The History of Benito Mussolini

Ben Hubbard Thur: 6:30PM Benito Mussolini, the founder of Fascism in 1919, was the prominent leader of Italy from 1922­1943. His rule came from the fact that he, and the Black Shirts, a group of organized jobless war veterans, went to Rome when Italy was beginning to fail politically. He talked and created an image that he was the only man fit of restoring Italy. He was finally able to form a government with King Victor Emmanuel’s permission, however, he slowly began to dismantle the Italian democratic government and became a dictator. Benito Mussolini wanted to reestablish Italian power within Europe, so he invaded and took control of Ethiopia, helped Franco in the Spanish Civil War, and began to cooperate with Nazi Germany. As he practically followed Hitler, he started creating anti­Jewish laws to be set in place in Italy. He declared war with Britain and France, however, his military suffered many defeats and in 1943 he was overthrown and put in prison. If there had been no World War I, Mussolini may not have seen a reason to establish Italy as a European power. But because of the high unemployment rates, inflation, and military loss after the war he saw it fit to bring Italy back up. If Benito Mussolini had not lived the Italian government may have just crumbled and their entire country taken over by Germany during WWII. Mussolini sort of saved Italy, but then again he was influenced by Hitler and such. It is a tough decision to make, but I honestly do not think Italy could have survived without him. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/mussolini_benito.shtml