How tall was mussolini
Hitler's invasion of Poland and declaration of war with Britain and France forced Italy into war, however, and exposed weaknesses in its military. Greece and North Africa soon fell, and only German military intervention in early saved Mussolini from a military coup. Roosevelt devised a plan to take Italy out of the war and force Germany to move its troops to the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union.
Allied forces secured a beachhead in Sicily and began marching up the Italian peninsula. With pressure mounting, Mussolini was forced to resign on July 25, , and was arrested; German commandos later rescued him. Mussolini then moved his government to northern Italy, hoping to regain his influence. On June 4, , Rome was liberated by Allied forces, who marched on to take control of Italy.
Mussolini and his mistress, Claretta Petacci, were executed on April 28, , in Mezzegra near Dongo , Italy, and their bodies were hung on display in a Milan plaza. Following the liberation of Rome by Allied forces, the pair had attempted to escape to Switzerland but were captured by the Italian underground on April 27, The Italian masses greeted Mussolini's death without regret.
Mussolini had promised his people Roman glory, but his megalomania had overcome his common sense, bringing them only war and misery. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! The First Family on Inauguration Day. Donald Trump. JD Vance. Jimmy Carter. Included in Italian-controlled France were most of Nice and other southeastern counties.
The Italians invaded Egypt , bombed Mandatory Palestine , and attacked the British in their Sudan , Kenya and British Somaliland colonies in what would become known as the East African Campaign ; [ ] British Somaliland was conquered and became part of Italian East Africa on 3 August , and there were Italian advances in the Sudan and Kenya with initial success.
Advances were successful, but the Italians stopped at Sidi Barrani waiting for logistic supplies to catch up. Events in Africa had changed by early as Operation Compass had forced the Italians back into Libya , causing high losses in the Italian Army. Despite putting up some stiff resistance, they were overwhelmed at the Battle of Keren , and the Italian defence started to crumble with a final defeat in the Battle of Gondar.
When addressing the Italian public on the events, Mussolini was open about the situation, saying "We call bread bread and wine wine, and when the enemy wins a battle it is useless and ridiculous to seek, as the English do in their incomparable hypocrisy, to deny or diminish it. In other words, we should take steps to ensure that political and ethnic frontiers coincide".
Mussolini first learned of Operation Barbarossa after the invasion of the Soviet Union had begun on 22 June , and was not asked by Hitler to involve himself. A night telephone call from Ribbentrop. He is overjoyed about the Japanese attack on America. He is so happy about it that I am happy with him, though I am not too sure about the final advantages of what has happened.
One thing is now certain, that America will enter the conflict and that the conflict will be so long that she will be able to realize all her potential forces. This morning I told this to the King who had been pleased about the event. He ended by admitting that, in the long run, I may be right. Mussolini was happy, too. For a long time he has favored a definite clarification of relations between America and the Axis.
Italian forces had also achieved some victories suppressing partisan activities in Yugoslavia, Greece, Albania and in Montenegro. In North Africa, together with German forces. Italian forces would drive the British forces out of Libya during the Battle of Gazala and pushed towards to Egypt with the aim of capturing Alexandria and the Suez Canal, but the offensive was halted at El Alamein in summer of Italian forces was severly defeated by the British and Commonwealth forces and got driven out of Egypt, the British and Commonwealth forces would drive the Italians until January when the capital of the Italian Libya, Tripoli fell into the Allies.
Italian forces would use Tunisia as a base of military operations for the Tunisian campaign. Although Mussolini was aware that Italy, whose resources were reduced by the campaigns of the s, was not ready for a long war, he opted to remain in the conflict to not abandon the occupied territories and the fascist imperial ambitions.
By , Italy's military position had become untenable. Axis forces in North Africa were defeated in the Tunisian Campaign in early Italy suffered major setbacks on the Eastern Front and in the Allied invasion of Sicily. Factories all over Italy were brought to a virtual standstill because raw materials were lacking.
