.• Garibaldi, Luciano. 2004. Mussolini. The Secrets of his Death. Enigma. ISBN 1-929631-23-5• Gregor, Anthony James. 1979. Young Mussolini and the intellectual origins of fascism. Berkeley and Los

Angeles, California, USA; London, England, UK: University of California Press.• Hibbert, Christopher. Il Duce.• Haugen, Brenda (2007). Benito Mussolini: Fascist Italian Dictator. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Compass Point

Books. ISBN 0-7565-1988-8.• Kallis, Aristotle. 2000. Fascist Ideology. London: Routledge.• Kroener, Bernhard R.; Muller, Rolf-Dieter; Umbreit, Hans (2003). Germany and the Second World War

Organization and Mobilization in the German Sphere of Power VII. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.ISBN 0-19-820873-1.

• Lowe, Norman. Italy, 1918–1945: the first appearance of fascism. In Mastering Modern World History.• Morris, Terry; Murphy, Derrick. Europe 1870–1991.• Moseley, Ray. 2004. Mussolini: The Last 600 Days of Il Duce. Dallas: Taylor Trade Publishing.• Mussolini, Rachele. 1977 [1974]. Mussolini: An Intimate Biography. Pocket Books. Originally published by

William Morrow, ISBN 0-671-81272-6, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74-1129• O'Brien, Paul. 2004. Mussolini in the First World War: The Journalist, the Soldier, the Fascist. Oxford: Berg

Publishers.• Painter, Jr., Borden W. (2005). Mussolini's Rome: rebuilding the Eternal City.• Petacco, Arrigo (ed.). 1998. L'archivio segreto di Mussolini. Mondadori. ISBN 88-04-44914-4.• Smith, Denis Mack (1982). Mussolini: A biography, Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ISBN

0-394-50694-4.• Sternhell, Zeev; Sznajder, Mario; Asheri, Maia (1994). The Birth of Fascist Ideology: From Cultural Rebellion to

Political Revolution. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-04486-4.• Stang, G. Bruce (1999). "War and peace: Mussolini's road to Munich". In Lukes, Igor; Goldstein, Erik. The

Munich crisis 1938: prelude to World War II. London: Frank Cass. pp. 160–190.• Tucker, Spencer. 2005. Encyclopedia of World War I: a political, social, and military history. Santa Barbara,

California: ABC-CLIO.• Weinberg, Gerhard. 2005. A World in arms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Writings of Mussolini• Giovanni Hus, il Veridico (Jan Hus, True Prophet), Rome (1913). Published in America as John Hus (New York:

Albert and Charles Boni, 1929). Republished by the Italian Book Co., NY (1939) as John Hus, the Veracious.• The Cardinal's Mistress (trans. Hiram Motherwell, New York: Albert and Charles Boni, 1928).• There is an essay on "The Doctrine of Fascism" written by Benito Mussolini that appeared in the 1932 edition of

the Enciclopedia Italiana, and excerpts can be read at Doctrine of Fascism. There are also links to the completetext.

• La Mia Vita ("My Life"), Mussolini's autobiography written upon request of the American Ambassador in Rome(Child). Mussolini, at first not interested, decided to dictate the story of his life to Arnaldo Mussolini, his brother.The story covers the period up to 1929, includes Mussolini's personal thoughts on Italian politics and the reasonsthat motivated his new revolutionary idea. It covers the march on Rome and the beginning of the dictatorship andincludes some of his most famous speeches in the Italian Parliament (Oct 1924, Jan 1925).

• Vita di Arnaldo (Life of Arnaldo), Milano, Il Popolo d'Italia, 1932.• Scritti e discorsi di Benito Mussolini (Writings and Discourses of Mussolini), 12 volumes, Milano, Hoepli,

1934–1940.• Parlo con Bruno (Talks with Bruno), Milano, Il Popolo d'Italia, 1941.• Storia di un anno. Il tempo del bastone e della carota (History of a Year), Milano, Mondadori, 1944.• From 1951 to 1962, Edoardo and Duilio Susmel worked for the publisher "La Fenice" to produce Opera Omnia

(the complete works) of Mussolini in 35 volumes.

