The humiliating end of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini

April 28, 1945. Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini from 1922 to 1943, founder of the Italian Fascist regime, was shot dead by Italian partisans. His death in 1945 was one of the most humiliating deaths in history.

Benito Mussolini died screaming “No no!” To the firing squad, which claimed his life and the life of his lover, near the village of Dogo on Lake Como, before the Swiss border, which he tried to cross.

The Italian people accepted the extermination and humiliation of the Duce without remorse.

He promised them Roman greatness and gave them instead war, bloodshed, and misery.

The fanatical and arrogant Mussolini

Italian politician, supporter of fascist ideology, Benito Mussolini ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943, imposing a totalitarian regime.

Also known as Shower (Il Duce, meaning The Leader, The Leader), Mussolini was, historically, the first of the fascist dictators in Europe during the interwar period.

Benito Amilcari Andrea Mussolini (Benito Amilcari Andrea Mussolini) was born on July 29, 1883 in Predappio, a village in northeastern Italy.

He was the son of the local blacksmith Alessandro Mussolini And the village teacher antiquities Maltoni.

The name Benito was chosen by his father in memory of the Mexican revolutionary Benito Juarez.

Young Benito finished school and became a public teacher like his mother. The profession did not suit him and he soon quit.

Ideologically, he identified with his father's “beliefs” and became an ardent socialist.

the 1902At the age of nineteen, he decides to immigrate to America, but the money is not enough for him, so he ends up in… Switzerland To avoid military service as well.

Naturally, it did not take long for the Swiss authorities to target his socialist activities and the organization of mass demonstrations, and in 1904, after having previously been imprisoned, he was finally expelled from the country.

After he completed – against his will – his military obligations in Italy, he returned for her For the second time in SwitzerlandHe now leads the socialist struggle.

He was arrested again and deported to Italy.

After passing Austria And Libya He was tried again for his intense political activity as a journalist and publisher of socialist reviews, returning at some point to Italy and Italy. 1911 You will find him behind bars again, now as a promoter of protests against the Italian invasion of Libya.

Meanwhile, in 1910 he married Rachel Jediwith which they would have five children.

Upon his release from prison in 1912, Italian Socialist Party leaders appointed him director of the party's official newspaper.Avanti!” (“Before!”).

Mussolini began to gain fame and his articles were well received by enthusiastic readers.

Despite the fact that as a consistent socialist, pacifist and opponent of expansionism, he initially condemned Italy's descent into World War I, his views would soon change radically and he would see the war as a major opportunity to transform the country. Italy in Great power.

But this radical change in course took him out of the Socialist Coalition, as he now rejected the socialist ideas for which he had fought so hard throughout the previous years.

at the same time, – His excessive ambitions for personal advancement They began to distance him from working-class ideals and his writings were no longer consistent with socialist ideas.

Benito Mussolini made a 180 degree turn, socialism was put aside forever and nationalism took its place.

the 1915 He would find Mussolini in the ranks of the Italian army fighting at the forefront as a corporal, but his injury prematurely disabled him and sent him back to Milan.

He founded the reactionary newspaper “Il Popolo d'Italia” (“The People of Italy”) and the group Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria, with his ideas now imbued with reactionism and extreme patriotism, at the same time as It is now hostile to workers' demands.

for him March 1919 He establishes the party “Fasci Italiani di Combattimento” (“Italian Heart of Battle”) With the vision of the country rising back to The glorious grandeur of its Roman past.

Far from the official political line, Mussolini organized paramilitary assault brigades The notorious “Melanochitones” (“black shirts”), Terrorizing socialists and any opponent in his path.

In the November elections, Mussolini is overwhelmed. But he quickly reorganized his party, taking advantage of the climate of general paralysis prevailing in Italy.

In its elections May 15, 1921 The fascists made significant gains and Mussolini was elected to Parliament for the first time.

By 1922, while Italian society was engulfed in strikes and a wave of violence and terror artificially sown by the Milanoctas, Mussolini claimed wherever and whenever he stood that he could restore order only if he had complete power in his hands.

Fascists create “Mindfulness groups” The clash begins in the streets with the socialists. Former partners burn Avanti offices. This conversion guarantees them Support industrialists.

In May 1922, 20,000 fascists occupied Bologna and Milan in August.

With the atmosphere redolent of civil war and local fascist factions stronger than ever, Mussolini decides it is time to show his strength.

in October 31, 1922 More than 100,000 fascists and blacks ritually march through Rome in what will go down in history. “March to Rome” (March in Rome).

The coup forces King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy to hand over power to him.

Mussolini is sworn in as Prime Minister. By 1925 it was already done dictator,force Everyone now addresses him as “Il Duce” (“The Commander”).

Mussolini officially inaugurates Censorship In the press, after his assassination attempt, he presents deadly penalty On charges of conspiring against the royal family or the head of state.

Wanting to weaken the Church's influence, he reached a compromise with the Pope and granted full authority to the Vatican, on the condition that it not interfere with the commons.

Former pacifist Benito Mussolini was now a follower of the doctrine of extreme aggression and expansionist nationalism.

File image: APE-MPE

In 1936 he supported his dictatorship Franco In Spain and allied with it Adolfo Hitler.

Mussolini, flattered by Hitler's openness to his side, in 1939 signed a war alliance between the two countries, which he himself called “Axis”.

In 1940 he participated in his country World War IIAs a member of “Axis” Italy, Germany and Japan.

for him Winter of 1940 He will suffer a painful and shameful defeat In the Pindus Mountains by Greek army.

He will be freed from its painful consequences at the hands of his German allies, who will invade Greece on April 6, 1941.

Benito Mussolini is arrested and executed

On July 24, 1943, immediately after the Allied landing in Italy, he was relieved of his duties by the Great Fascist Council and the next day by order of King Mussolini He will be arrested.

On September 12, he would be released by German commandos, and with Hitler's blessing would establish a short-lived state formation in northern Italy, hoping to regain his influence and rebuild his fascist state.

After the collapse of German defenses in Italy, Allied forces advanced and on 3 June 1944 entered Rome.

the Mussolini in disguise And the Mistress Claretta Petacci They try to escape to Switzerland, hiding in a German battalion near the village of Dogo on the shores of Lake Como.

A group of communist rebels attacked the convoy and forced it to stop. The rebels had information that the Italian fascist and his comrades were among the Germans.

He was captured by Italian resistance fighters on April 27, 1945 and executed the very next day. April 28, 1945, (Golino in the province of Como).

But the revolutionaries were not satisfied with the immediate execution of the fascist dictator.

The bodies of the executed people were transported to Milan and hung upside down in the city's central square to the jeers of the masses.