Brief biography of Benito Mussolini

It is important to have knowledge about the great personalities of contemporary history, this is the case of Benito Mussolini, whose best known facet is that he was the political leader of the fascist regime of Italy between 1922 and 1943. Next in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we will know in a summarized way those most important aspects of the life of this dictator who allied himself with Hitler during World War II. He keeps reading and knows the short biography of Benito Mussolini.

We start with this short biography of Benito Mussolini going to the beginning of his life. This Italian politician came from a humble family since his father was a blacksmith and his mother was a school teacher. He was a rebellious child, as he was expelled twice from different schools for fights with classmates. When he finished his studies he fled from Italy to Switzerland to get rid of compulsory military service, but soon had to return again to Italy after being expelled by problems with the authorities, as he forged his residence permit.

His first party affiliation was to Italian Socialist Party from which he was expelled when, in the warlike conflict of World War I, he was shown at first neutral even having signed and reached an agreement with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, thus forming the Triple Alliance; with time he suddenly changed his mind, entering the conflict with a totally bellicose position from the opposite side, the Triple Entente.

After the First World War, the countries of the victorious powers (including Italy) made sign a series of treaties to the countries that formed the Triple Entente with the consequences that they had to pay after said disaster. In most cases it was a matter of returning those territories invaded and that became part of their respective countries.

Italy was pushed aside by claiming some of its territories from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and, faced with such discontent, it encouraged the left-wing parties, blaming them for this event, creating the Fasci di Combattimento, that it was nothing more and nothing less than the origin of what will later be the National Fascist Party.

The situation after the First World War was marked by the economic crisis and the different workers uprisings. Fearful that a social revolution could take place, the fascists defended the adhesion national and joint action, Mussolini knew how to win their favor and, in the end, he was elected deputy.

The inability of the government to improve the situation in the country and the breakdown of parliament led to what was called "March on Rome ". His triumphal entry into the Roman capital accompanied by forty thousand fascists did not meet any opposition, but quite the opposite from the army and the government. Luigi Facta, until now Prime Minister and against all that, resigned causing the appointment of Mussolini by King Victor Emmanuel III.

The arrival of Mussolini to power

After the assassination of the socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti in 1924, it was as fascism ascended and came to power, Mussolini who was also known as the duce (Leader). He annihilated any form of opposition until he came to turn his government into a dictatorial regime supported by a large sector of the population and based on a propaganda system, he carried out great investments in infrastructures and the rescue of old purposes such as the conquest of present-day Ethiopia and annexation from Albania.

In this video of a PROFESSOR we discover the consequences of World War I.

When Hitler came to power in Germany, many of the ideas from which Nazism started came from Mussolini's Italian fascism so both dictators admired each other, so much so that they signed their alliance in the Pact of Steel.

The Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I caused discontent in the German Empire thus causing World War II. After his first victories, Italy also declared war on the allies together with Germany with the difference that his troops were defeated in Greece, Libya and West Africa as well as in the face of the advance of the allies to invade Italy, after the landing on the island of Sicily. The latter was the main reason for Víctor Manuel to give orders so that Mussolini was dismissed and imprisoned thus ending fascism in Italy in 1943.

Liberated by a command of German paratroopers, he created a Fascist Republic in some areas of the northern Italy occupied by Germans, however the advance of the allies made him flee to Swiss. There at the border he tried to cross camouflaged as if he were a German officer, however he was discovered by a member of the Resistance and the next day he was shot along with his lover Clara Petacci. Both bodies were exhibited as objects of mockery and humiliation in the Loreto square in Milan.

In this other article we will discover the causes and consequences of World War II.