PEOPLE | 1888 - 1945

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, born in Predappio on 29 July 1883, rose to power swiftly in Italy, a fact that has often puzzled historians given his later reputation. His reign encountered minimal resistance until the final months of World War II. Pope Pius XI notably called him "a man set by Providence to save Italy."

Early Life and Influences 

Mussolini's parents were a curious match: a devoutly Catholic mother who was a primary school teacher and a devoutly Socialist father who worked as a blacksmith.

As a child, and young man Mussolini was a menace. He was known for being tough and a bully. His mother, Rosa, diligently tried to raise him in the Catholic faith, taking him to church weekly, but he despised it. He recalled "the red light of the lit candles, the penetrating smell of the incense, the endless singing of the faithful and the sound of the organ disturbed me profoundly."

On one occasion, he even "fell to the floor unconscious" during a service.

He did howver adopt his fathers embrace of the rebellious belifs of Socialism.

At nine, he was sent to a boarding school run by Cistercian monks in Faenza, 20 miles away. His father consented, hoping the monks could discipline him. He stabbed a student in the hand, getting expelled and sent to another school, where he stabbed someone else in their buttocks.

Early Adulthood and Political Awakening 

By 1900, at seventeen, Mussolini lost his virginity to a prostitute, an experience he described without shame, yet feeling "as if I had committed a crime." This event marked a turning point, as he turned to a life of degeneracy obsessing over naked women and finding "relief on Sundays in the brothel of Forlì."

His left-wing political ideas, inherited from his father, came to fruition around this time. He also developed a love for speaking. In 1901, at the age of eighteen, he was chosen to give a memorial speech for the composer Giuseppe Verdi, using the opportunity to attack the ruling class. The Headmaster tried to stop him, but the speech was already published in the Socialist Party's newspaper, Avanti!.

He held a teaching license and occasionally substituted for his mother, meeting his future wife, Rachele Guidi, whom he had once disciplined in class.

In 1901, he raped a young woman, Virginia B, a neighbour. He recorded the incident with pride, stating he "grabbed her on the stairs, threw her into a corner behind a door and made her mine." He boasted that this was his "signature move" until he came to power.

Known as "the man in black," he carried a knife and knuckle-duster, later a revolver, and was seen as odd and scary by locals. He was often seen drunk or sleeping outside the local bar. He engaged in a public romance with a soldier's wife, which caused a huge scandal, a comtroversy he enjoyed. He was possessive and once responded to her leaving the apartment by biting her, or stabbing her in the arm, according to different accounts. The school did not renew his contract after an "extremely controversial" year.

Time in Switzerland 

Feeling lost, Mussolini decided to go to Switzerland, asking his parents for permission and receiving almost his mother's entire month's wage. He left behind unpaid debts and a destroyed family. He spent two and a half years in Switzerland, from ages 19 to 21, experiencing poverty and anger.

Switzerland was a beacon of Europe compared to "terminally backwards" Italy, attracting thousands seeking a better life.

He frequently contemplated suicide. In March 1903, he met Angelica Balabanoff, a Jewish revolutionary 14 years his senior, whom he later called his "only political teacher," without whom he would have been a small-time activist.

In Geneva, he continued writing for socialist newspapers and gave Italian lessons. He became increasingly politically involved. On 18 March 1904, at a Paris Commune anniversary celebration, he met Vladimir Lenin, though Mussolini's accounts of this meeting vary. Lenin later remarked, "Mussolini was the only one among you with the mind and temperament to make a revolution. Why did you allow him to leave?"

That same month, Mussolini debated God with an Evangelical Pastor from Rome before 500 people. He famously challenged God to strike him dead within ten minutes if He existed, arguing that religion was a "disease of the psyche" and "for the weak and not for the strong." He called Christ "a small mean man who in two years converted a few villages and whose disciples were a dozen ignorant vagabonds the scum of Palestine."