Further reading• Hibbert, Christopher. Benito Mussolini, a Biography. London: Reprint Society, [196-]. 415 p., ill. with b&w

photos.

External links• Benito Mussolini in pictures (http:/ / www. benitomussolini. info/ gallery/ )• Comando Supremo: Benito Mussolini (http:/ / www. comandosupremo. com/ Mussolini. html)• Did Mussolini really make the trains run on time? (http:/ / www. snopes. com/ history/ govern/ trains. htm)• Is Mussolini quote on corporatism accurate? (http:/ / www. publiceye. org/ fascist/ corporatism. html)• Benito Mussolini Speeches (http:/ / greatspeeches. wordpress. com/ category/ twentieth-century-speeches/

benito-mussolini-speeches/ )• Michael Schirru's failed attempt on Mussolini's life (http:/ / www. libcom. org/ history/ articles/

murder-michael-schirru)• Il Duce 'sought Hitler ban' (http:/ / news. bbc. co. uk/ 2/ hi/ europe/ 3144984. stm) September 2003 BBC News• Mussolini shaking hands with King George V. of England, 1923, [[The Illustrated London News (http:/ / www.

maxschoenherr. de/ Archiv/ londonNews1936. html#Mussolini)]]• Mussolini's Piazza Augusto Imperatore (http:/ / cdm. reed. edu/ ara-pacis/ meier/ piazza-augusto-imperatore/

piazza/ )• Time Magazine, 5 April 1937 (5 April 1937). "Islam, Duce, and Duke." (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ magazine/

article/ 0,9171,757543,00. html). Retrieved 19 August 2009.• Time Magazine, 7 May 1945 (7 May 1945). "Death in Milan." (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ magazine/ article/

0,9171,797481-1,00. html). Retrieved 20 August 2009.

