Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ruled Italy for 21 years as a dictatorial prime minister. A difficult child from early childhood, he grew up disobedient and hot-tempered. Buche, as Mussolini was nicknamed, made a career for himself in the Italian Socialist Party. He was later expelled from this organization for supporting the World War. He then formed a fascist party to rebuild Italy with a strong European power.

After the March on Rome in October 1922, Benito becomes prime minister and gradually destroys all political opposition. He strengthened his position through a series of laws and turned Italy into a one-party power. Remained in power until 1943, when he was overthrown. He later became the leader of the Italian Social Republic, which was founded in the northern part of the state, which was fully supported by Hitler. He held his post until 1945.

Let's find out more about such an eccentric and mysterious person as Mussolini, whose biography is quite interesting.

early years

Amilcare Andrea was born in 1883 in the village of Varano di Costa (province of Forli-Cisena, Italy). Named after Benito Juarez, his middle name and patronymic were given to him in recognition of the Italian socialists Andrea Costa and Amilcare Cipriani. His father, Alessandro, was a blacksmith and a passionate socialist who devoted most of his free time to politics and spent the money he earned on mistresses. His mother, Rose, was a devout Catholic and teacher.

Benito is the eldest son of the family's three children. Despite the fact that he will become the twentieth century, he began to talk very late. In his youth, he amazed many people with his mental abilities, but at the same time he was terribly disobedient and capricious. His father instilled in him a passion for socialist politics and defiance of authority. Mussolini was expelled from schools several times, ignoring all demands for discipline and order. Once he stabbed an older boy, Mussolini, with a knife (his biography shows that he would show violence towards people more than once). However, he managed to obtain a teacher's certificate in 1901, after which he worked in his specialty for some time.

Mussolini's passion for socialism. Biography and life

In 1902, Benito moved to Switzerland to develop the socialist movement. He quickly gained a reputation as a wonderful rhetorician. Learned English and German. His participation in political demonstrations attracted the attention of Swiss authorities, which led to his expulsion from the country.

In 1904, Benito returned to Italy, where he continued to promote the Socialist Party. He was imprisoned for several months to find out who Mussolini was ideologically. After his release, he became editor of the newspaper Avanti (which means “forward”). This position allowed him to increase his influence on Italian society. In 1915 he married Rachel Gaidi. After some time, she gave birth to Benito five children.

Break with socialism

Mussolini condemned the participation but soon realized that this was a great opportunity for his country to become a great power. Differences of opinion caused Benito to quarrel with other socialists, and he was soon expelled from the organization.

In 1915 he joined the ranks of the Italian troops and fought on the front line. With the rank of corporal, he was dismissed from the army.

After the war, Mussolini resumed his political activities, criticizing the Italian government for showing weakness during the signing. He created his own newspaper in Milan - Il Popolo d'Italia. And in 1919 he formed a fascist party, which was aimed at fighting against social class discrimination and supporting nationalistic sentiments.His main intention was to win the trust of the army and the monarchy.In this way, he hoped to raise Italy to the level of its great Roman past.

Mussolini's rise to power

At a time of collective disillusionment after the useless casualties of the Great War, the discredit of parliament amid economic crisis and high social conflict, Mussolini organized a military bloc known as the "Black Shirts" who terrorized political opponents and helped increase fascist influence. In 1922, Italy plunged into political chaos. Mussolini said that he could restore order in the country if he were given power.

King Victor Emmanuel III invited Benito to form a government. And already in October 1922 he became the youngest prime minister in the history of the Italian state. He gradually dismantled all democratic institutions. And in 1925 he made himself a dictator, taking the title Duce, which means “leader”.

Politics of the Duce

He implemented an extensive public works program and lowered the unemployment rate. Therefore, Mussolini's reforms were a great success. He also changed the country's political regime to a totalitarian one, ruled by a Fascist Grand Council backed by national security.

After the removal of the parliament, Benito founded the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations with simplified consultation. Under the framework, employers and workers were organized into controlled parties representing various sectors of the economy. The scope of social services expanded significantly, but the right to strike was abolished.

Mussolini's regime reduces the influence of the judiciary, tightly controls the free press, and arrests political opponents. After a series of attempts on his life (in 1925 and 1926), Benito bans opposition parties, expels more than 100 members of parliament, reinstates the death penalty for political crimes, abolishes local elections and increases the influence of the secret police. This is how Mussolini's fascism consolidated power.

In 1929, he signed the Lateran Pact with the Vatican, which ended the conflict between the church and the Italian state.

Military exploits

In 1935, determined to demonstrate the power and strength of his regime, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, violating the recommendations of the League of Nations. The poorly armed Ethiopians were no match for Italy's modern tanks and aircraft, and the capital Addis Ababa was quickly conquered. Benito founded the New Italian Empire in Ethiopia.

In 1939, he sends troops to Spain to support Francisco Franco and the local fascists during the civil war. In this way he wanted to expand his influence.

Union with Germany

Impressed by Italy's military successes, Adolf Hitler (dictator of Germany) sought to establish friendly relations with Mussolini. Benito, in turn, was amazed by Hitler's brilliant political activity and his recent political victories. By 1939, the two countries had signed a military alliance known as the Pact of Steel.

Mussolini and Hitler carried out a purge in Italy, repressing all Jews. And since the beginning of World War II, in 1940, Italian troops invaded Greece. Then join the Germans in dividing Yugoslavia, invading the Soviet Union, and declaring war on America.

Many Italians did not support an alliance with Germany. But Hitler’s entry into Poland and the conflict with England and France forced Italy to take part in hostilities and thereby reveal all the shortcomings of its army. Greece and North Africa soon rebuffed Italy. And only the German intervention of 1941 saved Mussolini from a military coup.