Seven years later, he praised Jan Hus, a Czech priest, in a pamphlet, explicitly praising nationalism, which marked a departure from his father's "no borders" socialism.

Mussolini attended lectures by economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto, whose ideas on elite rule and the use of force significantly influenced him. He began to dream of a "revolutionary ruling Elite." He also read Nietzsche, stating the author "cured me of my socialism."

Return to Italy and Military Service

Given the choice between military service and emigration to New York, he chose the former. On 14 January 1905, he left for Verona for military service, which he completed on 4 September 1906, performing well. He claimed to be a "model soldier," seeing no conflict between military duties and class war. However, he was under surveillance as a political agitator in both Switzerland and Italy.

By November, he had a new primary school teaching job in Tolmezzo, northwest of Venice. He struggled to control his class of 40 children, describing them as "incorrigible and dangerous urchins." He again became involved with a married woman, leading to a fight with her husband, where Mussolini proudly stated the husband "came worse" off. His year in Tolmezzo was one of "moral deterioration," marked by drunkenness, wandering the streets shouting poetry, promiscuity, and threats of rape. He again contracted a venereal disease. This caused another local scandal, and his contract was not renewed. Superiors noted his incoherent teaching and lack of results.

Journalism and Political Ascent 

In November 1907, he enrolled at Bologna University to become a French teacher, and teaching in Oneglia, he wrote violent anti-church articles under the pseudonym "Vero Eretico" (True Heretic), advocating for a new revolutionary ruling elite. He was sacked by year's end and accumulated debts and trouble with local women.

In mid-1908, he was arrested for involvement in farm labourers' riots, sentenced to three months in prison and a 1,000 Lira fine, but only served 12 days. His father, Alessandro, unable to keep the family home, moved to Forlì with his mistress, Anina Guidi, whose youngest daughter was Rachele. Mussolini, also in Forlì, helped his father at the local inn, where he re-encountered Rachele, now "a girl in the full bloom of youth." He decided to "make her mine."

He was then invited to edit a socialist weekly newspaper in Trent, significantly increasing its circulation. He also wrote for Il Popolo, another socialist newspaper that desired Trentino to be part of Italy. Here, his nationalistic ideas grew, initially as a "socialist watered down view" against a colonial oppressor. He soon became editor of Il Popolo as well, publishing daily violent rhetoric against the church and democracy. He called the Catholic church a "great big corpse" and a "den of intolerance and a gang of robbers," dismissing opponents as "donkey, liar, barbery ape."

In September 1909, Austrian-Hungarian authorities ordered his arrest as a "dangerous political agitator." The Trentino Socialists called a general strike, and Mussolini went on hunger strike. He was deported to the Italian Frontier, making national news. Back in Forlì, unemployed, he wrote a historical novel, The Cardinal's Mistress, serialised in 56 instalments. He later claimed he wrote it "for political reasons to embarrass the Catholics" as "the clergy was truly polluted with corruption." It provided a financial lifeline.

He continued his pursuit of Rachele. Despite a richer suitor and his family's opposition, Mussolini resorted to "insane theatrics," pulling out a revolver and bullets, threatening to shoot Rachele and then himself. On 17 January 1910, they were "married without official ties neither civil nor religious." He was 26, she 17. This "sham marriage" was merely a decision to live together. Rachele soon gave birth to a daughter, Edda.

Following his father's stroke and death in November, Mussolini tended to his daughter, played the violin over her pram, and strangely lifted her eyelids while she slept, causing her lifelong insomnia. He promised to quit drinking, though Rachele's account contradicts this, describing him smashing objects in the house in a drunken rage.

Mussolini continued journalism, openly supporting violent revolution. Its circulation reached 3,000. On 29 September 1911, Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire over Libya. Mussolini, as a socialist, fiercely opposed the war, finding the lack of outcry from revolutionaries disgusting. He observed that nationalism held a stronger sway over Italians than socialism.

