Benito Mussolini was an Italian politician and leader of the National Fascist Party who ruled Italy as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1943. He initially led the country as a democratic leader but consolidated power and established a dictatorship by 1925. Mussolini was influenced by socialism in his early years but grew nationalist after being expelled from the socialist party. He formed fascist groups and utilized propaganda to grow his base of support. With the help of Italy's king, Mussolini became Prime Minister in 1922 and abolished opposition parties to establish a one-party fascist state by the late 1920s. He aligned Italy with Nazi Germany and adopted racist policies before his regime collapsed in 1943 as Italy lost World War II. Mussolini was then arrested but rescued by the

1. BENITO
MUSSOLINI
IL DUCE

2. BACKGROUND
• Benito Amilcare Andrea
• 29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician, journalist,
and leader of the National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale
Fascista; PNF), ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 to
1943.
• He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he dropped all
pretense of democracy and set up a legal dictatorship.
• Known as Il Duce (The Leader), Mussolini was the founder of
Italian Fascism.

3. BACKGROUND
• In 1912 Mussolini was the leading member of the National
Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI).
• Prior to 1914, he was a keen supporter of the Socialist
International, starting the series of meetings in Switzerland that
organised the communist revolutions and insurrections that swept
through Europe from 1917.
• Mussolini was expelled from the PSI for withdrawing his support
for the party's stance on neutrality in World War I.
• He served in the Royal Italian Army during the war until he was
wounded and discharged in 1917.

4. BACKGROUND
• Mussolini denounced the PSI, his views now centering on nationalism instead
of socialism, and later founded the fascist movement.
• Following the March on Rome in October 1922 he became the youngest Prime
Minister in Italian history until the appointment of Matteo Renzi in February
2014.
• After removing all political opposition through his secret police and outlawing
labor strikes,[7] Mussolini and his followers consolidated their power through a
series of laws that transformed the nation into a one-party dictatorship.
• Within five years he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and
extraordinary means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. Mussolini remained
in power until he was deposed by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1943. A few
months later, he became the leader of the Italian Social Republic, a German
client regime in northern Italy; he held this post until his death in 1945.

5. BACKGROUND
• Mussolini had sought to delay a major war in Europe until at least 1942.
• Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, resulting in declarations of war by France
and the United Kingdom and starting World War II.
• On 10 June 1940, with the Fall of France imminent, Mussolini officially entered the war on
the side of Germany, though he was aware that Italy did not have the military capacity and
resources to carry out a long war with the British Empire.
• Mussolini believed that after the imminent French armistice, Italy could gain territorial
concessions from France and then he could concentrate his forces on a major offensive in
North Africa, where British and Commonwealth forces were outnumbered by Italian forces.
• the UK government refused to accept proposals for a peace that would involve accepting
Axis victories in Eastern and Western Europe, plans for an invasion of the UK did not
proceed, and the war continued. In the summer of 1941 Mussolini sent Italian forces to
participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union, and war with the United States followed in
December.

6. BACKGROUND
• On 24 July 1943, soon after the start of the Allied invasion of
Italy, the Grand Council of Fascism voted against him, and the
King had him arrested the following day.
• On 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued from prison in
the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces.
• In late April 1945, with total defeat looming, Mussolini attempted
to escape north, but was captured and summarily executed near
Lake Como by Italian Communists.
• His body was then taken to Milan, where it was hung upside
down at a service station for public viewing and to provide
confirmation of his demise.

7. EARLY LIFE
• Mussolini was born in Dovia di Predappio, a small town in the province
of Forlì in Romagna on 29 July 1883.
• During the Fascist era, Predappio was dubbed "Duce's town", and Forlì
was "Duce's city".
• His father Alessandro Mussolini was a blacksmith and a Socialist, while
his mother Rosa Mussolini (née Maltoni) was a devout Catholic
schoolteacher.
• Owing to his father's political leanings, Mussolini was named Benito
after Mexican Leftist President Benito Juárez, while his middle names
"Andrea" and "Amilcare" were from Italian Socialists Andrea Costa and
Amilcare Cipriani.
• Benito was the eldest of his parents' three children. His siblings Arnaldo
and Edvige followed.

