How Was Mussolini Removed From Power?

Benito Mussolini, not Adolf Hitler, was the original creator of modern fascism. Having come to power in the 1920s, Mussolini “made the trains run on time” and sought glory and conquest for Italy. After invading Ethiopia in the 1930s, he joined the Axis Powers and embarked on a war of aggression along with Nazi Germany. In July 1943, however, the once iron-fisted dictator was removed from power and lived a tale of intrigue as he sought to return to power. Rescued by the Nazis in a daring raid, Mussolini became the leader of the Italian Social Republic (ISI), a German-allied quasi-state in northern Italy. Toward the end of the war, however, Mussolini fell from power yet again.

Benito Mussolini–born in 1881–was a veteran of World War I, before which he had been a proponent of socialism like his father. Like many veterans of the Great War, Mussolini’s political views were shaped by the horrors of the conflict. Perhaps due to Italy’s poor performance in the war, Mussolini returned home with a belief in nationalism based on military strength. By 1918, he was creating a new school of political philosophy: fascism. 

In 1919, this new philosophy of fascism emerged, advocating ultra-nationalism and strength through military might. Although Mussolini was elected to legislative office in 1921, he was frustrated by Italy’s seemingly slow pace of political change. 

In the autumn of 1922, Mussolini rose to power as a result of his famous March on Rome, with 30,000 of his fascist supporters, known as blackshirts, marching to signal their power. Plagued by unrest since the dismal end to World War I, Italy yearned for strong leadership, which resulted in negotiations between the existing government and the Fascisti over cabinet posts. 

On October 28, 1922, newspapers reported that Mussolini’s fascists were clearly the dominant party in Italy, and the next day, Mussolini was appointed prime minister by King Victor Emmanuel III. In 1925, Mussolini evolved into a de facto dictator, culminating with him proclaiming himself “Head of Government” on December 24 and not subject to the rules of parliament.

Setting the Stage: Fascist Italy of the 1930s

Fascist Italy was a Corporative State in which private businesses were allowed to exist as long as they were subservient to the government. As in Germany and the United States, Italy focused on government intervention and stimulus spending during the Great Depression of the early 1930s. Although corporatives of councils consisting of both workers and employers, existing for each industry, were supposed to guide production decisions in Italy, government agencies held this real power. In 1931, Mussolini declared that government agencies and projects could only purchase domestic goods.

Mussolini’s control over the economy increased in 1935 with the launch of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. As Italy was now officially at war, Mussolini could exercise greater control without fear of public criticism, and he raised tariffs on imports. However, these decisions did not lead to economic growth. Unlike the United States and Nazi Germany, Italy entered the late 1930s with a gross domestic product (GDP) that was lower than before the Great Depression began and only minimal growth in industrial output. Worried that Italy was not economically prepared for war, King Victor Emmanuel prevented Mussolini from following Germany into war in 1939.

Germany’s rapid victories in 1939 and 1940 ultimately changed King Victor Emmanuel’s mind, and he allowed Mussolini to join Germany in the war against France and Britain in June 1940. However, supreme military command remained with the king, with Mussolini only granted operational command. Quickly, Mussolini set out for conquest in the Mediterranean. On October 28, 1940, Italy invaded Greece from Italian-controlled Albania to the north. However, Greece was an unexpectedly strong opponent and defeated the Italian invasion.

Thus began a trend in World War II in Europe and North Africa: Italy would attack, struggle, and have to call on its more powerful ally, Germany, for support. Germany was able to conquer Greece and a large portion of North Africa, with Italian forces largely used in support or infantry roles. In North Africa, the British and Germany’s Afrika Korps see-sawed between offensives during 1941 and 1942. November 1942 saw the Allies decisively turn the North Africa campaign against Germany and Italy with victory in the Second Battle of El Alamein, forcing German field marshal Erwin Rommel to begin a lengthy retreat. 

May 1943: Allies Take North Africa

Until the Second Battle of El Alamein, Mussolini had been convinced that the Axis Powers would win the war. However, the Americans were now in North Africa after the successful Operation Torch landings and the British were pushing from the east and south. By early 1943, the German and Italian forces were being squeezed from all sides into a slow but steady retreat through Tunisia. On May 7, 1943, the British captured Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia, and the Americans captured the last open port on the Mediterranean Sea. Six days later, all remaining Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.

The surrender of all remaining Axis troops in North Africa was a tremendous blow to Mussolini’s leadership, especially given the recent defeat of German forces in the Battle of Stalingrad. Italy lost most of its best combat troops as part of the mass surrender, which totaled some 275,000 men. In December 1942, Mussolini had begun advocating for negotiations with the Soviet Union, wanting the Axis Powers to focus on defending North Africa and Western Europe instead. However, Hitler rejected this idea. Allegedly, Mussolini’s position was not well argued by his subordinates, who felt that Italian military failure might result in one of them being chosen to replace Mussolini. 

Unfortunately for Mussolini, there was no delay in the Allies’ follow-up to their victory in North Africa. Only two months after the surrender of all Axis forces in Tunisia, the invasion of Sicily, the large island province immediately adjacent to the Italian mainland, commenced. Operation Husky took World War II from North Africa to Europe, as had been planned since January 1943 at the Casablanca Conference. Although the Germans and Italians knew the Americans and British were coming, bad weather disrupted beach defenders enough for successful landings. By the morning of July 10, 1943, large numbers of Allied troops had made it onto Sicily.

