Benito Mussolini

On July 29th of 1883, the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, was born. He was born in Dovia di Predappio, a small town in Italy to parents Alessandro and Rosa Mussolini; he was the eldest of the three siblings. Benito’s father was a blacksmith and socialist while his mother was a Catholic school teacher. Benito’s father had a great influence on his son’s ideologies. Benito and his father spent a lot of time together during his youth while he helped in blacksmithing and during this time is when he starts to build his political views. His father was a revolutionary socialist who idolized 19th century Italian nationalist figures. His father also liked to combine authoritarianism ideas like that of Giuseppe Garibaldi with nationalist ideas like that of Giuseppe Mazzini (Bosworth 167). From this, he began to develop his own ideas. Benito’s mother insisted that he be sent to a boarding school run by Salesian monks. During his time there, he became rebellious and was very violent. He stabbed the hand of a classmate and was eventually kicked out. Mussolini’s violent tendencies can be seen even in his youth, however, his intelligence is also shone through when he leaves boarding school and begins to succeed academically. In 1902, Mussolini leaves to Switzerland in order to avoid military service. He had trouble during his time there; he was arrested the first time after coming to Geneva because of advocacy towards a violent strike and was deported, then arrested again a second time for coming back to Switzerland and falsifying his papers. His time away in Switzerland is significant because Mussolini took his time there to study the ideas of philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche (he strongly adapted to his anti-catholic and anti- God ideology), sociologist Vilfred Pareto, and the syndicalist Georges Sorel (Fermi 65). Sorel emphasis on the need for overthrowing decadent liberal Democracy and Capitalism by the use of violence, direct action, the general strike, and

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