Benito Mussolini is a man with whose name the very concept of "fascism" is inseparably linked, which has significant differences from German National Socialism. Before the outbreak of World War II, Italy was formally a monarchy, but all the levers of power were in the hands of Mussolini.
He not only served as prime minister and was the leader of the country's only legal party - the National Fascist - but also personally headed seven key ministries, bore the title of First Marshal of the Empire, and later became the supreme commander. Most often he was called simply "Duce", which means "leader", and his official title was: "His Excellency Benito Mussolini, head of government, Duce of Fascism and founder of the Empire."
Mussolini's dream was to revive the Roman Empire, and the first steps towards this were taken even before the Second World War. In 1935, the Italians and the French agreed to divide the zones of influence in North Africa, and in 1936 Italian troops invaded Ethiopia. Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia were soon united to form a colony called Italian East Africa. In the spring of 1939, Italy occupied Albania.
Before the start of World War II, both the Germans and the British wanted to get Italy as an allies. Winston Churchill, in particular, carried on extensive correspondence with Mussolini and repeatedly spoke publicly about him with praise. Hitler, to some extent, considered Mussolini, who came to power in Italy a decade earlier than the Fuehrer in Germany, as his teacher.
Duce maneuvered for a long time, but in the end the choice was made in favor of Germany. On May 22, 1939, the so-called Steel Pact (a treaty of friendship and cooperation) was signed between Italy and Germany, and in 1940 - the Triple Pact (Japan joined it) on the delimitation of zones of influence, and in fact on the post-war redistribution of the world. But even after these agreements Churchill and Roosevelt tried for some time to persuade the Italian dictator to peace.
But Mussolini allowed Germany to drag Italy into World War II, which his colleagues, the Spanish dictator Franco and the Portuguese Salazar, wisely avoided. As a result, their countries escaped military losses and occupation, and they themselves were able to remain in power.
On the eve of World War II and even during it, Mussolini significantly exaggerated the actual size and combat effectiveness of the Italian army. There are still different opinions about whether this was a deliberate bluff in order to have greater influence in international affairs or self-blinding, wishful thinking. Be that as it may, the coming military campaigns showed that the training and armament of the Italian army left much to be desired.
Relations between Mussolini and Hitler, despite the outward demonstration of unity and friendship, developed quite tensely. The allies did not trust each other and kept many important decisions secret until the very last moment, without warning about their actions. It annoyed Hitler that the military secrets shared with the Italians soon became known to the Allies. It got to the point that disinformation was deliberately "leaked" through them.
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The German attack on Poland on September 1, 1939 came as a complete surprise to Mussolini. He accused Hitler of treachery and declared Italy a "non-belligerent party." However, the Duce did not adhere to neutrality for long. Italy, in turn, without notifying the ally, attacked Greece in the fall of 1940, because of which significant forces were diverted from joint actions in Egypt.
The point of no return for Mussolini was apparently June 10, 1940, when Italy, impressed by the military successes of the Germans, declared war on France and Great Britain. By that time, the main forces of France had already been defeated by the Nazis, and Mussolini was in a hurry to make it to the carve-up of the "French pie". “Whether we enter a future war or not, the Germans will still occupy all of Europe. If we do not pay our tribute in blood, they alone will dictate their terms in Europe,”he said. Italy did receive some of the southeastern lands that had previously belonged to France, and part of the North African colonies, but now it was inextricably linked with Germany.
During the war, Mussolini tried in every possible way to demonstrate his independence, independence from Hitler, although in reality Italy's dependence on Germany grew day by day. Initially, for example, the Duce refused to establish a single command with the Germans in North Africa, but over time, all the Italo-German forces were actually subordinate to the German Field Marshal Rommel.
The population was not only irritated by the Mussolini regime with military losses. During the war, there were hundreds of thousands of Italian workers in Germany who replaced the Germans who had gone to the front. Moreover, they were often treated like second-class people. This most clearly demonstrated the inequality of the alliance with Hitler and the subordination of Italy.
The style of action of Mussolini as a commander can be characterized by the word "voluntarism". Duce did not listen to advice and surrounded himself with weak-willed people who could not object to him. Often, he would suddenly change plans of operations at the very last moment and issue instructions to senior officers without informing their immediate commanders. He strove to control all decisions personally, in fact, leaving no opportunity for his generals to take the initiative. Another weakness of Mussolini as a military strategist was the dispersal of forces instead of concentrating them on the main direction. This actually made it impossible to carry out large-scale military operations and surprise attacks by troops.
It is not surprising that the Italian army had much more defeats than victories, and from defeat the Italian units were sometimes saved only by the German allies. This was the case in North Africa and in Greece, far from the strongest army of which for a long time not only successfully resisted the Italian, but also launched a successful counteroffensive, which continued until the intervention of German troops.
One of Mussolini's major mistakes was entering the war against the Soviet Union and sending troops to the Eastern Front. Moreover, this decision was made by him alone. At Stalingrad, the Italian Expeditionary Corps was defeated and suffered huge losses. This dealt a colossal blow both to the fighting efficiency of the army and to the authority of the Duce.
Mussolini was an excellent orator and publicist and knew how to inspire and persuade people, but over time, the real state of affairs became so bad that the effect of propaganda became weaker and weaker.
Military failures, much of the blame for which lay with Mussolini, caused discontent even among the leaders of the National Fascist Party, and after the Allied forces landed in Sicily in July 1943, it reached a boiling point. On July 25, 1943, Duce was removed from power and arrested. However, two weeks after the arrest, Mussolini was released by the German special forces under the command of the legendary saboteur Otto Skorzeny.
After his release, Mussolini was actually forced by the Germans to lead the puppet Italian Social Republic (its unofficial name is the Republic of Salo, after the name of the actual capital) created in the territories they controlled in northern Italy. If in internal affairs it retained some kind of independence, the rest of its policy was completely controlled by Germany. Mussolini, whose state of health left much to be desired, actually retired from business and remained a figurehead. In April 1945, he tried to flee the country, dressed in a German uniform, but was recognized, captured by partisans and executed along with his entourage.
