Benito Mussolini

Italian dictator (1922-1945)

• Born: July 29, 1883
• Birthplace: Predappio, Italy
• Died: April 28, 1945
• Place of death: Giulino di Mezzegra, near Dongo, Italy

Cause of notoriety: Dictator and founding member of the Fascist Party, Mussolini allied Italy with Germany in the shadow of World War II.

Active: 1922-1945

Locale: Italy and its African colonies

Early Life

Benito Mussolini (beh-NEE-toh mew-soh-LEE-nee) was born in Predappio, Italy, to a father who was a blacksmith and socialist journalist and a mother who was a primary school teacher. Mussolini received a solid education and graduated with a teaching diploma. He then migrated to Switzerland, where he worked at various odd jobs. Mussolini read the philosophical works of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Georges Eugène Sorel. In addition to his reading, Mussolini became politically active. In speeches, he called for strikes and the use of violence against the ruling elite.

Returning to Italy, Mussolini taught for a short time and eventually married. His political activities brought him imprisonment as well as fame among radicals. Proving to be a gifted journalist, Mussolini eventually became editor of the Italian Socialist Party newspaper. Although the Socialist Party opposed Italy’s entrance into World War I, Mussolini called for involvement. As a result, he was removed as editor and expelled from the party. Assuming control of a non-Socialist newspaper, Mussolini promoted his nationalist and interventionist message. Mussolini was called to serve in the military, then wounded at the battlefront. He returned from the war with a renewed commitment to alter Italian politics radically.

Political Career

Mussolini’s extreme nationalism became a central message in a new political movement called Fascism (from the Latin word fasces, referring to an ancient Roman symbol of authority), which was supported by veterans, industrialists, bankers, and, in general, members of the middle class. Besides ardent nationalism, Fascists held in common the fear of Marxist revolution and contempt for parliamentary leaders unable to meet the perceived postwar crisis.

Gifted with oratorical skills and an uncanny ability to assess the political climate, Mussolini was a key figure in the Fascist Party from its origins in 1919 to his assumption of national political power. While calling on Fascists to attack Marxist-influenced unions and seize political power, Mussolini skillfully maneuvered behind the scenes, eventually achieving national power through legal means. After accepting the position of prime minister offered by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1922, Mussolini undermined Italy’s constitution and centralized authority in his own hands. By 1925 Mussolini had created a dictatorship popular among many Italians and foreign leaders such as England’s Winston Churchill, who believed that a return to order was imperative.

To Mussolini’s domestic and foreign admirers, the outlawing of all political parties but the Fascist Party was not significant because now, under Mussolini, strikes no longer hindered daily life, the threat from the Marxist Left was eliminated, and economic stability promised to return. In 1934, Mussolini found himself widely applauded by foreign democratic figures after he had ordered Italian troops to the Austrian border to defend that small republic from a Nazi-inspired German annexation.

Mussolini might have held on to popularity and power had he not made fundamental errors in Italian foreign policy. Dreaming of empire, Il Duce turned against Ethiopia in 1935. Italy conquered that mountainous nation by the use of new technologies such as airplanes and mechanized units. The addition of Ethiopia to Italy’s colonial holdings of Libya, Somalia, and Eritrea was denounced by numerous nations, many of which, ironically, were colonial powers. The League of Nations declared sanctions against Italy, but Mussolini held his ground. He distanced his regime from democratic states by sending troops to aid Francisco Franco in his struggle against the Spanish republican forces.

Mussolini watched with alarm as Adolf Hitler’s bellicose actions brought Europe closer to World War II, but, faced with increased international isolation and growing German power, Mussolini allied Italy with Germany. This alliance was especially welcomed by Hitler, for the German dictator had long admired Mussolini and considered him his mentor and friend. When Germany finally attacked France, Mussolini sent in Italian military forces alongside the Germans. After Hitler invaded Romania and the Soviet Union without consulting Italy, Mussolini ordered troops into Greece. Eventually Hitler dispatched forces to Greece and North Africa to aid the Italians. Soon after the defeat of Italian-German forces in North Africa, the Allies invaded Sicily. Fascist Party leaders dismissed Il Duce, and Mussolini was imprisoned.

German commandos freed Mussolini and transported him to northern Italy, where the establishment of a new Fascist republic was declared. Fighting between anti-Fascist Italian partisans and Germans exploded throughout northern Italy, and Allied forces moved relentlessly forward. Though determined to make a stand, Mussolini was abandoned except for a handful of men. He was captured and executed by partisans in 1945.

Impact

As Europe’s first Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini set the stage for a new form of dictatorship based on a totalitarian philosophy supported by the classes which most feared radical revolution from below. Hitler and other right-wing dictators learned from Mussolini’s early example. However, the promotion of extreme nationalism led to foreign imperial ventures and worldwide war. Though Mussolini was eventually toppled, his legacy still lives in the extreme nationalist and neofascist political organizations found throughout the modern world.

Bibliography

Cardoza, Anthony L. Benito Mussolini: The First Fascist. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. Presents a thoroughly researched summary of Mussolini’s influence and shows how Fascism worked to transform politics in the first half of the twentieth century.

Clark, Martin. Mussolini. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005. A respected scholar of modern Italian history offers a thorough assessment of Mussolini as a political leader in this well-written biography.

Kirkpatrick, Ivone. Mussolini: A Study in Power. New York: Hawthorne Books, 1964. A seminal book. This British diplomat’s early review of the life of Mussolini is still most valuable.

Mack Smith, Denis. Mussolini. New York: Vintage Books, 1981. Considered by many to be the finest English scholar of Italian history, Mack Smith offers a traditional interpretation of Mussolini.

Moseley, Ray. Mussolini: The Last Six Hundred Days of Il Duce. Dallas: Taylor, 2004. Presents an intriguing story of when the once-powerful dictator became a Nazi pawn and ultimately a prisoner executed by Italian partisans.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Mussolini’s Shadow: The Doubled Life of Count Galeazzo Ciano. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1999. Presents an unusually intimate view of the inner circles of power from the perspective of the colorful son-in-law of Mussolini.

Neville, Peter. Mussolini. London: Routledge, 2003. This study is an important contribution to the debate over the central role played by Mussolini in directing Italian domestic and foreign policy.