William DeLong is a freelance wordsmith. On 27 April 1945, a group of local communist partisans attacked the convoy in which Mussolini and Petacci were travelling, near the village of Dongo on the north western shore of Lake Como and forced it to halt. Well, it didnt quite work out that way, as everyone knows. The documentary included an interview with Dorina Mazzola who said that her mother had seen the shooting. [91], Other theories have been published, including allegations that not only Luigi Longo, subsequently leader of the Communist Party in post-war Italy, but also Sandro Pertini, a future President of Italy, carried out the shootings. Audisio presented Mussolini as acting in a cowardly manner immediately prior to his death whereas Lampredi did not. Mussolinis own Milan newspaper office was barricaded with huge rolls of newsprint paper and barbed wire and guarded by a curious mix of Fascists, police, and Army troops. Among those who had him ousted and arrested was his own son-in-law Gian Galeazo Ciano. It was alongside his longtime mistress, Clara Petacci, that he died, however. [82], They took them out of the house and, at the corner of a nearby lane they were stood against a fence and shot. [51], Their bodies were left in a heap, and by 9:00a.m. a considerable crowd had gathered. Wikimedia CommonsBenito Mussolini, second from left, hanging upside-down in Milans public square. No!. There were no objections to any of the proposed executions. One man grabbed Mussolinis body by the armpits so the crowd could see it. But how exactly did Mussolini die? [67] Ian Kershaw notes that while it is uncertain whether Hitler was told the details of Mussolini's death: if he did learn of the full gory tale, it could have done no more than confirm his anxiety to take his own life before it was too late, and to prevent his body from being seized by his enemies. After his career as a young journalist and his service as a sharpshooter during World War I, Benito Mussolini founded Italys National Fascist Party in 1921. Benito Mussolini, second from left, hanging upside-down in Milans public square. Word of Benito Mussolinis death spread quickly. So successful was this paper that in 1912 he was appointed editor of the official Socialist newspaper, Avanti! Finally, the pair were buried in an unmarked grave in a Milan cemetery. [31][32][33], It was largely confirmed by an account provided by Aldo Lampredi[34] and the "classical" narrative of the story was set out in books written in the 1960s by Bellini delle Stelle and Urbano Lazzaro, and the journalist Franco Bandini (it). During World War I, he renounced socialism and adopted fascism. [23] In Dongo, Mussolini was reunited with Petacci, who had requested to join him, at about 2:30a.m. on 28 April. On April 28, 1945, Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland. The New York Times MUSSOLINI ON ISLE TORE OFF HIS SHIRT; But The Ousted Dictator As A Prisoner On Ponza Soon Wearied Of Tragic Role. WebHow Benito Mussolini Died In the meantime, Il Duce and his mistress had risen late. Corrections? [89][90] The first to put this forward was Franco Bandini in 1978. In it, he outlined the major political philosophies of nationalism and militarism and violent extremism that would direct his later life. Containing both labor and management, their task was to negotiate labor settlements. Four bullets near the heart were given as the cause of death. Wikimedia CommonsA macabre autopsy photo of Benito Mussolini and his mistress in a Milan morgue. The south was in ruins as Allied troops advanced. Zoli, who also came from Predappio and knew Mussolini's widow, Rachele, was reliant on the far right to support him in Parliament. The tomb has become a neo-fascist place of pilgrimage. The New York Times After Mussolini. When the Allies touched down in Sicily in 1943, Mussolinis own government arrested him. A fitting end to a wretched life, the New York Times declared, and there were few, either inside or outside of Italy, who disagreed. [8], Over the week following his arrival in Milan, and with the military situation deteriorating, Mussolini vacillated between a number of options including making a last stand in the Valtellina, a valley in the Italian Alps (the so-called Ridotto Alpino Repubblicano), fleeing to Switzerland, or attempting to negotiate a peaceful handover to the partisan leadership, the CLNAI,[note 2] or to the Allies. He rattled sabers against his neighbors constantly, but he also did more than talk, greatly expanding the army, building up a gigantic fleet (the Regia Marina), and equipping a powerful air force (the Regia Aeronautica), hugely expensive projects for a land like Italy, which was almost totally devoid of the necessary raw materials. Known For: Mussolini was a fascist dictator who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943. 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. However, since the end of the war, the circumstances of Mussolini's death, and the identity of his executioner, have been subjects of continuing dispute and controversy in Italy. He called himself the Duce, from the old Latin word dux (chief or boss). Inside The Murky Death Of The Soviet Dictator, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. In his 20s, he ran a series of newspapers that amounted to propaganda sheets for his increasingly extreme political views. 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. It was even forbidden to publish a picture of him smiling or to print the word DUCE in anything but uppercase letters. Ia menjabat sebagai Perdana Menteri Italia pada periode 1922-1943 dan bersahabat dengan Adolf Hitler selama Perang Dunia II untuk menopang kepemimpinannya. In the afternoon of the desecration of the corpses, both American troops arrived and a Catholic cardinal arrived. The Concordat was a popular move in Catholic Italy, and a plebiscite in May gave Mussolini 98% of the vote. Higher! That still wasnt enough. She added, it was as if he had turned to stone. He would deserve to be killed like a mangy dog.