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Related information

Political offices

Preceded byLuigi Facta

Prime Minister of Italy1922 – 1943

Succeeded byPietro Badoglio

Preceded byCarlo Schanzer

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs1922 – 1929

Succeeded byDino Grandi

Preceded byDino Grandi

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs1932 – 1936

Succeeded byGaleazzo Ciano

Preceded byGaleazzo Ciano

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs1943

Succeeded byRaffaele Guariglia

Preceded byPaolino Taddei

Italian Minister of the Interior1922 – 1924

Succeeded byLuigi Federzoni

Preceded byLuigi Federzoni

Italian Minister of the Interior1926 – 1943

Succeeded byBruno Fornaciari

Preceded byNew Title

Head of State of the Italian Social Republic1943 – 1945

Succeeded byEnd Title

Preceded byNew Title

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Italian SocialRepublic

1943 – 1945

Succeeded byEnd Title

Page 34: 169803411 Benito Mussolini

Article Sources and Contributors 34

Article Sources and ContributorsBenito Mussolini  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=572353819  Contributors: (aeropagitica), -Midorihana-, 0lorenzo0, 14thArmored, 151.24.189.xxx, 172, 1exec1, 213.105.137.xxx, 24.95.140.xxx, 4twenty42o, 62.253.64.xxx, 852derek852, 9riffin, A.S. Brown, A3r0, A876, ACinfo, ACupOfCoffee, AI, Aaron Schulz, Abdalla A, Abhijitsathe, Abonazzi, Abrech, Accurizer, Acidskater, Acntx, Active Banana, Adambro, Adamdaley, Adashiel, Addshore, Adhib, Aditreeslime, Ado, Adrian, AdultSwim, Afasmit, Afil, Agathoclea, Ahoerstemeier, Aimaz, Airlift, Airsurfer210, Aitias, Akamad, Akonas, Alai, Ale jrb, Alereon, Alessandro57, Alex Ex, Alex2706, Alex:D, Alexander336, Alexius08, AlexiusHoratius, Alienus, Alison, All Hallow's Wraith, Allstarecho, Alpha.three, Alphachimp, Altenmann, Alvaro, Amasterpierce88, Amberrock, Amr.rs, Anabus, Ananyapaul, Anaxial, Andav, Andonic, Andronicus Ry, Andy Marchbanks, Andy120, AngelOfSadness, Angelhair, Angelojr, Anger22, Anglicanus, Angr, Animum, Anonymous anonymous, Anonymous editor, Antandrus, Anthony Good, Anthony22, AntiVan, Antique Rose, Antispammer, Antodav2007, Antonio Lopez, Antrax54, Apple1976, Ardalan1813, ArglebargleIV, Ariasne, Arichnad, ArielGold, Aristeiakorps, Arjun01, ArnoLagrange, Arobb2078, Arronax50, Art LaPella, Arthena, Asalrifai, Asbestos, Asd36f, Ashley Pomeroy, Aspects, Atsig411, Attilios, AuburnPilot, AusTerrapin, Austriacus, Autobush, AutomaticWriting, Avalanche, Avantgardener11, Avedomni, Avicennasis, B'er Rabbit, BM, BTChicago, BTLizard, BUF4Life, BabuBhatt, Badon, Bakhsm0a, Balph Eubank, Bananapuddingg, Banes, Barbatus, Basawala, Basil II, Bbsrock, Beastbeastbeast, BeckenhamBear, Before My Ken, Beland, Belovedfreak, Bemoeial, BenItalia100, Bender235, Benito484847, Benwildeboer, Benwing, Berumentherapist, Betacommand, Bhadani, BigBoi021, BigFatBuddha, Bigbhuskyfan, Bigturtle, Bikoyski, Bill