In the small Italian village of Dovia, on July 29, 1883, the first-born was born in the family of the local blacksmith Alessandro Mussolini and the school teacher Rosa M altoni. He was given the name Benito. Years will pass, and this swarthy little boy will become a ruthless dictator, one of the founders of the Fascist Party of Italy, which plunged the country into the cruelest period of a totalitarian regime and political repressions.
Youth of the future dictator
Alessandro was a conscientious hard worker, and his family had some income, which allowed the young Mussolini Benito to be placed in a Catholic school in the city of Faenza. Having received a secondary education, he took up teaching in primary classes, but such a life weighed on him, and in 1902 the young teacher left for Switzerland. At that time, Geneva was overflowing with political exiles, among whom Benito Mussolini constantly revolves. The books of K. Kautsky, P. Kropotkin, K. Marx and F. Engels have a bewitching effect on his mind.
But Nietzsche's work and his concept of the "superman" make the strongest impression. Having fallen on fertile ground, it resulted in the conviction that it was for him - Benito Mussolini -destined to fulfill this great destiny. The theory, according to which the people were reduced to the level of a pedestal to elected leaders, was accepted by him without hesitation. The interpretation of war as the highest manifestation of the human spirit did not raise doubts either. Thus was laid the ideological foundation of the future leader of the fascist party.
Return to Italy
Soon the rebel socialist is expelled from Switzerland, and he again finds himself in his homeland. Here he becomes a member of the Socialist Party of Italy and with great success tries his hand at journalism. The small newspaper he publishes, The Class Struggle, publishes mostly his own articles in which he ardently criticizes the institutions of bourgeois society. Among the broad masses, this position of the author meets with approval, and in a short time the circulation of the newspaper doubles. In 1910, Mussolini Benito was elected a deputy of the next congress of the Socialist Party, held in Milan.
It was during this period that the prefix "Duce" - the leader - began to be added to the name of Mussolini. This is extremely flattering to his ego. Two years later, he was assigned to head the central press organ of the socialists - the newspaper "Avanti!" ("Forward!"). It was a huge career leap. Now he had the opportunity to address in his articles to the entire multi-million people of Italy. And Mussolini brilliantly coped with this. Here his talent as a journalist was fully revealed. Suffice it to say that within a year and a half he managed to increase the circulation of the newspaper five times. She became the most read in the country.
Leaving the socialist camp
Soon followed his break with his former like-minded people. Since that time, the young Duce has headed the newspaper Narod Italia, which, despite its name, reflects the interests of the big bourgeoisie and the industrial oligarchy. In the same year, the illegitimate son of Benito Mussolini, Benito Albino, was born. He is destined to end his days in a mental hospital, where his mother, the common-law wife of the future dictator Ida Dalzer, will also die. After some time, Mussolini marries Rachele Gaudi, with whom he will have five children.
In 1915, Italy, which had remained neutral until that time, entered the war. Mussolini Benito, like many of his fellow citizens, ended up at the front. In February 1917, after serving for seventeen months, the Duce was commissioned for injury and returned to his previous activities. Two months later, the unexpected happened: Italy suffered a crushing defeat from the Austrian troops.
The Birth of the Fascist Party
But the national tragedy, which cost hundreds of thousands of lives, served as an impetus for Mussolini on the path to power. From the recent front-line soldiers, people embittered and exhausted by the war, he creates an organization called the "Combat Union". In Italian it sounds "fascio de combattimento". This very "fascio" gave the name to one of the most inhuman movements - fascism.
The first major meeting of the members of the union was held on March 23, 1919. About a hundred people took part in it. For five days there were speeches about the need to revive the pastthe greatness of Italy and the numerous demands concerning the establishment of civil liberties in the country. The members of this new organization, who called themselves fascists, appealed in their speeches to all Italians who are aware of the need for radical changes in the life of the state.
The Nazis are in power in the country
Such appeals were successful, and soon the Duce was elected to parliament, where thirty-five mandates belonged to the Nazis. Their party was officially registered in November 1921, and Mussolini Benito became its leader. More and more members join the ranks of the Nazis. In October 1927, columns of his adherents make the famous march of many thousands on Rome, as a result of which the Duce becomes prime minister and shares power only with King Victor Emmanuel III. The Cabinet of Ministers is formed exclusively from members of the Fascist Party. Skillfully manipulating, Mussolini managed to enlist the support of the Pope in his actions, and in 1929 the Vatican became an independent state.
