Indeed, the human corpses now looked like meat hanging in a slaughterhouse. His inner circle burned his corpse as Soviet forces closed in. Il Duces days had been numbered. The Duce, it was said, could recite cantos of Dante from memory. He was placed in charge of a newly established Italian Social Republic in the north (sometimes, for the small town on Lake Garda that was its seat of government, called the Republic of Sal). 3. He referred to the Mediterranean Sea, as the Romans had, as Mare Nostrumour sea. He reminded Italians of their imperial destiny and revived the old stiff-armed Roman salute. Known For: Mussolini was a fascist dictator who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943. And Il Duce was also beginning to realize that Italys military was woefully under-classed. Fifteen partisans had been shot there in August 1944 in retaliation for partisan attacks and Allied bombing raids, and their bodies had then been left on public display. The tribunal condemned Mussolini and Petacci to death. As an adult, Benito Mussolini would have two wives and many mistresses. Claras brother, Marcello Petacci, was also shot dead while swimming in Lake Como, trying to escape. Fascists dug up Il Duces body on Easter Sunday of 1946. With German SS soldiers looking on, Mussolinis men opened fire and killed them. Then came actual invasion, of Sicily in July 1943 and the Italian mainland in September. We cant see! [81][88] Commenting on the RAI television documentary in 2004, Christopher Woods, researcher for the official history of the SOE, dismissed these claims saying that "it's just love of conspiracy-making". Benito Mussolini was the less dominant half of the Rome-Berlin axis, formalized by the 1939 Pact of Steel between Adolf Hitler and himself. Benito Mussolini, pictured before his brutal death. [30], Although several conflicting versions and theories of how Mussolini and Petacci died were put forward after the war, the account of Walter Audisio, or at least its essential components, remains the most credible and is sometimes referred to in Italy as the "official" version. Then, they took to beating and kicking it. Mussolini is on it, somewhere near the top, rivaled , perhaps, only by Hitler. He resigned from Avanti! ]]>*/ WebBenito Mussolini , , Politiker, Italien, 1925-1943/45 Diktator Italiens, Die Leichen Mussolinis und seiner letzten, Begleiter auf dem Piazzale Loreto View of the cenotaph of Arnaldo and Sandro Mussolini, in which it is believed the coffin with the remains of He called himself the Duce, from the old Latin word dux (chief or boss). This article is part of an ongoing series commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II made possible byBank of America. The New York Times MUSSOLINI ON ISLE TORE OFF HIS SHIRT; But The Ousted Dictator As A Prisoner On Ponza Soon Wearied Of Tragic Role. Benito Mussolini was the fascist leader of Italy, appointed as prime minister after his march on Rome in 1922. [37] Other versions of the story were also published, including, in the 1960s, two books setting out the "classical" account of the story: Dongo, la fine di Mussolini by Lazzaro and Bellini delle Stelle and Le ultime 95 ore di Mussolini by Franco Bandini. Mussolini was killed two days before Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide. [5], On 18 April 1945, Mussolini left Gargnano, a village near Sal where he had been residing, and moved, with his entire government, to Milan and based himself in the city's prefecture. String them up! [20], In any event, Longo instructed a communist partisan of the General Command, Walter Audisio, to go immediately to Dongo to carry out the order. [Long live Italy! In this case, its hard to argue with the New York Times: a fitting end to a wretched life.. In late 1914, with World War I newly underway, he founded a newspaper called The People of Italy. Benito Mussolini lies dead in Milans Piazza Loroto with his mistress, Clara Petacci. 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. [44] Urbano Lazzaro later denied that such a tribunal had been convened and said: I was convinced Mussolini deserved death but there should have been a trial according to law. The documentary went on to claim that the later shootings at the Villa Belmonte were subsequently staged as part of the "cover up". Whatever you call him, Mussolini cut an incredible public figure in the 1930s: strutting on the balcony of the Palazzo Venezia in comic opera style in front of 100,000s of people chanting Duce! Palmiro Togliatti, the Secretary-General of the Communist Party, claimed that he had ordered Mussolini's execution prior to his capture. [71] This remained the position until May 1957, when the newly appointed Prime Minister, Adone Zoli, agreed to Mussolini's re-interment at his place of birth in Predappio, in Romagna. Rather than Fascism, its probably better to think of Italy in those days as being under the rule of mussolinismo: Mussolini-ism.. Audisio replied that she had been Mussolini's adviser, had inspired his policies and was "just as responsible as he is". WebIn 1924 Mussolinis henchmen kidnapped and murdered the Socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti, who had become one of fascisms most effective critics in parliament. [60][61] Earlier that day, Hitler had recorded in his Last Will and Testament that he intended to choose death rather than be captured by the enemy or fall into the hands of "the masses" to become "a spectacle arranged by Jews". It is unclear whether his objective was to attempt to cross the Swiss border or to go to the Valtellina; if it were the latter, he left the city without the thousands of supporters gathered in Milan intended to be his escort to the last stand in the Alps. [51], Their bodies were left in a heap, and by 9:00a.m. a considerable crowd had gathered. The country was battered, and it was, many thought, all Il Duces fault. [74], Outside of Italy, Audisio's version of how Mussolini was executed has largely been accepted and is uncontroversial. The economy was based on a system he called corporatism: Italian economic life was organized into 22 corporations, representing all industries in a major area of production, like agriculture or metallurgy, from raw materials through production to distribution. [CDATA[/* >