Benito Mussolini: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"Fascism is a religion. The twentieth century will be known in history as [[Harsher in Hindsight|the century of Fascism]]." ''}}
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Today, he is most famous for being the [[Older Than They Think|first fascist ruler of any country]], and for his colonial war against Ethiopia in 1935 (called Abyssinia at the time) which proved the ridiculous incompetence of the [[Doomed Moral Victor|League of Nations]]. He was a close ally of [[Adolf Hitler]] and fought on [[Nazi Germany]]'s side during the war, although the Italian Army were [[Stop Helping Me!|more of a hindrance to the Nazis than a help]]. To be fair, when Hitler wanted Italy to enter the war, Mussolini said what amounted to [[Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway|Can it wait until I've industrialize my country in five years?]] (this may have been a random number chosen to delay Italian entry ''indefinitely''...until Germany [[Curb Stomp Battle|annexed half the continent with ease]], at least).
That all said, there is a real historiographical debate about how much of a Fascist Mussolini really was, as the most notable members of his cabinet consisted of political opportunists rather than die-hard Fascist fanatics, and Mussolini seemed to waver a lot when the question of how far the Fascist revolution was meant to go came up, on at least one occasion saying that Italy was not ready to be Fascist. In other words he believed in Fascism, but was too cynical about Italy and politics in general to believe that a Fascist revolution could take place, and thus was content to run a straight-up dictatorship with Fascist dressing, electing to maintain his position rather than upset the status quo. Thus, [[Fascist Italy]] was not as totalitarian as [[Nazi Germany]] nor Stalinist Russia- it was a one-party state with media controlled and opposition banned and such, but it was still a monarchy, had a shaky, up and down relationship with the Catholic Church, tolerated (if not permitted) a degree of freedom of speech, and had an aggressive foreign policy that was more bark than bite.<ref>
Mussolini was [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|deposed]] by the King in July 1943. In September [[Heel Face Turn|the Italians joined the Allies and declared war on Germany]]. The Germans responded by invading Italy and forcing Mussolini, by now wanting to retire, to form a Nazi state called the Italian Social Republic. He was caught and executed by the [[La Résistance|Italian resistance]] in 1945, by first being shot in the gut, and then being [[No Kill Like Overkill|dragged into the nearby city of Milan and hung upside-down while crowds of angry Italians threw things at his body]].
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* [[Dead Guy on Display]]: Along with his mistress.
* [[Embarrassing Middle Name]]: Andrea?
** It means "manly".<ref>Andrea, like Andrew, comes from [[wikipedia:Andrea|the greek ''aner'', "man"]]</ref>
*** It's quite a common name for Italian men.
* [[Fascist but Inefficient]]: The [[Trope Namer]]. Ironically, because this is the man who was said to have "made the trains run on time." ([[Reality Is Unrealistic|They actually didn't.]])
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