- published: 01 May 2012
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- author: Bearclaw1967
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Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (sometimes spelled Addis Abeba, the spelling used by the official Ethiopian Mapping Authority) is the capital city of Ethiopia. (In Ethiopian languages: Amharic, Addis Abäba [ad�?i�?s aβəβa] "new flower"; Oromo, Finfinne;Ge'ez ኣዲ�?� ኣበባ) It is the largest city in Ethiopia, with a population of 3,384,569 according to the 2007 population census.
As a chartered city (ras gez astedader), Addis Ababa has the status of both a city and a state. It is where the African Union and its predecessor the OAU are based. It also hosts the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and numerous other continental and international organizations. Addis Ababa is therefore often referred to as "the political capital of Africa", due to its historical, diplomatic and political significance for the continent. The city is populated by people from different regions of Ethiopia – the country has as many as 80 nationalities speaking 80 languages and belonging to a wide variety of religious communities. It is home to Addis Ababa University. The Federation of African Societies of Chemistry (FASC) and Horn of Africa Press Institute (HAPI) are also headquartered in Addis Ababa.
wn.com/Addis_Ababa -
Bari
Bari
listen (help·info) (Bari dialect: Bare; from Latin: Barium) is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia (or, in Italian, Puglia) region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas. The city itself has a decreasing population of about 320,000, as of 2009, over 116 km², while the fast-growing urban area counts 653,028 inhabitants over 203 km². The metropolitan area counts 1 million inhabitants.
Bari is made up of four different urban sections. To the north is the closely built old town on the peninsula between two modern harbours, with the splendid Basilica of Saint Nicholas, the Cathedral of San Sabino (1035–1171) and the Swabian Castle built for Frederick II, which is now also a major nightlife district. To the south is the Murat quarter (erected by Joachim Murat), the modern heart of the city, which is laid out on a rectangular grid-plan with a promenade on the sea and the major shopping district (the via Sparano and via Argiro).
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Beer Hall Putsch
The Beer Hall Putsch (also known as the Munich Putsch,German: Hitlerputsch or German: Hitler-Ludendorff-Putsch) was a failed attempt at revolution that occurred between the evening of 8 November and the early afternoon of 9 November 1923, when Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff, and other heads of the Kampfbund unsuccessfully tried to seize power in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
Beer halls in the early 20th century existed in most larger southern German cities, where hundreds or even thousands of people were able to gather during the evenings, drink beer and often engage in political or social debate. They were also places where political rallies could be held, a tradition still alive today. One of the largest beer halls in Munich was the "Bürgerbräukeller", where the Beer Hall Putsch was launched.
German power and prestige were destroyed in the aftermath of World War I. Like many other German nationalists, Hitler believed in the Dolchstoßlegende (Stab-in-the-back legend), which claimed that the army, "undefeated in the field," had been "stabbed in the back" by civilian leaders and Marxists back on the home front, later dubbed the November Criminals. In Munich, Hitler took part in "national thinking" courses organized by the Education and Propaganda Department of the Bavarian Reichswehr under Captain Karl Mayr. Thereafter, Captain Mayr ordered Hitler, then an Army corporal, to infiltrate the tiny Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated DAP (German Workers Party). Hitler joined the DAP on 12 September 1919. Hitler rose to its top post in the chaotic political atmosphere of postwar Munich. By agreement, Hitler was given the political leadership of several Bavarian "patriotic associations" (revanchist) which collectively were known as the Kampfbund. With this political base, Hitler could call on about 15,000 brawlers, mostly ex-soldiers.
wn.com/Beer_Hall_Putsch -
Campo Imperatore
Campo Imperatore is a mountain grassland or alpine meadow formed by a high basin shaped plateau located in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy in the Gran Sasso massif. It is the largest plateau of the Apennine ridge. Known as Italy's "Little Tibet", it is located in the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park. Campo Imperatore has a tectonic origin shaped by alluviums and glaciers. The plateau, which is 27 km in length and an average of 8 km in width, lies adjacent to the Apennines' highest peak Corno Grande, and Europe's southernmost glacier, the Calderone; also surrounding the plateau are Monte Prena, Monte Aquila, and the Camicia Mountains to the north and Monte Scindarella, Mesola and Monte Bolza to the south.
The plateau's altitude ranges from 1500 to 1900 meters. It covers an expanse of approximately 80 km². Campo Imperatore is home to one of Italy's oldest alpine ski resorts. Located on the plateau's western edge, the resort began commercial operation in the 1920s and continues to thrive as a ski resort to this day due to its proximity to Rome (132 km ). The resort's hotel became dictator Benito Mussolini's prison in August 1943 with his fall from power until he was freed by German commandos in September 1943. On the eastern side of the plateau is a 4 km cross country ski trail, which is maintained by the nearby town of Castel del Monte.
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Certosa di Pavia
The Certosa di Pavia is a monastery and complex in Lombardy, northern Italy, situated near a small town of the same name in the Province of Pavia, 8 km north of Pavia. Built in 1396-1495, it was once located on the border of a large hunting park belonging to the Visconti family of Milan, of which today only scattered parts remain.
Certosa is the Italian name for a house of the cloistered monastic order of Carthusians founded by St. Bruno in 1044 at Grande Chartreuse. Though the Carthusians in their early centuries were known for their seclusion and asceticism and the plainness of their architecture, the Certosa is renowned for the exuberance of its architecture, in both the Gothic and Renaissance styles, and for its collection of artworks which are particularly representative of the region.
Gian Galeazzo Visconti, hereditary lord and first Duke of Milan, commissioned the building of the Certosa to the architect Marco Solari, inaugurating the works and laying the foundation stone on August 27, 1396, as recorded by a bas-relief on the facade. The location was strategically chosen midway between Milan and Pavia, the second city of the Duchy, where the Duke held his court.
wn.com/Certosa_di_Pavia -
Como
Como listen (help·info) (Lombard: Còmm; Latin: Comum) is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como.
Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps has made Como a popular tourist destination and the city contains numerous works of art, churches, gardens, museums, theatres, parks and palaces: the Duomo (seat of Diocese of Como), the Basilica of Sant'Abbondio, the Villa Olmo, the public gardens with the Tempio Voltiano, the Teatro Sociale, the Broletto (the city’s medieval town hall) and the 20th century Casa del Fascio.
Como was the birthplace of many historically notable figures, including the (somewhat obscure) poet Caecilius who is mentioned by Catullus in the 1st century BCE, the far more substantial literary figures of Pliny the Elder and the Younger, Pope Innocent XI, the scientist Alessandro Volta, and Cosima Liszt, second wife of Richard Wagner and long-term director of the Bayreuth Festival.
The hills surrounding the current location of Como have been inhabited, since at least the Bronze Age, by a Celtic tribe known as the Orobii. Remains of settlements are still present on the wood covered hills to the South West of town.
wn.com/Como -
Corsica
Corsica ( /ˈkɔːrsɪkə/; French: Corse, IPA: [kɔʁs]; Corsican: Corsica; Italian: Corsica, IPA: [ˈkɔrsika]) is a French island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the Italian island of Sardinia. Mountains comprise two-thirds of the island, forming a single chain.
Corsica is one of the 27 régions of France, although strictly speaking Corsica is designated as a territorial collectivity (collectivité territoriale) by law. As a territorial collectivity, it enjoys greater powers than other French régions, but for the most part its status is quite similar. Corsica is referred to as a "région" in common speech, and is almost always listed among the other régions of France.
Although the island is separated from the continental mainland by the Ligurian Sea and is closer to Italy than to the French mainland, politically Corsica is part of Metropolitan France. It was once briefly an independent Corsican Republic, until being incorporated into France in 1769. Its culture has French and Italian elements blended into it.
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Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia (Czech and Slovak: Československo, Česko-Slovensko) was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992. From 1939 to 1945, the state did not de facto exist because of its forced division and partial incorporation into Nazi Germany, but the Czechoslovak government-in-exile nevertheless continued to exist during this period. In 1945, the eastern part of Carpathian Ruthenia was taken over by the Soviet Union. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Form of state:
Neighbours:
Topography:
The country was of generally irregular terrain. The western area was part of north-central European uplands. The eastern region was composed of northern reaches of Carpathian Mountains and Danube River basin lands.
Climate:
The weather was predominantly continental, but varied from the moderate temperature of Western Europe in the west, to more severe weather of Eastern Europe and the western Soviet Union in the east.
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Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen (German: "task forces"; singular Einsatzgruppe; official full name Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD) were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories. The Einsatzgruppen operated throughout the territory occupied by the German armed forces following the German invasions of Poland, in September, 1939, and later, of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. The Einsatzgruppen carried out operations ranging from the murder of a few people to operations which lasted over two or more days, such as the massacres at Babi Yar (33,771 killed in two days) and Rumbula (25,000 killed in two days). The Einsatzgruppen were responsible for the murders of over 1,000,000 people, and they were the first Nazi organizations to commence mass killing of Jews as an organized policy.
The Einsatzgruppen were formed under the direction of SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich (deputy to Heinrich Himmler) and operated by the Schutzstaffel (SS) before and during World War II. From September 1939 forward the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA - Reich Main Security Office) had overall command of the Einsatzgruppen. Their principal task during the war (according to SS General Erich von dem Bach at the Nuremberg Trials) "... was the annihilation of the Jews, Gypsies, and Soviet political commissars". The Einsatzgruppen had a leading role in the implementation of the final solution of the Jewish question (Die Endlösung der Judenfrage) in the conquered territories.
wn.com/Einsatzgruppen -
European Parliament
The European Parliament (abbreviated as Europarl or the EP) is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU). Together with the Council of the European Union (the Council) and the European Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world. The Parliament is currently composed of 754 Members of the European Parliament, who represent the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after the Parliament of India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (375 million eligible voters in 2009).
