Benito Mussolinis Rise And Fall To Power
Benito Mussolini had a large impact on World War II. He wasn't always a
powerful dictator though. At first he was a school teacher and a
socialist journalist. He later married Rachele Guide and had 5 children.
He was the editor of the Avanti, which was a socialist party newspaper
in Milan.
Benito Mussolini founded the Fasci di Combattimento on March of 1919.
"This was a nationalistic, anti liberal, and anti socialist movement.
This movement attracted mainly the lower middle class."1 Fascism was
spreading across Europe. Mussolini was winning sympathy from King Victor
Emmanuel III. Mussolini then threatened to march on Rome. This persuaded
King Victor Emmanuel III to invite Mussolini to join a coalition, which
strongly helped him gain more power.
Benito Mussolini brought Austria on Germany's side by a formal
alliance. "In 1937, he accepted a German alliance. The name of this
alliance was the Anti Comntern Pact. On April 13, 1937 Benito Mussolini
annexed Albania. He then told the British ambassador that not even the
bribe of France and North Africa would keep him neutral."2 The British
ambassador was appalled and dismayed.
On May 28, 1937, Mussolini strongly gave thought to declaring
war. He then attacked the Riviera across the Maritime. "On September 13,
1937 he opened an offensive into British-garrisoned Egypt from Libya."3
On October 4, 1937, while the offensive still seemed to promise
success, Benito Mussolini met Adolf Hitler at the Brenner Pass, on
their joint frontier. "The two of them discussed how the war in the
Mediterranean, Britain's principal foothold outside its island base,
might be turned to her decisive disadvantage. Hitler suggested to
Mussolini that Spain might be coaxed on the axis side, thus giving
Germany free use of the British Rock of Gibraltar, by offering Franco
part of French North Africa, and that France might be persuaded to
accept that concession by compensation with parts of...
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