Defeat of Italy and decline of Mussolini

In 1942, at the Casablanca Conference, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt develop a plan to take Italy out of the war and force Germany to move its army to the Eastern Front against Russia. Allied forces secured a bridgehead in Sicily and began to advance to the Apennine Peninsula.

Growing pressure forced Mussolini to resign. After this he was arrested, but German special forces soon rescued Benito. He then moves to northern Italy, which was still occupied by the Germans, in the hope of regaining his former power.

Public execution

On June 4, 1944, Rome was liberated by the Allied forces, who took control of the entire state. Mussolini and his mistress tried to flee to Switzerland, but were captured on April 27, 1945. They were executed the next day near the city of Dongo. Their bodies were hung in a square in Milan. Italian society did not express any regret at Benito's death. After all, he promised the people “Roman glory,” but his delusions of grandeur overcame common sense, which led the state to war and poverty.

Mussolini was originally buried in the Musocco cemetery in Milan. But in August 1957 he was re-interred in a crypt near Varano di Costa.

Faith and Hobbies

As a young man, Mussolini admitted to being an atheist and even tried several times to shock the public by calling on God to kill him instantly. He condemned socialists who were tolerant of religion. He believed that science had proven that there is no God, and religion is a mental illness, and accused Christianity of betrayal and cowardice. Mussolini's ideology mainly consisted of condemnation of the Catholic Church.

Benito was an admirer of Friedrich Nietzsche. Denis Mack Smith stated that in it he found justification for his "crusade" against Christian virtues, mercy and goodness. He highly valued his concept of the superman. On his 60th birthday, he received a gift from Hitler - a complete collection of Nietzsche's works.

Personal life

Benito first married Ida Dalser in Trento in 1914. A year later, the couple had a son, who was named Benito Albino Mussolini. It is important to note that all information about his first marriage was destroyed and his wife and son were soon subjected to severe persecution.

In December 1915 he married Rachel Gaidi, who had been his mistress since 1910. In their marriage they had two daughters and three sons: Edda (1910-1995) and Anna Maria (1929-1968), Vittorio (1916-1997), Bruno (1918-1941) and Romano (1927-2006).

Mussolini also had several mistresses, among them Margherita Sarfatti and his last lover, Clara Petacci.

Heritage

Mussolini's third son, Bruno, died in a plane crash during a P.108 bomber flight on a test mission on August 7, 1941.

Sophia Loren's sister, Anna Maria Scicolone, married Romano Mussolini. His granddaughter, Alessandra Mussolini, was a member of the European Parliament and currently serves in the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the People of Freedom.

Mussolini's National Fascist Party was banned in the post-war Italian Constitution. Nevertheless, several neo-fascist organizations emerged to continue Benito's activities. The strongest of them is the Italian Social Movement, which existed until 1995. But it soon changed its name to the National Alliance and radically separated from fascism.

So, we can say: Benito Mussolini was strong, determined to win, crazy and fanatical. His biography amazes with brilliant ups and merciless downs. He was head of the Italian government from 1922 to 1943. Became the founder of fascism in Italy. During his dictatorial rule, he treated his citizens harshly. He led the state into three wars, during the last of which he was overthrown.

Based on the above information, now everyone can find out who Mussolini is in ideology and what kind of person he was.

On the evening of April 28, 1945, the Berlin Reich Chancellery of Adolf Hitler, already under Soviet artillery fire, received an emergency radio message that Benito Mussolini had been executed by partisans in the North.

When on the evening of April 28, 1945, Adolf Hitler learned the terrible details of the execution of his ally and friend, the leader of the Italian fascists Benito Mussolini, he immediately began to prepare for suicide. Previously, the Fuhrer instructed his guards on what should be done with the corpses of him and Eva Braun. He did not at all want the victors to do to them after death the same way the Italians did to the body of Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci.

Lost war

For more than twenty years, the man who coined the very word “fascism” stood at the head of Italy. All this time, he maneuvered between the Anglo-French democracies, the Bolshevik Land of Soviets and Nazi Germany, trying not to spoil relations with any of them.

The moment of truth for Mussolini came on June 10, 1940. On this fateful day for him, Italy entered the war with France and England on the Nazi side. The fighting, however, did not bring victorious laurels to the “last of the Romans” - as Mussolini liked to call himself his beloved.

Italian troops were smashed to smithereens by the British in North Africa. In the distant future, the Italian Expeditionary Force sent there suffered huge losses. And on July 10, 1943, the Anglo-American allies landed on the island of Sicily. On the evening of July 25, the all-powerful Duce was arrested by order of the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel, and removed from all his posts.

It is quite possible that Mussolini would have managed to remain under house arrest until the very end of the war. And then, having received a purely symbolic prison term, after a couple of years he will be released and live to a ripe old age. It would have been possible if not for Otto Skorzeny...

Nazi Germany's No. 1 saboteur, as a result of a daring special operation, managed to kidnap Mussolini right from under the noses of the Allies. And soon Mussolini created the so-called Italian Social Republic in Northern Italy. Commanding the Blackshirt detachments that remained faithful to him personally and to the ideals of fascism, he, together with German troops, unsuccessfully tried to suppress the partisan movement, which by mid-1944 had already engulfed almost all of Italy.

But, despite all the efforts, the Duce and Field Marshal Kesselring, who commanded the German troops in Italy, were unable to stop the advance of the Anglo-American allies, who were slowly but persistently and purposefully moving from the south of Italy to the north of the peninsula. With the help of German punitive detachments, he failed to destroy the partisans...

Failed masquerade

In the winter and spring of 1945, the position of the Germans in Italy became almost hopeless. It became clear to even the most stubborn fascist that Germany, and with it Mussolini’s puppet republic, had lost the war.

