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Power Begins
At the age of 19, Mussolini began writing and creating powerful speeches. At this time, he embraced Socialism. By 1904 he was known as a "dangerous young socialist." After WW1, he began turning to fascism. -
Fascism
Mussolini used any fears Europeans had of communists bringing down the government by using fascism as a barricade against communism. This allowed him to protect private property and the middle class. -
March on Rome
As Mussolini's inspiring and power speeches began to make him more popular, and allowed him to gain enough support so he was able to create a threat on the government. Mussolini then kept his promise, as said in one of his speeches, to protect Italy from any communist revolution. He did this by threatening a "March on Rome" in 1922 -
In office
Once the cabinet resigned, the King was convinced to appoint Mussolini as premier. He became known as "Il Duce" aka "The leader." He promised to bring order to Italy once again. He would return them to their glories of the Roman Empire. -
WW2
WW2 began on Sept. 1st 1939. On June 10th 1940, Mussolini sided with Germany. Although he knew Italy didn't have a big enough military to carry out a war, he believed after the French surrender, he could gain territory from France and focus his forces on Egypt, where British forces were outnumbered. Unfortunately, the UK did not accept Germany's peace proposal, and the war continued. -
Ending
After the "allied invasion of Italy," Mussolini was arrested after the vote of the Grand council of Fascism. In 1943, he was rescued from prison by special German forces, and attempted to escape north. He was then caught and executed by Italian partisans. He was then beaten and hung on April 28th, 1945.