8. EARLY LIFE
• As a young boy, Mussolini would spend some time helping his father in his smithy.
• Mussolini's early political views were heavily influenced by his father who idolized
19th-century Italian nationalist figures with humanist tendencies such as Carlo
Pisacane, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Giuseppe Garibaldi.
• His father's political outlook combined views of anarchist figures like Carlo Cafiero
and Mikhail Bakunin, the military authoritarianism of Garibaldi, and the nationalism
of Mazzini. In 1902, at the anniversary of Garibaldi's death, Benito Mussolini made
a public speech in praise of the republican nationalist.
• The conflict between his parents about religion meant that, unlike most Italians,
Mussolini was not baptized at birth and would not be until much later in life.
• As a compromise with his mother, Mussolini was sent to a boarding school run by
Salesian monks.
• After joining a new school, Mussolini achieved good grades, and qualified as an
elementary schoolmaster in 1901.

9. Emigration to Switzerland and military
service
• In 1902, Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland, partly to avoid military
service.
• He worked briefly as a stonemason in Geneva, Fribourg and Bern, but
was unable to find a permanent job.
• During this time he studied the ideas of the philosopher Friedrich
Nietzsche, the sociologist Vilfredo Pareto, and the syndicalist Georges
Sorel.
• Mussolini also later credited the Marxist Charles Péguy and the
syndicalist Hubert Lagardelle as some of his influences.
• Sorel's emphasis on the need for overthrowing decadent liberal
democracy and capitalism by the use of violence, direct action, the
general strike, and the use of neo-Machiavellian appeals to emotion,
impressed Mussolini deeply.[13]

10. Emigration to Switzerland and military
service
• Benito Mussolini mugshot from 1903
• Mussolini's booking photograph following his arrest by Swiss
police, 1903
• 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 1903, he was arrested by the Bernese police because of his
advocacy of a violent general strike, spent two weeks in jail, was
deported to Italy, was set free there, and returned to Switzerland.

11. Emigration to Switzerland and military
service
• In 1904, having been arrested again in Geneva and expelled for
falsifying his papers, he returned to Lausanne, where he
attended the University of Lausanne's Department of Social
Science, following the lessons of Vilfredo Pareto.
• In December 1904, he returned to Italy to take advantage of an
amnesty for desertion, for which he had been convicted in
absentia.
• Since a condition for being pardoned was serving in the army, on
30 December 1904, he joined the corps of the Bersaglieri in Forlì.
• After serving for two years in the military (from January 1905 until
September 1906), he returned to teaching.

12. Mussolini’s Socialist Views
• While working at the Avanti he grew to be “ the most forceful of all
labor leaders of Italian socialism”.
• At the start of WWI, Mussolini supported Italian involvement in
the war, but the socialist didn’t support his ideas.
• This fallout lead to Mussolini’s change in beliefs and he left the
Socialist Party and the Avanti.

13. The Origin of Fascism
• After leaving the Avanti, he developed a new Italian newspaper
called Il Popolo d’Italia along with the pro-war group Fasci
d’Azione Rivoluzionaria in November, 1914.
• Mussolini became a ruthless dictator within the Fascist group and
was supported by liberals.
• He treated non-supporters of the Fascist Movement harshly and
with no respect.
• On March 15, 1921 he was elected into the Italian Chamber of
Deputies with 35 other Fascists as a right-wing member.

14. Fascist Dictatorship
• After leaving the Avanti, he developed a new Italian newspaper
called Il Popolo d’Italia along with the pro-war group Fasci
d’Azione Rivoluzionaria in November, 1914.
• Mussolini became a ruthless dictator within the Fascist group and
was supported by liberals.
• He treated non-supporters of the Fascist Movement harshly and
with no respect.
• On March 15, 1921 he was elected into the Italian Chamber of
Deputies with 35 other Fascists as a right-wing member.