The commander of the German troops in the north of the country, Field Marshal Kesselring, gave up on the strict orders coming from the Fuhrer, who had completely lost his sense of reality, and began separate negotiations with the allies on surrender.

Mussolini tried, taking advantage of the confusion that began in the spring of 1945, to secretly cross the Italian-Swiss border and hide from the judgment of his people in a neutral country. In order not to attract the attention of the partisans, he dressed himself in the uniform of a Wehrmacht soldier and tied a handkerchief around his cheek, pretending to be an unfortunate soldier suffering from a toothache.

But this masquerade did not help him. Literally a few kilometers from the saving border, the car in which Mussolini was traveling along with his mistress Clara Petacci was stopped by a partisan patrol. Despite the German uniform and the bandage on his face, they immediately recognized the one who had recently been the ruler of Italy.

Having reported to their immediate superiors about the arrest of the Duce, the partisans received permission from him to liquidate him. Mussolini was personally shot by “Colonel Valerio” - one of the leaders of the anti-fascist Resistance, Walter Audisio.

"Colonel Valerio" outlined the details of the Duce's execution in his memoirs, which he allowed to be published only after his death. This only happened in 1973.

Emergency "justice"

This is how Walter Audisio described the last minutes of the Duce’s life. According to the colonel, in order not to provoke the captured Musso-
In case of a rash act (and the Duce was quite capable, sensing mortal danger, of attacking the partisans), he pretended to be an “Italian patriot” sympathetic to the fascists, ready to secretly release Mussolini and transport him to a safe place.

In fact, the former ruler of Italy was brought to a deserted village, where the execution could be carried out without interference.

“...I walked along the road, wanting to make sure that no one was driving in our direction. When I came back, Mussolini’s expression changed, traces of fear were visible on him... - Walter Audisio recalled. “And yet, having looked at him carefully, I was convinced that Mussolini had only a suspicion so far. I sent Commissioner Pietro and the driver in different directions about 50-60 meters from the road and ordered them to monitor the surroundings. Then I forced Mussolini to get out of the car and stopped him between the wall and the goal post. He obeyed without the slightest protest. He still did not believe that he had to die, he was not yet aware of what was happening. People like him are afraid of reality. They prefer to ignore it; until the last moment, the illusions they themselves have created are enough for them. Now he has again turned into a tired, insecure old man. His gait was heavy; as he walked, he slightly dragged his right leg. At the same time, it was striking that the zipper on one boot came apart...

It seems to me that Mussolini did not even understand the meaning of these words: with wide eyes, full of horror, he looked at the machine gun aimed at him. Petacci put her arm around his shoulders. And I said: “Move away if you don’t want to die too.” The woman immediately understood the meaning of this “too” and moved away from the condemned man. As for him, he did not utter a word: he did not remember the name of his son, or his mother, or his wife. Not a scream or anything came out of his chest. He trembled, blue with horror, and, stammering, muttered with his fat lips: “But, but I... Signor Colonel, I... Signor Colonel.”

I pulled the trigger of the machine gun, but it jammed, despite the fact that just a few minutes ago I checked its serviceability. I pulled the shutter, pulled the trigger again, but again there was no shot. My assistant raised the pistol, took aim, but here it is, rock! - again a misfire...

Taking a machine gun from one of my fighters, I fired five bullets at Mussolini... The Duce, lowering his head to his chest, slowly slid along the wall... Petacci jerked strangely in his direction and fell face down on the ground, also killed... There were 16 hours 10 minutes April 28, 1945."

The corpses of Benito Mussolini and Clara Petacci, who voluntarily went to death out of love for her idol, were put on public display, and then anti-fascists dragged them to one of the squares in Milan, where they hung the dead upside down. After posthumous mockery and desecration, the Duce and his beloved were buried. Mussolini's grave eventually became a place of pilgrimage for former Blackshirts and current admirers of the Duce.

Historians will later pay attention to the suspicious haste with which the Duce was eliminated. According to some researchers, someone from the partisan command, as well as from the ruling elite of the Allies (undoubtedly, the issue of shooting the prisoner Mussolini was agreed upon with them) really did not want an open trial of Mussolini. During it, the names of many politicians active at that time, who at one time supported the fascist regime in Italy and were in friendly correspondence with the Duce, could be mentioned. And the dead Mussolini could no longer say anything to anyone.

8. Mussolini - leader

(continuation)

Duce

After 1926, the legend of the omniscient, wise Duce began to spread more and more, and this cult became the last and most expressive feature of Italian fascism. Mussolini did not encourage it out of vanity; he saw the cult of personality as an instrument of power. Trusted ministers and other fascist leaders - whether zealous or rebellious - understood that their own future depended entirely on the dictator. Without him they were nothing: the more majestic he became, the higher they rose. Augusto Turati, who became party secretary after Farinacci in 1926, was the first who began to contribute to the creation of the cult of personality of the leader. The second who helped create the predominantly intellectual aspect of the cult was the famous journalist-politician Giuseppe Botta, one of the most intelligent fascists, who preached a belief in the exceptionalism of Mussolini - the most outstanding personality in history, without whom fascism would have been meaningless. But the high priest of the new religion became Arnoldo Mussolini, who, working at Popolo d'Italia, day after day extolled his older brother as a demigod who sees every person and knows everything that happens in Italy; who, being the leading political figure of modern Europe, gave all his wisdom, heroism and powerful intellect to the service of the Italian people.

The Duce himself also believed, or pretended to believe, in his infallibility. He no longer needed assistants, but rather servants. Even as the editor of a rather obscure newspaper, due to his temperament, he always behaved like a dictator, simply giving orders to employees without accepting any advice. Having become prime minister and turning to others for information, he, out of habit, tried to create the impression that the answers confirmed what he had already guessed intuitively. The expression “Mussolini is always right” soon became one of the flying phrases of the regime, something like a walking subtitle, which the leader knew about and encouraged. When, in a conversation with the German publicist Emil Ludwig, he admitted that he sometimes did stupid things, this remark was deleted from the Italian version of his interview.

Another catchphrase, stenciled all over the walls, said that the duty of Italians is to believe, fight and obey. Mussolini believed that Italians crave discipline and that obedience must become an "absolute and religious feeling" if Italy and fascism are to dominate the twentieth century. Only one person should give orders, and his instructions should not be challenged even in minor matters. Mussolini considered fascism to be his personal creation, something that could not exist without obedience to it.

In 1926–1927 the worship of “Duchism” was already in full swing. School teachers were ordered to extol the exceptional personality of the dictator, emphasizing in every possible way his unselfishness, courage and brilliant mind, and to teach that obedience to such a person was the highest virtue. His portraits - most often in one of the Napoleonic poses - were hung on almost all public buildings, and were sometimes carried during processions through the streets, like an icon of the patron saint. True fascists printed photographs of the Duce on their business folders with one of his aphorisms. He has been compared to Aristotle, Kant and Thomas Aquinas; called the greatest genius in Italian history, greater than Dante or Michelangelo, than Washington, Lincoln or Napoleon. In fact, Mussolini was equated to a god, whose priests and novices other fascist leaders considered themselves to be.

This legendary figure became more understandable from a human point of view thanks to the biography written by Signora Sarfatti and published first in English in 1925, and then (in a significantly modified form, since it was intended for a completely different audience) in 1926 in Italy. Mussolini himself corrected the proofs and included in the preface to the English edition one of his pretentious statements comparing his eventful life with the biography of “the late Mr. Savage Landor, the great traveler.” Only much later, after Sarfatti had been replaced by another mistress, did Mussolini admit that the book was ridiculous nonsense, published only because he considered “fiction more useful than the truth.” By that time, the “biography” had already been translated into many languages ​​of the world, including Danish and Latvian, and in Italy itself it received the status of almost a prophetic book.

Mussolini himself preferred the "official" version of his biography, written by the journalist Giorgio Pini, which - since it was not too critical and not too flattering - was more suitable for the Italian reader and was translated until 1939 into only a few foreign languages. While working on his biography in 1926, Pini could already afford to tell the Italians that “when the Duce gives a speech, the whole world freezes with fear and admiration.” The circulation of this book, like Sarfatti's book, was very large; it was reprinted fifteen times and distributed in schools as a textbook.

The third, even more official book was the "autobiography", which was actually material written by various people and collected by Mussolini's brother with the help of Luigi Barzini, the former United States ambassador to Rome. It was published by a London publisher who paid an incredibly large advance of £10,000.

Although Mussolini claimed that he did not care what was said about him abroad, he carefully studied the work of the press control service to ensure that the image he wanted was being projected. He sometimes treated the Foreign Office as if its main function was propaganda. He once ridiculed the “immoral narcissism” of democratic politicians who like to give interviews, but as the Duce, he himself became a great practitioner of this art form, forcing foreign correspondents to write flattering notes about him. In return, he sometimes provided them with information of special value, which he did not even honor the ambassadors with.

Mussolini always maintained a special relationship with representatives of the press, not because he himself was once a journalist, but because he needed their help. While ministers stood at attention in his presence, foreign journalists were allowed to sit, especially if they came from those countries whose public he wanted to make the greatest impression on. From time to time, journalists enjoyed the exclusive privilege of being invited to his home at Villa Torlonia. However, the degree of his friendliness and condescension had clear boundaries for each individual guest. Mussolini was sometimes gracious enough to greet journalists at the door of his huge office without subjecting them to the ordeal of walking the twenty yards from the door to his desk, while others, such as ministers and generals, had to cover that distance in later years at a run. . Of course, only supporters or potential supporters of fascism could receive interviews. But even for them, the performance, replete with theatrical poses, did not always make the right impression. From time to time, Mussolini had to redo recordings of interviews in the foreign press before they appeared in Italy - it was important for him to convince the Italians how much everyone abroad admired him. The creators of his “autobiography” argued without a shadow of a doubt that after meeting the Duce, any person began to understand that he was “the greatest personality in Europe.” Any edition of a foreign newspaper entering Italy that contradicted this legend risked confiscation. As a result, the Italian people had very little understanding of the critical attitude towards fascism and its leader abroad.

Mussolini had a lot of trouble speaking in front of the public. He carefully prepared his speeches, although at times he pretended that he did not need to. Italy, he used to say, is a theatrical stage and its leaders should serve as an orchestra, ensuring its contact with the people. Part of the secret of his success lay in Mussolini's characteristic disdain for the masses, who were so easily deceived and subjugated. He perceived the people as something like children who need to be helped, but at the same time corrected and punished - “they are stupid, dirty, do not know how to work hard and are content with cheap movies.” However, he was glad to discover that the herd - he was very fond of using this word - gratefully accepted inequality and drill instead of equality and freedom. If you give them bread and circuses, they will be able to do without ideas, except for those that someone comes up with especially for them. “The crowd should not strive to know, it should believe; it must obey and take the desired form.” Once the masses realize that they are not capable of forming any opinion themselves, they will not want to debate or argue, they will prefer to obey the command. And here Mussolini agreed that his attitude to this was the same as that of Stalin.

Despite the fact that Mussolini pretended to be indifferent to public opinion and the applause of the crowd, he in every possible way nurtured one of his greatest gifts: “a tangible and even visible understanding of what the common people think and want.” Even those who considered his work in government ineffective recognized his ability to control the crowd. As the Duce himself explained, “you need to know how to capture the imagination of the public: this is the main secret of managing it.” The art of politics is not to tire or disappoint the listeners, but to maintain one's influence over them to constantly put on a show, "to keep people at the windows" year after year in anxious anticipation of some great and apocalyptic event.

