Biography: Mussolini, Benito (° July 29, 1883, + April 28, 1945). Leader of Italy from 1922 to 1943.
WWI
Mussolini was born the son of a blacksmith and a teacher. He was also a teacher himself for a while, but after some wanderings started a career as a socialist journalist. However, at the outbreak of the First World War he came into conflict with the Socialist party. Unlike other countries, the war in Italy did not prompt a union sacrée. There was much division over whether or not to participate in the battle. Mussolini called for intervention on the Allied side, and together with other revolutionary syndicalists he left the Socialist Party that was too pacifistic for his liking. He did not believe in the view that passively waiting afterwards would offer many revolutionary opportunities.
Militia
In 1919 he formed his fasci di combattimento, mainly from veterans. He initially supported the labor movement, but due to the poor political success, his character completely changed and his militias would provoke street fights with communist and socialist groups. In October 1922, Mussolini organized the March on Rome, after which he took power and became il Duce (the monarchy was retained). In the first years of his rule, ideas and theories were of less importance. It was more about a doctrine of action.
Policy
His desire for power drove him forward, dealing with political opponents. It was typical of his personality to change his views without any problem. After a critical period, his dictatorship was fully established by a coup. An ideological institutionalization could then follow. He would transform the party, first seen as a dynamic revolutionary elite, into a mass party. For his politics, he tried to create a broader base of consent through an inquadramento, not merely remaining a so-called middle class movement. He immediately obtained the support of the gutter capitalists. The popular masses followed from the end of the 1920s. He would slowly dismantle parliament and replace it with a chamber of fasces and corporations. His policies were aligned with the view that the country should be in a permanent state of war. He wanted to achieve autarky of the country, and therefore also pursued an expansionist policy. Ruralism and, above all, totalitarianism were also pursued. Most goals were not achieved, except acquiring a colony, Abyssinia.
WWII
In the growing war climate, Mussolini sided with Germany. After the Allied invasion of southern Italy in 1943, he was deposed by the Grand Fascist Council. He was held captive, but German paratroopers freed him and took him to northern Italy where Hitler tried to take advantage of his authority. Mussolini’s left-socialist youth ideals revived in the founding of the Italian Republic of Salo, which introduced workers’ control of the factories and nationalization of the land, and also set a fiercely anti-clerical course. However, Hitler, who distrusted Mussolini’s radicalism, increasingly treated him as an honorary prisoner. After the former fascist leader had considered joining the illegal socialist party, he attempted to flee to Switzerland with his mistress Clara Petacci. However, he was seized by partisans and killed. my view on