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My Thesis: The Fascist dictator known as Benito Mussolini, terrorized the Italian peninsula with his cruel, twisted methods to control the country for 30 years from 1915 to 1945. His successful dictatorship methods made him rise to power while trying to destroy the system of democracy within the Italian Government. With his army known as “Blackshirts,” known for their choice of clothing (including black shirts), I will also talk about his demise as the Italian Peninsula turned on him.

 

My Main Sources:

• Dictator’s Playbook; Season 1; Episode 3: Benito Mussolini
• Britannica

Mussolini’s Past:

As a child, Mussolini was very violent, at the age of 11 years old, he was expelled from school for multiple incidents of him stabbing fellow classmates. As a young adult, his criminal record was known throughout Italy, even in Switzerland when he tried to start a revolution and was immediately deported back to Italy. Born July 29, 1883, father a blacksmith and family poor.

His Road to Success:

His first big job was becoming editor of the newspaper of L’Avvenire del Lavoratore, he first started out writing about war, then even got drafted to learn of it and discovered nationalism, which he discovered got men to do things people would hesitate on. For say, storming a machine gun cockpit. An injury, later on, sent him back to journalism, and with his new found knowledge, he created fascism, which would help him succeed as a dictator.

With his creation, he invented the first fascist newspaper called Popolo d’Italia. The concept of fascism was to favor and value war, military might, and its ultimate goal of recreating Ancient Rome. He then gathers his old shell-shocked war veterans and others to make up the Blackshirts, modeled after the Aridity, an elite group of veterans from WW1.

He then sends a gang of fascists to destroy the socialist newspaper, where he used to work, smashing typewriters, destroying filing cabinets, and even killing 4 people, sending socialists a message that fascists were rising. After that regime, communism gives him the opportunity to say he’ll protect Italy from people against them and people with communism.

Giving strong speeches of importance, he convinces many Italian war veterans and other men to help him fight off communism, knowing the real reason, Mussolini starts the next phase of his rise to power, by using force. Beating and murdering socialist leaders was just the start, house fires and assaults on street happened as often smoke coming from a chimney.

His next move was to create a fascist political party to run in the democratic Italian campaign and followed democracy’s rules when expected and needed of him. Mussolini sends Blackshirts to march for the campaign, and he demands a spot of prime minister from King Victor Emmanuel. Playing a move like that would cause the king to send forces, utterly destroying them, but the king and his officials hesitate, and miraculously, he gives Mussolini the position.

People thought that Mussolini would calm down once in government and could be contained, but that idea was dead wrong. He actually tells everyone “Obey me, or be dissolved.” He then threatens the public with violence if they did not vote for the fascists, and they win 65% of the seats in parliament.

But not everyone would take the bait, a political figure called Giacomo Matteotti. He even calls out Mussolini’s methods of rising to power fraud and corrupt. This angers Mussolini, and prior to that, Matteotti’s dead body was found in a hidden area after his murder and capture. This angers the public and Mussolini is in a bad situation. Shocking everyone, he confesses that all of the crime that has happened and the murder of Matteotti.

Then, he undermines the democratic judicial system, removing the two judges investigating Matteotti’s murder, and even bans conning newspaper of him. To make himself popular with the public, during the great depression, he sends nurses to the countryside to teach about infant hygiene, starts road and town building, public education which made him wildly popular.

10 years after the creation of fascism, Mussolini has almost complete control. Then he uses indoctrination (the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically) to have the next generation devote to him, he replaces old texts with fascist biased versions, creating the fascist ten commandments. He replaces old texts with fascist biased versions, creating the fascist ten commandments.

Fact: Adolf Hitler even used the same dictating tactics as he took over Germany’s democratic government, creating the Brownshirts included.

This point is where it goes downhill for Italy and Mussolini especially. Mussolini decides to go to war just to distract the public from issues, Italian troops invade Ethiopia to take control after the last failed attempt in 1896. Only to fail the first attempt in the second, he turns to the banned chemical weapons. On May 5th, 1936, they claim Ethiopia. After the Nazi Empire’s invasion of Poland, Mussolini decides to try and invade France, Great Britain, Greece, and North Africa but fails.

Then an Ally troop attack gives Italy a sucker-punch. Then, Mussolini is starting to be hated and eventually voted out of the ruling. Suddenly, Adolf Hitler learns of Mussolini being held captive and rescues him, and Hitler becomes his superior and is given slight control of the northern half Nazi troops claimed.

 

His Tra

But in the end, Mussolini tries to escape disguised in Austrian uniform when the Nazis retreat, and someone recognizes Mussolini, captures him, and send him off to be shot to death by an Italian firing squad, and his corpse is held out in public for all eyes to see and mock.

 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton