Benito Mussolini
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)
rose to power in the wake of World War I as a leading proponent of Facism.
Originally a revolutionary Socialist, he forged the paramilitary Fascist
movement in 1919 and became prime minister in 1922. Mussolini’s military
expenditures in Libya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Albania made Italy predominant in
the Mediterranean region, though Italy exhausted his armed forces by the late
1930s. Mussolini allied himself with Hitler, relying on the German dictator to
prop up his leadership during World War II, but he was killed shortly after the
German surrender in Italy in 1945.
By working with another great leader doing bad
things, Mussolini and Hitler were able to accomplish a lot of bad together. Wishful thinking, megalomania, and Fascist ideology gradually overwhelmed
Mussolini’s common sense. He interpreted diplomatic victories over Britain and
France during the Ethiopian and Spanish wars (1935-1939) as proof of his
military genius. Because of his parents’ and older brother’s short lives,
Mussolini expected to die young but considered himself uniquely capable of
leading Italy to greatness. Therefore he perceived a fleeting historical
opportunity (1935-1945) for spectacular Italian aggrandizement by pitting Fascist-Nazi
power against French-British decadence. Mussolini decided to gamble for a
Mediterranean-African empire through war with the west. Winning Caesarian glory
would gain him the prestige necessary to abolish the monarchy and create a
truly totalitarian state.
by Jacob Gladney