Chapter 88: Benito Mussolini

337     Hitler’s political idol  On Hitler’s early “adoration” of Mussolini, see Christian Goeschel, Mussolini and Hitler: The Forging of the Fascist Alliance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018), 17–36. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1050870931.

337     founder of fascism  Historian and Mussolini expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat explains, “Benito Mussolini came up with the term fascism, he created the first one-party fascist state and he set the playbook and template for everything that came after.” Ben-Ghiat quoted in Olivia B. Waxman, “What to Know About the Origins of Fascism’s Brutal Ideology,” Time, March 22, 2019, time.com/5556242/what-is-fascism/.

337     Like Hitler Hitler volunteered to serve in the Bavarian army in August 1914. Ian Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008), 53. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821.

337     served in the army . . . from the anti-war Italian Socialist Party  Mussolini was conscripted into service in August 1915, one year after Hitler had volunteered to serve in the Bavarian army. Christopher Hibbert, Il Duce: The Life of Benito Mussolini (Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1962), 24, 20–22. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/406067to find this book at a library near you.

337     elected Mussolini for the first time . . . newly formed National Fascist Party  Hibbert, Il Duce, 30. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/406067.

337     anti-socialist industrial and agrarian elites  “The general strike of August 1922 provided Mussolini with still more support. Agrarian, financial and industrial interests flocked to support the fascists as it became increasingly clear that their privileged positions were threatened.” See Paul M. Hayes, Fascism (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1973), 56–57. Find this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/751213.

337     inflicting “purificatory” violence . . . and strikers  Amy King and Brian J. Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” Made By History, Time, June 14, 2024, time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/.

337     led about 25,000 Blackshirts . . . demanded the resignation of . . . Facta  Hibbert, Il Duce, 33, 35. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/406067.

337     refused Facta’s request . . . Facta resigned in protest  Richard Brunies, “King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy,” National WWII Museum (New Orleans), July 14, 2021, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/king-victor-emmanuel-iii-italy.

337     appointed . . . thinking he could restore order  Brunies, “King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/king-victor-emmanuel-iii-italy.

337     violence, intimidation, and propaganda . . . two-thirds of parliament seats  Hibbert, Il Duce, 40–47; and “Italy: Election,” Time, April 14, 1924, time.com/archive/6651414/italy-election/. Find Il Duce at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/406067.

337–338     demanding that the “illegitimate” results . . . thrown out  Giacomo Matteotti, May 30, 1924, quoted in King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/.

338     scolded . . . interrupted . . . more than one hundred times  King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/.

338     half-joked with a colleague to write his eulogy Giacomo Matteotti reportedly told Socialist Giovanni Cosattini, “And now, get ready to deliver my funeral oration.” Matteotti quoted in Howard M. Sachar, The Assassination of Europe, 1918–1942: A Political History (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015), 52. See also King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/880499804to find The Assassination of Europe at a library.

338     abducted Matteotti . . . as he walked . . . Mauro Canali, “The Matteotti Murder and the Origins of Mussolini’s Totalitarian Fascist Regime in Italy,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 14, no. 2 (2009), www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710902826378, 151–152; and Andrea Pisauro and Gianluca Fantoni, “The Murder of Giacomo Matteotti—Reinvestigating Italy’s Most Infamous Cold Case,” The Conversation, April 22, 2024, theconversation.com/the-murder-of-giacomo-matteotti-reinvestigating-italys-most-infamous-cold-case-228153.

338     “You can kill me” . . . “but you can never kill the idea within me”  Giacomo Matteotti quoted in King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/.

338     gripped Italy with demonstrations and protests  King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/.

338     Two weeks after  The “Aventine Secession,” as the withdrawal by these parties is known, occurred on June 27, 1924. This name is “derived from the withdrawal of the Roman population to the Aventine Hills in protest against the Patriciate in 493 bc.” “Aventine Secession,” Oxford Reference, accessed March 13, 2025, www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095436959.

