Mussolini,+Benito

Tim Doody “Mussolini is always right.” School children were forced to recite this everyday before they started lessons. Benito Mussolini was a tyrannical dictator that created Fascism and ruled over Italy with cruel techniques for about eighteen years. At first he was elected but soon he made sure he would be in power for ages. Mussolini would unite Italy into an alliance with Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Germany. This in the end of the war was his downfall since he chose the losing side. Most of his military actions took place in Africa. This Italian ruler was not as successful as the German Army and suffered many defeats almost everywhere they fought. The great idea of his was to conquer the Mare Nostrum, our Mediterranean sea in Italian, and make it an Italian lake. The Mare Nostrum would never be Italian under Mussolini's rule. The Roman Empire he wanted to recreate was never built. In 1939 when Germany started the war Mussolini knew his great empire was not ready to fight. His Italian peninsula, and colonies in Albania, Libya, and Ethiopia could not fight the combined British and French Armies. Mussolini was not a fool and he knew France would fall soon so he turned his gaze towards Egypt. After about a year of fighting he realized he couldn’t do it alone so he called for help. Hitler would answer and support him with some of his best tanks and for a while they were unstoppable. Then on the beaches of the nile in El Alamein a great battle took place and the Italians and Germans were thrown back and were forced straight out of Africa. The Italian naval efforts were unsuccessful. Most of their ships were destroyed in a British torpedo bomber raid in Taranto. This crippled their navy. In the Balkans they tried to invade the country of Greece but were shut down and again the Nazis came to their rescue. Mussolini was good friends with Hitler since he was always saving his nation. Like a good friend he built a red marble fireplace in Hitler’s Eagles Nest. This is a huge honor and is truly a magnificent gift. Soldiers when the Eagles Nest was liberated chipped away some of it as a souvenir. The fireplace is still there today. This in the Austrian part of the Alps. Since Italy was Allies with Germany during World War II they had many similar parts back in the day. Now these countries are no longer as close as they once were. Benito Mussolini was killed on April 28, 1945. He was gunned down with his party members by his own people who now despised him. His body was then taken to Milan where his bodies were displayed on meat hooks. Mussolini was an enemy of America who was not very successful when he attempted to rule his empire.