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One person that stands out in history was Benito Mussolini. Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883. He was originally a member of the Italian Socialist Party and ultimately led the National Fascist Party. Mussolini came to power in 1922, after he led the March on Rome. Briefly after the March on Rome, Mussolini became the 27th Prime Minister of Italy. As Italy struggled in the 1930s, the Italian people wanted a clever and charismatic leader. At the time, Mussolini was the man who fit that position. Once Mussolini gained authority, he became more preoccupied with Italy becoming a world power. Mussolini's long-term goal was to recreate the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire stretched from Europe to the modern Middle East. He figured it would be possible to regain some territories that the Roman Empire once controlled. Furthermore, he felt that Italy had room for more conquest. Mussolini used some of the same ideas and traditions as the Romans, one being the Roman salute. Mussolini was an excellent orator and mesmerized the Italian people. He would stand outside on a balcony, explaining to the Italian people how powerful the Italian military was. Many times he spoke about Britain's Navy, claiming that it was anemic and no match for the Italian Navy. Mussolini envisioned an Imperial Italy, which would be feared by everyone. Mussolini decided to invade Ethiopia in October of 1935. At the time, Ethiopia was an African nation that was not colonized. Mussolini's attack on Ethiopia was one of the most noteworthy attempts to acquire territory in history. When Mussolini's Italian army invaded, they used unconventional weapons. Mussolini appointed Rodolfo Graziani and Pietro Badoglio to lead his military. Throughout the campaign, many innocent civilians died. Several hundred tons of mustard gas were used, which was distributed by artillery and low flying aircraft. This act by the Italians was not widely known by other nations. The League of Nations, which is equivalent to the U.N. of today, did nothing about the war. Graziani used other tactics such as fire bombing cities in Ethiopia, which created enormous amounts of casualties. Ethiopia became under Italian control in 1936, the Italians also conquered Somaliland and Eritrea. All of these African nations were officially part of Italian East Africa. The United States was not a member of the League of Nations at the time. Even if the United States was a member, many believe the United States could not have stopped weapons such as mustard gas from being used. The 1925 Geneva Protocol made it illegal to used these weapons, although it was very difficult to enforce these rules. The ideas and concepts of Mussolini and his obsession with territory, would later construct a model for Adolf Hitler. Mussolini's ideas would produce a fascist based regime in Germany, the only difference was extreme racism would be added to Nazism, which would leave millions of people dead. Adolf Hitler would watch Mussolini's army march into Ethiopia. Many do not realize that Hitler adored Mussolini in the 1920s. Hitler saw communism as a threat to Europe and he greatly admired the philosophy of Fascism. Hitler felt that Fascism was the only answer that could solve Europe's problems. Hitler felt that he could construct Germany into a world power and stand by Italy's side. As Hitler came to power in 1933, his obsession with destroying the Jews and gaining gigantic amounts of land would be seen across Europe. As Hitler conquered Poland in 1939, he wanted to control the whole entire continent of Europe. Although, Mussolini agreed not to aid Germany in the invasion of Poland, Italy did invade and conquer parts of Albania and southern France. Furthermore, the Italians later invaded Greece. However, the Greek campaign was a disaster, the Greeks actually forced the Italians back into Albanian territory. This event made Mussolini appear weak and the Italian people became a bit concerned. As the Second World War raged on, Mussolini focused on northern Africa. It seemed at first, that Italy would be victorious in northern Africa, but that was false. The North Africa campaign was just another one of Italy's major obstacles. The Italian army suffered immense losses and had to be aided by the German Afrika Corps., headed by Irwin Rommel. Some German military strategists became fretful over Italy's military capabilities. They began to wonder if the Italians were an asset or a liability to Germany. Hitler originally felt that with Italy controlling the Mediterranean and Japan controlling Asia, Germany would be invincible. Furthermore, Hitler wanted to control the majority of the Middle East's oil reserves. The annexation of northern Africa would give the Germans and Italians access to the Middle East. By 1941, the axis was growing more agitated by the Soviet Union and its communist ideas. The Axis believed that the Soviet Union could be invaded and conquered (at least the western part of the Soviet Union). Eventually, that same year Operation Barbarossa occurred. Germany and Italy both participated in the Soviet invasion. In the end, the Germany sixth Army was surrounded at Stalingrad and parts of the Italian army were decimated. These military defeats had the Axis in disbelieve. Another problem for the Axis was the decline of Mussolini's health. He became exhausted quickly and began losing weight. In 1943, Mussolini was arrested by the Italian Grand Council of Fascism and replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio. Mussolini was sent to Campo Imperatore Hotel, which served as a prison. The Germans decided to rescue Mussolini and put him back in power. Germany realized that they had to keep Italy in the war, even if they only controlled northern Italy. Operation Eiche was a success and Mussolini was put back in power (in German-occupied Northern Italy). Mussolini's reign of power ended in 1945. He was hung, kicked, spat on and stoned by the Italian people. Mussolini will always be known as one of the chief architects of Fascism. Many historians say that he was not very popular or significant, but he sure was. Without doubt, Mussolini was an atrocious tyrant and he aided in the murdering of millions of innocent people. Ultimately, he was the man who helped create the ideas for Nazi Germany. Hitler looked up to Mussolini and modified Nazism after Italian Fascism. Hitler believed that Italy had a powerful, modern and well-equipped military. Hitler later came to the conclusion that Italy was not as powerful as it claimed to be. Many experts believe that the German-Italian alliance was always frail and it was just a matter of time that Italy would slowly disintegrate throughout the war. Fortunately for the allies, Italy was not as powerful as Germany and the Italian people became infuriated with Mussolini's government. So, when a person says "Why was Hitler so evil and who did he get these ideas from"? We all know exactly who Hitler followed.
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World War II, Hitler, Fascism, Mussolini, Nazism, Third Reich,
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