These groups began waging campaigns of terrorism and intimidation against Italys leftist institutions at his behest. A woman stepping forward and pumping five bullets into his bodyfor my five dead sons, she said. Mussolini had formed an alliance with Hitler in 1939, and this ultimately brought about his downfall. His father was a blacksmith who wrote part-time as a socialist journalist, and his mother was a staunchly Catholic schoolteacher. German commandos crash-landed gliders into the side of the mountain behind the hotel before freeing Mussolini and airlifting him back to Munich, where he could confer with Hitler. This invigorated the crowd even more. Benito Mussolini was the fascist leader of Italy, appointed as prime minister after his march on Rome in 1922. Yes, there were achievements of a sort. It is unclear whether his objective was to attempt to cross the Swiss border or to go to the Valtellina; if it were the latter, he left the city without the thousands of supporters gathered in Milan intended to be his escort to the last stand in the Alps. At the same time, the corporative structure allowed the Mussolini regime to direct the nation's economic life and make decisions about production and distribution that were normally in the hands of the industrialists. In general, it was this loss of freedom that best describes the bargain the Italian people had made with Mussolini. This reign of terror came to a head on Aug. 13, 1944. [20], In any event, Longo instructed a communist partisan of the General Command, Walter Audisio, to go immediately to Dongo to carry out the order. [35][40][41] Audisio then shot them at 4:10p.m. with a submachine gun borrowed from Moretti, his own gun having jammed. WebMussolini was survived by his wife, Rachele Mussolini, two sons, Vittorio and Romano Mussolini, and his daughters Edda (the widow of Count Ciano) and Anna Maria. Furthermore, he had had a reputation for being reliable and trustworthy; he was also known to have disliked Audisio personally. Much has been made in the historical record of the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany in early March of 1945. [82], The theory has been criticised for lacking any serious evidence, particularly on the existence of the correspondence with Churchill. His father was an ardent socialist who worked part-time as a journalist for leftist publications. Setelah Jerman menyerah di Italia pada 1945, Benito Mussolini Then, the final indignity: the posthumous desecration. In the post-war years, the "official"[note 1] version of Mussolini's death has been questioned in Italy (but, generally, not internationally) in a manner that has drawn comparison with the John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories. To the hooks, like pigs!. Even worse, Great Britain now sent forces to Greece to oppose him. Though he tried to flee the country dressed as a German officer, Mussolini was killed, desecrated, and strung up at a gas station in Milan. He was still 80 miles away from the main British position at Mersa Matruh! The tee-totaling, vegetarian Hitler had a quiet last lunch, shook hands with the remaining staff, and that afternoon committed suicide with his wife on a couch in his private sitting room. In his 20s, he ran a series of newspapers that amounted to propaganda sheets for his increasingly extreme political views. After this look at Benito Mussolinis death, read about Gabriele DAnnunzio, the Italian writer who inspired Mussolinis rise to fascism. One of the new regime's primary goals was to win military glory for Italy, to restore Italy to the grandeur of ancient times. His body remained a potent symbol after his death, causing it to be either revered by supporters or treated with contempt and disrespect by opponents, and assuming a broader political significance. Enter Rachele Mussolini or Donna Rachele, as she became known to the world. With German SS soldiers looking on, Mussolinis men opened fire and killed them. WebDuring the Second World War, there was one man who was idolised and best friends with Adolf Hitler. By 1945, Germany was Then, they took to beating and kicking it. [51], Their bodies were left in a heap, and by 9:00a.m. a considerable crowd had gathered. I read utter exhaustion, but not fear Mussolini seemed completely lacking in will, spiritually dead. Despite Italy becoming the first ally of the Fhrer, this fact was downplayed when they surrendered to the Allies at the end of 1943. Benito Mussolini lies dead in Milans Piazza Loroto with his mistress, Clara Petacci. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Claras brother, Marcello Petacci, was also shot dead while swimming in Lake Como, trying to escape. Two days into their trek, they were identified by a group of partisans, which was probably inevitable. On April 25th, he, his paramour Petacci, a small convoy of bitter-enders, and a handful of German guards left Milan and headed north towards Lake Como on the Swiss border. [71] This remained the position until May 1957, when the newly appointed Prime Minister, Adone Zoli, agreed to Mussolini's re-interment at his place of birth in Predappio, in Romagna. [60][61] Earlier that day, Hitler had recorded in his Last Will and Testament that he intended to choose death rather than be captured by the enemy or fall into the hands of "the masses" to become "a spectacle arranged by Jews". https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benito-Mussolini, Jewish Virtual Library - Biography of Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Biography of Benito Mussolini, The National WWII Museum - Death of the Duce, Benito Mussolini, History Learning Site - Biography of Benito Mussolini, Benito Mussolini - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Benito Mussolini - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). His bald head, deeply set jaw, and piercing brown eyes gave him away. Differing accounts exist of who made the decision that Mussolini should be summarily executed. Hitler, for one, heard the news on the radio and vowed to not have his corpse desecrated in the same fashion as Mussolinis. The death of Benito Mussolini in Lombardy. From today onward we are all Italians and nothing but Italians, he once said. Mussolini named the fasci di combattimentoparamilitary groups which were largely under his control and from which his movement derived its own name, fascismoafter the Latin word fasces, which was the bundle of wooden sticks topped with an axe-head that ancient Roman authority figures attendants would carry to distinguish their rank. The corpses were pelted with vegetables, spat at, urinated on, shot at and kicked; Mussolini's face was disfigured by beatings. In this case, its hard to argue with the New York Times: a fitting end to a wretched life.. In February 1929 he signed a Concordat with the Vatican, the Lateran Treaty, which brought to an end the hostility between the Church and the Italian