Colonnello valero mussolini biography wikipedia
There was a chronic shortage of food, and what food was available was being sold at nearly confiscatory prices. Mussolini's once-ubiquitous propaganda machine lost its grip on the people; a large number of Italians turned to Vatican Radio or Radio London for more accurate news coverage. Discontent came to a head in March with a wave of labour strikes in the industrial north—the first large-scale strikes since The German presence in Italy had sharply turned public opinion against Mussolini; when the Allies invaded Sicily, the majority of the public there welcomed them as liberators.
Mussolini feared that with Allied victory in North Africa, Allied armies would come across the Mediterranean and attack Italy. The Allies landed in Sicily on 10 July , and within a few days it was obvious the Italian army was on the brink of collapse. This led Hitler to summon Mussolini to a meeting in Feltre on 19 July By this time, Mussolini was so shaken from stress that he could no longer stand Hitler's boasting.
His mood darkened further when that same day, the Allies bombed Rome —the first time that city had ever been the target of enemy bombing. Several of his colleagues were close to revolt, and Mussolini was forced to summon the Grand Council on 24 July This was the first time the body had met since the start of the war. When he announced that the Germans were thinking of evacuating the south, Grandi launched a blistering attack on him.
This motion carried by a 19—8 margin. He did, however, ask Grandi to consider the possibility that this motion would spell the end of Fascism. The vote, although significant, had no de jure effect, since in a Constitutional Monarchy the prime minister was only responsible to the king and only the king could dismiss the prime minister. Despite this sharp rebuke, Mussolini showed up for work the next day as usual.
He allegedly viewed the Grand Council as merely an advisory body and did not think the vote would have any substantive effect. By then, Victor Emmanuel had already decided to sack him; the king had arranged an escort for Mussolini and had the government building surrounded by carabinieri. Mussolini was unaware of these moves by the king and tried to tell him about the Grand Council meeting.
Victor Emmanuel cut him off and formally dismissed him from office, although guaranteeing his immunity. The police took Mussolini in a Red Cross ambulance car, without specifying his destination and assuring him that they were doing it for his own safety. People rejoiced because they believed that the end of Mussolini also meant the end of the war.
In an effort to conceal his location from the Germans, Mussolini was moved around: first to Ponza , then to La Maddalena , before being imprisoned at Campo Imperatore , a mountain resort in Abruzzo where he was completely isolated. Badoglio kept up the appearance of loyalty to Germany, and announced that Italy would continue fighting on the side of the Axis.
However, he dissolved the Fascist Party two days after taking over and began negotiating with the Allies. Its announcement five days later threw Italy into chaos; German troops seized control in Operation Achse. As the Germans approached Rome, Badoglio and the king fled with their main collaborators to Apulia , putting themselves under the protection of the Allies, but leaving the Italian Army without orders.
Several thousand Italian troops joined the Allies to fight against the Germans; most others deserted or surrendered to the Germans; some refused to switch sides and joined the Germans. The Badoglio government agreed to a political truce with the predominantly leftist Partisans for the sake of Italy and to rid the land of the Nazis. Three days after his rescue in the Gran Sasso raid, Mussolini was taken to Germany for a meeting with Hitler in Rastenburg at his East Prussian headquarters.
Despite his public support, Hitler was clearly shocked by Mussolini's dishevelled and haggard appearance as well as his unwillingness to go after the men in Rome who overthrew him. His new regime was much reduced in territory; in addition to losing the Italian lands held by the Allies and Badoglio's government, the provinces of Bolzano , Belluno and Trento were placed under German administration in the Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills , while the provinces of Udine , Gorizia , Trieste , Pola now Pula , Fiume now Rijeka , and Ljubljana Lubiana in Italian were incorporated into the German Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral.
Additionally, German forces occupied the Dalmatian provinces of Split Spalato and Kotor Cattaro , which were subsequently annexed by the Croatian fascist regime. I am not here to renounce even a square meter of state territory. We will go back to war for this. And we will rebel against anyone for this. Where the Italian flag flew, the Italian flag will return.