It has been directly elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. However, turnout at European Parliament elections has fallen consecutively at each election since that date, and has been under 50% since 1999. Turnout in 2009 stood at 43% of all European voters, ranging from 90% in Luxembourg and Belgium (where compulsory voting is used) to 20% in Slovakia. Turnout was under 50% in 18 out of 27 member states.
wn.com/European_Parliament -
France
France (English
i/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] (
listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km2 / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
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Friuli
Friuli (Italian: [friˈuːli], Friulian: Friûl listen (help·info), Venetian: Friul, German: Friaul, Slovene: Furlanija) is an area of northeastern Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, i.e. the province (administrative provinces) of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, excluding Trieste. The historical capital and most important city of Friuli is Udine, it was also the capital in the Middle Ages of the Patriarchate of Aquileia. Other important towns are Pordenone, Gorizia, Sacile, Codroipo, Cervignano del Friuli, Cividale del Friuli, Gemona del Friuli, Monfalcone, and Tolmezzo.
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Gargnano
Gargnano is a town and comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy.
The municipal territory includes the artificial Valvestino Lake, created in 1962.
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Gorizia and Gradisca
The County of Gorizia and Gradisca (German: Graftschaft Görz und Gradisca; Italian: Contea di Gorizia e Gradisca; Slovene: Goriška in Gradiščanska grofija) was a Habsburg county in Central Europe, in what is now a multilingual border area of Italy and Slovenia. It was named for its two major urban centers, Gorizia and Gradisca d'Isonzo.
The County of Gorizia became part of the Habsburg domains in AD 1500 when Count Leonhard died without heir. Habsburg suzerainty was interrupted briefly by the Venetians in 1508-1509. In 1647, the nearby town of Gradisca d'Isonzo was made its own county under the princes of Eggenberg. In 1754, Gradisca was re-unified with Gorizia creating the County of Gorizia and Gradisca (Grafschaft Görz und Gradisca / Contea di Gorizia e Gradisca).
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Istria
Istria (Croatian, Slovene: Istra, Čakavian: Istrija, Jistra, Croatian pronunciation: [îstra]; Italian: Istria; Istriot: Eîstria; German: Istrien; Hungarian: Isztria), formerly Histria (Latin), is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner. It is shared by three countries: Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy.
The geographical features of Istria include the Učka mountain ridge, which is the highest portion of the Ćićarija mountain range; the rivers Dragonja, Mirna, Pazinčica, and Raša; and the Lim bay and valley. Istria lies in three countries: Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. By far the largest portion (89%) lies in Croatia. "Croatian Istria" is divided into two counties, the larger being Istria County in western Croatia. Important towns in Istria County include Pula, Poreč, Rovinj, Pazin, Labin, Umag, Motovun, Buzet, and Buje. Smaller towns in Istria County include Višnjan, Roč, and Hum.
The northwestern part of Istria lies in Slovenia: it is known as Slovenian Istria, and includes the coastal municipalities of Piran, Izola and Koper, and the Karstic municipality of Hrpelje-Kozina. Northwards of Slovenian Istria, there is a tiny portion of the peninsula that lies in Italy. This smallest portion of Istria consists of the comunes of Muggia and San Dorligo della Valle.
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Italian Empire
The Italian Empire (Italian: Impero Italiano) was created after the Kingdom of Italy joined other European powers in establishing colonies overseas during the "scramble for Africa". Modern Italy as a unified state only existed from 1861. By this time France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and the Netherlands, had already carved out large empires over several hundred years. One of the last remaining areas open to colonisation was on the African continent.
By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Italy had annexed Eritrea and Somalia, and had wrested control of portions of the Ottoman Empire, including Libya, though it was defeated in its attempt to conquer Ethiopia. The Fascist government under Italian dictator Benito Mussolini which came to power in 1922 sought to increase the size of the empire further. Ethiopia was successfully taken, four decades after the previous failure, and Italy's European borders were expanded. An official "Italian Empire" was proclaimed on 9 May 1936 following the conquest of Ethiopia. Italy sided with Nazi Germany during World War II and initially enjoyed successes. However, Allied forces eventually captured Italian overseas colonies and by the time Italy itself was invaded in 1943, its empire had all but ceased to exist.
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Italian Republic
Italyi/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
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Italy
Italyi/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
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Kobarid
Kobarid (Italian: Caporetto, Friulian: Cjaurêt, German: Karfreit) is a town and a municipality in the Upper Soča Valley, western Slovenia, near the Italian border.
Kobarid is known for the Battle of Caporetto, where the Italian retreat was documented by Ernest Hemingway in his novel A Farewell to Arms. The battle is well documented in the museum in the centre of Kobarid. The museum won a Council of Europe award in 1993. The adjacent Tonocov Grad archaeological site has remains of 5th-century Roman buildings.
See also: Gorizia and Gradisca, Julian March
Kobarid has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Archeological remains from the Hallstatt period have been found in the area. In the 6th century, it was settled by Slavic tribes, ancestors of the modern Slovenes. During the Middle Ages, it was first part of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, and later of Tolmin County, before being included in the Habsburg Monarchy in the 15th century, like the majority of Slovene-speaking territories.
With the exception of a brief period between 1809 and 1813, when it was included under the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, it remained under the Austrian rule until 1918.
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Kotor
Kotor (Montenegrin: Котор / Kotor, pronounced [kɔ̌tɔr]) is a coastal city in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Gulf of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative center of the municipality.
The old Mediterranean port of Kotor is surrounded by an impressive city wall built by the Republic of Venice and Venetian influence remains predominant in the city's architecture. The Bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska; Bocche di Cattaro), one of the most indented parts of the Adriatic Sea, is sometimes called the southern-most fjord in Europe (though it is actually a submerged river canyon). Together with the nearly overhanging limestone cliffs of Orjen and Lovćen, Kotor and its surrounding area form an impressive and picturesque Mediterranean landscape.
In recent years, Kotor has seen a steady increase in tourists, many of them coming by cruise ship. Visitors are attracted both by the natural beauty of the Gulf of Kotor and by the old town of Kotor itself.
Kotor is part of the World Heritage Site dubbed the Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor.
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Kętrzyn
Kętrzyn [ˈkɛntʂɨn] ( listen) (German: Rastenburg (
listen); former Polish: Rastembork), is a town in northeastern Poland with 28,351 inhabitants (2004). Situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (since 1999), Kętrzyn was previously in Olsztyn Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Kętrzyn County. The city was named after Wojciech Kętrzyński in 1950.
The original inhabitants of the region were the Balt tribe of the Aesti, mentioned by Tacitus in his Germania (AD 98). The town, known in German as Rastenburg and in Polish as Rastembork, was established in 1329 in the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights and was granted town rights in 1357.
In 1914 it was the scene of the battle of the Masurian Lakes during the Tannenberg campaign. Adolf Hitler's wartime military headquarters, the Wolfsschanze (Wolf's Lair), was located in the forest east of Rastenburg. The bunker was the setting for the failed 20 July plot against Hitler. In 1945 the area suffered devastation from both the retreating Germans and advancing Russians during the Vistula-Oder campaign. Some ruins of the Wolfsschanze remain. The town was occupied by the Red Army in 1945 near the end of World War II. After the war, it was taken over by Poland, as provided for by the Potsdam Conference. Its surviving German residents who had not evacuated were subsequently expelled westward and replaced with Poles. The town was renamed from Rastenburg to Rastembork in 1945, and later to Kętrzyn after the Polish historian and activist Wojciech Kętrzyński in 1950.
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Malta
Maltai/ˈmɒltə/, officially known as the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta), is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya, with Gibraltar 1,755 km (1,091 mi) to the west and Alexandria 1,508 km (937 mi) to the east. Malta covers just over 316 km2 (122 sq mi) in land area, making it one of the world's smallest states. It is also one of the most densely populated countries worldwide. The de facto capital city of Malta is Valletta; the largest town, Birkirkara. The main island comprises many towns, which together form one Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with a population of 368,250 according to Eurostat. The country has two official languages, Maltese (constitutionally the national language) and English.
Throughout history, Malta's location has given it great strategic importance, and a succession of powers including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Habsburg Spain, Knights of St John, French and the British ruled the islands. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a republic in 1974, whilst retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004. Malta is also party to the Schengen Agreement and in 2008 it became part of the eurozone.
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Mezzegra
Mezzegra is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy.
It lies on the northwestern shore of Lake Como between Tremezzo and Lenno at the foot of Monte Tremezzo (1700 m). It is about 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Milan and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of Como. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,016 and an area of 3.4 km².
Mezzegra borders the following municipalities: Grandola ed Uniti, Lenno, Tremezzo.
On 28 April 1945 in Giulino, a frazione of Mezzegra, Benito Mussolini and his lover Claretta Petacci were executed by partisan fighters.
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Media related to Mezzegra at Wikimedia Commons
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MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 (Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6) focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Defence Intelligence (DI). All come under the direction of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC). The service has a statutory basis in the Security Service Act 1989 and the Intelligence Services Act 1994. Its remit includes the protection of British parliamentary democracy and economic interests, counter-terrorism and counter-espionage within the UK. Although mainly concerned with internal security, it does have an overseas role in support of its mission. Conversely, to ensure that the Home Secretary is responsible for intelligence operations within the UK, the Service may act on behalf of SIS and GCHQ[citation needed] even if the operation is outside its own functions (SIS and GCHQ report to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs).
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Milan
Milan (Italian: Milano [miˈlaːno] ( listen); Lombard: [miˈlan]; Latin: Mediolanum) is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital of Lombardy as well as of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area is the 5th largest in EU and the largest in Italy with an estimated population of approximately 5 million. The growth of many suburbs and satellite settlements around the city proper, following the Italian economic miracle of 1950s–60s and massive commuting flows, suggest that socioeconomic linkages have expanded well beyond the boundaries of its administrative limits and its agglomeration, creating a region of approximately 9,3 million people. It has been suggested that the Milan metropolitan area is part of the so-called Blue Banana, the area of Europe with the highest population and industrial density. Its health care and education system is considered one of the best of Europe.