government that dated back to 1870, when the Italian state had seized the Papal States. Cursing. Faces of European History: Fact or Fiction? [2], Shortly after the Armistice, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces, and Hitler installed him as leader of the Italian Social Republic, a German puppet state set up in northern Italy and based at the town of Sal near Lake Garda. And Il Duce was also beginning to realize that Italys military was woefully under-classed. After the defeat of the Italian Army in Russia, Mussolini was removed as head of state and imprisoned. Hegel, Karl Kautsky, and Georges Sorel, picking out what appealed to him and discarding the rest, forming no coherent political philosophy of his own yet impressing his companions as a potential revolutionary of uncommon personality and striking presence. When he returned to Italy in 1904, even the Roman newspapers had started to mention his name. Then, in September, an Italian army of 130,000 men under Marshal Rodolfo Graziani invaded Egypt from the Italian colony of Libya. Rachele Mussolini recalled that Il Duces excruciating silence hit her the hardest when the couple found out about Brunos accident. The next day, their captors brought the pair to the small town of Giulino de Mezzegra on the shores of Lake Como and executed them in a hail of machine gun fire. Benito Mussolinis reaction to Brunos death Family close to Benito Mussolini reported that the dictator was heartbroken at the loss of his second son. The intention was to prove the hypothesis that syphilis had caused insanity in him, but nothing resulted from the analysis;[58] no evidence of syphilis was found on his body either. It was alongside his longtime mistress, Clara Petacci, that he died, however. The Pact committed Italy and Germany to provide military and economic support in event of war. Consider this quick summary. Well, it didnt quite work out that way, as everyone knows. The documentary went on to claim that the later shootings at the Villa Belmonte were subsequently staged as part of the "cover up". Another few miles and Mussolini would have been free. American razor blades, it was said, were inadequate to cut his tough beard. Upon concluding Marx was correct on revolution following the war he began to make moves to become a dictator and enact widespread change. A cadre of 10 men unceremoniously dumped 18 bodies out of the back. It worked, and Mussolini was appointed prime minister that same year. They lived in two crowded rooms on the second floor of a small, decrepit palazzo; and, because Mussolinis father spent much of his time discussing politics in taverns and most of his money on his mistress, the meals that his three children ate were often meagre. [81][88] Commenting on the RAI television documentary in 2004, Christopher Woods, researcher for the official history of the SOE, dismissed these claims saying that "it's just love of conspiracy-making". [75] Comparisons have been made with the John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories,[20] and it has been described as the Italian equivalent of that speculation. Growing closeness to Hitler was a kind of fatal embrace for Mussolini. We want this, even though we think an execution platoon is too much of an honour for this man. Finally, in December, a British force under General Richard OConnor attacked Graziani at Sidi Barrani. On 28 April 1945, Benito Mussolini died. He once more became a schoolmaster, this time in the Venetian Alps, north of Udine, where he lived, so he confessed, a life of moral deterioration. But soon tiring of so wasteful a life, he returned to trade-union work, to journalism, and to extreme politics, which led yet again to arrest and imprisonment. [30], Although several conflicting versions and theories of how Mussolini and Petacci died were put forward after the war, the account of Walter Audisio, or at least its essential components, remains the most credible and is sometimes referred to in Italy as the "official" version. British war plans in the 1930s, in fact, flirted with abandoning the entire Mediterranean to Mussolini in the event of a conflict, so worried were the British that they could not resist his attacks. On 29 April 1945, the bodies of Mussolini, Petacci and the other executed Fascists were loaded into a van and moved south to Milan. The Week How Did Italys Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini Die? Throughout the 1920s, Mussolini remade Italy in his image. World War II began later that year in September. Four months later it was recovered by the authorities who then kept it hidden for the next eleven years. In it, he outlined the major political philosophies of nationalism and militarism and violent extremism that would direct his later life. Thus Mussolini could only watch, align himself with Hitler fully, and declare war against Germanys enemies. WebMussolini - Key takeaways. However, the "official" explanation, with Audisio as Mussolini's executioner, remains the most credible narrative. In later years he expressed pride in his humble origins and often spoke of himself as a man of the people. The Mussolini family was, in fact, less humble than he claimedhis father, a part-time socialist journalist as well as a blacksmith, was the son of a lieutenant in the National Guard, and his mother was a schoolteacherbut the Mussolinis were certainly poor. In fact, there has never been a determination by any governmental or judicial authority of a particular version of events. Fascists dug up Il Duces body on Easter Sunday of 1946. [60] However, Hugh Trevor-Roper believed that this was improbable as it was unlikely that the details would have been reported to Hitler and, in any event, he had already decided on his course of action. Higher! Consequenses For the Mussolini Regime. The New York Times After Mussolini. WebIn 1924 Mussolinis henchmen kidnapped and murdered the Socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti, who had become one of fascisms most effective critics in parliament. Wikimedia CommonsA macabre autopsy photo of Benito Mussolini and his mistress in a Milan morgue. And by the mid-1930s, he began truly looking to assert his power beyond Italys borders. Even in death, his mouth couldnt be shut. Fascists rounded up 15 suspected anti-Fascist partisans, or people loyal to the new Italy, in Milans Piazzale Loreto. He claimed that on 28 April he convened a "war tribunal" in Dongo comprising Lampredi, Bellini delle Stelle, Michele Moretti and Lazzaro with himself as president. [46][note 4], During his dictatorship, representations of Mussolini's bodyfor example pictures of him engaged in physical labour either bare-chested or half-nakedformed a central part of fascist propaganda. [6] Although each of these accounts vary in detail, they are consistent on the main facts. Order was restored to Italian economic life, and old days of strikes and factory occupations were ended. /*-->