Thayer, BillC, Billmckern, Biruitorul, Bishonen, Blackhc1087, Blacksheetofpaper3, Blahm, Blender119, BlinkMe12345, Bluezy, Bmicomp, Bobblewik, Bobby122, Bobo192, Bongoramsey, Bongwarrior, Bonhumm, Booksworm, Bookworm857158367, Boothy443, Bornintheguz, Borock, Bradenripple, Brain40, Brandon97, Brandonsocal, Bravado01, Breadandcheese, BrettAllen, Brheed Zonabp84, Brian 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Lyellin, M.O.X, MBlume, MER-C, MGerety, MP123, MSGJ, MStraw, MT115, Mac Davis, Machine1, Mackensen, Madcaplaughs1212, Magister Mathematicae, Mahanga, Mahmudmasri, Malickfan86, Mamalujo, Mandolinface, Mangrove22, Manoony, Manop, Mantion, Manuel Trujillo Berges, Manxruler, Maproom, Marc James Small, Mareino, Marius, Mark Dingemanse, Maroon5luver1118, Martarius, Martin S Taylor, Mary473, Marythedairyfairy, Mas 18 dl, Mathiasrex, Matijap, Matmoo4, MattW93, MatthewMitchell, MauroVan, Mav, Mavritius, Max Schwarz, Maximilian Schönherr, Mbc362, Mcalfie, Mcattell, Mchavez, Mdzhang, MeHELL, Melaen, Mercury, Metaphysicus, Michael Hardy, Mick man34, Mike Rosoft, Mikewax, Mindcry, Minna Sora no Shita, Mintguy, Miranche, Miroslawa, Mistico, Misza13, Mithrandir, Mixcoatl, Mkamensek, Mkpumphrey, Mkweise, Moe Epsilon, Mojo Hand, Mojosam, MolSelav, Moncrief, Monegasque, Monobi, MoonBoots432, Moongateclimber, Moonriddengirl, Morgan Hauser, Morwen, Moskvax, Motorizer, Mqrotramel, Mr Adequate, Mr Stephen, Mr.E 123, MrBell, MrMalax, Mrryan2582, Ms2ger, Mschel, Mufka, Murder1, Murderbike, Mushroom, Musical Linguist, Mvaldemar, Mxn, MyDyingDays, MykeSoBe, Mysdaao, Mystic101, N328KF, NSLE, NSpossum, NYKevin, Nagelfar, NailPuppy, Nakon, NameIsRon, NaomaEsther, Nassarmu, Nat, NatureA16, NawlinWiki, Nbaman108, Ncusa367, Neddyseagoon, Nehwyn, Neil916, Neilc, NeonNero, Neutrality, Nev1, Neverquick, NewEnglandYankee, Nfred, Nick, Nick Graves, Nick.mon, Nico12190, Niemti, Nikuda, Nimble.the.nimbler, Nitro3230, Nitya Dharma, Nixeagle, Nlu, Nneonneo, Nobodyiswatching, Noclador, Noiwont, Nonusaunindirizzoemailcomeiltuonick, NorsemanII, Nothing149, Nt351, Number 57, Numbum, Nwebster84, Nydigoveth, Nyenyec, OOODDD, Oberiko, Oculi, OhanaUnited, Ohconfucius, Okchives, OldakQuill, Olivier, Olorin28, Omarraii, Onceonthisisland, Oni Ookami Alfador, Onorem, OrangeDog, Ortolan88, Orzetto, Ost316, OttawaAC, Owen, OwenX, Oxymoron83, Ozzieboy, P.B. Pilhet, PStrait, Pajfarmor, Pajz, PaladinWhite, Palnu, Pannyc, Panzer Elemental, Panzertank, Passargea, PatGallacher, Pathogen1014, Patrickneil, Paul August, Paul Barlow, Pavel Vozenilek, Paxsimius, Pb30, Pegasus1138, Pelarmian, Perera123456789, Peruvianllama, Petefreak2, Peter G Werner, Phatcat68, Philaweb, Philip Stevens, Philip Trueman, PhilipC, Phillycj1996, Philopedia, Philosopher1721, Phoenix