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Nazi Germany
The Third Reich, also Nazi Germany, is the common name for Germany when it was a totalitarian state ruled by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). On 30 January 1933 Hitler became chancellor of Germany, quickly eliminating all opposition to rule as sole leader. The state idolized Hitler as its Führer ("leader"), centralizing all power in his hands. Historians have emphasized the hypnotic effect of his rhetoric on large audiences, and of his eyes in small groups. Kessel writes, "Overwhelmingly...Germans speak with mystification of Hitler's 'hypnotic' appeal..." Under the "leader principle", the Führer's word was above all other laws. Top officials reported to Hitler and followed his policies, but they had considerable autonomy. The government was not a coordinated, cooperating body, but rather a collection of factions struggling to amass power and curry favor with the Führer. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazi government restored prosperity and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending and a mixed economy of free-market and central-planning practices. Extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of the Autobahns. The return to prosperity gave the regime enormous popularity; the suppression of all opposition made Hitler's rule mostly unchallenged.
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New Roman Empire
The Italian Empire (Italian: Impero Italiano) was created after the Kingdom of Italy joined other European powers in establishing colonies overseas during the "scramble for Africa". Modern Italy as a unified state only existed from 1861. By this time France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and the Netherlands, had already carved out large empires over several hundred years. One of the last remaining areas open to colonisation was on the African continent.
By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Italy had annexed Eritrea and Somalia, and had wrested control of portions of the Ottoman Empire, including Libya, though it was defeated in its attempt to conquer Ethiopia. The Fascist government under Italian dictator Benito Mussolini which came to power in 1922 sought to increase the size of the empire further. Ethiopia was successfully taken, four decades after the previous failure, and Italy's European borders were expanded. An official "Italian Empire" was proclaimed on 9 May 1936 following the conquest of Ethiopia. Italy sided with Nazi Germany during World War II and initially enjoyed successes. However, Allied forces eventually captured Italian overseas colonies and by the time Italy itself was invaded in 1943, its empire had all but ceased to exist.
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Nuremberg Trials
Coordinates: 49°27.2603′N 11°02.9103′E / 49.4543383°N 11.048505°E / 49.4543383; 11.048505 The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany. The trials were held in the city of Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, in 1945–46, at the Palace of Justice. The first and best known of these trials was the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT), which tried 25 of the most important captured leaders of the Third Reich, though several key architects of the war (such as Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels) had committed suicide before the trials began.
The initial trials were held from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946. The second set of trials of lesser war criminals was conducted under Control Council Law No. 10 at the US Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT); among them included the Doctors' Trial and the Judges' Trial. This article primarily deals with the IMT; see the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials for details on those trials.
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ODESSA
The ODESSA, from the German Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, meaning “Organization of Former SS Members,” is believed to have been an international Nazi network set up toward the end of World War II by a group of SS officers. The purpose of the ODESSA was to establish and facilitate secret escape routes, later known as ratlines, to allow SS members to avoid their capture and prosecution for war crimes. Most of those fleeing out of Germany and Austria were helped to South America and the Middle East.
Several books by those involved in the War Crimes Commission (including T.H. Tetens and Joseph Wechsberg) have verified the organization's existence and provided details of its operations. Wechsberg studied Simon Wiesenthal's memoirs on the ODESSA and verified them with his own experiences in the book The Murderers Among Us.
In a note, persons claiming to represent the ODESSA claimed responsibility for a 9 July 1979 car bombing in France, which was aimed at anti-Nazi activists Serge and Beate Klarsfeld.[citation needed]
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Predappio
Predappio is a town and comune in the province of Forlì-Cesena, in the region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy, with a population of 6,362. The town is best known for being the birthplace of Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943. Mussolini is also buried at Predappio, and his mausoleum is a local tourist destination, as well as a site of pilgrimage for Italian neo-Fascists. In April 2009, the town council banned the sale of fascist souvenirs. [1]
From its origins, probably Roman, until the 1920s Predappio was a country town of modest size, situated on the hills of Forlì. Augustus divided Italy into eleven provinces and Predappio was within the sixth province. It is believed that the town name derives from the installation in those locations of an ancient Roman family: the Appi. The town was so named Praesidium Domini Appi and abbreviated to Pre.DiAppi.
Historically the town developed around the medieval castle, looking down the valley. Along the valley, about 2 km from Predappio, the town was known as Dovia (probably a corruption of the local Roman Road Duo Via).
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Ravenna
Ravenna [raˈvenna] ( listen) (Romagnol: Ravêna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 402 until that empire collapsed in 476. Afterwards, it served as the capital of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths. The city formed the centre of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna until the invasion of the Franks in 751, after which it became the seat of the Kingdom of the Lombards.
Although an inland city, Ravenna is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal. It is the location of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The origin of the name Ravenna is unclear, although it is believed the name is Etruscan. Some have speculated that "ravenna" is related to "Rasenna" (later "Rasna"), the term that the Etruscans used for themselves, but there is no agreement on this point.[citation needed]
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Rijeka
Rijeka (Croatian: Rijeka, Croatian pronunciation: [rijɛ̌ːka]; Italian: Fiume) is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants (2011). The conurbation, which includes adjacent towns and municipalities of Opatija, Lovran, Mošćenička Draga, Matulji, Kastav, Viškovo, Klana, Kostrena, Čavle, Jelenje, Bakar, and Kraljevica has a population of 213,842 (2011).
Historically, because of its strategic position and its excellent deep-water Port of Rijeka, the city was fiercely contested, especially between Italy, Hungary, and Croatia, changing hands and demographics many times over centuries. According to the 2001 census data, the overwhelming majority of its citizens (80.39%) are Croats, with Serbs coming in second (6.21%). The Croatian, Slovene and Italian version of the city's name mean river in each of the languages.
Rijeka is the center of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in Croatia. The city's economy largely depends on shipbuilding (shipyards "3. Maj" and "Viktor Lenac") and maritime transport. Rijeka hosts the Croatian National Theatre "Ivan pl. Zajc", first built in 1765, as well as the University of Rijeka, founded in 1973 but with roots dating back to 1632.
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Romagna
Romagna (Romagnol: Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west. The region's major cities include Ravenna, Cesena, Faenza, Forlì, Imola, Rimini and City of San Marino (San Marino is a landlocked state inside the Romagna historical region). The region has been recently formally expanded with the transfer of seven comuni (Casteldelci, Maiolo, Novafeltria, Pennabilli, San Leo, Sant'Agata Feltria, Talamello) from the Marche region, all of which are comuni where Romagnolo dialect is spoken.
The name Romagna comes from the Latin name Romània, which originally was the generic name for "land inhabited by Romans", and first appeared on Latin documents in the 5th century. It later took on the more detailed meaning of "territory subjected to Eastern Roman rule", whose citizens called themselves Romans (Romàioi in Greek). Thus the term Romània came to be used to refer to the territory administered by the Exarchate of Ravenna in contrast to other parts of Northern Italy under Lombard rule, named Langobardia or Lombardy. Romània later became Romandìola in Vulgar Latin, meaning "little Romània", which became Romagna in modern times.
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Sabaudia
Sabaudia is a coastal town in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy. Sabaudia's center is characterized by several examples of Fascist architecture.
Sabaudia is one of several towns built on the reclaimed marshland of the Agro Pontino, south to Rome. This marsh was drained under orders from Benito Mussolini, and these towns were built so that the fascist regime could demonstrate the draining of the marshland, as well as provide housing communities for the increasing urban populations of Italy's large cities.
Architects Gino Cancellotti, Eugenio Montuori, Luigi Piccinato, and Alfredo Scalpelli were responsible for the town plan and many of the buildings after winning a competition for the design of Sabaudia, sponsored by Mussolini. Work commenced on the town's construction on 5 August 1933 and was completed 253 days later. The city itself is based a Roman grid road layout and rationalist architecture.
An hour and a half to the south of Rome, Sabaudia is a coastal town built by Mussolini during his massive project to reclaim the Pontine Marshes. Vast tracts of malaria-infested swamp were drained by workers transported from poor areas of northern Italy, leaving the coastal area south of Rome with rich farmland and a few newly created beach towns.
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Salò
Salò is a town and commune in the Province of Brescia in the region of Lombardy (northern Italy) on the banks of Lake Garda, on which it has the longest promenade. The city was the capital of Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945, with the ISR often being called the "Republic of Salò" (Repubblica di Salò in Italian).
Although legend has it that Salò has Etruscan origins, recorded history starts with the founding by ancient Romans of the colony of Pagus Salodium. There are numerous ruins of the Roman settlement, as shown by the Lugone necropolis (in via Sant’Jago) and the findings (vase-flasks and funeral steles) in the Civic Archaeological Museum located at the Loggia della Magnifica Patria.
During the high Middle Ages, the city shared the same fate as that of Lombardy.
The origins of the municipality of Salò are barely known: its autonomy from Brescia can be dated towards the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the next one, and the most ancient statues conserved by the city authorities are dated 1397.
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Savoy
Savoy (/ˈsævɔɪ/; Arpitan: Savouè, IPA: [saˈvwɛ]; French: Savoie, IPA: [savwa]; Italian: Savoia) is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Dauphiné in the south.
The historical land of Savoy emerged as the feudal territory of the house of Savoy during the 11th to 14th centuries. The historical territory is shared between the modern republics of France and Italy.
Installed by Rudolph III, King of Burgundy, officially in 1003, the House of Savoy became the longest surviving royal house in Europe.[citation needed] It ruled the County of Savoy to 1416 and then the Duchy of Savoy from 1416 to 1714.
