Bennito Mussolini was born in Predappio, on July 29, 1883. His father, Alessandro, was a blacksmith. Like his father, he became a fervent socialist. Unable to find a permanent job in Switzerland and being arrestedfor vagrancy, he was expelled and returned to Italy.
In 1910, Mussolini became a secretary of the local Socialist party at Forli. At this stage in his life his political views were almost the opposite of what they later became. He boasted of being an antipatriot.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Mussolini agreed with the other Socialists that Italy should not join it. Only a class war was acceptable to him, and he threatened to lead a proletarian revolution if the government decided to fight. But several months later he unexpectedly changed his position on the war, leaving the Socialist party and his editorial chair. He evidently hoped the war might lead to a collapse of society that would bring him to power. Called up for military service, he was wounded in grenade practice in 1917.
After losing in the 1919 elections, Mussolini at last entered parliament in 1921 as a right-wing member. The Fascists formed armed groups to terrorize Mussolini's former Socialist colleagues. Mussolini gave his approval to strikebreaking and abandoned revolutionary agitation.
As Luigi failed to stop the spread of anarchy, Mussolini was invited by the king in October 1922 to form a government.
After 1922, Mussolini personally took over the ministries of the interior, of foreign affairs, of the colonies, of the corporations, of the army and the other armed services, and of public works. He was also the head of the powerful Fascist parties (formed in 1921) and the armed Fascist militias. In this way he succeeded in keeping power in his own hands and preventing the emergence of any rival.
Mussolini played up to his financial backers at first by transferring a number of industries from public to private ownership. But by the 1930's he had begun moving back to the opposite extreme of rigid governmental control of industry. There was too much concentration on heavy industry, for which Italy lacked the resources.
In 1935, at the Stresa Conference, he helped create an anti-Hitler front in order to defend the independence of Austria. But his successful war against Abyssinia was opposed by the League of Nations, and he was forced to seek an alliance with Nazi Germany, which had withdrawn from the League in 1933.
He had preached for 15 years about the virtues of war and the military readiness of Italy to fight, his armed forces were completely unprepared when Hitler's invasion of Poland led to World War II. He decided to remain "nonbelligerent until he was quite certain which side would win. Only after the fall of France did he declare war in June 1940. He had done nothing to prepare an effective military machine. He had no option but to follow Hitler in declaring war on Russia in June 1941 and on the USA in December 1941.
Mosst of Mussolini's colleagues turned against him at a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council on July 25, 1943. This enabled the king to dismiss and arrest him. Rescued by the Germans months later, Mussolini set up a Republican Fascist state in northern Italy. But he was little more than a puppet under the protection of the German Army. In April 1945, just before the Allied armies reached Milan, Mussolini, was caught by Italian partisans as he tried to take refuge in Switzerland. He was summarily executed.
