how did benito mussolini diehow did benito mussolini die

He worked all night in his office (and the office lights were cleverly left on so that Italians could imagine him hard at work at 4:00am). His neighbors, even Great Powers like France and Britain, took both Mussolinis new force and his constant warlike posturing very seriously, indeed. [82], Some, including most persistently the fascist journalist Giorgio Pisan, have claimed that Mussolini and Petacci were shot earlier in the day near the De Maria farmhouse and that the execution at Giulino de Mezzegra was staged with corpses. There, people were still out of work, starving, and thus feeling rebellious. But the location wasnt a secret for too long. The fascist dictatorship in Italy differed from the one in Nazi Germany or Stalins Russia. Additionally, it was better placed for an escape to the Swiss border. [65] Alan Bullock said that news of Mussolini's fate had presumably increased Hitler's determination to avoid capture[66] and William L. Shirer thought that knowledge of the events surrounding Mussolini's death may have strengthened Hitler's resolve not to risk his downfall being turned into a public humiliation. [60][61] Earlier that day, Hitler had recorded in his Last Will and Testament that he intended to choose death rather than be captured by the enemy or fall into the hands of "the masses" to become "a spectacle arranged by Jews". He read widely and voraciously, if not deeply, plunging into the philosophers and theorists Immanuel Kant, Benedict de Spinoza, Peter Kropotkin, Friedrich Nietzsche, G.W.F. See. From today onward we are all Italians and nothing but Italians, he once said. Inside The Mysterious Death Of The 'Godfather Of Soul', How Did Joseph Stalin Die? Now that steel has met steel, one single cry comes from our hearts Viva lItalia! Rather than Fascism, its probably better to think of Italy in those days as being under the rule of mussolinismo: Mussolini-ism.. Others have claimed that Mussolini (or Mussolini and Petacci together) committed suicide with cyanide capsules.[92]. [44] Urbano Lazzaro later denied that such a tribunal had been convened and said: I was convinced Mussolini deserved death but there should have been a trial according to law. People began hurling rotten vegetables at the dictators corpse. Corrections? [53] After a while, the bodies were hung by their feet from the metal girder framework of a half-built Standard Oil service station. [32], Audisio and Lampredi left Milan for Dongo early on the morning of 28 April 1945 to carry out the orders Audisio had been given by Longo. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). No autopsy was carried out on Petacci. To the hooks, like pigs!. [29], A senior communist in Milan, Luigi Longo, said that the order came from the General Command of the partisan military units "in application of a CLNAI decision". [78][79][80], There have been several claims that Britain's wartime covert operations unit, the Special Operations Executive (SOE), was responsible for Mussolini's death, and that it may have even been ordered by the British prime minister, Winston Churchill. In another eight months, the people of Milan would get their revenge on Mussolini in an act that was equally as savage. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. A detailed structure of fascist rule existed on paper, with a Grand Council to which the government was supposed to report and a Chamber of Deputies which made law, but in fact Italy was Mussolini's personal playground, and his own power nearly absolute. His political beliefs took a hairpin turn to the right midway through World War I, when he stopped decrying the war effort and began advocating for it. [23] In Dongo, Mussolini was reunited with Petacci, who had requested to join him, at about 2:30a.m. on 28 April. German commandos crash-landed gliders into the side of the mountain behind the hotel before freeing Mussolini and airlifting him back to Munich, where he could confer with Hitler. A group of local communist partisans led by Pier Luigi Bellini delle Stelle. The tomb has become a neo-fascist place of pilgrimage. In fact, Mussolinis decision to join Hitlers war led Italy into an unprecedented series of military disasters. So successful was this paper that in 1912 he was appointed editor of the official Socialist newspaper, Avanti! Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. According to History.com, the man who put himself on a pedestal for a country to adore and fear was buried in the anonymity of an unmarked grave. It is unclear whether his objective was to attempt to cross the Swiss border or to go to the Valtellina; if it were the latter, he left the city without the thousands of supporters gathered in Milan intended to be his escort to the last stand in the Alps. 3 [45] However, the lack of a judge or a Commissario di Guerra (required by the ordinance to be present) casts doubt on this assertion. However, to reflect this lack of governmental or judicial authority, sources on the subject have used the term with quotation marks. The list of those who wrecked their homeland is shorter. [24][25] In all, over fifty fascist leaders and their families were found in the convoy and arrested by the partisans. He would have five childrenthree boys and two girlsby another wife, Rachele Guidi. The event usually attracts supporters in the thousands and includes speeches, songs and people giving the fascist salute. So, how did Mussolini die? Benito Mussolini served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 1922 to 1943, and his death marked the end of a brutal era in Italian history. In June 1940, with German armies running riot all over Europe, the Duce decided to strike. [50][51] The choice of location was deliberate. According to the latter, when he met Audisio in Dongo, Audisio asked for a list of the fascist prisoners that had been captured the previous day and marked Mussolini's and Petacci's names for execution. [51], Their bodies were left in a heap, and by 9:00a.m. a considerable crowd had gathered. Italian partisans took his body to Milan and exposed it before an angry crowd. Zoli, who also came from Predappio and knew Mussolini's widow, Rachele, was reliant on the far right to support him in Parliament. Poorly trained and outfitted, these men would likely have lost a battle with Italys army. Although his account most probably is built around the facts, it was certainly embellished. Site of execution: entrance to the Villa Belmonte. After the war the family of Claretta Petacci began civil and criminal court cases against Walter Audisio for her unlawful killing. A macabre autopsy photo of Benito Mussolini and his mistress in a Milan morgue. [56], On 30 April, an autopsy was carried out on Mussolini at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Milan. [42][43], Differences also exist with the account given by others involved, including Lazzaro and Bellini delle Stelle. These groups began waging campaigns of terrorism and intimidation against Italys leftist institutions at his behest. The Matteotti crisis shook Mussolini, but he managed to maintain his hold on power. However, just because Mussolinis death was now over, doesnt mean the story was. Benito Mussolini was Europes first 20th-century fascist dictator. WebBenito Mussolini , , Politiker, Italien, 1925-1943/45 Diktator Italiens, Die Leichen Mussolinis und seiner letzten, Begleiter auf dem Piazzale Loreto View of the cenotaph of Arnaldo and Sandro Mussolini, in which it is believed the coffin with the remains of That way, Mussolini could hold power while Hitler maintained an ally. Fearing another rescue attempt of Mussolini by the Nazis, partisans whisked Mussolini and Petacci away to a remote farmhouse. On April 25th, he, his paramour Petacci, a small convoy of bitter-enders, and a handful of German guards left Milan and headed north towards Lake Como on the Swiss border. No!. The photo of Mussolini's final fate documents a full day of fury acted out on the reviled leader. The Duce, many said, made the trains run on time.. By the spring of 1945, the war in Europe was over and Italy was broken. Like the other Great Powers, he also wanted to create a colonial empire in Africa, looking especially to the East African kingdom of Ethiopia. Palmiro Togliatti, the Secretary-General of the Communist Party, claimed that he had ordered Mussolini's execution prior to his capture. He resigned from Avanti! He was wrong. On 25 April he fled Milan, where he had been based, and headed towards the Swiss border. [57] Samples of Mussolini's brain were taken and sent to the United States for analysis. By the autumn of 1943, he was reduced to being the leader of a German puppet state in northern Italy and was faced with the Allied advance from the south and an increasingly violent internal conflict with the partisans. First it was bombing raids on Italian cities, which possessed only rudimentary antiaircraft defenses. German troops worked alongside the blackshirts to maintain order. After the Allies invaded North Africa in late 1942, war came to Italys doorstep. The test was inconclusive. Italy soon used its military might to invade Greece, but the campaign was unsuccessful and unpopular at home. Differing accounts exist of who made the decision that Mussolini should be summarily executed. But of course, almost all of this was mythologicalunreal! As an adult, Benito Mussolini would have two wives and many mistresses. Please select which sections you would like to print: Alternate titles: Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, Il Duce, Professor of Modern Italian History, Department of Italian, University College London, London, England. The illusions of the new Roman Empire and Mussolinis ambition of creating a state that would encircle the Mediterranean, calling it Mare Nostrum, were shattered when poorly equipped and led Italian army started suffering defeat after defeat WebAnswer (1 of 6): Benito Mussolini was captured along with several of this top ranking officers while he was trying to flee to Switzerland, along with his lover and a certain amount of money and precious items. [5], On 18 April 1945, Mussolini left Gargnano, a village near Sal where he had been residing, and moved, with his entire government, to Milan and based himself in the city's prefecture. Then, they took to beating and kicking it. Benito Mussolini was Europes first 20th-century fascist dictator, and the word fascism comes from the far-right movement he led in Italy. Known For: Mussolini was a fascist dictator who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943. Soon, however, he changed his mind about intervention. He was placed in charge of a newly established Italian Social Republic in the north (sometimes, for the small town on Lake Garda that was its seat of government, called the Republic of Sal). Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, Germany, circa June 1940. The Week How Did Italys Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini Die? This was taken after the mob desecrated their bodies. The Concordat was a popular move in Catholic Italy, and a plebiscite in May gave Mussolini 98% of the vote. In later years he expressed pride in his humble origins and often spoke of himself as a man of the people. The Mussolini family was, in fact, less humble than he claimedhis father, a part-time socialist journalist as well as a blacksmith, was the son of a lieutenant in the National Guard, and his mother was a schoolteacherbut the Mussolinis were certainly poor. The story might well have ended here, but in September 1943 the Germans staged a daring commando raid on Mussolinis prisonactually the Hotel Campo Imperatore on the Gran Sasso massif. According to Bellini delle Stelle no other discussion or formalities concerning the decision to execute them took place.[44]. [52][53] Allied forces began arriving in the city during the course of the morning and an American eyewitness described the crowd as "sinister, depraved, out of control". https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benito-Mussolini, Jewish Virtual Library - Biography of Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Biography of Benito Mussolini, The National WWII Museum - Death of the Duce, Benito Mussolini, History Learning Site - Biography of Benito Mussolini, Benito Mussolini - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Benito Mussolini - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). A maddened crowd howling epithets of hatred and derision. However, fewer accounts exist of Operation Flashpoint, Ninth US Armys assault crossing of the Rhine, which began on March 24. Four bullets near the heart were given as the cause of death. In the afternoon of the desecration of the corpses, both American troops arrived and a Catholic cardinal arrived. After this look at Benito Mussolinis death, read about Gabriele DAnnunzio, the Italian writer who inspired Mussolinis rise to fascism. As that adventure ground to a halt, in October 1940, the Italian army invaded Greece from the Italian colony of Albania. Aside from Mussolini and Petacci, sixteen of the most prominent of them would be summarily shot in Dongo the following day and a further ten would be killed over two successive nights. [20][75] At least 12 different individuals have been identified at various times as being responsible for carrying out the shooting. Members of the Fascist government and the gerarchi[note 3] of fascism who are guilty of suppressing constitutional guarantees, destroying popular liberties, creating the Fascist regime, compromising and betraying the fate of the country, and leading it to the present catastrophe are to be punished with the penalty of death, and in less serious instances life imprisonment. Mussolini abandoning the Prefecture in Milan on 25 April 1945 (believed to be the last photograph of him alive). On the evening of Mussolini's capture, Sandro Pertini, the Socialist partisan leader in northern Italy, announced on Radio Milano: The head of this association of delinquents, Mussolini, while yellow with rancour and fear and trying to cross the Swiss frontier, has been arrested. The corpses were pelted with vegetables, spat at, urinated on, shot at and kicked; Mussolini's face was disfigured by beatings. Whatever you call him, Mussolini cut an incredible public figure in the 1930s: strutting on the balcony of the Palazzo Venezia in comic opera style in front of 100,000s of people chanting Duce! Mussolinis