The territory of Savoy was annexed to France in 1792 under the French First Republic, before being returned to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in 1815. Savoy was finally annexed to France, under the Second French Empire in 1860, as part of a political agreement brokered between the French emperor Napoleon III and King Victor Emmanuel II of the Kingdom of Sardinia that began the process of unification of Italy. Victor Emmanuel's dynasty, the House of Savoy, retained its Italian lands of Piedmont and Liguria and became the ruling dynasty of Italy.
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Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel (German pronunciation: [ˈʃʊtsʃtafəl] ( listen), translated to Protection Squadron or defence corps, abbreviated SS—or 
with stylized "Armanen" sig runes) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II (1939–1945). After 1945, the SS was banned in Germany, along with the Nazi Party, as a criminal organization.
The SS began as a small permanent guard unit made up of NSDAP volunteers to provide security for Nazi Party meetings in Munich. Formed at the end of 1920, they were known as the "Saal-Schutz" (Hall-Protection). Later under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler between 1929 and 1945, the SS was renamed the "Schutz-Staffel" and grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the largest and most powerful organizations in the Third Reich.
The SS grew from a small paramilitary unit to a powerful force that served as the Führer's "Praetorian Guard", the Nazi Party's "Protection Squadron" and a force that, fielding almost a million men (both on the front lines and as political police), managed to exert as much political influence in the Third Reich as the Wehrmacht (Germany's regular armed forces).
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Sidi Barrani
Sidi Barrani (Arabic: سيدي برّاني) is a town in Egypt, near the Mediterranean Sea, about 95 km (59 mi) east of the border with Libya, and around 240 km (150 mi) from Tobruk, Libya.
Probably named after Sidi Mohammed el Barrani, a Senussi fighter in the early 1900s, the village is mainly a Bedouin community. It has food and gasoline outlets, and one small hotel, but has virtually no tourist activity or visited historical curiosities.
Located close to the Roman city of Zygra, in the Roman province of Libya Inferior, Sidi Barrani is often mentioned in historical records to mark the limit of the initial Italian invasion into Egypt from Libya. The Italian Tenth Army built a series of forts in the vicinity.
American Field Service volunteers, providing ambulance services and serving with the British 8th Army were based in the area, in June 1942, 30 miles east of Sidi Barrani.[citation needed]
Sidi Barrani was a destination during the total solar eclipse on October 3, 2005, as expeditions traveled to the best observation point, Zawiet Mahtallah, 27 km (17 mi) east of Sidi Barrani.
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Soviet Union
The Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, tr. Sovetsky Soyuz), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik; IPA: [sɐˈjus sɐˈvʲetskʲɪx sətsɨəlʲɪˈstʲitɕɪskʲɪx rʲɪsˈpublʲɪk] ( listen); abbreviated СССР, SSSR), was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.
The Soviet Union was a single-party state ruled by the Communist Party from its foundation until 1990. A union of 15 subnational Soviet republics, the Soviet state was structured under a highly centralized government and economy.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused the downfall of the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution, there was a struggle for power between the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, and the anti-communist White movement. In December 1922, the Bolsheviks won the civil war, and the Soviet Union was formed with the merger of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
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Split, Croatia
Split (Croatian pronunciation: [splît]) is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centred around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its bay and port. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and the second-largest city of Croatia. Spread over a central peninsula and its surroundings, Split's greater area includes the surrounding seaside towns as well. An intraregional transport hub, the city is a link to numerous Adriatic islands and the Apennine peninsula, as well as a popular tourist destination.
Split is also one of the oldest cities in the area. While it is traditionally considered just over 1,700 years old counting from the construction of Diocletian's Palace in AD 305, archaeological research relating to the original founding of the city as the Greek colony of Aspálathos (Aσπάλαθος) in the 6th century BC, establishes the urban tradition of the area as being several centuries older.
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SS Rex
Coordinates: 45°32′56″N 13°41′31″E / 45.54889°N 13.69194°E / 45.54889; 13.69194
The SS Rex was an Italian ocean liner launched in 1931. It held the westbound Blue Riband between 1933 and 1935. Originally built for the Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI) as the SS Guglielmo Marconi, its state-ordered merger with the Lloyd Sabaudo line meant that the ship sailed for the newly created Italia Flotta Riunite (Italian Line). On May 12, 1938, in a demonstration of U.S. air power, three YB-17 bombers of the U.S. Army Air Corps intercepted the Rex 620 miles at sea in a highly publicized event.
The Rex operated transatlantic crossings from Italy with its running mate, the Conte di Savoia. On 8 September 1944, off Koper, Rex was hit by 123 rockets launched by RAF aircraft, caught fire from stem to stern. She burned for four days, then rolled onto the port side, and sank in shallow water. The ship was broken up at the site beginning in 1947.
Following North German Lloyd's successful capture of the Blue Riband with its Bremen and Europa duo of ocean liners, the Rex was intended to be Italy's effort to do the same. Amid great competition from other steamship companies, the Italian Line carried out a very attractive and enthusiastic publicity campaign for its two largest liners, the Rex and the Conte di Savoia.
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Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung (SA) (German pronunciation: [ˈʃtʊʁmʔapˌtaɪlʊŋ] ( listen);Storm Detachment or Assault Division) or Brownshirts) functioned as the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Their main assignments were providing protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies; the disruption of opposing political parties and the fight against their paramilitary units (esp. the Rotfrontkämpferbund); and the intimidation of Jewish citizens (eg. the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses).
The SA was the first Nazi paramilitary group to develop pseudo-military titles for bestowal upon its members. The SA ranks were adopted by several other Nazi Party groups, chief amongst them the SS, itself originally a branch of the SA. SA men were often called "brownshirts" for the colour of their uniforms (similar to Benito Mussolini's blackshirts). Brown-coloured shirts were chosen as the SA uniform because a large batch of them were cheaply available after World War I, having originally been ordered during the war for colonial troops posted to Germany's former African colonies.
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Trento
Trento listen (help·info) (traditional English: Trent; Italian: Trento, pronounced [ˈtrɛnto] or [ˈtrento][citation needed]; local dialects: Trènt; German: Trient) is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of Trentino. In the 16th century the city was the location of the Council of Trent.
Trento is a major educational, scientific, financial and political centre in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Northern Italy in general. The University of Trento ranks highly out of Italy's top 30 colleges, coming 1st in the Italian Ministry of Education ranking, 1st in Engineering area according to Censis-La Repubblica ranking and 5th in the Il Sole 24 Ore ranking of Italian universities, and amongst the 500 best in the world according to the Times Higher Education, coming 252nd. The city contains a picturesque Medieval and Renaissance historic centre, with ancient buildings such as Trento Cathedral and the Castello del Buonconsiglio.
Modern-day Trento is a cosmopolitan city, with highly-developed and organized modern social services.[citation needed] The city often ranks extremely highly out of all 103 Italian cities for quality of life, standard of living, and business and job opportunities, coming 1st, 6th and 2nd respectively. Trento is also one of the nation's wealthiest and most prosperous, with its province being one of the richest in Italy, although poorer than its neighbours Lombardy and South Tyrol, with a GDP per capita of €29,500 and a GDP (nominal) of €14.878 billion.
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Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Tripoli-of-the-West (Arabic: طرابلس الغرب Ṭarābulus al-Gharb), to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean (Arabic: عروسة البحر ʼarūsat el-baḥr; lit: "bride of the sea"), describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli (English pronunciation: /ˈtrɪpɵli/) is a Greek name that means "Three Cities", introduced in Western European languages through the Italian Tripoli. In Arabic: طرابلس it is called Ṭarābulus ( pronunciation (help·info), Libyan Arabic: Ṭrābləs pronunciation (help·info), Berber: Ṭrables, from Ancient Greek: Τρίπολις Trípolis). As of 2011, the Tripoli metropolitan area (district area) had a population of 2.2 million. The city is located in the northwest part of the country on the edge of the desert, on a point of rocky land projecting into the Mediterranean and forming a bay.
The city includes the Port of Tripoli and the country's largest commercial and manufacturing centre. It is also the site of the University of Tripoli. The vast Bab al-Azizia barracks, which includes the former family compound of Muammar Gaddafi, is also located in the city; Gaddafi largely ruled the country from his residence in this barracks.
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Turin
Turin (Italian: Torino, pronounced [toˈriːno] ( listen); Piedmontese: Turin, pronounced [tyˈɾiŋ]; Latin: Augusta Taurinorum) is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 (November 2008) while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 1.7 million inhabitants. The Turin metropolitan area is estimated by the OECD to have a population of 2.2 million.
The city has a rich culture and history, and is known for its numerous art galleries, restaurants, churches, palaces, opera houses, piazzas, parks, gardens, theatres, libraries, museums and other venues. Turin is well known for its baroque, rococo, neo-classical, and Art Nouveau architecture. Much of the city's public squares, castles, gardens and elegant palazzi such as Palazzo Madama, were built in the 16th and 18th century, after the capital of the Duchy of Savoy (later Kingdom of Sardinia) was moved to Turin from Chambery( nowadays France) as part of the urban expansion.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
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Vatican Radio
Coordinates: 41°54′14″N 12°27′0″E / 41.90389°N 12.45°E / 41.90389; 12.45
Vatican Radio (Italian: ''Radio Vaticana'') is the official broadcasting service of the Vatican.
Set up in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave (also DRM), medium wave, FM, satellite and the Internet. The Jesuit Order has been charged with the management of Vatican Radio since its inception. During World War II and the rise of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, Vatican Radio served as a source for news for the Allies as well as broadcasting pro-Allied (or simply neutral) propaganda. A week after Pope Pius XII ordered the programming, Vatican Radio broadcast to an unbelieving world that Poles and Jews were being rounded up and forced into ghettos.
Today, programming is produced by over two hundred journalists located in 61 different countries. Vatican Radio produces more than 42,000 hours of simultaneous broadcasting covering international news, religious celebrations, in-depth programs, and music. The current general director is Father Federico Lombardi, S.J.
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Wolfsschanze
Wolf's Lair is the standard English name for Wolfsschanze, Adolf Hitler's first World War II Eastern Front military headquarters, one of several Führerhauptquartier (Führer Headquarters) or FHQs located in various parts of Europe. The complex, which was built for Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union, was located in the Masurian woods, about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from the small East Prussian town of Rastenburg, now Kętrzyn in Poland.
The original bunker system was constructed by Organisation Todt, but the later planned enlargement was never finished; the expansion work was stopped only a few days before the Russian advance to Angerburg (now Węgorzewo), only 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) away.
Hitler first arrived at the Wolf's Lair late on the night of 23 June 1941, and departed for the last time on 20 November 1944. Overall, he spent over 800 days there during that 3½-year period.
The complex was blown up and abandoned on 25 January 1945, but many of the bunkers were so thick that their damaged walls and ceilings remain. The remains are located in Poland at the hamlet of Gierłoż (German: Forst Görlitz) near Kętrzyn.
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Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, Macedonian: Jugoslavija; Cyrillic: Југославија) was a country in the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century which was established three times under differing forms of government.
The first country to be known by this name was the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which before 3 October 1929 was known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was established on 1 December 1918 by the union of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Serbia (the Kingdom of Montenegro was annexed on 13 November 1918, and the Conference of Ambassadors in Paris gave international recognition to the union on 13 July 1922). The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers in 1941, and because of the events that followed, was officially abolished in 1943 and 1945.
The second country with this name was the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, proclaimed in 1943 by the Yugoslav Partisans resistance movement during World War II. It was renamed to the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946, when a communist government was established. In 1963, it was renamed again to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). This was the largest Yugoslav state, as Istria, Rijeka and Zadar were added to the new Yugoslavia after the end of World War II.
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Abba Ahimeir
Abba Ahimeir (Hebrew: אב"א אחימאיר, 2 November 1897 - 6 June 1962) was a Russian-born Jewish journalist, historian and political activist. One of the ideologues of Revisionist Zionism, he was the founder of the Revisionist Maximalist faction of the Zionist Revisionist Movement (ZRM) and of the clandestine Brit HaBirionim.
Abba Shaul Geisinovich (later Abba Ahimeir) was born in Dolgi, a village near Babruysk in the Russian Empire (today in Belarus). From 1912-1914, he attended the Herzliya Gymnasium high school in Tel Aviv. While with his family in Babruysk for summer vacation in 1914, World War I broke out and he was forced to complete his studies in Russia. In 1917, he participated in the Russian Zionist Conference in Petrograd and underwent agricultural training as part of Joseph Trumpeldor’s HeHalutz movement in Batum, Caucasia to prepare him for a life as a pioneer in the Land of Israel. In 1920, he left Russia and changed his name from Gaisinovich to Ahimeir (in Hebrew: Meir’s brother) in memory of his brother Meir who had fallen in battle that year fighting against Poles during a pogrom.
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Achille Starace
Achille Starace (Italian pronunciation: [aˈkille staˈratʃe]; August 18, 1889 — April 29, 1945) was a prominent leader of Fascist Italy prior to and during World War II.
Starace was born in Gallipoli in southern Italy near Lecce. He was son of a wine and oil merchant.
Achille Starace attended the Lecce Technical Institute as a young man and earned a degree in accounting. In 1909, he joined the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito ) and by 1912 had become a Second Lieutenant (Sottotenente) of (Bersaglieri).
Seeing action during World War I, Starace was highly decorated for his service, winning a Silver Medal of Military Valor. After the war, he left the army and moved to Trento, where he first came into contact with the growing Fascist movement.
An ardent nationalist, Starace joined the Fascist movement in Trento in 1920 and quickly became its political secretary. In 1921, his efforts caught the attention of Benito Mussolini, who put Starace in charge of the Fascist organization in Venezia Tridentina. In October 1921, Starace became Vice-Secretary of the National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista, or PNF). In 1922, Starace participated in the March on Rome (Marcia su Roma), leading a squadron (squadristi) of Blackshirts (Camicie Nere, or CCNN, or Squadristi) in support of Mussolini.
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Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (German: [ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ] ( listen); 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and dictator of Nazi Germany (as Führer und Reichskanzler) from 1934 to 1945. Hitler is commonly associated with the rise of fascism in Europe, World War II, and the Holocaust.
A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the German Workers' Party, precursor of the Nazi Party, in 1919, and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923, he attempted a coup d'état, known as the Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich. The failed coup resulted in Hitler's imprisonment, during which time he wrote his memoir, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anticommunism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. After his appointment as chancellor in 1933, he transformed the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism. His aim was to establish a New Order of absolute Nazi German hegemony in continental Europe.
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Adone Zoli
Adone Zoli (16 December 1887 – 20 February 1960) was an Italian politician and member of the Christian Democratic Party. He served as the 36th Prime Minister of Italy from 1957-1958.
Zoli was born in Cesena, in the province of Forlì-Cesena.
He was elected to the Italian Senate from 1948 to 1960. He was Minister of Justice in 1951 in Alcide De Gasperi's 7th government, Minister of Taxation in 1954 under Amintore Fanfani and Minister of Economical Balance under the first government led by Antonio Segni.
Zoli, an anti-fascist, resigned the post of Prime Minister soon after it became clear that he would have needed to rely on the votes of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement to form a majority in the Parliament. He was then convinced by President of the Republic, Giovanni Gronchi, to remain in the post until the natural dissolution of the Italian Parliament in 1958. Zoli was the sole Italian Senator in office to become Prime Minister.
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Agostino Depretis
Agostino Depretis (January 31, 1813 – July 29, 1887) was an Italian statesman.
Depretis was born at Bressana Bottarone, near Stradella, in the province of Pavia (Lombardy).
From early manhood he was a disciple of Giuseppe Mazzini and affiliated with the La Giovine Italia. He took an active part in the Mazzinian conspiracies and was nearly captured by the Austrians while smuggling arms into Milan. Elected deputy in 1848, he joined the Left and founded the journal Il Diritto, but held no official position until appointed governor of Brescia in 1859.
In 1860 he went to Sicily on a mission to reconcile the policy of Cavour (who desired the immediate incorporation of the island in the kingdom of Italy) with that of Giuseppe Garibaldi, who wished to postpone the Sicilian plebiscite until after the liberation of Naples and Rome.
Though appointed pro-dictator of Sicily by Garibaldi, he failed in his attempt.
Accepting the portfolio of public works in Urbano Rattazzi's cabinet, in 1862, he served as intermediary in arranging with Garibaldi the expedition that ended disastrously at Aspromonte. Four years later, on the outbreak of war against Austria, he entered the Ricasoli cabinet as minister of navy, and there he insisted with admiral Carlo Persano on the attack against the island of Lissa -- as a revenge for the Italian defeat of Custoza. But he also refused to give to admiral Persano detailed orders about the expedition in the Adriatic Sea against the fleet led by Wilhelm von Tegetthoff. His apologists contend, however, that, as an inexperienced civilian, he could not have made sudden changes in naval arrangements without disorganizing the fleet, and that in view of the impending hostilities he was obliged to accept the dispositions of his predecessors.
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Alcide De Gasperi
Alcide De Gasperi (Italian pronunciation: [alˈtʃiːde de ˈɡasperi]; April 3, 1881 – August 19, 1954) was an Italian statesman and politician and founder of the Christian Democratic Party. From 1945 to 1953 he was the prime minister of eight successive coalition governments. His eight-year rule remains a landmark of political longevity for a leader in modern Italian politics. A conservative Catholic, he was one of the Founding fathers of the European Union, along with the Frenchman Robert Schuman and the German Konrad Adenauer.
De Gasperi was born in Pieve Tesino in Tyrol, which at that time belonged to Austria-Hungary, now part of the Trentino in Italy. His father was a local police officer of limited financial means. From 1896 De Gasperi was active in the Social Christian movement. In 1900 he joined the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy in Vienna, where he played an important role in the inception of the Christian student movement. He was very much inspired by the Rerum Novarum encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII in 1891. In 1904 he took an active part in the student demonstrations in favour of an Italian-language university. Imprisoned with other protesters during the inauguration of the Italian juridical faculty in Innsbruck, he was released after twenty days. In 1905, De Gasperi obtained a degree in philology.
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Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro (Italian pronunciation: [ˈaldo ˈmɔːro]; September 23, 1916 – May 9, 1978) was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years.
A leader of Democrazia Cristiana (Christian Democracy, DC), Moro was considered an intellectual and a patient mediator, especially in the internal life of his party. He was kidnapped on March 16, 1978, by the left-wing Red Brigades (BR), and killed after 55 days of captivity.
Moro was born in Maglie, in the province of Lecce (Puglia), into a family from Ugento. At 4, he moved with his family to Milan, but they soon moved back to Puglia, where he gained a classical high school degree at Archita lyceum in Taranto. Till 1939 he studied Law at the University of Bari, an institution where he was later to hold the post of ordinary professor of philosophy of Law and Colonial Policy (1941) and of Criminal Law (1942).
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Alessandro Fortis
Alessandro Fortis (16 September 1842 – 4 December 1909) in Forlì, Papal States was an Italian politician who served as the 27th Prime Minister of Italy from 1905 to 1906.
An Italian patriot he joined Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1866 and fought with him first in Trentino then at Mentana and in France. He was Italy's first Jewish Prime Minister.
His daughter Maria Fortis married the count Rinaldo Girolamo Saffi of Forlì (1868–1929), a minor son of count Aurelio Saffi (1819–1890) a famous patriot and hero of Italian Risorgimento who had also been one of the major sponsors of the political career of Alessandro Fortis himself.