Even worse for Mussolini’s image was the relatively poor performance of Italian troops on the island, with much of the heavy fighting falling to the Germans. By this point, the dictator, famously known as Il Duce, was facing growing opposition within Italy. Mussolini had also annoyed German dictator Adolf Hitler by continuing to press for an armistice with the Soviet Union, removing any political help that he might receive from his fellow Axis powers. Between March and May of 1943, plotters had created plans to remove Mussolini from power – the Allied victory in Sicily gave them an opening to act.

July 25, 1943: Mussolini Deposed

Obviously, the Allies were not going to remain in Sicily forever; the mainland was only miles away. On July 25, 1943, after Mussolini received a vote of no confidence from the Fascist Grand Council, he was arrested by orders of King Victor Emmanuel III. The king retook control of the armed forces and appointed Marshal Pietro Badoglio as the nation’s new prime minister. Although Mussolini was deposed and imprisoned, Italy vowed to continue the war as an ally of Germany. However, Badoglio’s new government quickly began pursuing secret negotiations with the Allies.

Having been a military ally of Nazi Germany for the past three years, Italy was full of German troops. Unsurprisingly, the Germans became aware of the secret negotiations between Italy and the Allies. On September 8, 1943, Badoglio announced an armistice with the Allies…and German troops immediately leaped into action. Particularly in northern Italy, closer to Germany, Italian troops were hastily surrounded and disarmed. Thus, the surrender of Italy to the Allies did not amount to much in terms of military might; Operation Achse allowed the Nazis to seize most of the country, including the capital city of Rome.

One day after the Germans occupied Rome, the world was shocked by a daring rescue mission: the Gran Sasso raid. Days before the armistice between Italy and the Allies was announced, the Germans had located where the deposed Mussolini was imprisoned. Apparently, Adolf Hitler was so incensed over the imprisonment of his fascist ally that he personally ordered the rescue mission just one month after Mussolini’s fall from power. On the afternoon of September 12, 1943, German gliders swooped down over the Hotel Campo Imperatore, where Mussolini was held prisoner. A team of commandos, many of whom spoke Italian, landed and stormed the building.

Without firing a shot, the 200-man guard surrendered, and Mussolini was rescued. Raid leader Otto Skorzeny announced that the rescue was courtesy of Adolf Hitler, and Il Duce was quickly flown away from the scene in a small plane. Two days later, Mussolini was meeting with Hitler, and on September 18, he made his first public address to the Italian people since his arrest. The successful raid was a morale booster for Nazi Germany and impressed even the Allies. It is heralded as one of the first modern special operations missions, featuring intelligence-gathering, elite tactics, and advanced equipment and weaponry.

1943-45: Mussolini & The Italian Social Republic (ISI)

Mussolini was returned to power as the head of state of the new Italian Social Republic, or ISI. Colloquially, it was often called the Salo Republic because its administrative offices were in the town of Salo. Although the Salo Republic initially controlled Rome, its territory steadily diminished over time as the Americans ground north through Italy. Liberated Italy declared war on Germany on October 13, 1943, effectively creating a civil war with the German-backed ISI. On June 4, 1944, Rome was liberated, becoming the first Nazi-controlled European capital to be taken by the Allies. 

Although Mussolini was head of state, he had no real power. The German SS and Police were the real power in the ISI, with Karl Wolff being named the Supreme SS and Police Leader in the quasi-republic. Wolff’s objectives were to maintain industrial production that could benefit the German military and the capture of Jewish people as part of the Holocaust. By early 1945, Wolff was the military commander of all German forces in northern Italy as well, essentially removing any remaining power from Mussolini. In the final months of the war, with defeat imminent, Wolff began looking to negotiate a surrender for his forces through intermediaries in nearby Switzerland.

With Karl Wolff looking for a negotiated surrender to the oncoming Allies, the Germans in northern Italy had little interest in protecting Benito Mussolini. The Salo Republic had little land left to govern, and much of that was already in the hands of anti-fascist partisans. On April 25, 1945, Mussolini fled from Salo with his mistress and a small group of fascist supporters with a retreating Luftwaffe (German Air Force) convoy. The goal was to make it to neutral Switzerland, hopefully to win refuge there and avoid trial and likely execution. During the journey, the German convoy was attacked by partisans, who eventually recognized Il Duce and captured him.

On April 28, Mussolini and many of his compatriots, including his mistress, were hastily executed by gunfire. Afterward, their bodies were hung upside-down in Milan, Italy to prove to the public that the former dictator was dead, as well as to humiliate his legacy. Some argue that the gruesome death of Mussolini likely influenced Adolf Hitler’s decision to commit suicide in his bunker underneath Berlin. Hitler heard about the demise of Mussolini via radio on April 29 and committed suicide the following day. Allegedly, Hitler remarked that such a thing would never happen to him and did not want a “spectacle” around his inevitable downfall and capture.

Aftermath: Italy After Fascism

The long reign of Mussolini and fascism–over twenty years–caused much anguish in Italy. Those who had supported him prior to Italy’s disastrous adventure in World War II saw their legacies tarnished, especially King Victor Emmanuel III. After the war, the monarchy crumbled when Emmanuel stepped down in hopes of appealing to voters engaging in a referendum to create a republic. Emmanuel thought that stepping down and allowing his son, Crown Prince Umberto II, to take the throne would increase the monarchy’s appeal.

Instead, King Umberto II stepped down after only 34 days. The referendum required the exile of all male members of the House of Savoy, ending Italy’s monarchy. The royal family was irreparably linked to Mussolini’s reign and received little support or respect from the Allies. Umberto II, although viewed more favorably than his father, had fought against the Allies in North Africa in 1940. Over the decades, Italy’s two-decade experience with fascist leadership has echoed in various far-right political movements, which some critics blame on Italy never having to undergo a movement similar to de-Nazification in Germany after World War II.