Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store

Mussolini becomes Absolute Dictator IL Duce

Reviewed by:
ffImage
hightlight icon
highlight icon
highlight icon
share icon
copy icon
SearchIcon

Who was Mussolini?

Benito Mussolini, who was also called dictator Mussolini, was an Italian politician who led the country's fascist dictator from 1925 to 1945. After beginning as a revolutionary socialist, he created the paramilitary fascist movement in 1919 and became Prime Minister in 1922. He linked himself with Adolf Hitler during World War II, relying on the German dictator to keep him in power. He was known to his countrymen as "Il Duce" (the Leader) or simply "Mussolini." Mussolini was killed by firing squad shortly after the German surrender in Italy in 1945.


Mussolini Becomes Absolute Dictator Il Duce

Mussolini's clear pride in becoming the youngest prime minister in Italian history (on October 31, 1922) was not misplaced. His exceptional and sudden success was due in part to his own personality, native instinct and shrewd calculation, astute opportunism, and his unique gifts as an agitator, but it was also due to his own personality, native instinct and shrewd calculation, astute opportunism, and his unique gifts as an agitator. He presented the king with a list of ministers, the majority of whom were not members of his party, in order to show that he was not only the leader of fascism, which are said as the mussolini views on fascism, but also the head of an united Italy.


However, he made it clear that he meant to govern with authority. For a year, Mussolini had full dictatorial powers, and during that year, he pushed through a measure that gave the Fascists a majority in parliament. His personal power was secured by the elections of 1924, which were undoubtedly fraudulent. In this manner, mussolini becomes absolute dictator il duce.


(Image will be uploaded soon)


Mussolini Views On Fascism

Many Italians, particularly those in the middle class, were delighted with his power. They were fed up with strikes and riots, with fascism's flamboyant techniques and mediaeval trappings, and were willing to submit to dictatorship if the national economy could be stabilised and their country's honour restored. They viewed Mussolini as the one man who could bring order out of chaos. Soon after, a sense of order was restored, and the Fascists began ambitious public works projects.


However, the costs of this order were enormous. The fragile democratic system of Italy was replaced with a one-party state. The free press, opposition parties, and trade unions were all outlawed. The right to free speech was suppressed. The population was kept under observation by a network of spies and secret policemen. Moderate Liberals and Catholics, as well as Socialists, were attacked by the repression. Giacomo Matteotti, a Socialist deputy who had become one of fascism's most effective critics in parliament, was kidnapped and murdered by Mussolini's henchmen in 1924. Mussolini was shaken by the Matteotti crisis, but he managed to keep his hold on power.


This is the detailed information on mussolini views on fascism (dictator mussolini).


(Image will be uploaded soon)


Public leaders all across the world hailed Mussolini as a genius and a superman. His achievements were seen as little short of miraculous. He had united and re-energized his divided and depressed country; he had undertaken social reforms and public works without losing industrialists' and landowners' support; and he had even managed to reunite with the papacy. The reality, on the other hand, was far less rosy than the propaganda suggested. The Italian state's and economy's major structural problems went unresolved, and little was done to address them.


(Image will be uploaded soon)


Mussolini may have lived to be a hero till his death if not for his callous xenophobia and arrogance, his misunderstanding of Italy's fundamental needs, and his aspirations of empire, which led him to seek foreign conquests. His eye rested first on Ethiopia, which Italy invaded in October 1935 after ten months of planning, rumours, threats, and hesitations. Following that, the Italians began a violent campaign of colonial conquest, dropping tonnes of gas bombs on the Ethiopian population. Europe expressed its horror, but then kept quiet.


The League of Nations imposed sanctions, but took care to ensure that the list of prohibited exports did not include those that may trigger a European war, such as oil. Mussolini said that if the League had imposed oil sanctions, he would have had to leave Ethiopia within a week. But Mussolini had no such problems, and on the night of May 9, 1936, he announced to a gathering of over 400,000 crowd standing in Piazza Venezia in Rome that “in the 14th year of the Fascist era,” a great event had been accomplished: Italy had its empire. This was most likely the peak of public support for the regime.


(Image will be uploaded soon)


Italy has acquired a new ally as well. Adolf Hitler, intent on pursuing his own imperial ambitions in Austria, had openly promoted Mussolini's African adventure, and Germany had been the only powerful country in Western Europe that had not turned against Mussolini under Hitler's leadership. The way had been cleared for the Pact of Steel, a Rome-Berlin Axis and a deadly alliance between Hitler and Mussolini that would ultimately ruin both of them.


Following Germany's example, Mussolini's government passed anti-Semitic laws in 1938 that discriminated against Jews in all aspects of public and private life, preparing the way for the deportation of roughly 20% of Italy's Jews to German death camps during WWII.


Did You Know?

Mussolini has given his valuable contribution to World War II. 


While Mussolini recognised that peace was necessary for Italy's well-being, that a long war would be disastrous, and that he could not "march blindly with the Germans," he was afflicted by concerns, where the Germans "might start the good business cheaply" and also that he would lose his "part of the booty" if he did not intervene on their side in World War II.


Count Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini's foreign secretary and son-in-law, wrote that following a long, inconclusive discussion at the Palazzo Venezia, Mussolini agreed at first that Italy should not go to war, "then he told that honour compelled him to march with Germany."

FAQs on Mussolini becomes Absolute Dictator IL Duce

1. Discuss Mussolini's Rise to Power?

By the end of the year, Mussolini had run for President as the Fascist candidate, but had been defeated by the Socialists in a majority. Mussolini was arrested two days later for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government by collecting arms. He was released with no charge on the next day itself.


In 1921, in the midst of rising violence and chaos, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy dissolved Parliament. The Fascists won a massive win in the elections, with Mussolini being elected as a deputy in Parliament. The party name was changed to Partito Nazionale Fascista.

2. When did Mussolini join the Italian army?

Mussolini joined the Italian army during World War I in 1915. Before being dismissed due to a war wound, he fought on the front lines and rose to the rank of corporal. Mussolini returned to the newspapers in 1918, calling for the seizure of the Italian government by a dictator. The government was forced to order the internment of foreigners they considered enemies due to pressure from Mussolini and his followers.


Mussolini gathered the numerous fascist groups into a national organisation named Fasci Italiani di Combattimento after the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, and his displeasure with it. The Italian Fascists courted veterans of the war and incited violence against socialists. In his newspaper offices, Mussolini kept weapons and explosives. Considering his valuable contributions, he was titled as dictator Mussolini.