Shift from Socialism to Nationalism 

Released on 12 March 1912, Mussolini's profile had risen among Italian socialists. He used his influence to push for the expulsion of reformists from the Socialist Party, succeeding at the Congress. Lenin endorsed this in Pravda.

On 12 November 1912, he was appointed editor of Avanti!, the Socialist Party's national daily newspaper, a significant promotion obtained due to the expulsion of reformists he had orchestrated. The party secretary believed he would be easy to control. Mussolini refused the position unless Balabanoff was appointed Deputy editor. He immediately transformed the newspaper, increasing its circulation from 28,000 to 60,000 (sometimes 100,000) in two years. His "rambling columns" were replaced by "short, snappy articles" that were "funny and hard-hitting."

Despite his new post, he neglected his family. Rachele, furious, turned up at the Avanti! offices in Milan with their daughter, Edda. An apartment was found, shared with Rachele's mother. Mussolini had affairs with three other women: Leda Rafanelli, an anarchist and Muslim convert; Ida Dalser, a masseuse from Trent; and Margherita Sarfatti, Avanti!'s wealthy Jewish art critic.

With Ida Dalser, Mussolini had a child, Benito Albino, born out of wedlock, whom he was forced to legally recognise and pay maintenance for. Dalser later claimed a civil and religious marriage to Mussolini. She accused him of abandonment and publicly harassed him. She also sold her beauty salon to support the launch of Mussolini's newspaper, Il Popolo d'Italia, in 1914. Ida Dalser was later arrested and sent to a camp and later a lunatic asylum by Mussolini when he was in power, where she died mysteriously. Their son, Benito Albino, was told his mother died and was placed in foster care, later dying in an asylum after proclaiming Mussolini was his father.

Sarfatti became his closest mistress, an affair that lasted 20 years. Her extreme sexuality matched his own. She was Jewish, her father knew the Pope, and she detested Christian morality. Rachel remained a loyal peasant girl, but never fulfilled him intellectually.

In October 1913, Mussolini ran as an MP in Forlì, attacking militarism and imperialism, though he failed to be elected. Socialist votes nationwide reached 11.3%. On 8 February 1914, he spoke in Florence on the need for a revolutionary elite to bring about swift revolution.

In June 1914, "Red Week" saw a million people strike, with violent clashes, resulting in 17 deaths and thousands injured. Mussolini deemed it "not a proper Revolution but simply chaos." The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June plunged Europe into war.

Italy initially declared neutrality, a policy Mussolini himself supported. However, within three months, he switched to "active neutrality," a stance that led to his forced resignation from Avanti!. Within a month, he founded his own daily, Il Popolo d'Italia, advocating war against Austria and Germany.

The German Socialist Party's support for Germany's invasion of Belgium, and similar actions by British and French socialists, showed nationalism triumphing over socialism. Mussolini realised the "international Revolution was dead."

His departure from mainstream socialism initially led many to believe he would become irrelevant, but his new newspaper sold 30,000 copies on its first day, 15 November 1914. He called for "full-blown intervention," and was expelled from the party,.

Founding of Fascism 

In December, Mussolini formed the Fasci di Azione Rivoluzionaria (Revolutionary Action Bundle), claiming this as the official birth of Fascism. By February, there were 9,000 "fascists," and Mussolini openly called his followers by that name. He became increasingly nationalistic.

Fascism, the movement, was far from right-wing. The first fascist program of June 1919, published in Il Popolo, was heavily influenced by futurists and contained left-wing demands:

• universal suffrage (including for women over 18),
• proportional representation,
• lower age for deputies (25),
• abolition of monarchy and hereditary titles,
• an 8-hour workday,
• workers' representation in industry management,
• confiscation of 85% of war profits,
• complete confiscation of Church property,
• confiscation of land from the rich,
• progressive capital tax,
• abolition of the stock exchange,
• and the cession of Fiume and Dalmatia to Italy.