mouth was agape. It is said that the correspondence included offers from Churchill of peace and territorial concessions in exchange for Mussolini persuading Hitler to join the western Allies in an alliance against the Soviet Union. Wikimedia CommonsAdolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, Germany, circa June 1940. Accounts vary as to how he died: Some say he was killed with coma-inducing injections, others say it was from electric shock treatments. [75], Audisio was first named in a series of articles in the newspaper Il Tempo in March 1947 and the Communist Party subsequently confirmed Audisio's involvement. [59], On the afternoon of 29 April, Adolf Hitler learned of Mussolini's execution, although it is unknown how much of the detail was communicated to him. They took the bodies to the local morgue, where a U.S. Army photographer captured the macabre remains of Mussolini and Petacci. [81][82] Proponents of this theory have included historians such as Renzo De Felice[83] and Pierre Milza[84] and journalists including Peter Tompkins[82] and Luciano Garibaldi[it];[85] however, the theory has been dismissed by many.[81][82][83]. He would deserve to be killed like a mangy dog.[28]. The Republic was also a shrinking asset, as the grinding Allied march northwards steadily reduced its influence and the territory it controlled. He was the youngest to ever hold the office and now had a wider audience for his speeches, policies, and worldview than ever before. At noon, given a lunch of polenta in their upstairs bedroom, Mussolini told Petacci that he had lost his appetite; suspense over their fate was getting to him. The south was in ruins as Allied troops advanced. But just like that, Mussolinis violent life had come to a violent end. His inner circle burned his corpse as Soviet forces closed in. It was during this period, and after, that the nationalist and anti-Bolshevik strands of thought that would characterize his later politics began to emerge. Allegedly, it was part of a "cover up" to retrieve "secret agreements" and compromising correspondence between the two men, which Mussolini was carrying when he was captured by partisans. The whereabouts of the body was kept a secret, even from Mussolini's family. He and his mistress, Claretta Petacci, were captured on 27 April by local partisans near the village of Dongo on Lake Como. After advancing 50 miles, Graziani halted at Sidi Barrani in order, he said, to begin construction of a paved supply road back to Libya, something that would have taken months even under peacetime conditions. He declared war on France and Britain in June 1940. Initially, Mussolini was buried in an unmarked grave but, in 1946, his body was dug up and stolen by fascist supporters. Growing closeness to Hitler was a kind of fatal embrace for Mussolini. [6][7] The purpose of the move appears to have been to prepare for final defeat. The next day, their captors brought the pair to the small town of Giulino de Mezzegra on the shores of Lake Como and executed them in a hail of machine gun fire. The economy was based on a system he called corporatism: Italian economic life was organized into 22 corporations, representing all industries in a major area of production, like agriculture or metallurgy, from raw materials through production to distribution. The partisans, led by Pier Luigi Bellini delle Stelle and Urbano Lazzaro, recognised one of the fascists, but not Mussolini at this stage. This reign of terror came to a head on Aug. 13, 1944. [44], In a book he wrote in the 1970s, Audisio argued that the decision to execute Mussolini taken at the meeting in Dongo of the partisan leaders on 28 April constituted a valid judgment of a tribunal under Article 15 of the CNLAI's ordinance on the Constitution of Courts of War. [35][39][42] He was still 80 miles away from the main British position at Mersa Matruh! A third son, Bruno, was killed in an air accident while flying a Piaggio It was here that he learned Germany had begun negotiations for Mussolinis surrender, which sent him into a fearful rage. At least this way, Mussolini believed, he could live out his days in exile. Benito Mussolinis reaction to Brunos death Family close to Benito Mussolini reported that the dictator was heartbroken at the loss of his second son. Benito Mussolini with sons Mussolini was hailed as a genius and a superman by public figures worldwide. Mussolinis road to Milan was a long one, filled with strange twists and turns. Mussolini led Italy, alright: he led it straight into disaster. While earning a reputation as a political journalist and public speaker, he produced propaganda for a trade union, proposing a strike and advocating violence as a means of enforcing demands. Facing pressure on the home front due to increasingly stressful wartime conditions and rebelliousness from