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Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Ernst Rosenberg (help·info) (12 January 1893 – 16 October 1946) was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart; he later held several important posts in the Nazi government. He is considered one of the main authors of key Nazi ideological creeds, including its racial theory, persecution of the Jews, Lebensraum, abrogation of the Treaty of Versailles, and opposition to "degenerate" modern art. He is also known for his rejection of Christianity, having played an important role in the development of Positive Christianity, which he intended to be transitional to a new Nazi faith. At Nuremberg he was tried, sentenced to death and executed by hanging as a war criminal.
Rosenberg was born in 1893 in Reval (today's Tallinn, in Estonia, then part of the Russian Empire) to a family of Baltic Germans: his father, Waldemar Wilhelm Rosenberg, was a wealthy merchant from Latvia, his mother, Elfriede, was from Estonia. (Tallinn archivist J. Rajandi claimed in the 1930s that Rosenberg's family had Estonian origins).
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Amerigo Dumini
Amerigo Dumini (August 27, 1894 – December 25, 1967) was an American-born Italian fascist activist who led the group responsible for the 1924 assassination of United Socialist Party leader Giacomo Matteotti.
Born in St. Louis, the son of Italian immigrants to the United States, Amerigo Dumini traveled to the family's ancestral region, Florence, at the end of the First World War and became active in the local fascio organized by partisans of Benito Mussolini, taking pride in being referred to as "sicario del Duce" ("Il Duce's hitman"). He participated in the Sarzana incident on 21 July 1921, leading a column of 600 "squadristi" (Blackshirts) to Sarzana with demands for the liberation of Renato Ricci. Ricci and other fascists had been arrested following armed confrontation with the Arditi del Popolo, an antifascist organization created in 1921 by the anarchist Argo Secondari as an offshoot of the "Arditi" movement.
In 1924 Dumini entered the ranks of Ceka, the secret police which Mussolini based on the Soviet Cheka. Shortly thereafter, on June 24, he headed the group that carried out the killing of Giacomo Matteotti, possibly on the orders of Cesare Rossi, to whom he was assistant at the time. Following the political murder, he was abandoned by the Fascist leadership, with the exception of Roberto Farinacci, who defended him during his trial. While Farinacci declared himself "honored" by the task, he could not prevent Dumini from receiving a five-year prison sentence, of which he only served eleven months, benefitting from an amnesty ordered by Mussolini.
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Amilcare Cipriani
Amilcare Cipriani (October 18, 1843 – March 2, 1918) was an Italian anarchist patriot.
Cipriani was born in Anzio to a family originally from Rimini. In June 1859, at the age of 16 he fought with Giuseppe Garibaldi alongside French troops in the Battle of Solferino in the Second Italian War of Independence, but against Garibaldi at Aspromonte in 1862.
Cipriani founded the "Democratic Club", and along with Emanouil Dadaoglou organized a group and took part in the revolution against King Otto of Greece in 1862. After joining the First International in 1867, Cipriani partook in the defence of the Paris Commune in 1871, for which he was condemned to death but instead was exiled to a penal colony in New Caledonia along with 7,000 others.
In the amnesty that followed in 1880, Cipriani returned to France but was quickly expelled. Arrested in Italy in January 1881 for "conspiracies", he served seven years of his twenty year sentence before a popular campaign secured his release in 1888. At the Zurich congress of the Second International in 1893, Cipriani resigned his mandate in solidarity with Rosa Luxemburg and the anarchists who were excluded from the proceedings.
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Amintore Fanfani
Amintore Fanfani (Italian pronunciation: [aˈmintore famˈfaːni]; 6 February 1908 – 20 November 1999) was an Italian career politician and the 33rd man to serve the office of Prime Minister of the State. He was one of the well-known Italian politicians after the Second World War, and a historical figure of the Christian Democracy (Italian: Democrazia Cristiana – DC).
Fanfani and Giovanni Giolitti are still actually the sole men which became Prime ministers of Italy in five different periods. However, the sum of the days of Fanfani's five terms are 1571 (four years, 110 days), while Silvio Berlusconi spent 1801 days (four years, 340 days) at office in his second term only (2001-2006). Fanfani was one of the dominant figures of the Italian Christian Democrats for over three decades.
Fanfani was born in Pieve Santo Stefano, in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, to a large and humble family. He graduated in economics and business in 1932 from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. He was the author of a number of important works on economic history dealing with religion and the development of capitalism in the Renaissance and Reformation in Europe. His thesis was published in Italian and then in English as Catholicism, Capitalism and Protestantism in 1935.
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Anastasy Vonsyatsky
Anastasy Andreyevich Vonsyatsky (Russian: Анастасий Андреевич Вонсяцкий; June 12, 1898 - February 5, 1965), better known in the United States as Anastase Andreivitch Vonsiatsky, was a Russian anti-Bolshevik émigré and fascist leader based in the United States since the 1920s.
A naturalized American citizen while leading a splinter far-right organization, the Russian National Revolutionary Labor and Workers Peasant Party of Fascists. The headquarters RFO based on Putnam, Connecticut. Vonsyatsky was charged with the support of secret contacts with agents of Nazi Germany's and arrested by the FBI in 1942, following the United States' entry into war with Germany and Japan.
Released early from prison in 1945, Vonsyatsky lived out the remainder of his life in the United States. He died in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1965.
Anastasy Andreyevich Vonsyatsky was born in Warsaw, Poland (then part of the Russian Empire) to a privileged Russian family known for its long devotion to the Russian czars; one of Vonsyatsky's great-grandparents had been handed a titled estated from the Romanovs.
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Andrea Costa
Andrea Costa (1851–1910) was an Italian socialist activist, born in Imola.
He co-founded the Partito dei Lavoratori Italiani in 1892 after renouncing his anarchist principles in 1879. It is probable that this happened due to his marriage to Russian Socialist Anna Kulischov. In his book My Years in Exile, Edward Bernstein wrote of the conversion: "When [ Filippo Marzotti ] first heard the news that Costa was lost to the Anarchist cause, he excitedly raised his hands above his head, and cried repeatedly, almost in desperation: 'Anna! Anna! Anna!'".
In his later years Costa was an active politician; he served as mayor of Imola and as a representative in the Italian Parliament.
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Anna Kuliscioff
Anna Kuliscioff (or Anna Kulischov, Kulisciov; Russian: Анна Кулишёва; born Anna Moiseyeva Rosenstein (Анна Моисеевна Розенштейн); 9 January 1857 — 27 December 1925) was a Jewish Russian revolutionary, a prominent feminist, an anarchist influenced by Mikhail Bakunin, and eventually a Marxist socialist militant; she was mainly active in Italy, where she was one of the first women graduated in Medicine.
Persecuted by the Imperial Russian authorities, Kulischov took refuge in Paris, where she met the Italian anarchist Andrea Costa, her first husband. After being expelled from France in 1878, she settled in Italy and became the editor of Critica Sociale, a major socialist paper, in 1891. An activist for causes such as women's suffrage, Anna Kulischov was tried and imprisoned on several occasions.
Her views on Marxism influenced Filippo Turati, who became her partner. Together, they contributed to the creation of the Italian Socialist Party as leaders of a reformist wing that came to oppose both Communism (causing the split of the new Italian Communist Party in 1921) and the irredentist attitudes of Benito Mussolini (who subsequently left the PSI). Their group was itself expelled from the PSI later in 1921, leading to the creation of a United Socialist Party (PSU) - led by Turati, Kulischov, and Giacomo Matteotti in opposition to the emerging Fascism.
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Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelić (14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian fascist leader and revolutionary. As Poglavnik, he ruled the Independent State of Croatia, a puppet state of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. He was founder and leader of the Croatian fascist movement Ustaše.
Pavelić was a lawyer and politician in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia known for his nationalistic beliefs, particularly about an independent Croatia. From 1927 until 1929, he was a member of the Yugoslav Parliament where he declared his beliefs about Croatian independence. In 1920s he radicalized his political activity and called on Croats to revolt against Yugoslavia.
After King Alexander I declared his 6 January Dictatorship Pavelić escaped to Vienna, where he established contact with Croatian political émigrés and formed a link with the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization in advocating independence for Croatia and Macedonia. He then moved to Italy where he founded the Ustaše (Croatian Revolutionary Movement); initially, this was a Croatian nationalist movement with the goal of creating an independent Greater Croatia via armed revolt. In October 1934 he planned the assassination of King Alexander I and spent time in prison in Italy until 1936. From 1936 until 1939, Italian authorities banned Ustaše, so he dissolved the group. He lived under police watch, eventually seeking German support but without success. After 1939 he was active again, focusing mainly on Ustaše activity in Yugoslavia.
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Anteo Zamboni
Anteo Zamboni (April 11, 1911 – October 31, 1926) was a 15-year old anarchist who tried to assassinate Benito Mussolini in Bologna on October 31, 1926, by shooting at him during the parade celebrating the March on Rome.
Zamboni, whose shot missed Mussolini, was immediately attacked and lynched by nearby fascists. The man who first detained him and identified him as the would-be assassin was cavalry officer Carlo Alberto Pasolini, father of film director Pier Paolo Pasolini. The event was used as political leverage by the fascist government to abolish liberties and dissolve the remaining opposition parties.
A street in Bologna – "Mura Anteo Zamboni" – bears his name. In a film about the assassination attempt by Gianfranco Mingozzi, Gli ultimi tre giorni (1978), Zamboni was played by Franco Lotterio.
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Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, CBE (born 31 December 1937), best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television, and a composer. Considered to be one of the greatest living actors, Hopkins is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. Other prominent film credits include The Lion in Winter, Magic, The Elephant Man, 84 Charing Cross Road, Dracula, Legends of the Fall, The Remains of the Day, Amistad, Nixon, The World's Fastest Indian, and Fracture. Hopkins was born and brought up in Wales. Retaining his British citizenship, he became a U.S. citizen on 12 April 2000. Hopkins' films have spanned a wide variety of genres, from family films to horror. As well as his Academy Award, Hopkins has also won three BAFTA Awards, two Emmys and the Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe Award. Hopkins was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993 for services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, and was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2008.
