formally established the Italian Fascist Party
and began his quest for political domination.
As Italy slipped deeper into a postwar eco-
nomic depression, Mussolini’s agitation and
rabble-rousing attracted larger audiences. His
calls for a strong central authority to restore
order was rewarded at the polls, and by 1922
this seemingly pretentious strongman was on
the verge of taking control of the government.
That year King Victor Emanuel III appointed
Mussolini prime minister, and he took charge
of a large right-wing coalition. To celebrate
his conquest, the fascists carefully orches-
trated a staged march on Rome, replete with
parades by paramilitary cadres known as
Blackshirts. By 1925, he had seized power and
was ruling as an absolute dictator.
Mussolini, now officially installed as il
duce (leader), cracked down on political op-
position while laying the foundation for an au-
thoritarian state. He also reorganized the
economy on a wartime footing, which created
badly needed jobs. Then he embarked on a se-
ries of military adventures abroad, consistent
with his dream of resurrecting the Roman
Empire. In 1935, he attacked Ethiopia in the
Horn of Africa, whose conquest spurred
world condemnation. When the Spanish Civil
War erupted in 1936, the Italians rushed in
land and air units on behalf of Gen. Francisco
Franco. This timely intervention facilitated
the ultimate fascist victory there in 1939. By
this time Mussolini also found himself in
league with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitlerof
Germany, whom he initially disliked and dis-
trusted. Even though the ideologies of fas-
cism and Nazism were not exactly identical,
they proved compatible enough to warrant an
alliance against Western democracies. Mus-
solini hoped that, in event of war, further con-
quests and the Caesar-like cult he promoted
would allow him to abolish the monarchy and
institute a totalitarian state. Therefore, in
1937 Italy and Germany concluded the Rome-
Berlin Axis Pact, which Japan would join in
- Thus, the destiny of Italy became inex-
tricably linked to that of Nazi Germany. To
further placate Hitler, Mussolini instituted his
own brand of anti-Semitism that, although
less virulent than the Nazi variety, was no less
reprehensible.
Over the next few years Mussolini’s contin-
uing conquest of Libya, Ethiopia, and Albania
made Italy the dominant Mediterranean
power. However, his industrial base had not
kept pace with that of the West, and Italian
military units were saddled with obsolete
technology and equipment. In fact, Italy’s re-
cent conquests left it forces exhausted and
overextended for what would follow. Once
Hitler commenced World War II by invading
Poland in September 1939—three years be-
fore Mussolini felt his nation was ready to
fight—he dallied nearly a year before entering
the fray. Italy did not commence hostilities
until June 1940, when it invaded France;
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill de-
nounced Mussolini as a “jackal.” But during
this foray and subsequent campaigns in the
Balkans, Italian armies fared poorly and had
to be rescued by the Germans. Throughout
1941, Italian forces in North Africa were also
roughly handled by the British until rein-
forced by the legendary Gen. Erwin Rommel
and his Afrika Korps. Oblivious to these short-
comings, Mussolini next committed several
thousand men and aircraft to Hitler’s ill-fated
invasion of Russia in June 1941. Then, in the
wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
(December 7, 1941), he compounded his
strategic weakness by declaring war upon the
previously neutral United States.
In the fall of 1942, U.S. forces under Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully landed in
North Africa and were marching east to meet
British forces under Field Marshal Bernard L.
Montgomery. German and Italian units under
Rommel chastised the newcomers at Kasser-
ine Pass in February 1943, but in the end the
Afrika Korps surrendered to the Allies. The
following summer, a combined American-
British task force stormed Sicily, which
spelled the end of Mussolini’s regime. At the
urging of King Emanuel, the Fascist Council
voted to strip him of his powers, and he was
deposed. Mussolini remained under house ar-MUSSOLINI, BENITO