Fight against dissent
Fascism Benito Mussolini continued to strengthen against the backdrop of widespread political repression - an integral feature of all totalitarian regimes. A "Special State Security Tribunal" was created, whose competence included the suppression of any manifestations of dissent. During its existence, from 1927 to 1943, it handled over 21,000 cases.
Despite the fact that the monarch remained on the throne, all power was concentrated in the hands of the Duce. He headed sevenministries, was the prime minister, head of the party and a number of law enforcement agencies. He managed to eliminate almost all constitutional restrictions on his power. In Italy, a police state was established. To top it off, a decree was issued banning all other political parties in the country and abolishing direct parliamentary elections.
Political propaganda
Like every dictator, Mussolini attached great importance to the organization of propaganda. In this direction, he achieved significant success, since he himself worked for a long time in the press and was fluent in the methods of influencing the consciousness of the masses. The propaganda campaign launched by him and his supporters took on the widest scale. Portraits of the Duce filled the pages of newspapers and magazines, watched from posters and advertising brochures, decorated boxes of chocolates and medicine packages. All of Italy was filled with images of Benito Mussolini. Quotes from his speeches were replicated in huge quantities.
Social programs and the fight against the mafia
But as a smart and far-sighted person, the Duce understood that one cannot earn strong authority among the people with propaganda alone. In this regard, he developed and implemented an extensive program to boost the country's economy and improve the living standards of Italians. First of all, measures were taken to combat unemployment, which made it possible to effectively increase the employment of the population. As part of his program, more than five thousand farms and five agricultural cities were built in a short time. For this purposedrained the Pontic marshes, a vast territory of which for centuries was only a breeding ground for malaria.
Thanks to the reclamation program carried out under the leadership of Mussolini, the country received an additional almost eight million hectares of arable land. Seventy-eight thousand peasants from the poorest regions of the country received fertile plots on them. During the first eight years of his reign, the number of hospitals in Italy quadrupled. Thanks to his social policy, Mussolini gained deep respect not only in his country, but also among the leaders of the leading states of the world. During his reign, the Duce managed to do the impossible - he practically destroyed the famous Sicilian mafia.
Military ties with Germany and entry into the war
In foreign policy, Mussolini hatched plans for the revival of the Great Roman Empire. In practice, this resulted in the armed seizure of Ethiopia, Albania and a number of Mediterranean territories. During the Spanish Civil War, the Duce sent significant forces to support General Franco. It was during this period that a fatal rapprochement began for him with Hitler, who also supported the Spanish nationalists. Their union finally took hold in 1937 during Mussolini's visit to Germany.
In 1939, an agreement was signed between Germany and Italy on the conclusion of a defensive-offensive alliance, as a result of which, on June 10, 1940, Italy enters the World War. Mussolini's troops take part in the capture of France and attack the Britishcolonies in East Africa, and in October they invade Greece. But soon the successes of the first days of the war were replaced by the bitterness of defeat. The troops of the anti-Hitler coalition intensified their actions in all directions, and the Italians retreated, losing the territories they had previously captured and suffering heavy losses. To make matters worse, on July 10, 1943, British units captured Sicily.
The collapse of the dictator
The former enthusiasm of the masses has been replaced by general discontent. The dictator was accused of political myopia, as a result of which the country was drawn into the war. They also remembered the usurpation of power, the suppression of dissent, and all the miscalculations in foreign and domestic policy that Benito Mussolini made before. The Duce was removed from all his posts by his own associates and arrested. Before the trial, he was kept in custody in one of the mountain hotels, but from it he was kidnapped by German paratroopers under the command of the famous Otto Skorzeny. Soon Germany occupied Italy.
Fate gave the former Duce the opportunity to head the puppet government of the republic created by Hitler for some more time. But the end was near. At the end of April 1945, the former dictator and his mistress Clara Petacci were captured by partisans while trying to illegally leave Italy with a group of his associates.
The execution of Benito Mussolini and his girlfriend followed on 28 April. They were shot on the outskirts of the village of Mezzegra. Later, their bodies were taken to Milan and hung by their feet in the town square. This is how Benito Mussolini ended his days, biographywhich is certainly unique in some ways, but in general is typical for most dictators.