orb, Phoenix-wiki, Phoenix2, Piccadilly, Pichpich, Piedmontebizman, Pietdesomere, Piledhigheranddeeper, Pinethicket, Piotrus, Pippo2001, Plato, Plch, Plesiosaur, Plicease, Poindexter Propellerhead, Polarscribe, Politics rule, Polluxian, Polylerus, Pontifex, Pooznweez, Postdlf, Pownerus, Pplfichi, Ppntori, PrincessofLlyr, Pro Dux, ProhibitOnions, Proteus71, ProudIrishAspie, PseudoSudo, Pstarbuck, Puchiko, Pudeo, Pydos, Pyro13367, Q11, Qaddosh, Quadell, Quaxanta, QuizzicalBee, Quux, Qxz, R'n'B, R-41, RC-0722, RDb, REfreakk55, RG2, RSStockdale, RaCha'ar, Ramitmahajan, Random contributor, RandomCritic, RandomStringOfCharacters, RandomXYZb, RasputinAXP, Raudys, Raul654, Ravenhull, Raxorwolf, RazorICE, Rbulle, Rcpaterson, Realm of Shadows, Reason turns rancid, Recurring dreams, Red Director, RedRabbit1983, Redneckracin125, Redvers, RememberSrebrenica, Remi, Retired username, Revancher, Revolutionary, RexNL, Reywas92, Rheo1905, Rhobite, Riana, Rich Farmbrough, Richard D. LeCour, Richard David Ramsey, Richard Herold, RickK, Rintrah, Riversplitter, Rjecina, Rjensen, Rjwilmsi, Rlaferla, Rmosler2100, [email protected], RobStreatham, Robert K S, Robert1947, RobertLunaIII, Robferny, Robth, Rocastelo, Roland2, Roleplayer, Roltz, Ronark, Ronsin1976, Rory096, Rosenzweig, Rossheth, Roux, Roxy-chic22, Roy Al Blue, RoyBoy, Royboycrashfan, Rpgon2, Rudolf Pohl, Rudolph s.daldin, RussBlau, Russophile2, Ryan Postlethwaite, Ryan032, Ryan151515, Ryguy28896, S vecchiato, S300, SDC, SE7, SJP, SPD, STFX1046190, Sabbre, Sachinabox, Saforrest, Sakkaro, Sam Korn, Sam Spade, Samdacruel, SameerKhan, Samsara, Sandstein, Sango123, Saukkomies, Savidan, Sbfw, Scalepoint, Scarian, Sceptir, Sceptre, Schickaneder, Schizmatic, Schoen, Schzmo, Scimitar, Scott Burley, Scott Sanchez, Scott irvine, SeNeKa, Searmemcmxciii, Seb az86556, SebastianHelm, Seeker alpha806, Semenko, Semperf, Sfahey, Shakinglord, Shalom Yechiel, Shanel, Shanes, Shawshank2, Shepplestone, ShepsleH, Shizane, Shizhao, Shoaler, Shreshth91, Shunpiker, Siafu, Sic one, SidP, Sidvicious5654, Signalhead, Silverback, Silverhorse, Simon Peter Hughes, Sir Paul, Sirius85, Sirmylesnagopaleentheda, Sjakkalle, Skysnith, Slakr, Slashme, Sledgeh101, Slightsmile, Slimdavey, Slow Riot, Smarkflea, Smelialichu, Smith03, Smith2006, Smyth, SnakeRambo, SnappingTurtle, Snib, Sniperhail, SnoopingAsUsual, Snowolf, Snoyes, SoLando, Solar-Wind, Some Sort Of Anarchist Nutter, Sonicology, Soul.collector.raj, Spanglej, Speedboy Salesman, Speedoflight, Spiesr, Spiff, Spikebrennan, Spikehay, SpuriousQ, SqueakBox, Squidblaine, Squirepants101, Srnec, Staberinde, StalinsLoveChild, Stapletongrey, Starvinsky, StaticGull, SteelMariner, Stefanomione, Stephen Burnett, Stephenb, Sterwill, Steve98052, SteveMacIntyre, SteveMtl, SteveO, Steven Walling, Steven Zhang, Stevenmitchell, StoneProphet, Storkk, Stormwatch, Str1977, Strikersfvboy, Stubbleboy, SugnuSicilianu, Summerprince, Sun Creator,