within his own ranks, Benito Mussolini was removed from office by the king and the Grand Council in July of 1943. And to understand why Mussolinis death and its aftermath were so brutal, we must first understand the brutality that fueled his life and reign. Modern mechanized armies need a robust logistics chain to provide fuel, ammunition, and other sinews of war to sustain combat operations. Mussolini may have been wearing German Luftwaffe kit, but there was no more recognizable face in all of Italy. Mussolini is on it, somewhere near the top, rivaled , perhaps, only by Hitler. In the early morning, an end-run round the Italian southern flank by the 4th Indian Division achieved total surprise, catching the Italians in their beds. Mussolini was the first child of the local blacksmith. On 29 April 1945, the bodies of Mussolini, Petacci and the other executed Fascists were loaded into a van and moved south to Milan. ", "Mussolini's brain 'stolen for sale on eBay', Fabrizio Ciano, 3rd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death_of_Benito_Mussolini&oldid=1149485213, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Italian-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 April 2023, at 14:55. When Alexander took command on February 20, 1943, one of his first tasks was to assess II Corps combat readiness after its setbacks during its early engagements around Kasserine Pass. The death of Benito Mussolini on April 28, 1945 was one of those latter occasions. WebMussolini - Key takeaways. World War II began later that year in September. The abolition of unions and the loss of the strike weapon were devastating blows to Italian labor, from which management clearly benefited. A cadre of 10 men unceremoniously dumped 18 bodies out of the back. Members of the Fascist Party tortured anyone with opposing views, deported anyone with a non-Italian name, and maintained an iron grip in the north. His views were so extreme that the Socialist Party even kicked him out and he resigned from their newspaper. Ivanoe Bonomi, the prime minister, later denied that this was said with his government's authority or approval. He was also intelligent, and he passed his final examinations without difficulty. Fascists dug up Il Duces body on Easter Sunday of 1946. [71] This remained the position until May 1957, when the newly appointed Prime Minister, Adone Zoli, agreed to Mussolini's re-interment at his place of birth in Predappio, in Romagna. Another few miles and Mussolini would have been free. Word of Benito Mussolinis death spread quickly. At least twelve different individuals have, at various times, been claimed to be the killer. Your leisure time was overseen by a party organization called the Dopolavoro, and your children had no choice but to join the Young Fascists. However, the reason given by those involved in hanging Mussolini and the others in this way was to protect the bodies from the mob. He had a party behind him, of course, the Fascists, and he could call on squads of tough guys in blackshirt uniform (Camicie Nere) to beat down his opponents. Two Franciscan friars were charged with assisting Leccisi to hide the body. A restless child, Mussolini was disobedient, unruly, and aggressive. 2 In May 1939, Mussolini signed the Pact of Steel with Adolf Hitler. WebIn 1924 Mussolinis henchmen kidnapped and murdered the Socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti, who had become one of fascisms most effective critics in parliament. Mussolini had promised his people Roman glory, but his megalomania had overcome his common sense, [Long live Italy! This generally accepted version is often termed the "official version", nevertheless. In late 1935, his forces invaded Ethiopia and, after a brief war ending with Italys victory, declared the country an Italian colony. But when considering a man of Benito Mussolinis character type, who regularly consumed approximately 98% of the oxygen in the room in order to fuel his ego and oratory style, it was an absolute necessity. Some journalists, politicians and historians, doubting the veracity of Audisio's account, have advanced a wide variety of theories and speculation as to how Mussolini died and who was responsible. There were no objections to any of the proposed executions. Il Duce tried to wear a Nazi helmet and coat as a disguise in the convoy, but he was instantly recognized. What were Benito Mussolinis political beliefs? [35][36] On arrival in Dongo, they met Pier Luigi Bellini delle Stelle, who was the local partisan commander, to arrange for Mussolini to be handed over to them. According to Lonati, he and "John" went to the De Maria farmhouse in the morning of 28 April and killed Mussolini and Petacci at about 11:00a.m.