  |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)Italian dictator. Born on 29 July 1883, the son of a socialist blacksmith, he was largely self-educated and became a primary school teacher in 1901, then a journalist. In 1915, he married Rachele Guidi, a young woman from his home town, and the couple eventually had five children. A member of the Socialist party since 1902, Mussolini's politics owed more to the violent anarchism of thinkers such as Georges Sorel than to the Communism of Karl Marx. In 1912, he became a highly successful editor of the party newspaper Avanti! (Forward!), but broke with the party over its opposition to Italy's entry into World War I two years later. He founded his own paper Il popolo d'Italia (The People of Italy), served in the army and, after the war, on 23 March 1919, founded the Fascist movement. After a much-publicised 'March on Rome' in 1922, he came to power through a mixture of violence and constitutional manoeuvring. If at first his ideology was both anti-capitalist and anti-socialist, he had to take into account the opinions of the Italian monarchy, the Church and the élite. Although he was proclaimed Il Duce (Leader), and passed laws outlawing opposition and concentrating power in his hands, he never achieved the total power of his imitator Adolf Hitler. After the Matteotti crisis of 1924, in which he was implicated in the murder of the Socialist party leader, Mussolini's speeches became more bombastic and his nationalism more aggressive. Although his public works programme helped modernise Italy, his fantasies of securing Mare nostrum (Our [Mediterranean] Sea) led to the occupation of Libya (1923-31), war with Abyssinia (Ethiopia, 1935-6) and the invasion of Albania (1939). The following year, he entered World War II on Hitler's side, hoping to emulate the Führer's success. Italy, however, was too weak to succeed militarily, and the war was unpopular. On 25 July 1943, he was deposed by the Fascist Grand Council, but rescued by Hitler, who invaded Italy to prevent surrender. Mussolini was made head of the republic of Salo. However, he was captured by Italian partisans in April 1945 as the Allied army was driving out the Germans. Along with his mistress, Clara Petacci, he was shot by partisans on 28 April; their bodies were displayed, hanging upside down, in a Milan square. See also The Real Mussolini. |
|