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Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:Mussolini biografia.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mussolini_biografia.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Conte di Cavour, DIREKTOR, Pooplord76,Una giornata uggiosa '94, Wikipelli, 1 anonymous editsFile:Benito Mussolini Signature.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Benito_Mussolini_Signature.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Connormah, BenitoMussoliniFile:Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Italy_(1861-1946).svg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5  Contributors:F l a n k e rFile:War flag of RSI.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:War_flag_of_RSI.svg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: F l a n k e rFile:Casa Natale Benito Mussolini.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Casa_Natale_Benito_Mussolini.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Sanna66 from theItalian WikipediaFile:Benito Mussolini mugshot 1903.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Benito_Mussolini_mugshot_1903.jpg  License: anonymous-EU  Contributors: Police of theCanton of BerneFile:Benito Mussolini 1917.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Benito_Mussolini_1917.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: -hax0r, Albertomos, DIREKTOR,G.dallorto, Il Demiurgo, MBisanz, Nard the BardFile:Fasci di combattimento.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Fasci_di_combattimento.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Members of Fasci Italiani diCombatimentoFile:Mussolini Propaganda.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mussolini_Propaganda.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Nick.monFile:RegioniIrredenteItalia.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:RegioniIrredenteItalia.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: BrunodambrosioFile:March on Rome.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:March_on_Rome.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: ANGELUS, ZeroseiFile:Giacomo Matteotti.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Giacomo_Matteotti.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: unknown (original uploader: Xylon)File:Benito Mussolini Face.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Benito_Mussolini_Face.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Aude, Gennarous, 6 anonymous editsFile:Inaugurazione Littoria 001.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Inaugurazione_Littoria_001.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Andre Engels,Luciano.comelli, THeK3nger, Vonvikken, 1 anonymous editsFile:Benito mussolini28.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Benito_mussolini28.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Conte di CavourFile:Flag of Prime Minister of Italy (1927-1943).svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Prime_Minister_of_Italy_(1927-1943).svg  License: Public Domain Contributors: R-41File:Has seven 1 a.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Has_seven_1_a.jpg  License: anonymous-EU  Contributors: Uploaded by User:R-41, original author unknownFile:Mussolini standing on a tank.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mussolini_standing_on_a_tank.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Brutaldeluxe,Gennarous, 1 anonymous editsFile:S25.jpeg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:S25.jpeg  License: anonymous-EU  Contributors: Hohum, Liftarn, Martin H., R-41, 3 anonymous editsFile:Hitler and Mussolini June 1940.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Hitler_and_Mussolini_June_1940.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Eva BraunFile:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2007-1022-506, Italien, deutsche Frontkämpfer in Rom crop.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-2007-1022-506,_Italien,_deutsche_Frontkämpfer_in_Rom_crop.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike3.0 Germany  Contributors: user:TekstmanFile:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R69173, Münchener Abkommen, Staatschefs.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R69173,_Münchener_Abkommen,_Staatschefs.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Germany Contributors: A1B2C3D4, Althiphika, G.dallorto, Martin H., Mtsmallwood, Okras, UstinadlabemELBE, Vizu, YMS, 6 anonymous editsFile:Mussolini mezzobusto.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mussolini_mezzobusto.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Threecharlie, ViscontinoFile:Benito Mussolini Roman Salute.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Benito_Mussolini_Roman_Salute.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Gennarous, MikePeel, Syp, Ожиданиесчастья, 1 anonymous editsFile:Pbadoglio.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pbadoglio.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: DDTurner, GennarousImage:Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gnome-mime-sound-openclipart.svg  License: unknown  Contributors: User:EubulidesFile:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-567-1503A-07, Gran Sasso, Mussolini mit deutschen Fallschirmjägern.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-567-1503A-07,_Gran_Sasso,_Mussolini_mit_deutschen_Fallschirmjägern.jpg  License: Creative CommonsAttribution-Sharealike 3.0 Germany  Contributors: -hax0r, Catsmeat, G.dallorto, Kintetsubuffalo, Martin H., Ras67File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-316-1181-11, Italien, Benito Mussolini mit italienischen Soldaten.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-316-1181-11,_Italien,_Benito_Mussolini_mit_italienischen_Soldaten.jpg  License: Creative CommonsAttribution-Sharealike 3.0 Germany  Contributors: Crakkerjakk, Emanuele Mastrangelo, G.dallorto, Ligabo, Osiris2000, Pieter Kuiper, Thomas Gun, Vituzzu, 3 anonymous editsFile:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-316-1175-25, Italien, Benito Mussolini bei Inspektion.jpg  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-316-1175-25,_Italien,_Benito_Mussolini_bei_Inspektion.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0Germany  Contributors: Accurimbono, Catsmeat, DenghiùComm, G.dallorto, Gunbirddriver2, Hohum, Jahobr, Kowelix, Pieter KuiperFile:Cross mezzegra.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cross_mezzegra.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5  Contributors: Johnnyb11File:Mussolini e Petacci a Piazzale Loreto, 1945.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Mussolini_e_Petacci_a_Piazzale_Loreto,_1945.jpg  License: Public Domain Contributors: Renzo PistoneFile:Predappio tomba.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Predappio_tomba.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0  Contributors: LovioFile:FourFavorites1101.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:FourFavorites1101.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0  Contributors:AnonMoos, Atomicsteve, G.dallorto, Hyju, Infrogmation, Leonard G., 2 anonymous edits

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