338     nearly two months before . . . a dozen miles outside Rome  Matteotti’s body was discovered on August 16, 1924. Canali, “The Matteotti Murder and the Origins of Mussolini’s Totalitarian Fascist Regime in Italy,” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710902826378, 151. See also Pisauro and Fantoni, “The Murder of Giacomo Matteotti—Reinvestigating Italy’s Most Infamous Cold Case,” theconversation.com/the-murder-of-giacomo-matteotti-reinvestigating-italys-most-infamous-cold-case-228153.

338     joined . . . and exited the Chamber of Deputies  King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/.

338     claimed absolute power, subjecting himself only . . .  King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/.

338     banned independent media and all opposition parties and organizations  King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/.

338     “the first man to transform a democracy into a dictatorship”  Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2021), 19. Find this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/1233267123.

338     the fall of France imminent . . . headed for a decisive victory  “In spring and summer 1940, Germany invaded and defeated Belgium, the Netherlands, and France . . . With the defeat of France in June 1940, virtually all of Western Europe fell under Nazi occupation.” “The Allies of WWII,” National WWII Museum, August 29, 2024, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/allies-world-war-ii. See also “Axis Powers in World War II,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, April 22, 2022, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/axis-powers-in-world-war-ii.

338     officially entered the war to share the spoils  Italy entered the war on June 10 and France surrendered on June 22, 1940. “Axis Powers in World War II,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/axis-powers-in-world-war-ii; and “France,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, accessed March 13, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/france. “Having formally joined the Axis in 1939, Italy declared war on Britain and France in June 1940, entering World War II as Germany’s ally. The Fascist regime hoped to establish a new ‘Roman’ Empire, encompassing the Mediterranean Sea and beyond into North and East Africa and into the Levant (Syria and Lebanon). Italy invaded France in June 1940 and occupied a small strip of land on the Franco-Italian border as part of the armistice agreement with Vichy France in June 1940. In the autumn of 1940, Italy attacked Greece and invaded British-influenced Egypt from bases in Libya, which Italy had conquered from the Ottoman Turks in 1911.” “Italy,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, accessed March 13, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/italy.

338     had turned in the Allies’ favor . . . and in North Africa “On August 7, 1942, American forces landed on Guadalcanal, the first landed steps on the long road to Tokyo. On August 23, German forces reached the banks of the Volga River, and the monumental battle at Stalingrad commenced. In late October, Rommel and his forces received their first taste of decisive defeat at the hands of the British at El Alamein. The Americans joined the fight in North Africa with the successful landings on November 8. In the brutal Naval Battle of Guadalcanal fought over November 12–15, the Americans succeeded in isolating the Japanese forces remaining on the island, while at virtually the same time on November 19 the Soviets under General Zhukov successfully surrounded over 250,000 German troops of the Sixth Army. The Germans at Stalingrad and the Japanese on Guadalcanal starved, until the German surrender and Japanese evacuation that both took place in the first week of February 1943. Winston Churchill would later title his account of these six months as the ‘Hinge of Fate’ that changed the Allied fortunes, and eventually sent us in the direction of ultimate victory in World War II.” Axis forces in North Africa surrendered on May 13, 1943. Keith Huxen, “The US Invasion of North Africa,” National WWII Museum, January 9, 2018, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/us-invasion-north-africa; and “The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-45: A Timeline, Part One,” National WWII Museum, May 23, 2022, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/allied-campaign-italy-1943-45-timeline-part-one.

338     invaded Sicily and . . . on the Italian mainland  Keith Huxen, “Operation Husky: The Allied Invasion of Sicily,” National WWII Museum, July 12, 2017, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/operation-husky-allied-invasion-sicily; and “The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-45: A Timeline, Part One,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/allied-campaign-italy-1943-45-timeline-part-one.

338     removed Mussolini . . . placed him under arrest “The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-45: A Timeline, Part One,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/allied-campaign-italy-1943-45-timeline-part-one.