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Antonio Banderas
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas (born 10 August 1960), better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer. He began his acting career at age 19 with a series of films by director Pedro Almodóvar and then appeared in high-profile Hollywood films, especially in the 1990s, including Assassins, Evita, Interview with the Vampire, Philadelphia, Desperado, The Mask of Zorro, Spy Kids, the Shrek sequels and Puss in Boots.
Banderas was born in Málaga, Andalucía, Spain, in 1960, to Ana Banderas, a school teacher, and José Domínguez, a police officer in the Guardia Civil. He has a younger brother, Javier. Although the family name is Domínguez, he took his mother's surname as his stage name. As a child, he wanted to become a professional football player until a broken foot sidelined his dreams at the age of fifteen. He went on to enroll in some drama classes, eventually joining a theater troupe that toured all over Spain. His work in the theater, and his performances on the streets, eventually landed him a spot with the National Theatre of Spain.
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Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Gramsci (Italian pronunciation: [anˈtɔːnjo ˈɡramʃi]) (January 22, 1891 – April 27, 1937) was an Italian writer, politician, political theorist, and linguist. He was a founding member and onetime leader of the Communist Party of Italy and was imprisoned by Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime.
Gramsci was one of the most important Marxist thinkers in the 20th century. His writings are heavily concerned with the analysis of culture and political leadership and he is notable as a highly original thinker within modern European thought. He is renowned for his concept of cultural hegemony as a means of maintaining the state in a capitalist society.
Gramsci was born in Ales, on the island of Sardinia. He was the fourth of seven sons of Francesco Gramsci (1860–1937), a low-level official from Gaeta, and his wife, Giuseppina Marcias (1861–1932). Gramsci's father was of Arbëreshë, Albanian descent, while his mother belonged to a local landowning family. The senior Gramsci's financial difficulties and troubles with the police forced the family to move about through several villages in Sardinia until they finally settled in Ghilarza.
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Antonio Martino
Antonio Martino (born December 22, 1942) is an Italian politician, who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994 and Italian Minister of Defense from 2001 to 2006. He is a founding member of Forza Italia, holding party card no. 2.
Born at Messina, he is the son of Gaetano Martino, former Foreign Minister and prominent member of the late Italian Liberal Party (PLI). In mid-the 1980s he was unsuccessful candidate for the post of PLI secretary. A member of the Italian Parliament, he was first elected in 1994, re-elected in 1996 and 2001.
Since 1992 and for many years, Martino has been a professor of Economics in the Political Science Department at the LUISS University of Rome (currently on Parliamentary leave). He is author of 11 books and over 150 papers and articles on economic theory and policy. He has been a frequent contributor to Italian and international magazines and newspapers (Il Giornale, for example), as well as Italian and international television and radio programs.
In 1988-90, Martino was President of the Mont Pelerin Society, an international society of classical liberals, founded in 1947 by Nobel Prize Winner Friedrich A. Hayek. In the Nineties, he wrote a book in Italian language, Stato Padrone, where he explains his free-market ideas.
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Antonio Salandra
Antonio Salandra (August 13, 1853, Troia, Province of Foggia – December 9, 1931) was a conservative Italian politician who served as the 33rd Prime Minister of Italy between 1914 and 1916. He graduated from the University of Naples in 1875 and then became instructor and later professor of administrative law at the University of Rome.
Born in Troia (Province of Foggia, Apulia), Salandra was brought into the national cabinet upon the fall of the government of Giovanni Giolitti, as the choice of Giolitti himself, who still commanded the support of most Italian parliamentarians. However, he soon fell out with Giolitti over the question of Italian participation in World War I. While Giolitti supported neutrality, Salandra and his foreign minister, Sidney Sonnino, supported intervention on the side of the Allies, and secured Italy's entrance into the war despite the opposition of the majority in parliament. Salandra had expected that Italy's entrance on the allied side would bring the war to a quick solution, but in fact it changed little, and Italy's first year in the war was marked by only very limited success. Following the success of an Austrian offensive from the Trentino in the spring of 1916, Salandra was forced to resign.
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Antonio Segni
Antonio Segni (Italian pronunciation: [anˈtɔːnjo ˈseɲɲi]; 2 February 1891 – 1 December 1972) was an Italian politician who was the 35th Prime Minister of Italy (1955–1957, 1959–1960), and the fourth President of the Italian Republic from 1962 to 1964. Adhering to the centrist Christian Democratic party (Italian: Democrazia Cristiana – DC), he was the first Sardinian ever to become Prime Minister of Italy.
The son of a Sardinian landowning family, born in Sassari, Sardinia, he studied to become a lawyer with a degree in agricultural and commercial law. Segni joined the Italian People's Party (Italian: Partito Popolare Italiano) – the predecessor of the Christian Democratic Party – in 1919. In 1924 he was a member of the party’s national council, until all political organizations were dissolved by Benito Mussolini two years later in 1926. For the next 17 years Segni taught Agrarian Law for at the Universities of Pavia, Perugia, and Cagliari; he was also rector of Sassari University.
In 1943 Segni was one of the organizers of the new Christian Democratic Party in Sardinia. He held ministerial positions in many Christian Democrat governments from 1944 onward, despite his frail physique. Time Magazine once quoted a friend: "He is like the Colosseum; he looks like a ruin but he'll be around for a long time." In 1946, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly after World War II and then to parliament in 1948.
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Aristotle
Aristotle (Ancient Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality, aesthetics, logic, science, politics, and metaphysics.
Aristotle's views on the physical sciences profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, and their influence extended well into the Renaissance, although they were ultimately replaced by Newtonian physics. In the zoological sciences, some of his observations were confirmed to be accurate only in the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. In metaphysics, Aristotelianism had a profound influence on philosophical and theological thinking in the Islamic and Jewish traditions in the Middle Ages, and it continues to influence Christian theology, especially the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues (Cicero described his literary style as "a river of gold"), it is thought that the majority of his writings are now lost and only about one-third of the original works have survived.
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Arnold Leese
Arnold Spencer Leese (1878–1956) was a British veterinarian and fascist politician. He was born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England and educated at Giggleswick School.
After qualifying as a veterinary surgeon, he accepted a post in British India, where he became an expert on the camel. He had previously worked in the East End of London. He worked there for six years before becoming Camel Specialist for the East Africa Protectorate of the British Empire. He would remain an animal lover and teetotaller throughout his life.
He published numerous articles on the camel and its maladies, the first appearing in The Journal of Tropical Veterinary Science in 1909. He had the honour of a camel parasite being named after him: Thelazia leesei.
He joined the Royal Army Veterinary Corps of the British Army at the start of World War I and served on the Western Front and the Middle East. Captain Leese returned to England where he continued his practice, retiring and publishing A Treatise on the One-Humped Camel in Health and in Disease (1927), which would remain a standard work in India for fifty years.
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Arthur de Gobineau
Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau (14 July 1816, Ville-d'Avray, Hauts-de-Seine – 13 October 1882, Turin) was a French aristocrat, novelist and man of letters who became famous for developing the theory of the Aryan master race in his book An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1853–1855). De Gobineau is credited as being the father of modern racial demography.
Gobineau's father was a government official and staunch royalist, and his mother, Anne-Louise Magdeleine de Gercy, was the daughter of a royal tax official. He was not, however, a nobleman, having added the 'count' to his name himself .
In the later years of the July Monarchy, Gobineau made his living writing serialized fiction (romans-feuilletons) and contributing to reactionary periodicals. He struck up a friendship and had voluminous correspondence with Alexis de Tocqueville, who brought him into the foreign ministry while he was foreign minister during the Second Republic.
Gobineau was a successful diplomat for the Second French Empire. Initially he was posted to Persia, before working in Brazil and other countries.
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Aryan
Aryan /ˈɛərjən/ is an English language loanword derived from the Sanskrit ārya ('Noble'). In present-day academia, the terms "Indo-Iranian" and "Indo-European" have, according to many, made most uses of the term 'Aryan' minimal, and 'Aryan' is now mostly limited to its appearance in the term "Indo-Aryan" to represent (speakers of) North, West and Central Indian languages.
Western notions of an "Aryan race" rose to prominence in late-19th and early-20th century racialist thought, an idea most notably embraced by Nazi ideology (see master race). The Nazis believed that the "Nordic peoples" (who were also referred to as the "Germanic peoples") represent an ideal and "pure race" that was the purest representation of the original racial stock of those who were then called the Proto-Aryans. The Nazis declared that the Nordics were the true Aryans because they claimed that they were more "pure" (less racially mixed with non-native Indo-European peoples) than other people of what were then called the Aryan peoples (now generally called the Indo-European peoples).
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Attilio Piccioni
Attilio Piccioni (14 July 1892 – 10 March 1976) was an Italian politician, born in Poggio Bustone.
He was a member of the Christian Democracy.
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Attilio Ruffini
Attilio Ruffini (December 31, 1925 - June 23, 2011ref>http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/politica/2011/06/24/visualizza_new.html_813656237.html</ref>) was an Italian politician.
Born in Mantua, he was a member of the Christian Democracy. He has been Minister of Transports, Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Ruffini died in Rome in 2011.
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Augustus
Augustus ( /ɔːˈɡʌstəs/;Classical Latin: [awˈɡʊstʊs]; Latin: Imperator Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD. Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted posthumously by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar in 44 BC via his last will and testament, and between then and 27 BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar. In 27 BC the Senate awarded him the honorific Augustus ("the revered one"), and thus consequently he was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus.
The young Octavius came into his inheritance after Caesar's assassination in 44 BC. In 43 BC, Octavian joined forces with Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in a military dictatorship known as the Second Triumvirate. As a triumvir, Octavian ruled Rome and many of its provinces. The triumvirate was eventually torn apart under the competing ambitions of its rulers: Lepidus was driven into exile, and Antony committed suicide following his defeat at the Battle of Actium by Octavian's fleet under the command of Agrippa in 31 BC.
