World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born in the village of Predappio in Forlì, Emilia-Romagna, Italy to blacksmith Alessandro and teacher Rosa Maltoni. In 1901 he qualified to become an educator, but in the following year emigrated to Switzerland to escape military service. He was deported back to Italy after participating in socialist movements in Switzerland. He was involved with the socialist newspaper Avanti! in the Austro-Hungarian-controlled Italian town of Trento. In 1908, he wrote the novel the Cardinal's Mistress.

ww2dbaseIn 1914, Mussolini joined a group that later became the Fasci d'azione rivoluzionaria internazionalista and founded the newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia. He was drafted into the military in 1915 when Italy entered WW1. In 1917, he was wounded in grenade practice and returned to Italy to resume his civilian life. In 1919, he entered politics by entering the parliamentary elections, but lost. In 1921, he attempted the election again and succeeded his time. His political party, the Fascisti, formed para-military groups to terrorize anarchists, socialists, and communists; the Italian government turned a blind eye. Mussolini also gathered the support of industrialists by offering his services in breaking labor strikes. On 31 Oct 1922, Italian King Vittorio Emanuele III named Mussolini the premier of a new Italian government. At the age of 39, he was the younger premier in Italian history. It was believed that Vittorio Emanuele III only made this decision to prevent the country from falling into a civil war. Preying upon the public sentiment that Italy was looked down upon by the other European powers due to her small military and small colonial holdings, Mussolini presented as the hero of Italy who would bring Italy to its former Roman glory. The fear of communism in Italy also contributed to his popularity. While introducing economic policies to strengthen Italy's various industries (though at a cost of international trade), he also introduced strict censorship and eventually assumed control of all mass media. His control of the media eventually became so absolute that he personally approved nearly every newspaper editor in the entire nation, and required every school teacher to swear allegiance to the Fascist Party. With this control of the media, he built up the legend of Il Duce, a title he had given himself. On the political front, he took control of all Italy by heading the Interior Ministry, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Colonies Ministry, and the military. He was now the absolute ruler of Italy acting in the name of his king.

ww2dbaseOn 8 Apr 1926, Mussolini survived an assassination attempt by Violet Gibson. Later, he again survived another assassination attempt, this time by American anarchist Michael Schirru.

ww2dbaseIn 1929, Mussolini managed to reach an agreement with the Vatican. The Papal State was given independence, and in exchange the Vatican recognized Mussolini's government as the legitimate government over Italy.

ww2dbaseIn 1935, Mussolini invaded Abyssinia, an action that was condemned by the League of Nations. This drove Mussolini closer to the expansionist German regime headed by Adolf Hitler. Further more, his active intervention in the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War on the side of Francisco Franco ended any possibility of reconciliation with France and Britain. In 1938, to appease Hitler, he supported the German annexation of Austria, something he had opposed only three years before. In May 1939, Italy, under Mussolini's rule, signed the Pact of Steel with Germany, and anti-Semitic policies followed, though never nearly as extreme as the Nazi had wanted in Italy. In Apr 1939, he annexed Albania into Italian borders. In Jun 1940 Italy declared war on Britain and France, and four months later invaded Greece. The campaign in Greece proceeded poorly, however, as the Italian military was in actuality in a much weaker form than what Mussolini had presented with the media under his control. Hitler sent in German troops to bail out his ally, which in term had dire consequences in terms of the launch date of Operation Barbarossa against Russia. In Jun 1941 Mussolini declared war in Russia, and in Dec of that year against the United States.

ww2dbaseWhen the western Allies defeated the Italian-German forces in North Africa, the Italian support for Mussolini's regime faltered. When they conquered Sicily, however, the support nearly completely shattered. On 25 Jul 1943, he was stripped of his powers by Vittorio Emanuele III and placed under arrest in a mountain resort in central Italy. Italy surrendered under the leadership of Pietro Badoglio on 8 Sep, and the Italian military simply disintegrated.

ww2dbaseA few days after Mussolini's arrival at the mountain resort, however, Hitler dispatched commandos on a successful rescue mission. At the moment of rescue, German SS commando leader Otto Skorzeny noted Mussolini as having aged greatly during his captivity. "He looked very ill, an impression intensified by the fact that he was unshaved and his usually smooth, powerful head was covered with short, stubby hair", Skorzeny observed. Upon being rescued, Mussolini was flown to Practica di Mare, Italy by Storch aircraft, then on to Vienna, Austria in a He 111 aircraft, and finally on to meet Hitler in East Prussia, Germany. He supposedly told Skorzeny his realization that he "made one great and critical mistake" by allowing the Italian royal house to remain influential. "I ought to have made Italy a republic after the end of the Abyssinian campaign", said Mussolini.

ww2dbaseMussolini was later placed in power by Hitler in northern Italy as the head of the Italian Social Republic. During this time as a puppet leader backed by Germany, he wrote his memoirs My Rise and Fall. On 27 Apr 1945, near the village of Dongo, Mussolini and his mistress Claretta Petacci were caught by communist partisans as they attempted to flee to Switzerland. On the next day, they were executed in the village of Giulino di Mezzegra and hung upside down in public in Milan.

Famous Quote(s)

• "I've had my fill of Hitler. These conferences called by a ringing of a bell are not to my liking; the bell is rung when people call their servants. And besides, what kind of conferences are these? For five hours I am forced to listen to a monologue which is quite fruitless and boring."
      » To his son-in-law, 10 Jun 1941

Benito Mussolini Interactive Map

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7.  Alan Chanter says:
30 Nov 2018 12:16:38 AM

Mussolini’s dictatorship was not as violent and sadistic as those in Nazi Germany but Fascist propaganda in artwork and rallies still portrayed Mussolini, who was now titled Il Duce (the leader), as the strong leader who would take Italy away from the failures of liberalism that had existed from Giovanni Gioletti’s inept five terms as Prime Minister between 1891 and 1921. Disillusionment, debt and unemployment led to membership of the Fascist party increasing to over two million in 1934 and a cult of personality grew up around the dictator. Nevertheless large numbers of Anti-Fascists still fled the country and those who stayed would be thrown into prison by the OVRA, Mussolini’s secret police. More than 4,000 people were imprisoned although very few would receive death sentences –the OVRA being mush less brutal and violent than Hitler’s Gestapo.