Another Benito Mussolini :: essays research papers

Benito Mussolini was born in Predappio on July 29, 1883, the son of a socialist blacksmith. Largely self-educated, he became a schoolteacher and socialist journalist in northern Italy. In 1910 he married Rachele Guidi, who bore him five children. Mussolini was jailed for his opposition to Italy's war in Libya. Soon after that, he was named editor of Avanti!, the Socialist Party newspaper in Milan. When World War I began, in 1914, Mussolini first denounced it as 'imperialist," but he soon reversed himself and called for Italy's entry on the Allied side. Expelled from the Socialist Party, he started his own newspaper in Milan, // Popolo d’ltalia, which translates ‘The People of Italy’, which later became the organ of the Fascist movement. When Fascists marched on Rome, King Victor Emmanuel III invited Mussolini to form a coalition government on October 28, 1922. By 1926 the Fascist leader had transformed the country into a single-party, totalitarian regime. In his new "corporative state," employers and workers were organized into party-controlled groups representing different sectors of the economy. The system preserved capitalism and expanded social services, but abolished free trade unions and the right to strike. The Lateran pacts with the Vatican ended a half-century of friction between church and state and proved to be long lasting. Another enduring legacy of fascism was a system of industrial holding companies financed by the state. Adopting an aggressive foreign policy, Mussolini defied the League of Nations and conquered Ethiopia in 1936. This won him acclaim in almost every sector of the populace. II Duce's popularity declined, however, after he sent troops to help General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War, this linked Italy to Nazi Germany, enacted anti-Jewish laws, and invaded Albania. Because of military unpreparedness, Mussolini did not enter World War II until June 1940, when the Germans had overrun France. Italy fought the British in Africa, invaded Greece, and joined the Germans in carving up Yugoslavia, attacking the Soviet Union, and declaring war on the United States. After Italy's many military defeats, King Victor Emmanuel dismissed Mussolini on July 25, 1943, and in September obtained an armistice with