Some futurists even desired to "expel the Papacy from Rome."

However, Mussolini soon gained converts from the right, such as Vincenzo Ciarlantini, who supported "monarchy, religion, hierarchy, racial selection, Dominion, Empire."

The movement, not yet a party, had a wide range of ideas. Branches quickly spread across major Italian cities, attracting disaffected masses. The Arditi, elite ex-soldiers, formed the movement's core, known for their brutality, carrying clubs, knuckle-dusters, and black flags with a skull holding a knife.

In April, fascists engaged in violence for the first time, attacking a socialist strike, resulting in three socialist deaths and 39 injuries. Mussolini proudly stated, "we fascists did not organize the attack on the Socialist newspaper but we accept all the moral responsibility." He recognised that the government, terrified of a left-wing revolution, tolerated fascist violence against socialists. Mussolini kept a revolver and grenades on his editor's desk.

Rise to Power (Post-WWI Chaos, March on Rome) 

Post-war Italy was plagued by economic crisis, high unemployment, and widespread social unrest. The "mutilated victory" at the Treaty of Versailles, where Italy felt cheated of promised territories, fuelled popular discontent and extreme nationalism. In this volatile atmosphere, Mussolini found fertile ground for his movement.

On 23 March 1919, Mussolini organised a meeting in Milan, uniting various groups into the Fascio di Combattimento. This new movement appealed to disaffected masses, including revolutionary syndicalists, futurists, nationalists, republicans, and especially ex-soldiers.

The fascists began to assert themselves in the streets, acting as bodyguards or strike breakers against socialist violence. In April 1919, fascists violently attacked a socialist newspaper office, resulting in several deaths. Mussolini openly boasted of taking "moral responsibility" for the attack, declaring that fascists combatted "the obscure phenomenon of regression of counterrevolution and importance which is called Bolshevism".

Despite initial electoral setbacks in 1919, the movement regained momentum, capitalising on government paralysis and growing public fear of a socialist revolution.

Factory owners, big businesses, and property owners turned to the fascists for protection against widespread strikes and seizures of factories. Fascism rapidly spread to the countryside, attracting peasants with promises of land.

The movement transformed into a political party, the Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF), in November 1921, with Mussolini as its leader. By the end of 1921, the PNF boasted nearly 250,000 members, with a significant proportion being agricultural labourers and factory workers, dispelling claims of it being solely a "bourgeois counter-revolution".

The increasing chaos and political instability in Italy culminated in the March on Rome in October 1922. Thirty thousand fascists, lightly armed, converged on Rome, while the government and military, despite having overwhelming numerical and material superiority, lacked the will to stop them.

King Victor Emmanuel III, unwilling to risk civil war, refused to sign a state of emergency proclamation. Mussolini, leveraging this political vacuum, was invited to form a new government. At 39, he became the youngest Prime Minister since Italy's reunification, an unprecedented situation.

Consolidation of Power and Domestic Policy Upon taking power, Mussolini initiated a series of measures to consolidate his authority and transform Italy. He requested and was granted the right to rule by decree for a year. As one of his first acts, he led his cabinet to a mass at the altar of the Unknown Soldier and ordered them to kneel in prayer, a stark departure from his earlier anti-clericalism.

His relationship with the Catholic Church underwent a significant, pragmatic/cynical shift. He ordered crucifixes placed in every classroom, courtroom, and hospital room, made insulting a priest a crime, restored Catholic chaplains to military units, and offered generous state allowances to clergy. Catholic religion was made mandatory in elementary schools. In 1923, he had his wife and three children baptised. Contraceptives and public swearing were banned, and PNF members were prohibited from being Freemasons, reflecting a trade of Masonic support for Vatican backing. He viewed Catholicism as integral to Italy's identity, acknowledging that "the Latin and Imperial tradition of Rome is today represented by Catholicism".