Mussolini's speeches are not interesting to read, but his style of recitation always had a very strong effect on the audience. One skeptical listener once said that the Duce's speech is like the periodic liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius in Naples: it is impossible to explain how it happens, but it works. Sometimes his speeches were like a series of newspaper headlines - simple, oft-repeated statements, without any flights of fancy, using a very limited vocabulary. The prevailing general tone was always aggressive and harsh. Mussolini loved to speak from the balcony overlooking the street from his office, which he used as a “stage”: standing on it, he encouraged the crowd to answer his rhetorical questions in unison, thus involving them in active participation in the discussion. He admitted that he enjoyed feeling like a sculptor, persistently processing the material, making it pliable and giving it a certain shape.

In this most important area of ​​his political life, Mussolini, like Hitler, owed much to Gustav Le Bon, whose book on the philosophy of the crowd he admitted to reading countless times. Le Bon explained that the actions and movements of the crowd are not causal, but illusory, often primitively illusory, caused by reckless and involuntary credulity, which can spread like a contagion if the speaker knows how to influence feelings. In this book, Mussolini found confirmation of his conviction that a ruler must master the art of speech. The effective power of the word, whether used in oral speech or in the popular press, acquires special weight if no one is allowed to respond to it except with a chorus of approval, and allows the politician to dispense with argumentation, rousing people to heroic deeds or by nullifying this heroism, which, if necessary, can border on the absurd.

Mussolini did not like to deal with colleagues and usually tried to belittle their role in teamwork. By his natural qualities and thanks to calculation, he became the center of authority and over time continued to strengthen his position. Along with his duties as prime minister, Mussolini took control of six of the thirteen ministerial departments by 1926, and two more by 1929. In addition, he led the fascist party, the Grand Council and the national council of corporations, and also chaired cabinet meetings. At the same time, Mussolini was the commander of the police, and later the armed forces. Among its important bodies were the Supreme Defense Committee, the State Council, the Court of Accounts, the Military Council, the Supreme Council of Statistics, the Standing Committee for Grain Production and the Committee for the Mobilization of the Civilian Population, as well as each of the twenty-two corporations established after 1934. In subsequent years, this list became even longer. When asked whether such a burden was excessive, he replied: “It is much easier to give orders myself than to send for the relevant minister and convince him to do what I consider necessary.”

With this way of doing things, the main work in each department fell to the lot of minor officials and secretaries, who, as a rule, could not act independently, and each of whom had only a few minutes of the prime minister's time. This made such centralization of power ineffective. Previous prime ministers believed that managing two ministries at the same time was an intolerable burden. Mussolini exercised temporary control over several ministries at once, not officially subordinate to him, and made decisions without bothering with ministerial consultations.

However, what was good for Mussolini's egoism turned out to be disastrous for the country.

If any leader was condemned by his own chosen subordinates, it was Mussolini. He despised his colleagues and liked to repeat that “they are all rotten to the core.” Indeed, only one or two of the ministers he appointed had more than modest abilities, most were completely incompetent, and some would have been in prison long ago in any other country. When choosing ministers, Mussolini preferred stupid people or obvious crooks: at least you know how to deal with a scoundrel and you will not be misled by hypocrisy. He was so confident in his own abilities, blinded by a sense of superiority, convinced of the stupidity and dishonesty of others, that he did not hesitate to appoint ignorant and mediocre people to high positions, as a result of which he found himself surrounded by sycophants, pretenders and careerists. Mussolini was written about as a man who truly had a talent for appointing people to the wrong places and who neglected employees who were honest or who told him the truth. He loved being surrounded by flatterers, and did not tolerate those who had character and inner culture, who had the courage to disagree with him.

It sometimes happened that Mussolini chose his ministers by skimming the list of deputies until he came across a face that he liked or a name that sounded good. Preference was given to those who were even shorter than himself. When De Vecchi, one of the most brutal and stupid fascists, was appointed Minister of Education, it seemed that this was done specifically to humiliate the teaching profession. Some believed that De Vecchi was chosen solely because of his reputation as a bringer of good fortune. A similar opinion was expressed regarding some appointments in the army. Mussolini was superstitious, and over the years this feature of his did not go away: he was afraid of people with the “evil eye” and tried not to offend them.

When complaints were made that people higher up in the hierarchy were behaving dishonestly, Mussolini chose to ignore the accusations as long as possible, since he could not allow the public to know that he had made the wrong choice. Having a low opinion of human nature, he admitted that every person has his own price, although he continued to play a comedy in public, declaring that fascism was intended to cleanse politics. Mussolini knew from police investigations that many senior officials were less than paragons of integrity, yet he rarely took action against them. The Duce even joked, saying that it made no sense to fire those who had made a career in his department, because this would open the way for others, who were no better. To one of his comrades, who dared to warn the prime minister that the dishonest actions of representatives of the regime provide food for public gossip, Mussolini replied that every revolution has the right to allow its leaders to make money on the side. This was, in all likelihood, his genuine belief.

The selection of the fascist hierarchy, as he was eventually forced to admit, turned out to be the weak point of the Mussolini regime. But he found an excuse for this, saying that he could not trust anyone, least of all those he knew. Whatever the reason, not a single truly talented person could stay in the apparatus for long or was not given any opportunity to prove himself. Mussolini preferred to keep all ministers and other senior officials, good and bad, at a respectful distance and tried not to leave them in responsible positions for long. All subordinates quickly became accustomed to the Duce's need for privacy and intolerance of familiarity. They knew that no one was allowed to approach him, lest they see him without a mask. The frequent change of ministers was sometimes explained by the desire to find another scapegoat, sometimes by the need to prevent potential rivals from building an independent power base. In some ways, Mussolini deliberately encouraged servility by giving as many people as possible the hope of advancement. Mussolini did not like to tell his subordinates to their faces that they were fired; most often they learned about it from newspapers or on the radio, while their leader took a strange pleasure in the general confusion caused by such an event.