[28]. American razor blades, it was said, were inadequate to cut his tough beard. [72], The re-interment in the Mussolini family crypt in Predappio was carried out on 1 September 1957, with supporters present giving the fascist salute. Mussolini returned triumphantly and kept suppressing his opposition. The death of Benito Mussolini in Lombardy. Palmiro Togliatti, the Secretary-General of the Communist Party, claimed that he had ordered Mussolini's execution prior to his capture. [69] Over a period of sixteen weeks it was moved from place to place the hiding places included a villa, a monastery and a convent while the authorities searched for it. But Mussolinis political orientation didnt always lean that way. The night after Benito Mussolinis death, a cargo truck roared into Milans Square of the Fifteen Martyrs. ] It was the birth cry of fascism. Mussolini led Italy, alright: he led it straight into disaster. [2], Shortly after the Armistice, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces, and Hitler installed him as leader of the Italian Social Republic, a German puppet state set up in northern Italy and based at the town of Sal near Lake Garda. 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 WebIn 1924 Mussolinis henchmen kidnapped and murdered the Socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti, who had become one of fascisms most effective critics in parliament. He was the youngest to ever hold the office and now had a wider audience for his speeches, policies, and worldview than ever before. It worked, and Mussolini was appointed prime minister that same year. We cant see! There it stayed for eleven years, until Italian Prime Minister Adone Zoli turned over the bones to Mussolinis widow. Lets take a look at the circumstances that led to his demise. Five years after the Ethiopian invasion, Benito Mussolini watched from the sidelines as Hitler invaded France. Two days into their trek, they were identified by a group of partisans, which was probably inevitable. Initially, Mussolini was buried in an unmarked grave but, in 1946, his body was dug up and stolen by fascist supporters. World War II began later that year in September. Audisio replied that she had been Mussolini's adviser, had inspired his policies and was "just as responsible as he is". 3 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). WebBenito Mussolini began his political life as a committed socialist. Although his account most probably is built around the facts, it was certainly embellished. 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. Accounts vary as to how he died: Some say he was killed with coma-inducing injections, others say it was from electric shock treatments. Death of Benito Mussolini - Wikipedia. [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". These politics included the themes of racial superiority, xenophobia, and imperialism that defined his actions as a dictator. He obtained a teaching diploma and for a time worked as a schoolmaster but soon realized that he was totally unsuited for such work. Support the continuing educational mission of The National WWII Museum by shopping our Museum Store book selection here. Enter Rachele Mussolini or Donna Rachele, as she became known to the world. What were Benito Mussolinis political beliefs? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). If they couldn't, they submitted to binding government arbitration. In this case, its hard to argue with the New York Times: a fitting end to a wretched life.. Faces of European History: Fact or Fiction? 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. It was very barbarous. He referred to the Mediterranean Sea, as the Romans had, as Mare Nostrumour sea. He reminded Italians of their imperial destiny and revived the old stiff-armed Roman salute. His body remained a potent symbol after his death, causing it to be either revered by supporters or treated with contempt and disrespect by opponents, and assuming a broader political significance. Because the teachers at the village school could not control him, he was sent to board with the strict Salesian order at Faenza, where he proved himself more troublesome than ever, stabbing a fellow pupil with a penknife and attacking one of the Salesians who had attempted to beat him. A macabre autopsy photo of Benito Mussolini and his mistress in a Milan morgue. Hed declared war against the rest of the world with only Germany to back him up. [6], Before long, it was noted that there were discrepancies between Audisio's original story published in L'Unit, subsequent versions that he provided and the versions of events provided by others. Your leisure time was overseen by a party organization called the Dopolavoro, and your children had no choice but to join the Young Fascists. In the afternoon of 25 April,[16] Cardinal Schuster hosted peace negotiations at his residence between Mussolini and representatives of the CLNAI, which were unsuccessful. [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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. At 3:00 am, the corpses were dumped on the ground in the old Piazzale Loreto. They were then hung upside down from a metal girder above a service station on the square. [CDATA[/* > As an adult, Benito Mussolini would have two wives and many mistresses. [75] Comparisons have been made with the John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories,[20] and it has been described as the Italian equivalent of that speculation. A restless child, Mussolini was disobedient, unruly, and aggressive. Setelah Jerman menyerah di Italia pada 1945, Benito Mussolini While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. Mussolini sold the invasion to the Italian people as a method to get jobs to Italian partisans took his body to Milan and exposed it before an angry crowd. The documentary went on to claim that the later shootings at the Villa Belmonte were subsequently staged as part of the "cover up". And that brings us back to where we started: that ill-fated gas station in the Piazzale Loreto. 