1. Benito Mussolini & Fascism
By: Julie Macias p. 6-7

2. What is fascism?
Fascism is a political movement that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a government headed by a dictatorial leader.

3. Benito family and early life
Born: July 29th, Died April 28th, 1945
Alessandro was his dad which was a blacksmith and a socialist who spent much of his time in politics and much of his money on his wife.
Rosa was Mussolini's mother she was a devout Catholic teacher who provided the family’s stability and some income.
Benito was the oldest of three children.
His father pushed him to have a passion for socialist politics.
He was expelled from several schools for bullying and not respecting school authorities , he finally earned a teaching degree in 1901 and worked as a schoolmaster for a brief amount of time.

4. Socialist Party
Benito Mussolini moved to Switzerland in 1902 to promote socialism.
Benito quickly gained a reputation for his magnetism and remarkable rhetorical talents.
One day while Benito was engaging in his political demonstrations, the Switzerland authorities caught him and he was eventually expelled from the country.
He returned to Italy in 1904 and continued to have a socialist agenda.
He became the editor of the organization's newspaper Avanti (meaning “Forward")
This expanded Benito influence

5. Socialist Party continues…..
Mussolini initially condemned Italy’s entry into World War I, and saw an opportunity for his country to become a greater power.
His attitude changed and broke agreements with fellow socialist, and he was expelled from the organization.
He joined the Italian army in 1915
He fought on the front lines, being able to reach the rank of corporal before being wounded and discharged from the military.

6. Fascist Party Founder
Mussolini establishes the nationalist Fasci di Combattimento named after the Italian peasant revolutionaries or “Fight Bands" from the 19th century.
This is mostly known as the Fascist Party
Mussolini's new organization advocated Italian nationalism
Black shirts were used for uniform and a program of terrorism and intimidation against its leftist opponents was launched.

7. Mussolini's Rise to Power
Mussolini led the Fascists on a march in October 1922 to Rome, and King Emmanuel III, who had little faith in Italy’s parliamentary government and asked Mussolini to form a new government.
He was appointed prime minister at the head of a three-member Fascist cabinet.
He worked with the Italian parliament, and help from his police organization he became the dictator of Italy.
In 1924 a Socialist backlash was crushed and in January 1925 a Fascist state was officially proclaimed with Mussolini as II Duce or “The Leader.”
He carried out an extensive public works program and reduced unemployment, making Mussolini very popular with the people.

8. Invasion of Ethiopia
Benito appealed to Italy’s former Western allies for new treaties.
He invaded Ethiopia in 1935 to show the strength of his regime
Benito's invasion in 1935 of Ethiopia ended all hope of alliance with the Western democracies.
He joined Adolf Hitler in his support of Francisco Franco’s Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War in 1936.
This was to promote the signing of a treaty of cooperation in foreign policy between Italy and Nazi Germany in 1937.
The ill-equipped Ethiopians were no match for Italy’s modern tanks and airplanes, and the capital, Addis Ababa, was quickly captured.

9. Pictures of Invasion of Ethiopia

10. World War II and Adolf Hitler
Germany and Italy signed a military alliance known as the “Pact of Steel.”
Hitler influenced Mussolini to have policies against the Jews in Italy.
In 1949 Italy invaded Greece with some initial success.
Hitler invasion of Poland and declaration of war within Britain and France forced Italy into war and exposed weakness in its military.
German military intervention in early 1941 saved Mussolini from a military coup because Greece and North Africa had fallen .
In 1942 at the Casablanca Conference, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt made a plan to take Italy out of war and forced Germany to move its troops to the Eastern Front against the Soviet Union.

11. World War II and Adolf Hitler pictures

12. World War II and Adolf Hitler continues….
The failure of the Italian war effort and the imminent invasion of the Italian mainland by the Allies led to a rebellion within the Fascist party in July of 1943.
Two days after the fall of Palermo on July 24, the Fascist Grand Council rejected the policy dictated by Hitler through Mussolini, and on July 25 II Duce was arrested.
Fascist Marshal Pietro Badoglio took over the Italian government and in September Italy gave in to the Allies.
Mussolini was free from prison eight days later and was later made the puppet leader of German-controlled northern Italy.
He was captured b y Italian partisans in April 1945 from the collapse of Nazi Germany.
On April 29 Mussolini was executed by firing squad with his mistress, Clara Petacci, after a brief court-martial.

13. World War II and Adolf Hitler continues...
Their bodies were taken to Milan , were hanged by the feet in a public square for all the world to see.

14. Works cited
“Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e doi: /bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.
Oberländer, Erwin. “The All-Russian Fascist Party.” Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 1, no. 1, 1966, pp. 158–173., doi: /
“13. The Eclipse of Fascism: Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and the Coming of World War II.” Mussolini and Fascism: The View from America, doi: /