Mussolini

Fascist Benefactor

Benito Mussolini

Benito Mussolini

“	Only Napoleon can be compared to him!	”
—Roald Engelbreth Amundsen

Benito Mussolini was the "Rock Star" leader of Italy from 1925 to 1943. Prior to Mussolini's leadership, he was Prime Minister of Italy from 1922 to 1925. Mussolini would be remembered for turning Italy into a powerhouse country in the 1920s with his innovations in creating jobs for farmers, common workers,controlling poverty and of course, his wonderful public presentations. Due to paranoia and fear in The World's War Against Communism, Mussolini was impeached as leader in 1943, when he then founded the Sao Republic in Northern Italy. This went unchallenged by King Victor Emmanuel III in order to avoid a civil war that he would likely lose.

Early years

“	Mussolini is a brilliant thinker whose philosophy, though unorthodox, flows out of the true European tradition. If he is a myth-maker, he is, like Plato's guardians, conscious that "the noble lie" is a lie.	”
—Richard Crossman, Government and the Governed: A History of Political Ideas and Political Practice

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883 in Predappio, Italy. At the time, Italy was formally recognized as the Kingdom of Italy. His parents Alessandro Mussolini, a blacksmith with a revolutionary socialist ideology, and Rosa Mussolini, a school teacher. While Benito's mother was a Roman Catholic, Benito's father was an atheist. Benito's mother would teach him about religion and how essential religion is to the lives of everyday people, something that would be talked about in Benito's Fascist speeches down the road. Mussolini would take on several jobs growing up including teaching at an elementary school in the early 1900s. However, the curriculum in Italian schools were considered ridiculous according to Mussolini on the grounds of not enough class participation and too much studying. He would quit teaching elementary school to find other work.

Arrests of Mussolini

Benito Mussolini would emigrate to Switzerland. Worked several common jobs to survive, but it would not last long as Mussolini would be arrested in 1903 for advocating a violent general strike, incarcerating him for three weeks before being deported to Italy. In 1904, Mussolini was arrested on technical paperwork issues, causing him to be deported again to Italy. From there, he would join the Italian military under the Bersaglieri, serving proudly from January 1905 to September 1906. Mussolini would return to teaching from then on.

The Great War

“	Mussolini is the greatest lawmaker alive today [...] What a man! I have lost my heart! [...] Italy is ruled by a government which, under the secure leadership of Mister Mussolini, doesn't back down when faced with the logical consequences of economic reality and has the courage to impose financial corrections to stabilize the recovery of the country [...] Had I been Italian, I would have been with Mussolini since the beginning [...] your movement has rendered a great service to the whole world.	”
—Winston Churchill, Following a visit in Rome in 1927

The Great War begin on July 28, 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy would join the Allied Powers, essentially fighting the Central Powers like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, German Empire, Bulgaria. Mussolini's support of The Great War would get him ousted from Italian Socialists, changing Mussolini's view of revolutionary socialism. Eventually in February 1917, Mussolini would suffer an injury thanks to shrapnel injuries from a mortar bomb that exploded accidentally in a trench. Mussolini would be hospitalized for 6 months before returning to the front until the end of The Great War.

The Fascist Revolution

“	Mussolini, the hero which steps on the monster's head, he was our world: because of this, every head of the monster fight him, wanting his death. For us, the others, he will be our shining star which will fill us with hope: he'll be for us the proof that the hydra can be beaten. Proof of our chances of victory.	”
—Corneliu Zelea Codreanu

As Benito Mussolini was still recovering from injuries and the ravages of The Great War, Mussolini realized that communist style socialism was a failure of a ideology, causing him to rethink his social views. After The Great War, Italy started struggling thanks the Allied Powers betraying Italy after the Treaty of Versailles. Mussolini would create a newspaper series called Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (Combat Italian Squad) with initially 200 members. Fed up with King Victor Emmanuel III's royal policies, which included allowing gangs of communists thugs to roam the streets, and Mafia gangs to do the same, Mussolini would create a group consisting of disgruntled veterans from The Great War called the Blackshirts. These people would clash against Communists, Marxists, Mafiosos, , and Anarchists on the streets. Fearing that the Communists would overtake Italy, the Italian government would allow the Blackshirts to be part of the government with Mussolini at the helm with the Chamber of Deputies. This would lead to the March of Rome on October 28, 1922 when Mussolini would get the resignation of liberal Prime Minister Luigi Facta, allowing for Mussolini to become the new Prime Minister of Italy.

