MacFormat España 17/MacFormat 17 (Spain)/MacFormat 17.bin/DATABASE/SHARED.DIR/01285_128.cap.txt

Text File | 1996-03-14 | 4.1 KB | 252 lines

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Mussolini was a
man of political
theatre, a ideo-
logical dilettante
taken with the
big gesture. His
stock in trade
was pageantry -
uniforms, rallies,
loud declamatory
speeches and
monumental set-
tings intended to
evoke the glory
of Ancient Rome
#
The first world
war shattered
Mussolini's left-
wing ideals, and
he founded the
Italian fascist
party to appeal
to patriotic and
anti-communist
feeling. He began
to rally platoons
of black-shirted
thugs, "Squadristi",
who beat strikers
and terrorised
ethnic minorities
#
D'Annunzio was a death-and-glory nationalist whose views struck a chord with the
Italian fascist movement. His ideas were borrowed by Mussolini, who admired and
distrusted D'Annunzio in equal measure
#
Italy ended the
first world war
with half a million
men dead, food
shortages and a
crippling war debt.
Instability fuelled
the possibility of
revolution, and the
fear of this caused
the forces of the
right to mobilise.
Many tried to find
the philosophical
basis of 'fascismo',
but in the end it
was like Nazism, a
knee-jerk response
to defeat, and it
defied all reason
#
The "March on
Rome" was a
typical act of
bravado on
Mussolini's part.
Most of the fascist
plotters did not
march at all but
made their way by
train. And had the
civil authorities
declared martial
law, government
troops might well
have been able to
crush the coup
#
After the coup,
Victor Emmanuel,
the frightened king
of Italy, requested
Mussolini to form a
government. But he
had to be summoned
to Rome by telegram
because he was in
Milan, ready to flee
if the coup failed
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The triumphant
Mussolini carried
out a series of
ambitious attacks
on foreign states
in the Twenties
and Thirties. An
unprovoked invasion
of Abyssinia (or
Ethiopia) in 1935
was strongly con-
demned by the
League of Nations,
but Mussolini's
empire-building
went unchecked
#
Mussolini tested
his imperialist
ambitions for
the first time in
1923, when Italy
bombarded and
occupied the Greek
island of Corfu. On
that occasion,
Mussolini was
persuaded by the
League of Nations
to withdraw his
troops, but he
warned the world:
"Italy must expand
or suffocate."
#
Mussolini longed
for Italy to have
the status of a
great power, but
he commanded a
second-rate eco-
nomy and a third
rate military. So
he was reduced
to sabre-rattling
and to conducting
low-risk foreign
campaigns which
his propaganda
machine could
glorify as major
successes
#
Mussolini seized
Albania as a base
to further his
ambitions in
Yugoslavia and
Greece. This move,
a copycat version
of Adolf Hitler's
blitzkrieg tactics,
caused alarm in
the democracies
and brought war
a step closer
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In 1939 Mussolini
and Hitler signed
the Pact of Steel,
a  military pact
between the two
fascist states.
Mussolini, though
ideologically close
to Hitler, was
reluctant to enter
such an alliance.
Germany was the
senior partner in
the deal, and before
long Germany had
dragged Italy into
the European war
#
At the outbreak
of war in 1939,
Italy was weak
and in no position
to fight. Mussolini
was forced to
remain neutral
until it became
clear that France
was about to fall,
when he entered
the war expecting
the risks to be
low and the spoils
of victory high
#
Mussolini's poorly
equipped and
badly organised
army was defeated
in North Africa and
his fleet was sunk
at sea. When Hitler
rescued Mussolini
from his defeats
it marked the start
of fascist Italy's
total dependency
on the German
dictatorship
#
Though his fall
was reported as a
resignation,
Mussolini was in
fact dismissed
and arrested. Six
weeks later, Italy
surrendered to
the Allies, but
before Mussolini
could be handed
over, he was
rescued by Nazi
paratroopers and
installed by the
Germans as the
head of a puppet
regime in
northern Italy
#
Mussolini's fall
from power was
not the end of
fascism in Italy,
but it was clear
that the regime's
days were now
numbered, and
that Mussolini's
own inglorious
career was
nearing its end
#
Mussolini and his
mistress were
executed by
firing-squad, and
their bodies were
strung upside-
down from the
roof of a petrol
station. The last
German forces in
Italy surrendered
the next day
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