338     rescued the incarcerated Mussolini  William Tuohy, “SS Officer Skorzeny Wrongly Credited With Deed, Historian Says: Mussolini Rescue: A New Version,” Los Angeles Times, December 26, 1987, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-26-mn-7422-story.html; and Raphael Rues, “The Rescue of Benito Mussolini: the Real Story and Its Swiss Connection,” Swiss National Museum, blog, September 11, 2023, blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2023/09/the-rescue-of-benito-mussolini-the-real-story-and-its-swiss-connection/.  

338     appointed Mussolini . . . the Italian Social Republic Goeschel, Mussolini and Hitler 261, 263–269. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1050870931.

338-339    defeated troops loyal to Mussolini and Hitler “The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-45: A Timeline, Part Three,” National WWII Museum (New Orleans), May 27, 2022, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/allied-campaign-italy-1943-45-timeline-part-three.

339     captured him . . . executed Mussolini the next day Robert Citino, “Death of the Duce, Benito Mussolini,” National WWII Museum, April 28, 2020, www.nationalww2museum.org/death-of-benito-mussolini; and Goeschel, Mussolini and Hitler, 288–289. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1050870931.

339     confirming Hitler’s final decision to die by suicide “While he was told about Mussolini’s execution by the partisans, it is uncertain whether he knew the macabre details of his erstwhile idol’s death. In any case, news of the Duce’s death confirmed Hitler’s plan to commit suicide, always on his mind in the event of defeat, in order to avoid a similarly grisly fate.” Goeschel, Mussolini and Hitler, 289. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1050870931.

339     surrendered on April 29, 1945  “Representatives of the German command in Italy signed the surrender on April 29, and it became effective on May 2, 1945.” “Italy,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/italy. See also “Instrument of Local Surrender of German and Other Forces Under the Command or Control of the German Commander-In-Chief Southwest; April 29, 1945,” The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School, accessed January 17, 2025, avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/gs9.asp.

339     including José Antonio Kast’s father Esteban J. Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle: Barbara Kast, 1950–1968, trans. Tímea Horváth (Óbudavár, Hungary: Family Academy-Óbudavár Association, 2014), csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf, 11, via Google Translate.

339     refused to allow fascism to die John Whittam, Fascist Italy (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995), 138–139.  Visit search.worldcat.org/title/31436744to find this book at a local library.

339     created different groups Martin Durham, Women and Fascism (London: Routledge, 1998), 79. Find this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/437073347.

339     united in 1946 and named . . .Italian Social Movement  Durham, Women and Fascism, 79; and Whittam, Fascist Italy, 138–139. Library copies of Women and Fascism can be found at search.worldcat.org/title/437073347, and copies of Fascist Italy can be found at search.worldcat.org/title/31436744.

339     the organizational heir of the Italian Social Republic  Alessio Gagliardi and Matteo Pasetti, “Fascism in the Public Sphere of {ost-Fascist Italy,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 29, no. 3 (2024), www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2024.2354136, 246.

339     set up their offices on Via della Scrofa in Rome  Bernd Riegert, “Who Is Giorgia Meloni, the Star of the Italian Far Right?” Deutsche Welle (DW), September 26, 2022, www.dw.com/en/italy-election-who-is-giorgia-meloni-the-star-of-the-far-right/a-62604896.

339     the same Rome address  Riegert, “Who Is Giorgia Meloni, the Star of the Italian Far Right?” www.dw.com/en/italy-election-who-is-giorgia-meloni-the-star-of-the-far-right/a-62604896; and Nicole Winfield, “How a Party of Neo-Fascist Roots Won Big in Italy,” Associated Press (AP) News, September 26, 2022, apnews.com/article/elections-rome-italy-6aa9fcb003071c307190a4053f199d98.

339     remains the same as the original MSI logo  Winfield, “How a Party of Neo-Fascist Roots Won Big in Italy,” apnews.com/article/elections-rome-italy-6aa9fcb003071c307190a4053f199d98.

339     “their first duty was defensive, not offensive . . .”  Alexander Brown, “Italy’s Right Still Hasn’t Broken Its Ties to Fascism,” Jacobin, March 16, 2023, jacobin.com/2023/03/italy-right-fratelli-ditalia-giorgia-meloni-fascism-mussolinis-grandchildren.