[52][53] Allied forces began arriving in the city during the course of the morning and an American eyewitness described the crowd as "sinister, depraved, out of control". [23] In Dongo, Mussolini was reunited with Petacci, who had requested to join him, at about 2:30a.m. on 28 April. For some time after his return little was heard of him. Benito Mussolini, pictured before his brutal death. [6][7] The purpose of the move appears to have been to prepare for final defeat. The Italians convinced the West that their former pact with the Nazis was water under the bridge. Support the continuing educational mission of The National WWII Museum by shopping our Museum Store book selection here. They were those of Mussolini, the Petaccis, and the 15 suspected Fascists. These groups began waging campaigns of terrorism and intimidation against Italys leftist institutions at his behest. Upon concluding Marx was correct on revolution following the war he began to make moves to become a dictator and enact widespread change. Benito Mussolini was born to a poor family in Predappio, a town in northeastern Italy. [56], On 30 April, an autopsy was carried out on Mussolini at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Milan. Claras eyes stared blankly into the distance. Nonetheless, the sentiments were real, and in Mussolinis case, utterly deserved. Mussolini had been Italy's fascist leader since 1922, first as prime minister and, following his seizure of dictatorial powers in 1925, with the title Il Duce. By 1925 Mussolini had dismantled Italys democratic institutions and assumed his role as dictator, adopting the title Il Duce (The Leader). During a period of freedom in 1909, he fell in love with 16-year-old Rachele Guidi, the younger of the two daughters of his fathers widowed mistress; she went to live with him in a damp, cramped apartment in Forl and later married him. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The south was in ruins as Allied troops advanced. [82], The theory has been criticised for lacking any serious evidence, particularly on the existence of the correspondence with Churchill. On 29 April 1945, the bodies of Mussolini, Petacci and the other executed Fascists were loaded into a van and moved south to Milan. In his final will, scrawled on a piece of paper, Hitler said, I do not wish to fall into the hands of an enemy who requires a new spectacle organized by the Jews for the amusement of their hysterical masses. On May 1, mere days after Mussolinis death, Hitler killed himself and his mistress. What was Benito Mussolinis role in World War II? WebMussolini was survived by his wife, Rachele Mussolini, two sons, Vittorio and Romano Mussolini, and his daughters Edda (the widow of Count Ciano) and Anna Maria. Togliatti said he had done so by a radio message on 26 April 1945 with the words: Only one thing is needed to decide that they [Mussolini and the other fascist leaders] must pay with their lives: the question of their identity. [55], At about 2:00p.m. on 29 April, the recently arrived American military authorities ordered that the bodies be taken down and delivered to the city morgue for autopsies to be carried out. [29], He also claimed that he had given the order as deputy prime minister of the government in Rome and as leader of the Communist Party. Audisio himself did not speak publicly about it until he published his account in a series of five articles in L'Unit later that month (and repeated in a book that Audisio later wrote which was published in 1975, two years after his death). Even in death, his mouth couldnt be shut. The treaty that Hitler hated even more than the Treaty of Versailles and one of the most important treaties you have probably never heard of. As that adventure ground to a halt, in October 1940, the Italian army invaded Greece from the Italian colony of Albania. Some historians believe that what happened to Mussolini was a factor in Hitler's decision to take his own life and have his body burned. [23] Lazzaro later said that: His face was like wax and his stare glassy, but somehow blind. This was taken after the mob desecrated their bodies. WebBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born on 29 July 1883 in Predappio in northern central Italy. It was alongside his longtime mistress, Clara Petacci, that he died, however. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Wikimedia CommonsAdolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, Germany, circa June 1940. [26], Fighting was still going on in the area around Dongo. [21], By some accounts, on 26 April, Mussolini, now joined by his mistress Claretta Petacci, made several failed attempts to cross the border into Switzerland. The list of those who wrecked their homeland is shorter. For the next few months, according to his own account, he lived from day to day, jumping from job to job. [57] Samples of Mussolini's brain were taken and sent to the United States for analysis. People in Hitlers inner circle reported that he said, This will never happen to me.. Facing pressure on the home front due to increasingly stressful wartime conditions and rebelliousness from within his own ranks, Benito Mussolini was removed from office by the king and the Grand Council in July of 1943. Forces loyal to the Italian king arrested Mussolini and imprisoned him. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Now that steel has met steel, one single cry comes from our heartsViva lItalia! ", "Mussolini's brain 'stolen for sale on eBay', Fabrizio Ciano, 3rd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death_of_Benito_Mussolini&oldid=1149485213, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Italian-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 April 2023, at 14:55. However, since the end of the war, the circumstances of Mussolini's death, and the identity of his executioner, have been subjects of continuing dispute and controversy in Italy. /*-->
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