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. Mussolini had developed a cult-like following and instant recognizability over the past 25 years due to his face being plastered all over propaganda nationwide and now it had come back to haunt him. by Adnan Nasser L April 3, 2023. 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. Cursing. Keystone/Getty ImagesBenito Mussolini lies dead in Milans Piazza Loroto with his mistress, Clara Petacci. 2. 3. The Fhrer convinced Il Duce to set up a Fascist state in northern Italy where it all began with Milan as its headquarters. His inner circle burned his corpse as Soviet forces closed in. 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. The Week How Did Italys Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini Die? The death of Benito Mussolini, the deposed Italian fascist dictator, occurred on 28 April 1945, in the final days of World War II in Europe, when he was summarily executed by an Italian partisan in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra in northern Italy. Benito Mussolini was Europes first 20th-century fascist dictator. One version is that he was executed by firing squad on the 28th of April, 1945, shot by soldiers firing several bullets. How Did James Brown Die? Life in Mussolinis Italy was somewhat different from other dictatorships. Even in death, his mouth couldnt be shut. The calibres of the bullets were not identified. Despite Italy becoming the first ally of the Fhrer, this fact was downplayed when they surrendered to the Allies at the end of 1943. [23], The partisans arrested Mussolini and took him to Dongo, where he spent part of the night in the local barracks. [82], The theory has been criticised for lacking any serious evidence, particularly on the existence of the correspondence with Churchill. The farmhouse in northern Italy where Benito Mussolini would be last seen alive. [74], Outside of Italy, Audisio's version of how Mussolini was executed has largely been accepted and is uncontroversial. In his own mind, Il Duce felt it should be Italy fighting the French. [29], He also claimed that he had given the order as deputy prime minister of the government in Rome and as leader of the Communist Party. Soon after the marriage, Mussolini was imprisoned for the fifth time; but by then Comrade Mussolini had become recognized as one of the most gifted and dangerous of Italys younger socialists. [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". 504-528-1944. [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. Four months later it was recovered by the authorities who then kept it hidden for the next eleven years. There, people were still out of work, starving, and thus feeling rebellious. Photographs and videos taken on that day have preserved this historic event forever. 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. ]]>*/ Some Fascists came along and disinterred him a year later, absconding with it to a convent in the region of Lombardy, but the government was able to recover it and bury it at a Milan monastery. [6][7] The purpose of the move appears to have been to prepare for final defeat. Much has been made in the historical record of the capture of the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine River at Remagen, Germany in early March of 1945. [57] Samples of Mussolini's brain were taken and sent to the United States for analysis. Stories circulated in Italy to reinforce the image. The numbers signing the tomb's register range from dozens to hundreds per day, with thousands signing on certain anniversaries; almost all the comments left are supportive of Mussolini. In his final will, scrawled on a piece of paper, Hitler said, I do not wish to fall into the hands of an enemy who requires a new spectacle organized by the Jews for the amusement of their hysterical masses. On May 1, mere days after Mussolinis death, Hitler killed himself and his mistress. One battleship was sunk and two more disabled, neutralizing the Italian surface navy for the rest of the war. After a lengthy legal process, an investigating judge eventually closed the case in 1967 and acquitted Audisio of murder and embezzlement on the ground that the actions complained of occurred as an act of war against the Germans and the fascists during a period of enemy occupation. [30], Although several conflicting versions and theories of how Mussolini and Petacci died were put forward after the war, the account of Walter Audisio, or at least its essential components, remains the most credible and is sometimes referred to in Italy as the "official" version. [20][86] Journalist Peter Tompkins claimed to have established that "John" was Robert Maccarrone, a British SOE agent who had Sicilian ancestry. In the aftermath of the Battle of Kasserine Pass, US II Corps passed to the command of General Harold Alexanders 18th Army Group. 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). In his initial overtures into politics, Mussolinis beliefs took after his fathers: he spent time organizing with trade unions and writing for socialist publications in both Switzerland and Italy. 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. 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