Mussolini's leadership of Italy

“	The whole world has already spoken of Mussolini. No one can speak if not with enthusiasm of your exceptional Head of State, which in a couple years transformed your nation in a formidable powerhouse, already affirmed in all fields, both abroad and internally.	”
—Eleutherios Venizelos

In 1925, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy gave much of his power to Benito Mussolini, effectively making Mussolini the new leader of Italy. Immediately going to work, Mussolini would crack down on Mafia influence. During a trip to Sicily, Mussolini would arrest numerous members of the Mafia on the grounds of extortion, murder, price gouging, and obvious counts of theft. Mussolini believed that the Mafia was a threat to Fascism due to the Mafia's beliefs of Socialism and/or Communism. Because of that, Mafia members that were not arrested fled Italy for the United States of America. Mussolini's popularity in Italy would rise since Italians did not have to resort to desperate measures to care for their standard of living. Mussolini would create numerous jobs during his leadership for Italy. An example would be creating 5,000 new farm jobs. Swamp reclamation in Italy allowed for new farms to be created, putting rural Italians to work immediately. This would work for a while, but the costs of chemical fertilizers would affect production of wheat and other goods in the long run.

Under Mussolini's leadership, Mussolini would simplify the education system for all of Italy. Due to his experiences as a teacher, Mussolini believed that studying from a book does not give students the motivation to succeed. Therefore, Mussolini ordered schools to use books sparingly in favor of class participation. Meaning students would talk about what they learn, demonstrate the subjects to other students in an effort to motivate them, and sometimes have classes outdoors to ease the stress of the students. This revolutionary form of education would inspire many Fascist leaders to do the same thing for the education system of their respected countries. Simplified education prepared female students for homemaking and prepared male students for hard labor to survive.

Another part of Mussolini's success as Fascist leader of Italy was providing sustainable industrial jobs going to the 1930s. Industrial jobs that did not just support the military, but also commercial jobs, new restaurants, and even the entertainment industry. Italy's standard of living would reach an all time high, inspiring Adolf Hitler upon his election as Chancellor of Germany in 1933. As Mussolini continued to fight the banks on what he was able to do for Italy, he would gather the resources necessary to make Italy great. However, as countries like Italy, Germany, and Spain would thrive, there would be great tension with the Soviet Union and African nations.

WWAC

“	Your figure is not just an Italian one. You are the apostle of the world campaign against dissolution and anarchy [...] Fascism [...] is a universal phenomenon that ought to conquer all nations [...] Fascism is a living Gospel!	”
—General Miguel Primo de Rivera, The Italian According to official history books

The World's War Against Communism is said to have begun on September 1, 1939 when Germany attempted to rescue its citize s being genocided in Poland, but it actually began years before that. Adolf Hitler's reason for invading Poland was on the grounds of Polish leader Edward Smigly calling for the deaths of ethnic Germans in western Poland. However, The World's War Against Communism did not get hot until 1940. In May of 1940, Churchill overthrew Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister, effectively seizing the position without an official election. He would immediately attack countries such as Germany and Italy when he got into power. Constantly rejecting peace offers from Hitler and Mussolini, Churchill would aide Joseph Stalin into fighting the Germans.