And where it has not been lowered, now that I am here, no one will have it lowered. Although he insisted in public that he was in full control, he knew he was a puppet ruler under the protection of his German liberators—for all intents and purposes, the Gauleiter of Lombardy. He told one of his colleagues that being sent to a concentration camp would be preferable.
One of those executed was his son-in-law, Galeazzo Ciano.
Colonnello valero mussolini biography
As head of state and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Italian Social Republic, Mussolini used much of his time to write his memoirs. Along with his autobiographical writings of , these writings would be combined and published by Da Capo Press as My Rise and Fall. In an interview in January by Madeleine Mollier, a few months before he was captured and executed, he stated flatly: "Seven years ago, I was an interesting person.
Now, I am little more than a corpse. Yes, madam, I am finished. My star has fallen. I have no fight left in me. I work and I try, yet know that all is but a farce I await the end of the tragedy and—strangely detached from everything—I do not feel any more an actor. I feel I am the last of spectators. Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci set out for Switzerland, [ ] intending to board a plane and escape to Spain.
Petacci's brother posed as a Spanish consul. With the spread of the news of the arrest, several telegrams arrived at the command of the National Liberation Committee for Northern Italy from the Office of Strategic Services headquarters in Siena with the request that Mussolini be entrusted to Allied forces.
Benito Mussolini, his main Fascist associates and all persons suspected of having committed crimes of war or similar crimes, whose names are on the lists that will be delivered by the United Nations and which now or in the future are in territory controlled by the Allied Military Command or by the Italian Government, will be immediately arrested and handed over to the United Nations forces.
The next day, Mussolini and Petacci were both summarily shot, along with most of the members of their man train, primarily ministers and officials of the Italian Social Republic. The shootings took place in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra and were conducted by a partisan leader with the nom de guerre Colonnello Valerio. His real identity is unknown, but conventionally he is thought to have been Walter Audisio , who always claimed to have carried out the execution, though another partisan controversially alleged that Colonnello Valerio was Luigi Longo , subsequently a leading communist politician.
On 29 April , the bodies of Mussolini, Petacci, and the other executed fascists were loaded into a van and moved south to Milan. At a. The piazza had been renamed "Piazza Quindici Martiri" Fifteen Martyrs' Square in honour of fifteen Italian partisans recently executed there. After being kicked and spat upon, the bodies were hung upside down from the roof of a service station [ ] [ ] and stoned from below by civilians.
This was done both to discourage any fascists from continuing the fight and as an act of revenge for the hanging of partisans in the same place by Axis authorities. The corpse of the deposed leader was subject to ridicule and abuse. Fascist loyalist Achille Starace was captured and sentenced to death, then taken to the Piazzale Loreto and shown the body of Mussolini, which he saluted just before being shot.
His body was strung up beside Mussolini's. Mussolini's first wife was Ida Dalser , whom he married in Trento in The couple had a son the following year and named him Benito Albino Mussolini. In December , Mussolini married Rachele Guidi , who had been his mistress since Due to his upcoming political ascendency, the information about his first marriage was suppressed, and both his first wife and son were later persecuted.
Mussolini had several mistresses, among them Margherita Sarfatti and his final companion, Clara Petacci. Mussolini had many brief sexual encounters with female supporters, as reported by his biographer Nicholas Farrell. Imprisonment may have been the cause of Mussolini's claustrophobia. He refused to enter the Blue Grotto and preferred large rooms like his 18 by 12 by 12 m 60 by 40 by 40 feet office at the Palazzo Venezia.
In addition to his native Italian, Mussolini spoke English, French, and sufficient German to dispense with an interpreter. This was notable at the Munich Conference, as no other national leader spoke anything other than his native language; Mussolini was described as effectively being the "chief interpreter". Mussolini was raised by a devoutly Catholic mother [ ] and an anti-clerical father.
His father never attended. Mussolini became anti-clerical like his father. As a young man, he "proclaimed himself to be an atheist [ ] and several times tried to shock an audience by calling on God to strike him dead. He considered religion a disease of the psyche, and accused Christianity of promoting resignation and cowardice.