A significant achievement was the resolution of the "Roman Question," the dispute between the Italian state and the Papacy that had persisted since 1870. Through secret negotiations, the Lateran Accords were signed in 1929. This agreement established Vatican City as a sovereign state, recognized religious marriages, made religious instruction mandatory in all schools, and provided a substantial financial settlement to the Holy See.

Pope Pius XI hailed Mussolini as "the man that Providence had us encounter" to resolve this historic issue. This accord greatly boosted the regime's prestige both at home and internationally, leading to a "confessional state".

Domestically, Mussolini's policies aimed to revitalise Italy. He cracked down on the Mafia, appointing Cesare Mori as prefect of Palermo with extensive powers, leading to the arrest of many mobsters and forcing others to flee to the United States.

His focus on increasing birth rates, influenced by a belief that declining rates indicated national decay, led to cash prizes for prolific mothers and a tax on bachelors. He also implemented significant public works, boasting that fascists spent more in 10 years than the liberal regime had in 60, building thousands of kilometres of roads, bridges, and aqueducts. The corporate state, designed to foster class collaboration by representing workers and employers in the same unions, aligned with Catholic social teaching.

Foreign Policy and the Path to War Mussolini's foreign policy initially aimed at restoring Italy's perceived grandeur and securing its "place in the sun." He admired the Roman Empire's values, not necessarily its territorial extent, but sought to expand Italian colonial holdings and influence in the Mediterranean. Early Anglo-Italian relations were cordial, with Mussolini siding with Britain in the Locarno Pact talks.

His attitude towards Germany and Adolf Hitler was initially dismissive. He mocked Hitler's racial views and found Mein Kampf unreadable. He viewed Austria as Italy's sphere of influence and actively supported Austrian independence against German ambitions. However, the inaction of Britain and France in deterring German expansion, coupled with Italy's isolation after the Ethiopian War, gradually pushed Mussolini closer to Germany.

The invasion of Ethiopia (Abyssinia) in 1935 was a decisive moment. Italy, already possessing colonies in East Africa, sought to avenge a humiliating defeat from 1896. Ethiopia, despite being a League of Nations member, was a slave society, providing Mussolini with a pretext for conquest. Despite sanctions imposed by the League of Nations, the war unified Italy, fostering an "us against the world" mentality.

The swift Italian victory and annexation of Ethiopia in May 1936 boosted Mussolini's prestige, with him proclaiming the Italian Empire and the King as Emperor of Ethiopia.

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) further cemented the Rome-Berlin Axis. Mussolini committed significant resources to support Francisco Franco's Nationalists against the left-wing Republican government, motivated by anti-communism and the desire to strengthen Italy's position in Europe. Italy's extensive military aid, including 80,000 troops at its height, proved invaluable to Franco's victory. The conflict created a "Berlin Axis" and an "anti-fascist Madrid-Paris-Moscow Axis," setting the stage for future global conflicts.

In November 1937, Italy signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany and Japan, a perceived alliance against Soviet Russia. The Anschluss (annexation of Austria) by Germany in March 1938, without Mussolini's prior consultation, was a bitter pill, but he eventually accepted the inevitability of the German alliance.

The Munich Agreement in September 1938, where Mussolini played a key role in mediating peace and avoiding war over Czechoslovakia, further elevated his international standing as a peacemaker, alongside Neville Chamberlain.

Despite these diplomatic successes, Mussolini's ambitions grew. He increasingly laid claim to French territories (Tunisia, Corsica) and Mediterranean dominance. In May 1939, Italy signed the Pact of Steel with Germany, a full military alliance committing both nations to mutual assistance in any war, regardless of who was the aggressor. Though Mussolini privately acknowledged Italy's unpreparedness for war until 1943, he was driven by a fear of betrayal and a desire to not be left out of a victorious Germany's spoils.