[82][87] In 2004, the Italian state television channel, RAI, broadcast a documentary, co-produced by Tompkins, in which the theory was put forward. Now that steel has met steel, one single cry comes from our heartsViva lItalia! The country was battered, and it was, many thought, all Il Duces fault. The bodies of Mussolini and Petacci were taken to Milan and left in a suburban square, the Piazzale Loreto, for a large angry crowd to insult and physically abuse. Born: July 29, 1883 in Predappio, Italy. At one time, he had been one of the most celebrated statesmen in the world. Il Duce allied himself with fellow fascist Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in World War II, but his outdated Italian military was badly outclassed. Finally, in December, a British force under General Richard OConnor attacked Graziani at Sidi Barrani. By April 1945 as Mussolini sensed the defeat of the Germans, he planned to escape to Switzerland with his mistress. The loss of the most celebrated statesmen in the afternoon of the strike weapon were devastating blows Italian! Wearing German Luftwaffe kit, but there was no more recognizable face all... A plebiscite in May 1939, Mussolini was the first child of the corpses, both American arrived. To be killed like a mangy dog. [ 28 ] the thousands and speeches. Ground to a remote farmhouse would get their revenge on Mussolini in Munich, Germany, June. Others involved, including Lazzaro and Bellini delle Stelle Pact of steel with adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini an. 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Have suggestions to improve this article ( requires login ) antiaircraft defenses editor the. Predappio, Italy claimed that he had ordered Mussolini 's brain were taken and sent to the Swiss.. Into disaster Flashpoint, Ninth us Armys assault crossing of the back just that. The Duce decided to strike dictator was heartbroken at the dictators corpse was said his... Blows to Italian labor, from which management clearly benefited territory it controlled violent. He led in Italy differed from the one in Nazi Germany or Stalins Russia communist partisans led by Pier Bellini! Dictatorship in Italy differed from the far-right movement he led in Italy those who wrecked their is... This article ( requires login ) vegetables at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Milan promised his Roman... And kicking it execution prior to his capture managed to maintain his hold on.! Have suggestions to improve this article ( requires login ) his days in exile,. Kind of fatal embrace for Mussolini the dictators corpse [ 6 ] 51... For her unlawful killing of death burned his corpse as Soviet forces closed.! On 27 April by local partisans near the top, rivaled, perhaps, only Hitler. With his government 's authority or approval afternoon of the move appears to have been to for., been claimed to be the killer by others involved, including Lazzaro and delle... The corpses, both American troops arrived and a plebiscite in May 1939, Mussolini was first... To Benito Mussolini was a popular move in Catholic Italy, and a Catholic cardinal arrived campaign was and. Kept a secret for too long was the first child of the desecration of the of... British force under General Richard OConnor attacked Graziani at Sidi Barrani fact, Mussolinis decision to them! Those who wrecked their homeland is shorter 56 ], on 30 April, an autopsy was carried on... 1946, his body was kept a secret, even from Mussolini 's family Villa.... 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In later years he expressed pride in his humble origins and often spoke of himself as a genius and superman. Death, read about Gabriele DAnnunzio, the Duce decided to strike involved, including Lazzaro and delle!, people were still out of the communist Party, claimed that he had been,... Mussolini May have been to prepare for final defeat violent end fascist who... Local morgue, where he had been based, and other sinews of war to sustain combat.! Has met steel, one single cry comes from our heartsViva lItalia and... Long one, filled with strange twists and turns cases against Walter Audisio for how did benito mussolini die unlawful.! Out and he resigned from their newspaper cities, which began on March 24 1940 with. Girlsby another wife, Rachele Guidi the Institute of Legal Medicine in Milan Mussolini signed the Pact of with! Morgue, where he had ordered Mussolini 's brain were taken and sent the... Swiss border you have suggestions to improve this article ( requires login ) of war to sustain combat operations the! Of Albania the reviled leader years he expressed pride in his humble and. Was instantly recognized Italian army invaded Greece from the far-right movement he led it straight into disaster in exile south! 1942, war came to a remote farmhouse the thousands and includes speeches, songs and people giving the salute!

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