Another character trait of the Duce was the pleasure with which he incited ministers and generals to each other. As if his task was not to coordinate their actions, but, on the contrary, to create discord and general chaos. Mussolini liked it when his subordinates gossiped; he himself constantly conveyed various malicious inventions to the offended party, in every possible way exacerbating tension and fueling jealousy between rivals. A lot of papers with such squabbles accumulated in the Duce’s personal archives, along with various gossip collected for him by spies using listening devices. Slanders and gossip rarely resulted in reprisals. Mussolini mainly used them to strengthen his authority, making it clear to his subordinates that he knew what they were talking about in private conversations. With the air of a man who took morbid pleasure from contemplating erotic scenes, he inflated in every possible way a sense of superiority over his surroundings.

Mussolini's activities led to excessive centralization of power, when almost everything depended on the will of one person. If Mussolini left Rome, most of the administration simply stopped working. Cabinet meetings could approve many regulations in one session; sometimes all of them were offered to Mussolini personally. He often made conflicting decisions in different departments on the same day. Mussolini considered it necessary to personally give orders: to put the troops in order, to decide on what day the orchestra could start playing on the Venetian Lido, whether it was necessary to trim the trees along the road to Riacensa, whether to send an assistant trumpeter instructor to the police college... He demanded that names be reported to him those employees who did not have time to sit down at their desks by nine o'clock in the morning. This amazing waste of energy on all sorts of nonsense gave Mussolini real pleasure, as a way of showing off, making people (and perhaps himself) believe that the entire life of the nation was under his constant control.

Thus, the administrative and legislative bodies represented another field of activity for Mussolini, where he could show in all its brilliance the art of organizing public spectacles. Beneath the enormous burden of his duties, he rarely found time to ensure that his orders were carried out. In a sense, it didn't matter to him, because their publication was much more important than their execution. This whole performance in his hands turned out to be a very effective means of strengthening personal authority. Mussolini told English newspapermen that in one Cabinet meeting he had done more for the economy than the government of England in a year, because while the British were struggling through lengthy debates in a parliament consisting of complete amateurs, he was a professional, directing the entire life of the nation with the help of a battery of eighty buttons on his desktop. This statement, of course, was an empty boast and could only impress a limited part of the public. In fact, Mussolini never learned, unlike Giolitti, how to control his assistants and often failed to translate his desires into practical action. Despite his outward brilliance, he was in many ways a weak man, constantly changing his mind. He lacked the ability to manage a rather complex real-life situation. There was a running joke among senior officials that his “dictatorship was made of soft cheese.”

Spectacular gestures were designed to disguise Mussolini's ineptitude and impracticality. In this way he tried to hide his inability to withstand difficulties and make decisions in critical situations. The Duce always preferred to let events themselves impose a political direction on him. One of his friendly senators called the dictator a “cardboard lion” that could be pulled by a string. And if he continued to have a strange reputation as a man who always agreed with the interlocutor with whom he was currently talking, this was also because Mussolini was afraid that he would be defeated in an argument. Because of this, he tried his best to avoid disputes and discussions wherever possible.

Mussolini's close acquaintances, as well as members of his own family, said that even in conversations with relatives he adopted a threatening tone, as if addressing a huge crowd. He was ready to listen, especially at the very beginning of his activity, to specialists, but did not allow a friendly exchange of opinions or discussions - this could destroy the legend of his omniscience and infallibility. At times Mussolini took the pose of a man who wanted to hear the truth, even if it was unpleasant, but for this he chose a person who deliberately tried to first find out what the Duce would like to hear from him.

On April 28, 1945, the leader of the Italian fascists Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were shot by Italian partisans.

The main mistake of the Duce

In the last days of the war in Europe, when the world's attention was focused on Berlin, where, together with Adolf Hitler German Nazism was dying in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery, and the Fuhrer’s main ally, the Fuhrer, was somewhat in the shadows. Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini.

If in the second half of April 1945 Hitler was losing the will to live every day, then the Duce made desperate attempts to save himself until the last.

Mussolini's relationship with Hitler was difficult. The head of the Italian fascists seized power in his country in 1922, that is, more than a decade before Hitler came to power in Germany.

However, by the beginning of the 1940s, Mussolini, in the alliance of the two countries, became Hitler’s “junior partner”, forced to build and shape his policy in accordance with the will of Germany.

Mussolini was far from a stupid man. The longer the war went on, the more obvious it became that Italy had made a mistake by firmly tying itself to an alliance with Hitler. More careful Spanish Caudillo Franco, who flirted with the United States and Great Britain, successfully survived World War II and remained in power for another three decades, until his death in 1975.

But Mussolini, stuck in the arms of Hitler, no longer had such an opportunity.

Mussolini and Hitler in 1937. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Hitler puppet

In 1943, after the Allied landing in Sicily, yesterday’s comrades-in-arms of the Duce came to the conclusion that Mussolini needed to be gotten rid of in order to begin negotiations on Italy’s withdrawal from the war. He was deposed and placed under arrest on July 25.

On September 12, 1943, by order of Hitler, German paratroopers under the command Otto Skorzeny Mussolini was kidnapped and taken to Germany.

But the ally who appeared before the Fuhrer bore little resemblance to the Duce of better times. Mussolini complained about his health and spoke of his desire to leave politics. Hitler literally forced the Duce to head the Italian Social Republic, created in northern Italy, which continued the war with the anti-Hitler coalition.