World War II and Downfall

On 10 June 1940, with France nearing collapse, Mussolini declared war on France and Britain, entering World War II as a junior partner to Germany. This move, dubbed by Franklin D Roosevelt as the "hand that held the dagger has struck it into the shoulders of his neighbor," was motivated by opportunism and the desire to gain territory at France's expense.

However, Italy's military performance was abysmal. A poorly planned invasion of Greece in October 1940, initiated by Mussolini without informing Hitler and based on flawed intelligence, resulted in a humiliating stalemate.

The British severely damaged the Italian fleet at Taranto, and Italian forces suffered heavy losses in North Africa and East Africa. These failures eroded morale and highlighted Italy's unreadiness for a prolonged conflict.

Mussolini's resentment towards Germany grew as Italy became increasingly dependent on German military support. Despite private laments about German "beastiality" and "madness," he continued to send Italian troops to the Eastern Front, seeing it as a crusade against Communism. He declared war on the United States in December 1941, further expanding Italy's commitments.

As the war turned against the Axis, Mussolini's health and mental state deteriorated. He suffered from severe stomach pains exacerbated by stress, becoming increasingly reclusive and withdrawn. Italian cities were subjected to intense Allied bombing, and food shortages led to widespread hunger and discontent. By 1943, Italy was on the brink of collapse.

The Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 exposed the fragility of the Italian military, with widespread surrenders and desertions. This catastrophic defeat triggered a conspiracy within the Italian establishment. On 24 July 1943, the Grand Council of Fascism, led by Dino Grandi, passed a motion asking the King to resume full command of the armed forces, effectively a vote of no confidence in Mussolini.

The next day, 25 July 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III summoned Mussolini and informed him of his dismissal. Mussolini was then arrested and taken into custody. He was moved to various locations to prevent his rescue.

Italian Social Republic and Death

After Mussolini's arrest, the new government, led by Marshal Pietro Badoglio, disbanded the PNF and sought an armistice with the Allies. However, the armistice negotiations were chaotic, and the Allies insisted on unconditional surrender, leading to Germany's swift occupation of Italy.

On 12 September 1943, German commandos, led by Otto Skorzeny, executed a daring glider rescue operation, freeing Mussolini from his mountain captivity at Gran Sasso. Upon meeting Hitler, Mussolini was persuaded to establish a new fascist state in German-occupied Northern Italy, the Italian Social Republic (RSI), with its capital at Salò. This puppet state was largely under German control, and Mussolini's influence was significantly diminished.

In the RSI, Mussolini attempted to return to fascism's more left-wing roots, advocating for "socialisation" of industry and workers' participation in management. However, these policies were largely unimplemented due to German opposition and the chaos of the war. Mussolini also pursued the trial and execution of the "traitors" of 25 July, including his son-in-law Galeazzo Ciano, who were sentenced to death in January 1944.

As the Allies advanced through Italy and partisan activity intensified, Mussolini's regime crumbled. His final months were marked by physical and mental decline, compounded by Allied terror bombing campaigns on Italian cities.

In April 1945, with defeat imminent, Mussolini attempted to negotiate a surrender with the partisans in Milan, but these talks failed.

On 27 April 1945, while attempting to flee towards Switzerland with his mistress Clara Petacci and a small convoy, Mussolini was intercepted by partisans near Dongo. Despite his disguise as a German soldier, he was recognised. The next day, 28 April 1945, Mussolini and Petacci were summarily executed by partisans. Their bodies, along with those of other executed fascists, were transported to Piazzale Loreto in Milan, where they were subjected to public desecration by a frenzied crowd.

Mussolini's body was initially buried in an unmarked grave but was later transferred to his family crypt in Predappio in 1957, where it remains a site of pilgrimage for his supporters. Towards the end of his life, Mussolini, who had once denied God, reportedly confessed to a priest, took mass in private, and read extensively about Jesus Christ, seemingly embracing Catholicism. Accounts from Catholic mystics even claimed his soul's salvation.