Dictators of World War II
Benito Mussolini was the dictator of Italy from 1925 until his arrest in 1943. In 1912, Mussolini became editor of the Italian Socialist Party's newspaper. He later resigned from that position because of heavy criticism and founded his own newspaper. In this newspaper, he urged Italy to fight against the Austria-Hungarian Empire. This caused Mussolini to be expelled from the Socialist Party. When Italy entered World War I in 1915, Mussolini served in the Italian army until he was wounded by a mortar in 1917. In 1919, Mussolini founded the Fasci di Combattimento, meaning Combat Groups in Italian. This appealed to veterans of war. The movement supported government control of natural resources. In 1921, this program was transformed into the Fascist Party, which had a more conservative program in order to gain more support. Many Italians who supported Mussolini used violence to scare and repel anti-fascists groups. In 1922, Mussolini's supporters marched on Rome and forced King Victor Emmanuel III to appoint Mussolini as Italy's prime minister. In 1925, Mussolini declared a dictatorship and banned all other political parties. He also enforced government control of industry, schools, press and other public facilities Mussolini was not hesitant to enter World War II. In 1940, Italy had entered the war, siding with the axis powers of Germany and Japan. As the war progressed, Mussolini started to expand Italy's boundaries. The Italians invaded France, North Africa, and Greece. The Italian army faced heavy resistance when trying to invade the Soviet Union, and later on, the United States entered World War II and helped stop Germany and Italy. In 1943, the Italian government opposed Mussolini and had him arrested. Later on, German commandos rescued Mussolini, where he was the head of a small puppet government in Northern Italy. In 1945 after the German forces were collapsing in Italy, Mussolini was shot and killed while trying to escape to Switzerland. |