Since 1943, Mussolini actually ceased to be an independent politician. The “Italian Social Republic” was one hundred percent controlled by the Germans, and the Duce became a puppet in their hands.

The only thing his personal will was enough for was to settle scores with traitors from his inner circle, imaginary and real. Even the Duce's son-in-law was among them Galeazzo Ciano, who was sentenced to death and executed.

Mussolini understood the position he was in quite soberly. In 1945 he gave an interview journalist Madeleine Mollier, in which he stated: “Yes, madam, I am finished. My star has fallen. I work and I try, but I know that this is all just a farce... I'm waiting for the end of the tragedy - I don't feel like an actor anymore. I feel like I'm the last one in the audience."

Escape to Switzerland

In mid-April 1945, the Germans no longer cared for the Duce, and he, revived, again tried to take his fate into his own hands. He really didn’t have any great ambitions - Mussolini wanted to escape persecution and save his own life.

For this purpose, he entered into negotiations with representatives of the Italian Resistance movement, but was unable to achieve any guarantees for himself. Mussolini had almost no trump cards left in his hands in order to bargain on equal terms.

After unsuccessful negotiations in Milan, Mussolini and his entourage went to the city of Como, where he settled in the local prefectural building. In Como he met his wife for the last time wife of Raquela Mussolini.

The Duce finally decided to make his way to Italy. On the morning of April 26, having parted with his wife, with a small detachment of people devoted to him, Mussolini moved along Lake Como to the village of Menaggio, from where the road to Switzerland ran.

Not all of his comrades decided to go with the Duce. The fact is that detachments of Italian partisans were actively operating in this area, and a meeting with them threatened quick reprisals.

Mussolini's last mistress joined Mussolini's group Clara Petacci.

From left to right: German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, Reichsleiter Martin Bormann, Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering, Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, Duce Benito Mussolini near A. Hitler’s apartment after the assassination attempt on him on July 20, 1944. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Mussolini's German uniform didn't help

On the night of April 26-27, the Duce met with a detachment of German soldiers consisting of 200 people, who also intended to take refuge in Switzerland. Mussolini and his men joined the Germans.

It seemed that there was very little left to reach the desired goal. But on April 27, the Germans were blocked by a picket of the 52nd Garibaldi partisan brigade, commanded by Count Bellini della Stella. After the ensuing firefight, the commander of the German detachment entered into negotiations.

The partisans put forward a condition - the Germans could move on, the Italian fascists must be extradited.

The Germans did not plan to die for Duce, but they still showed nobility by dressing him in a German uniform and trying to pass him off as one of the soldiers.

The first two inspections of the vehicles by the partisans did not yield anything, but they carried out a third inspection. Apparently, someone gave them information that Mussolini was in the column. As a result, one of the partisans identified him. The Duce was detained.

The partisans did not know Clara Petacci by sight and did not intend to detain her, unlike the Duce. However, the 33-year-old woman, fanatically devoted to the 61-year-old Mussolini, herself declared a desire to share his fate.

Mission of "Colonel Valerio"

Mussolini and his mistress were taken to the village of Dongo, where in the house peasant Giacomo de Maria they spent the last night of their lives.

During these hours, Mussolini's fate was decided. The surviving comrades, having learned about his captivity, were preparing an operation to free him, the command of the Anglo-American troops demanded his extradition... He was ahead of everyone else Walter Audisio, known among Italian partisans as "Colonel Valerio". From the Italian Committee of National Liberation he received a mandate granting emergency powers.

On the afternoon of April 28, he arrived in Dongo with his detachment and took Mussolini along with Petacci from the partisans who had captured them.

Mussolini himself was told by “Colonel Valerio” that he had come to save him. A spark of hope lit up in the eyes of the Duce, which, however, soon faded when the partisans rather rudely pushed Mussolini and Petacci into the car.

This journey was not long. The car stopped in the tiny village of Giuliano di Mezgra. A low stone fence stretched along the road, interrupted by an iron gate, behind which one could see an orchard and a large house. The car stopped just in front of the gate.

The fascist leader was shot on the third attempt

“Colonel Valerio” sent two partisans to watch the road so that they would warn if strangers appeared.

Mussolini was ordered to get out of the car and stand between the wall and the goal post. Petacci again voluntarily joined him.

“Colonel Valerio” began to read out the Duce’s death sentence on behalf of the Freedom Volunteer Corps, which united all the main partisan groups in Italy.

Mussolini remained indifferent, but Clara Petacci was distraught with horror. She shouted at the partisans, covered the Duce with her body, literally screaming: “You won’t dare!”

“Colonel Valerio” pointed the machine gun at Mussolini and pulled the trigger, but the weapon misfired. The assistant next to him tried to carry out the sentence with a pistol, but it also misfired.

Then he rushed to the aid of “Colonel Valerio” Michele Moretti- one of the partisans guarding the road. The detachment commander took the machine gun of his subordinate, who did not let him down. Many years later, Moretti even claimed that he personally shot the Duce.

Memorial sign at the site of Mussolini's execution. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Be that as it may, the first bullet went to Clara Petacci, who continued to hug her lover. They did not intend to shoot her, “Colonel Valerio” called her death a tragic accident, however, the partisans did not try to take her away from Mussolini before the execution.

A moment later it was all over, two dead bodies lay against the wall. The execution took place at 16:10 on April 28, 1945.

The whole of Milan mocked the leader's body

The bodies of Mussolini and Petacci were taken to Milan. At the same time, the bodies of five more executed fascists were delivered there.

A huge crowd gathered in the square cursed the dead, they were pelted with stones and various debris.

Mussolini's body was mocked in a particularly sophisticated way - they danced and relieved themselves on it, as a result of which it was disfigured beyond recognition. Then the bodies of the Nazis were thrown into the gutter.

