Benito Mussolini facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Benito Mussolini


Head of Government of Italy and Duce of Fascism
In office 24 December 1925 – 25 July 1943
Monarch	Victor Emmanuel III
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Office abolished
27th Prime Minister of Italy
In office 31 October 1922 – 25 July 1943
Monarch	Victor Emmanuel III
Preceded by	Luigi Facta
Succeeded by	Pietro Badoglio
Duce of the Italian Social Republic
In office 23 September 1943 – 25 April 1945
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Office abolished
First Marshal of the Empire
In office 30 March 1938 – 25 July 1943
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Office abolished

Personal details
Born	Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (1883-07-29)29 July 1883 Predappio, Forlì Kingdom of Italy
Died	28 April 1945(1945-04-28) (aged 61) Giulino di Mezzegra, Como Kingdom of Italy
Resting place	San Cassiano cemetery, Predappio, Forlì, Italian Republic
Political party	Republican Fascist Party (1943–1945) National Fascist Party (1921–1943) Italian Fasci of Combat (1919–1921) Fasci of Revolutionary Action (1914–1919) Autonomous Fasci of Revolutionary Action (1914) Italian Socialist Party (1901–1914)
Height	5' 6½" (1.69 m)
Spouses	Ida Dalser (m. 1914-?) Rachele Mussolini (m. 1915-1945, his death)
Relations	Alessandra Mussolini (granddaughter)
Children	Benito Albino Mussolini Edda Mussolini Vittorio Mussolini Bruno Mussolini Romano Mussolini Anna Maria Mussolini
Profession	Dictator, politician, journalist, novelist, teacher
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of Italy Italian Social Republic
Branch/service	Royal Italian Army
Years of service	active: 1915–1917
Rank	First Marshal of the Empire Corporal
Unit	11th Bersaglieri Regiment
Battles/wars	World War I World War II

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini KSMOM GCTE (29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist. He was also the Prime Minister of Italy from 1922 until 1943. He was the leader of the National Fascist Party.

Biography
After death
Interesting facts about Benito Mussolini
Images for kids
See also

Biography

Early life

Benito Mussolini was named after Benito Juarez, a Mexican opponent of the political power of the Roman Catholic Church, by his anticlerical (a person who opposes the political interference of the Roman Catholic Church in secular affairs) father. Mussolini's father was a blacksmith. Before being involved in politics, Mussolini was a newspaper editor (where he learned all his propaganda skills) and an elementary school teacher.

At first Mussolini was a socialist, but when he wanted Italy to join the First World War he was thrown out of the socialist party. He 'invented' a new ideology, Fascism, much out of Nationalist and Socialist views.

Rise to power and becoming dictator

In 1922, he took power by having a large group of men, "Black Shirts," march on Rome and threaten to take over the government. King Vittorio Emanuele III gave in, allowed him to form a government, and made him prime minister. In the following five years, he gained power, and in 1927 created the OVRA, his personal secret police force. Using the agency to arrest, scare, or murder people against his regime, Mussolini was dictator of Italy by the end of 1927. Only the King and his own Fascist party could challenge his power.

Fascism as practiced by Mussolini

Mussolini's form of Fascism, "Italian Fascism"- unlike Nazism, the racist ideology that Adolf Hitler followed- was different and less destructive than Hitler's. Although a believer in the superiority of the Italian nation and national unity, Mussolini, unlike Hitler, is quoted "Race? It is a feeling, not a reality. Nothing will ever make me believe that biologically pure races can be shown to exist today".

Mussolini wanted Italy to become a new Roman Empire. In 1923, he attacked the island of Corfu, and in 1924, he occupied the city state of Fiume. In 1935, he attacked the African country Abyssinia (now called Ethiopia). His forces occupied it in 1936. Italy was thrown out of the League of Nations because of this aggression. In 1939, he occupied the country Albania. In 1936, Mussolini signed an alliance with Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Germany.

Fall from power and death

In 1940, he sent Italy into the Second World War on the side of the Axis countries. Mussolini attacked Greece, but he failed to conquer it. In 1943, the Allies landed in Southern Italy. The Fascist party and King Vittorio Emanuel III deposed Mussolini and put him in jail, but he was set free by the Germans, who made him ruler of the Italian Social Republic puppet state which was in a small part of Central Italy. When the war was almost over, Mussolini tried to escape to Switzerland with his mistress, Clara Petacci, but they were both captured and shot by partisans. Mussolini and Clara's dead bodies was hung upside-down on a pole at a gas station in the village of Mezzegra, dispalyed so everyone could see them.

After death

After the war, several Neo-Fascist movements have had success in Italy, the most important being the Movimento Sociale Italiano. His granddaughter Alessandra Mussolini has outspoken views similar to Fascism.

Interesting facts about Benito Mussolini

Mussolini as an Italian soldier, 1917

He was the youngest Prime Minister in Italy's history.
Mussolini gradually dismantled any forms of democratic government to make himself dictator of Italy. This made him Europe's first fascist dictator in the 20th Century.
Mussolini spoke four languages, English, German, French and Italian.
Mussolini wanted Italy to become a new Roman Empire.
His nickname was “Il Duce,” which is Italian for ”The Leader.”
He was a bully in his childhood and stabbed others at school.
His Italian army in World War II wasn't very good.
For a short time he was a school teacher and a journalist.
Mussolini was discharged from the army after a bomb exploded in his trench and shards of metal injured him.

Images for kids

Birthplace of Benito Mussolini in Predappio; the building now hosts exhibitions on contemporary history
Mussolini's booking file following his arrest by the police on 19 June 1903, Bern, Switzerland
Mussolini as director of Avanti!
Members of Italy's Arditi corps in 1918 holding daggers, a symbol of their group. The Arditi's black uniform and use of the fez were adopted by Mussolini in the creation of his Fascist movement.
Mussolini as a bersagliere during WWI
The platform of Fasci italiani di combattimento, as published in "Il Popolo d'Italia" on 6 June 1919
Mussolini in the 1920s
Mussolini and the Quadrumvirs during the March on Rome in 1922: from left to right: Michele Bianchi, Emilio De Bono, Italo Balbo, and Cesare Maria De Vecchi
Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti was murdered a few days after he openly denounced fascist violence during the 1924 elections.
The inauguration of Littoria in 1932
From 1925, Mussolini styled himself Il Duce (the leader)
Benito Mussolini and Fascist Blackshirt youth in 1935
Mussolini in 1930
Mussolini inspecting troops during the Italo-Ethiopian War
On 25 October 1936, an alliance was declared between Italy and Germany, which came to be known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.
Mussolini in a portrait
Italian Empire in 1939
Cover of Newsweek magazine, 13 May 1940, headlined: "Il Duce: key man of the Mediterranean"
Mussolini in an official portrait
Marshal Pietro Badoglio succeeded Mussolini as Prime Minister.
Mussolini rescued by German troops from his prison in Campo Imperatore on 12 September 1943.
Italian Social Republic (RSI) as of 1943 in yellow and green. The green areas were German military operational zones under direct German administration.
Mussolini inspecting fortifications, 1944
A rain-spattered Mussolini reviewing adolescent soldiers in northern Italy, late 1944.
Mussolini with Adolf Hitler in Berlin, 1937
Front page of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on 11 November 1938: the fascist regime has approved the racial laws.
Tomb of Mussolini in the family crypt, in the cemetery of Predappio