Mussolini was an admirer of Friedrich Nietzsche. According to Denis Mack Smith , "In Nietzsche he found justification for his crusade against the Christian virtues of humility, resignation, charity, and goodness. Mussolini made vitriolic attacks against Christianity and the Catholic Church, which he accompanied with provocative remarks about the consecrated host, and about a love affair between Christ and Mary Magdalene.
He denounced socialists who were tolerant of religion, or who had their children baptised, and called for socialists who accepted religious marriage to be expelled from the party. He denounced the Catholic Church for "its authoritarianism and refusal to allow freedom of thought Despite making such attacks, Mussolini tried to win popular support by appeasing the Catholic majority in Italy.
In , Mussolini saw to it that three of his children were given communion. In , he had a priest perform a religious marriage ceremony for himself and his wife Rachele, whom he had married in a civil ceremony 10 years earlier. After this conciliation, he claimed the Church was subordinate to the State, and "referred to Catholicism as, in origin, a minor sect that had spread beyond Palestine only because grafted onto the organization of the Roman empire.
Mussolini publicly reconciled with the Pope Pius XI in , but "took care to exclude from the newspapers any photography of himself kneeling or showing deference to the Pope. In Mussolini began reasserting his anti-clericalism. He would sometimes refer to himself as an "outright disbeliever", and once told his cabinet that " Islam was perhaps a more effective religion than Christianity" and that the "papacy was a malignant tumor in the body of Italy and must 'be rooted out once and for all', because there was no room in Rome for both the Pope and himself.
After his fall from power in , Mussolini began speaking "more about God and the obligations of conscience", although "he still had little use for the priests and sacraments of the Church".
Colonnello valero mussolini biography death
Over the span of his career, Mussolini's views and policies regarding Jews and antisemitism were often inconsistent, contradictory, and radically shifted depending on the situation. Most historians have generally labeled him as a political opportunist when it came to the treatment of the Jews rather than following a sincere belief. Mussolini considered Italian Jews to be Italians, but this belief may have been influenced more by his anti-clericalism and the general mood of Italy at the time, which denounced the abusive treatment of the Jews in the Roman Ghetto by the Papal States until the Unification of Italy.
Mussolini blamed the Russian Revolution of on "Jewish vengeance" against Christianity with the remark "Race does not betray race Bolshevism is being defended by the international plutocracy. That is the real truth. The truth is that Bolshevism is leading to the utter ruin of the Jews of Eastern Europe. In the early s, Mussolini stated that Fascism would never raise a " Jewish Question " and in an article he wrote he stated "Italy knows no antisemitism and we believe that it will never know it", and then elaborated, "let us hope that Italian Jews will continue to be sensible enough so as not to give rise to antisemitism in the only country where it has never existed.
The relationship between Mussolini and Adolf Hitler was a contentious one early on. While Hitler cited Mussolini as an influence and privately expressed great admiration for him, [ ] Mussolini had little regard for Hitler, especially after the Nazis had his friend and ally, Engelbert Dollfuss , the Austrofascist dictator of Austria, killed in With the assassination of Dollfuss, Mussolini attempted to distance himself from Hitler by rejecting much of the racialism particularly Nordicism and antisemitism espoused by the Nazis.
Mussolini during this period rejected biological racism , at least in the Nazi sense, and instead emphasised " Italianising " the parts of the Italian Empire he had desired to build. When discussing the Nazi decree that the German people must carry a passport with either Aryan or Jewish racial affiliation marked on it, in , Mussolini wondered how they would designate membership in the "Germanic race":.
But which race? Does there exist a German race? Has it ever existed? Will it ever exist? Reality, myth, or hoax of the theorists? Ah well, we respond, a Germanic race does not exist. Various movements. We repeat. Does not exist. We don't say so. Scientists say so. Hitler says so. When German-Jewish journalist Emil Ludwig asked about his views on race in , Mussolini exclaimed:.
