Benito Mussolini (29 Jul. 1883 - 28 Apr. 1945)
Initially, Mussolini did not like Hitler, nor did he have any interest in eugenics, anti-Semitism or racialism that Hitler promoted. However, this changed and in 1938 there were race laws against Italian Jews. By 1940, Italy was on the verge of war and when Germany was on the brink of victory, Italy declared war on Britain and France, believing that the Germans would win the war and it would soon be over. Later that year, the Tripartite Pact with Japan would be signed.
Mussolini also declared war on the Soviet Union in 1941 when Operation Barbarossa began and Mussolini sent an army to the Eastern Front to assist. The hopes that this would make up for disparaging losses in Greece and North Africa proved to no avail as heavy losses came in. Though this would not stop Mussolini sending more soldiers there.
In 1941, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, he would again declare war, this time on the United States. In 1942, Italian forces suffered successive defeats in North Africa, and the Allies were preparing to invade Sicily. He appealed to Hitler for peace with Stalin and troops to defend Italy, but he refused. In 1943, the Grand Council of Fascism voted out Mussolini, and he was dismissed by the King the next day and arrested.
He would be moved considerably to avoid being freed by the Germans, which eventually happened two months later when specialist German units rescued him. He was taken to meet Hitler, where they agreed (begrudgingly on Mussolini’s part) to establish the Italian Social Republic. However this could not stop the Allied advance. He was captured whilst travelling with retreating German forces. He was executed in April 1945 and hung from the roof of a petrol station south of Milan.
For more information on Benito Mussolini:
Haugen, Brenda. Benito Mussolini: Fascist Italian Dictator (Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books), 2007.
Roberts, Jeremy. Benito Mussolini (Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books), 2006.
Mussolini also declared war on the Soviet Union in 1941 when Operation Barbarossa began and Mussolini sent an army to the Eastern Front to assist. The hopes that this would make up for disparaging losses in Greece and North Africa proved to no avail as heavy losses came in. Though this would not stop Mussolini sending more soldiers there.
In 1941, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, he would again declare war, this time on the United States. In 1942, Italian forces suffered successive defeats in North Africa, and the Allies were preparing to invade Sicily. He appealed to Hitler for peace with Stalin and troops to defend Italy, but he refused. In 1943, the Grand Council of Fascism voted out Mussolini, and he was dismissed by the King the next day and arrested.
He would be moved considerably to avoid being freed by the Germans, which eventually happened two months later when specialist German units rescued him. He was taken to meet Hitler, where they agreed (begrudgingly on Mussolini’s part) to establish the Italian Social Republic. However this could not stop the Allied advance. He was captured whilst travelling with retreating German forces. He was executed in April 1945 and hung from the roof of a petrol station south of Milan.
For more information on Benito Mussolini:
Haugen, Brenda. Benito Mussolini: Fascist Italian Dictator (Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books), 2007.
Roberts, Jeremy. Benito Mussolini (Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books), 2006.