Mussolini's part of The World's War Against Communism was mostly African nations including Egypt and Libya. However, Mussolini's paranoia over Greece and Albania would give the Allied Powers the upper hand, essentially getting Mussolini ousted from power under the orders of the cowardly King Victor Emmanuel III. The final straw would be "The Allied Invasion of Sicily" in which over 9,000 people on the Axis side died while the Allied side reported close to 4,800 deaths. Mussolini would be removed from power in 1943, to form his own nation with his own people in what had been Northern Italy.

The murder of Mussolini

Read more in the Main Article--> Murder of Mussolini

“	So finished twentyone years of Mussolini's government in Italy, during which he saved the Italian people from Bolshevism to bring them to a position in Europe which Italy never could have had before... the great roads which he drew will remain as a monument to his personal prestige and his lasting government.	”
—Winston Churchill

On April 27-29, 1945, Benito Mussolini was ambushed and murdered by Communists close to the border of Switzerland. Mussolini and a lady named Clara Petacci were horribly killed. The horrors included beatings, torture, sodomy, rape, hanging, being urinated on, burned, and other defilements of their living, and later dead bodies, by the communists as an appalled crowd looked on. Their bodies were not recognizable to the public before their burials. Italy would struggle to have an identity for the several years, forcing many Italians to flee the country under fear of Communism.

Legacy of Benito Mussolini

“	Mussolini has done much for the farmers. Mussolini's reforms deserve an impartial study. His care for the poor, his opposition to hyper-urbanization...What surprises me the most is that, behind his restlessness, there is the desire to serve his own people. Even behind his most emphatic speeches there is sincerity and passionate love for his people.	”
—Mahatma Gandhi

Benito Mussolini was a pioneer in the education system by proving that active participation is more motivational for a student than studying a book for hours on end. Mussolini also created sustainable jobs which in turn improved the standard of living, allowing for Italians to break from the grips of the Mafia. He was an inspiration for numerous leaders including Adolf Hitler of National Socialist Germany. Finally, he was the author of a book that more people are reading today called "The Doctrine of Fascism." It's an important that discusses Fascism in an uncensored manner.

Other info

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (b. 29 July 1883 in Dovia di Predappio, Italy; d. 28 April 1945 Giulino di Mezzegra, Italy) was an Italian statesman, soldier, teacher, journalist and revolutionary theorist. Known as Il Duce ("The Leader"), he was the founder of Italian Fascism and ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943, and subsequently the Italian Social Republic.

Life

Early life

Mussolini was born on 29 July 1883 in Dovia di Predappio, a small town in the province of Forlì in Romagna. Later, during the Fascist era, Predappio was dubbed "Duce's town" and Forlì was called "Duce's city", with pilgrims going to Predappio and Forlì to see the birthplace of Mussolini.

Benito Mussolini's father, Alessandro Mussolini, was a blacksmith and a socialist, while his mother, Rosa (née Maltoni), was a devout Catholic schoolteacher. He was baptised at birth. Benito was the eldest of his parents' three children. His siblings Arnaldo and Edvige followed. He qualified as an elementary schoolmaster in July 1901.

In 1902, Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland, partly to avoid compulsory military service. He worked briefly as a stonemason in Geneva, Fribourg and Bern.

Mussolini became active in the Italian socialist movement in Switzerland, working for the paper L'Avvenire del Lavoratore, organizing meetings, giving speeches to workers, and serving as secretary of the Italian workers' union in Lausanne.

In December 1904, Mussolini returned to Italy to take advantage of an amnesty for desertion of the military. He had been convicted for this in absentia. Since a condition for being pardoned was serving in the army, he joined the corps of the Bersaglieri in Forlì on 30 December 1904. After serving for two years in the military (from January 1905 until September 1906), he returned to teaching.

In February 1909, Mussolini again left Italy, this time to take the job as the secretary of the labor party in the Italian-speaking city of Trento, which at the time was part of Austria-Hungary (it is now within Italy). He also did office work for the local Socialist Party, and edited its newspaper L'Avvenire del Lavoratore. Returning to Italy, he spent a brief time in Milan, and in 1910 he returned to his hometown of Forlì, where he edited the weekly Lotta di classe (The Class Struggle).