It is a feeling, not a reality: ninety-five percent, at least, is a feeling. Nothing will ever make me believe that biologically pure races can be shown to exist today. Amusingly enough, not one of those who have proclaimed the "nobility" of the Teutonic race was himself a Teuton. In a speech given in Bari in , he reiterated his attitude towards the German ideology of Master race :.
Thirty centuries of history allow us to look with supreme pity on certain doctrines which are preached beyond the Alps by the descendants of those who were illiterate when Rome had Caesar , Virgil and Augustus. Though Italian Fascism varied its official positions on race from the s to , ideologically Italian Fascism did not originally discriminate against the Italian-Jewish community: Mussolini recognised that a small contingent had lived there "since the days of the Kings of Rome " and should "remain undisturbed".
By mid, the enormous influence Hitler now had over Mussolini became clear with the introduction of the Manifesto of Race. The Manifesto, which was closely modelled on the Nazi Nuremberg Laws , [ 82 ] stripped Jews of their Italian citizenship and with it any position in the government or professions.
The racial laws declared Italians to be part of the Aryan race and forbade sexual relations and marriages between Italians and those considered to be of an "inferior race", chiefly Jews and Africans. They could not own land over a certain value, serve in the armed forces, employ non-Jewish domestics, or belong to the Fascist party.
Their employment in banks, insurance companies, and public schools was forbidden. Even after the introduction of the racial laws , Mussolini continued to make contradictory statements about race. I don't believe a bit in the stupid antisemitic theory. I am carrying out my policy entirely for political reasons. Mussolini and the Italian Army in occupied regions openly opposed German efforts to deport Italian Jews to Nazi concentration camps.
These squads spread terror among Jews and partisans for a year and a half. In the power vacuum that existed during the first three or four months of the occupation, the semi-autonomous bands were virtually uncontrollable. Many were linked to individual high-ranking Fascist politicians. Informers betrayed their neighbours, squadristi seized Jews and delivered them to the German SS, and Italian journalists seemed to compete in the virulence of their anti-Semitic diatribes.
It has been widely speculated that Mussolini adopted the Manifesto of Race in for merely tactical reasons, to strengthen Italy's relations with Germany. Mussolini and the Italian military did not consistently apply the laws adopted in the Manifesto of Race. The Racial Manifesto could have been avoided.
It dealt with the scientific abstruseness of a few teachers and journalists, a conscientious German essay translated into bad Italian. It is far from what I have said, written and signed on the subject. I suggest that you consult the old issues of Il Popolo d'Italia. For this reason I am far from accepting Alfred Rosenberg 's myth.
Mussolini also reached out to the Muslims in his empire and in the predominantly Arab countries of the Middle East. Despite Mussolini's ostensible disbelief in biological racism , Fascist Italy implemented numerous laws rooted in such notions throughout its colonial empire on his orders as well as those of lower-ranking Fascist officials. These racist laws were much more rigorous and pervasive than those in other European colonies, comparable in scope and scale to those of South Africa during the Apartheid era.
Fascist Italy's segregationism further differed from that of other European colonies in that its impetus came not from within its colonies, as was usually the case, but from metropolitan Italy, specifically from Mussolini himself.
Mussolini fascism
Though many of these laws were ignored by local officials due to the difficulty of properly enforcing them, Mussolini frequently complained to subordinates upon hearing of instances of them being broken and saw the need to micromanage race relations as part of his ideological vision. A third son, Bruno , was killed in an air accident while flying a Piaggio P.
Alessandra Mussolini , granddaughter of Mussolini, is politically active in Italian right circles. She has been a member of the European Parliament for the far-right Social Alternative movement, a deputy in the Italian lower chamber and served in the Senate as a member of Silvio Berlusconi 's Forza Italia party. Her stepsister Rachele Mussolini is also active in politics through Brothers of Italy , the main Italian right-wing party; she is the daughter of Romano and his second wife Carla Maria Puccini.
Mussolini inspired and supported the international spread of fascist movements during the inter-war period. Historically, the largest neo-fascist party was the Italian Social Movement Movimento Sociale Italiano , which disbanded in and was replaced by National Alliance , a conservative party that distanced itself from Fascism its founder, former foreign minister Gianfranco Fini , declared during an official visit to Israel that Fascism was "an absolute evil".
Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. Dictator of Fascist Italy from to For other people named Mussolini, see Mussolini family. Ida Dalser. Rachele Guidi.
First Marshal of the Empire Corporal. This article is part of a series about. Political views. Historical events. Mussolini's father, Alessandro. Mussolini's mother, Rosa. Emigration to Switzerland and military service. Political journalist, intellectual and socialist. Expulsion from the Italian Socialist Party.
Beginning of Fascism and service in World War I. Formation of the National Fascist Party. Main articles: Fascism and Italian fascism. Main article: March on Rome. Appointment as Prime Minister. Main article: Fascist Italy. Organizational innovations. Mussolini wasn't the only one ready for a major change. World War I had left Italy in shambles and people were looking for a way to make the country strong again.
A wave of nationalism swept across Italy and many people began to form local nationalist groups. It was Mussolini who, on March 23, , personally assembled these groups into a single, national organization under his leadership. Mussolini called this new group Fasci di Combattimento the Fascist Party. Mussolini formed groups of marginalized ex-servicemen into squadristi.
In the summer of , the Blackshirts made a punitive march through the provinces of Ravenna, Forli, and Ferrara in northern Italy.
Francisco franco biography: Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, commonly known as "Il Duce," was an influential Italian dictator and the founder of the Fascist Party in Rising to prominence during a period of political instability in Italy, Mussolini served as the country’s prime minister from until
It was a night of terror; squads burned down the headquarters and homes of every member of both socialist and communist organizations. By September , the Blackshirts controlled most of northern Italy. On October 28, armed squads of Blackshirts marched on Rome. Although badly organized and poorly armed, the move left the parliamentary monarchy of King Victor Emmanuel III in confusion.
Mussolini, who had stayed behind in Milan, received an offer from the king to form a coalition government. Mussolini then proceeded to the capital supported by , men and wearing a black shirt. On October 31, , at the age of 39, Mussolini was sworn in as prime minister of Italy. After elections were held, Mussolini controlled enough seats in parliament to appoint himself Il Duce "the leader" of Italy.
On January 3, , with the backing of his Fascist majority, Mussolini declared himself dictator of Italy. For a decade, Italy prospered in peace. However, Mussolini was intent on turning Italy into an empire and to do that the country needed a colony. In October , Italy invaded Ethiopia. The conquest was brutal. Other European countries criticized Italy, especially for the nation's use of mustard gas.
In May , Ethiopia surrendered and Mussolini had his empire. This was the height of Mussolini's popularity; it all went downhill from there. Out of all the countries in Europe, Germany had been the only one to support Mussolini's attack on Ethiopia. In , Mussolini went to the front but did not actively participate in combat. Returning to a devastated Italy, he knew exactly what he wanted to do.
Having experienced life in the trenches, Mussolini understood the soldiers like no one else. The defeat in the Battle of Caporetto in and the economic devastation pushed society to a revolutionary state. On March 21, , Mussolini gathered about 60 radical nationalists and futurists in Milan, forming a new organization called the "Italian Combat Union".
Later, they became known as fascists, derived from the word "fascio", which means "union". In , the organization transformed into a political party and began its struggle for power in the Italian Parliament. The number of party members and sympathizers quickly grew, and the fascists soon became a powerful force. On October 27, , Mussolini organized the famous March on Rome, which was the first alarming sign for the political elite.
He left the capital, but not for long. On the same day, Mussolini arrived in Rome in a sleeper car. This event was later referred to as the "Revolution in a Sleeper Car". Despite the demonization of Benito Mussolini, he was perhaps the most ambiguous dictator of the 20th century. Seizing absolute power, he effectively sidelined Victor Emmanuel III and established a rigid authoritarian regime.
However, in the midst of chaos and confusion, his rule brought positive results. Mussolini began by encouraging private initiative and reducing state regulations. He introduced proportional taxation, denationalized tram lines, telephone and telegraph services, abolished rent control, and reduced social insurance.