15. The Beginning of Mussolini’s Rise to
Power
• Shortly after Mussolini was elected into the Italian Chamber, the
Italian liberal governments run by Ivanoe Bonomi, Giovanni
Giolitti, and Luigi Facta became unsuccessful in stopping the
spread of anarchy.
• In need of a new liberal leader, King Victor Emmanuel III
appointed Mussolini to prevent a Communist revolution in Italy in
October 1922

16. Assuming Dictatorial Powers
• Mussolini became in charge of nationalists, fascists and the
parliamentary government until the death of Giacomo Matteotti, a
socialist leader, in 1924.
• Giacomo’s death triggered the collapse of the left-wing parties, making
Italy a one-party, police state.
• Giacomo’s death significantly helped Mussolini and his conquest to
dictatorship.
• Liberals helped Mussolini enforce strict censorship and a public-works
program.
• Liberals also helped him change the election methods so that he would
win the election of 1926.
• By 1927, Mussolini had assumed all dictatorial powers and completely
eliminated all political parties.

17. The Use of Propoganda
• Mussolini relied on the radio, press, and education to spread the
word about fascism by calling it “the doctrine of the 20th century
that was replacing liberalism and democracy”.
• Then, he started to rid Italy of the parliamentary system. He
rewrote law codes and made all schools and universities swear
by the Fascist regime. He also hand selected the newspaper
editors of each Italian newspaper.
• He wanted the government to control the Italian industry, but Italy
did not have the resources or the concentration to fulfill
Mussolini’s goal.

18. Mussolini’s Foreign Policy
• When Mussolini had gained enough power, he wanted to show off his
regime and take over the country. He had a dream to the make the
Mediterranean “mare nostrum” (our sea).
• In October 1935 Mussolini sent 400,000 troops to Ethiopia and in May
1936, they capture Addis Ababa, the capital.
• Unfortunately, the League of Nations opposed the capture of Ethiopia
and Mussolini sought an alliance with Nazi Germany, non-members of
the league since 1933.
• Adolph Hitler admired Mussolini’s achievements and Germany and Italy
became very close.
• In October 1936, Hitler and Mussolini created a non-military alliance.

19. Following in Germany’s Footsteps
• Along with the non-military alliance with Nazi Germany, Italy also
signed on to the German annexation of Austria in 1938, the
dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in 1939, and the Pact of Steel
with Hitler in May 1939.
• Like Hitler, Mussolini adopted a racial policy, creating an
apartheid in Italy.

20. The Downfall of the Italian Military
• Mussolini’s own military slowly began to weaken. When Hitler
invaded Poland, Mussolini’s armed forces were completely
unprepared.
• Mussolini ended up declaring war in June 1940 after the fall of
France, but after an unsuccessful attack on Greece, had no
choice but to follow Germany’s declarations of war on Russia and
the U.S. in 1941.

21. Mussolini’s Arrest and Rescue
• When the Allies captured Sicily, Mussolini was troubled, for he knew
that they would use it as a base to invade Italy.
• On July 24, 1943, the Fascist Grand Council met and decided to sign a
peace treaty with the Allies. On July 25, King Victor Emmanuel III
dismissed Mussolini from office and Pietro Badoglio proclaimed martial
law and placed Mussolini under arrest.
• On July 29, 1943 upon hearing about Mussolini’s arrest, Hitler sent Otto
Skorzeny to rescue Mussolini in the Abruzzi Apennines.
• On September 13, 1943, Skorzeny sent an air force to the Abruzzi
Apennines and Mussolini was flown to safety.

22. Establishing the Republic of Salo
• After being rescued, Mussolini decided to establish a Republican
Fascist state in the northern part of Italy called the “Republic of
Salo”.
• In his Fascist state, Mussolini returned to his original views of
collectivization and socialism.
• Mussolini also had the Fascist leaders that had turned against
him executed, including his own son-in-law, Galeazzo Ciano.

23. The Downfall and Death of Mussolini
• As Italy and Germany weakened, Mussolini began to blame the
Italian people for not “fulfilling the Italian dream”.
• Placing the blame on others was no use. Verona and Parma had
already been taken and uprisings had begun in Genoa and Milan.
• Before the Allies reached Milan, Mussolini and his mistress, Clara
Petacci, fled to Lake Como, Switzerland but were captured by
Italian Partisans on April 27, 1945.
• The next day, the two were shot to death and their bodies were
hung on display in public in Milan.

24. Mussolini
Speech

25. “Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. “
-Benito Mussolini-