On May 1, 1945, the bodies of Mussolini and Petacci were buried in Milan's Musocco cemetery in an unmarked grave in a poor lot.

Even after this, Mussolini's remains did not find peace. In 1946 they were dug up and stolen by the Nazis, and when they were discovered a few months later, such a serious conflict broke out over where and how to bury him that Mussolini's body remained unburied for another 10 years.

As a result, the remains of Benito Mussolini were buried in the family crypt in his hometown of Predappio.

The tomb of Benito Mussolini in the family crypt in the cemetery in Predappio. Photo:

"Encyclopedia of Death. Chronicles of Charon"

Part 2: Dictionary of Selected Deaths

The ability to live well and die well is one and the same science.

Epicurus

MUSSOLINI Benito

(1883-1945) - leader of the Italian fascists, head of the Italian government in 1922-43 and the government of the so-called Salo Republic in 1943-45

The successes of the Allied troops at the end of the Second World War did not leave Mussolini the slightest chance of retaining power. The Duce fled. In April 1945, partisans captured him near the Italian-Swiss border, dressed in the uniform of a German soldier. It was decided to execute Mussolini. The operation was commanded by "Colonel Valerio" - one of the leaders of the Italian Resistance movement, Walter Audisio (1909-1973). His memoirs of Mussolini's last hours were published only after Audisio's death.

“Colonel Valerio” detained Mussolini by deception: he told him that he was sent to secretly free him and transport him to a safe place. Duce believed.

In the car that carried Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci, along with Audisio there were a driver and two partisans - Guido and Pietro. Seeing a place suitable for execution, Audisio ordered the car driver to stop. “Colonel Valerio” describes what follows:

“...I walked along the road, wanting to make sure that no one was coming in my direction.

When I returned back, Mussolini's expression had changed; traces of fear were visible on it. Then Guido told me that he told the Duce: “The raspberries are over.”

And yet, having looked at him carefully, I was convinced that Mussolini had only a suspicion. I sent Commissioner Pietro and the driver in different directions about 50-60 meters from the road and ordered them to monitor the surroundings. Then I forced Mussolini to get out of the car and stopped him between the wall and the goal post. He obeyed without the slightest protest. He still did not believe that he had to die, he was not yet aware of what was happening. People like him are afraid of reality. They prefer to ignore it; until the last moment, the illusions they themselves have created are enough for them.

Now he has again turned into a tired, insecure old man. His gait was heavy; as he walked, he slightly dragged his right leg. At the same time, it was striking that the zipper on one boot had come loose.

Then Petacci got out of the car and, on her own initiative, hurriedly stood next to Mussolini, who obediently stopped in the indicated place with his back to the wall.

"By order of the Freedom Volunteer Corps, I am charged with administering the people's justice." It seems to me that Mussolini did not even understand the meaning of these words: with wide eyes, full of horror, he looked at the machine gun aimed at him. Petacci put her arm around his shoulders. And I said: “Move away if you don’t want to die too.” The woman immediately understood the meaning of this “too” and moved away from the condemned man. As for him, he did not utter a word: he did not remember the name of his son, or his mother, or his wife. Not a scream or anything came out of his chest. He trembled, blue with horror, and, stammering, muttered with his fat lips: “But, but I... Signor Colonel, I... Signor Colonel.”

He didn’t even say a word to the woman who was rushing around next to him, throwing glances at him full of extreme despair. No, he asked in the most vile way for his overweight, trembling body. I only thought about the mute, about this body that was supported by the wall.

I said before that I checked my machine gun at De Maria's house. And on you - the trigger is pulled, but there are no shots. The machine jammed. I pulled the shutter and pulled the trigger again, but with the same result. Guido raised the pistol, took aim, but - here it is! - there was no shot. It seemed that Mussolini did not notice this. He didn't notice anything else.

I picked up the machine gun again, holding it by the barrel to use it as a club, because, despite everything, I still expected at least some reaction from him. After all, any normal person would try to defend himself, but Mussolini was already insane. He continued to stutter and tremble, still motionless, with his mouth half open and his hands hanging limply.

I loudly called the commissar of the 52nd brigade, who immediately ran up to me with his machine gun in his hands.

Meanwhile, several minutes had already passed, which any person condemned to death would have used to try, even desperately, to escape, to at least try to resist. The one who considered himself a “lion” turned into a heap of trembling rags, incapable of the slightest movement.

In the short period of time it took Pietro to bring me the machine gun, it seemed to me that I was talking about Mussolini one on one.

There was Guido, closely watching what was happening. There was Petacci, who stood next to “him,” almost touching his elbow, but whom, however, I did not take into account. There were only two of us: me and him. There was a tense silence in the air filled with moisture, in which the rapid breathing of the condemned man could be clearly heard. Outside the gate, among the greenery of the garden, the edge of a white house could be seen. And far in the depths there are mountains.

If Mussolini had been able to look and see, a strip of lake would have come into view. But he didn't look, he was trembling. There was nothing human about him anymore. The only human traits in this man were arrogant arrogance and cold contempt for the weak and defeated, appearing only in moments of triumph. Now there were no court leaders and marshals next to him. There was only fear on his face, an animal fear of the inevitable.

The misfire of the machine gun, of course, did not give Mussolini even a glimmer of hope; he already understood that he had to die. And he plunged into this feeling, as if into a sea of ​​insensibility that protected him from pain. He did not even notice the presence of the one who was his woman.

I no longer felt any hatred, understanding only that I had to do justice for the thousands and thousands of dead, for the millions of hungry people who were betrayed. Standing opposite him again with a machine gun in my hands, I fired five shots into this trembling body. The war criminal Mussolini, with his head on his chest, slowly slid along the wall.

Petacci, stunned, having lost her mind, jerked strangely in his direction and fell face down on the ground, also killed.