In September 1911, Mussolini participated in a riot, led by socialists, against the Italian war in Libya. An action that earned him a five-month jail term for sedition.

In 1912, Mussolini had been a leading member of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) but was expelled for advocating military intervention in The Great War, in opposition to the party's position of neutrality. Mussolini served in the Royal Italian Army during the war, until he was wounded and discharged in 1917. Mussolini, changed by his wartime experiences, moved away from socialism, denounced the PSI, with his views now centering more on nationalism.

Partito Nazionale Fascista

He founded the Partito Nazionale Fascista. Founded in Rome during the Third Fascist Congress on 7–10 November 1921, the National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista) marked the transformation of the organization Fasci Italiani di Combattimento into a more coherent political group (the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento had been founded by Mussolini in Milan's Piazza San Sepolcro on 23 March 1919). In 1921, Mussolini won election to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time.

March on Rome

In the night between 27 and 28 October 1922, about 30,000 Fascist blackshirts gathered in Rome to demand the resignation of liberal Prime Minister Luigi Facta and the appointment of a new Fascist government. On the morning of 28 October, King Victor Emmanuel III, who according to the Albertine Statute held the supreme military power, refused the government request to declare martial law, which led to Facta's resignation. The King then handed over power to Mussolini (who stayed in his headquarters in Milan during the talks) by asking him to form a new government.

Following the March on Rome in October 1922, Mussolini became Prime Minister. An authoritarian regime was soon implemented.

Misc. Notes

Between the years 1924–1939, the fascists, amongst other things, drained the Pontine Marshes - a hotbed of diseases, drastically reduced unemployment and improved public transport. Mussolini also solved the 'Roman Question' by concluding the Lateran Treaty between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See creating the sovereign Vatican State within Rome. Mussolini had decreed in 1924 that every member of his Fascist Party who was a Mason must abandon either one or the other organization, and in 1925, he dissolved Freemasonry in Italy, saying that it was a political organization.

The Second Italo-Abyssinian War between Italy and Abyssinia (Ethiopia) took place between October 1935 and February 1937 resulting in a victory for Mussolini's Italy. It also plugged the land gap between the two existing Italian colonies of Eritrea and Italian Somaliland.

From 1936 through 1939, Mussolini provided military aid to the Fascist side during the Spanish Civil War.

By mid-1938, the big influence National Socialist Germany now had over Italy became clear with the introduction of the so-called Race Manifesto which was closely modeled on the Nuremberg Laws. These stripped jews of their Italian citizenship and forbade them employment in any position in the civil services or professions.

See also

• Partito Nazionale Fascista
• March on Rome
• Fascist Manifesto
• Fascism
• Gabriele d'Annunzio
• Otto Skorzeny

External links

• Why do Italians still have a soft spot for Mussolini
• Mussolini: A New Life
• Force and Consensus - By Benito Mussolini

Bibliography

• Mussolini, Benito, My Autobiography, Hutchinson & Co., Revised edition, London, 1939.
• Hibbert, Christopher, Mussolini, The Reprint Society, London, 1963.
• MacGregor-Hastie, Roy, The Day of the Lion: The Life & Death of Fascist Italy 1922-1945, MacDonald & Co., London, 1963.
• Gregor, A. James, Young Mussolini and the Intellectual Origins of Fascism, University of California Press, Los Angeles, 1979, ISBN: 0-520-03799-5
• Smith, Denis Mack, Mussolini, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1981, ISBN: 0-297-78005-0.
• Mussolini, Benito, My Memoirs 1942-1943, edited by Raymond Klibansky, (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1949) Phoenix Press, London, 2000, ISBN: 1-84212-025-5.
• Gregor, A. James, Mussolini's Intellectuals, Princeton University Press, U.S.A., 2005/2006, ISBN: 0-691-12790-5.