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Benedetto Brin
Benedetto Brin (May 17, 1833, Turin, Piedmont – May 24, 1898) was an Italian naval administrator and politician.
Born in Turin, he worked with distinction as a naval engineer until the age of forty. In 1873, Admiral Simone Arturo Saint-Bon, Italy's Naval Minister, appointed him undersecretary of state. The two men collaborated on major projects: Saint-Bon conceived a type of ship, Brin made the plans and directed its construction.
On the advent of the Left to power in 1876, Brin was appointed Naval Minister by Agostino Depretis, a capacity in which he continued the policies of Saint-Bon, while enlarging and completing the project in such way as to form the first organic scheme for the development of the Italian fleet. The huge warships Italia and Duilio were his work, though he afterwards abandoned their type in favor of smaller and faster vessels of the Varese and the Garibaldi class. Through his initiative, the Italian naval industry, almost non-existent in 1873, made rapid progress.
During his eleven years ministry (1876-1878 with Depretis, 1884-1891 with Depretis and Francesco Crispi, 1896-1898 with Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì), he succeeded in creating large private shipyards, engine works and metallurgical works for the production of armour, steel plates and guns.
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Benedetto Cairoli
Benedetto Cairoli (28 January 1825 – 8 August 1889) was an Italian statesman.
Cairoli was born at Pavia, Lombardy.
From 1848 until the completion of Italian unity in 1870, his whole activity was devoted to the Risorgimento, as Garibaldian officer, political refugee, anti-Austrian conspirator and deputy to parliament. He commanded a volunteer company under Garibaldi in 1859 and 1860, being wounded slightly at Calatafimi and severely at Palermo in the latter year. In 1866, with the rank of colonel, he assisted Garibaldi in the campaign in the County of Tyrol, in 1867 fought at Mentana, and in 1870 conducted the negotiations with Bismarck, during which the German chancellor is alleged to have promised Italy possession of Rome and of her natural frontiers if the Democratic party could prevent an alliance between Victor Emmanuel and Napoleon.
The prestige personally acquired by Benedetto Cairoli was augmented by that of his four brothers, who fell during the wars of the Risorgimento, and by the heroic conduct of their mother. His refusal of all compensation or distinction further endeared him to the Italian people. When in 1876 the Left came into power, Cairoli, then a deputy of sixteen years standing, became parliamentary leader of his party, and, after the fall of Depretis, Nicotera and Crispi, formed his first cabinet in March 1878 with a Francophile and Irredentist policy.
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Beniamino Andreatta
Beniamino (Nino) Andreatta (August 11, 1928 – March 26, 2007) was an Italian economist and politician.
He was a leftish Christian Democrat and one of the founders of the Italian People's Party in 1994.
Andreatta was born in Trento. He was member of Parliament from 1976 to 1992 and from 1994 to 2001 (Senator from 1976 to 1983, Deputy from 1983-87, again Senator from 1987 to 1992 and finally Deputy from 1994 to 2001). He was member of the European Parliament from 1984 to 1989 and Vice-President of the European People's Party from 1984 to 1987.
He was Minister of Budget from 1979 to 1980, of Treasury from 1980 to 1982, of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1994, and of Defense from 1996 to 1998.
His followers included Romano Prodi and Enrico Letta. He is considered to be the architect of the Olive Tree coalition and of the candidacy of Romano Prodi for Prime Minister of Italy in 1996.
He had been in a deep coma since 1999. He died in Bologna.
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Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez (Spanish pronunciation: [beˈnito ˈxwaɾes]; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, then 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872. He resisted the French occupation of Mexico, overthrew the Second Mexican Empire, restored the Republic, and used liberal efforts to modernize the country.
Juárez was born on 21 March 1806 in a small adobe home in the village of San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca, located in the mountain range now known as the "Sierra Juárez". His parents, Marcelino Juárez and Brígida García, were peasants who both died of complications of diabetes when he was three years old. Shortly after, his grandparents died as well , and his uncle then raised him. He described his parents as "indios de la raza primitiva del país," that is, "Indians of the original race of the country." He worked in the corn fields and as a shepherd until the age of 12, when he walked to the city of Oaxaca de Juárez to attend school. At the time, he was illiterate and could not speak Spanish, only Zapotec.
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Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (Italian pronunciation: [beˈniːto musːoˈliːni]; 29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party, ruling the country from 1922 to his ousting in 1943, and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of fascism.
Originally a member of the Italian Socialist Party and editor of the Avanti! from 1912 to 1914, Mussolini fought in World War I as an ardent nationalist and created the Fasci di Combattimento in 1919, catalyzing his nationalist and socialist beliefs in the Fascist Manifesto, published in 1921. Following the March on Rome in October 1922 he became the 27th Prime Minister of Italy and began using the title Il Duce by 1925, about which time he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. After 1936, his official title was Sua Eccellenza Benito Mussolini, Capo del Governo, Duce del Fascismo e Fondatore dell'Impero ("His Excellency Benito Mussolini, Head of Government, Duce of Fascism, and Founder of the Empire") Mussolini also created and held the supreme military rank of First Marshal of the Empire along with King Victor Emmanuel III, which gave him and the King joint supreme control over the military of Italy. Mussolini remained in power until he was replaced in 1943; for a short period after this until his death, he was the leader of the Italian Social Republic.
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Bettino Craxi
Benedetto "Bettino" Craxi (pronounced [betˈtiːno ˈkraksi]) (24 February 1934 – 19 January 2000) was an Italian politician, head of the Italian Socialist Party from 1976 to 1993, the first socialist President of the Council of Ministers of Italy from 1983 to 1987.
Craxi led the 2nd longest-lived government of Italy during the republican era (after the 2nd Silvio Berlusconi cabinet), and had strong influence in Italian politics throughout the eighties; for some time, he was a close ally of two key figures of Christian Democracy, Giulio Andreotti and Arnaldo Forlani, in a loose cross-party alliance often dubbed CAF (from the first letter of the surname Craxi-Andreotti-Forlani). Craxi had a firm grasp on a party previously troubled by factionalism, and tried to distance it from the communists and to bring it closer to Christian Democrats and other parties; his objective was to create an Italian version of European reformist socialist parties, like the German SPD or the French Socialist Party. The Italian Socialist Party reached its post-war apex when it increased its share of votes in the general election of 1987. However, the Italian Socialist Party never outgrew the much larger Italian Communist Party, whose highly charismatic leader, Enrico Berlinguer, was a fierce adversary of Craxi's policies throughout the years.
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Bettino Ricasoli
Bettino Ricàsoli, 1.º Barone Ricàsoli, 1.º Conte di Brolio (March 29, 1809, Florence – October 23, 1880; Italian pronunciation: [riˈkaːsoli]) was an Italian statesman.
Ricasoli was born in Florence. Left an orphan at eighteen, with an estate heavily encumbered, he was by special decree of the grand duke of Tuscany declared of age and entrusted with the guardianship of his younger brothers. Interrupting his studies, he withdrew to Brolio, and by careful management disencumbered the family possessions. In 1847 he founded the journal La Patria, and addressed to the grand duke a memorial suggesting remedies for the difficulties of the state. In 1848 he was elected Gonfaloniere of Florence, but resigned on account of the anti-Liberal tendencies of the grand duke.
As Tuscan minister of the interior in 1859 he promoted the union of Tuscany with Piedmont, which took place on March 12, 1860. Elected Italian deputy in 1861, he succeeded Cavour in the premiership. As premier he admitted the Garibaldian volunteers to the regular army, revoked the decree of exile against Mazzini, and attempted reconciliation with the Vatican; but his efforts were rendered ineffectual by the non possumus of the pope.
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Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkarlo adˈdzɛʎʎo ˈtʃampi] ( listen); born 9 December 1920) is an Italian politician and banker. He was the 49th Prime Minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and was the tenth President of the Italian Republic from 1999 to 2006. He is currently a Senator for life in the Italian Senate.
Ciampi was born in Livorno (Province of Livorno).
After receiving a doctorate in literature in 1941 from the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, one of the country's most prestigious universities, he was called to military duty in Albania as a lieutenant. On 8 September 1943, on the date of the armistice with the Allies, he refused to remain in the Fascist Italian Social Republic, and took refuge in Abruzzo, in Scanno. He subsequently managed to pass the lines and reach Bari, where he joined the Partito d'Azione (and thus the Italian resistance movement).
In 1946 he married Franca Pila. That same year, he obtained a doctorate in law from the University of Pisa and began working at the Banca d'Italia. He also joined the CGIL (Trade Union), which he left in 1980.
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Carlo Lizzani
Carlo Lizzani (born 3 April 1922) is an Italian film director, screenwriter and critic.
Born in Rome, after World War II Lizzani worked on such notable films of the late 1940s as Roberto Rossellini's Germany Year Zero, Alberto Lattuada's The Mill on the Po (both 1948) and Giuseppe De Santis' Bitter Rice (1950, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story).
After helming documentaries, he debuted as a feature director with the admired World War II drama Achtung! Banditi! (1951). He films an episode of L'Amore in Città. Respected for his awarded drama Chronicle of Poor Lovers (1954), he has proven a solid director of genre films, notably crime films such as The Violent Four (1968) and Crazy Joe (1974) or erotic comedy Roma Bene (1971).
He worked frequently for Italian television in the 1980s and was a member of the jury at the Berlin Film Festival in 1994.
His film Celluloide deals with the making of Rome, Open City.
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Carlo Pisacane
Carlo Pisacane, Duke of San Giovanni (August 22, 1818 — July 2, 1857) was an Italian patriot and one of the first Italian socialist thinkers.
Pisacane was born in Naples to an impoverished noble family, and entered the Neapolitan army in 1839; but having become imbued with Mazzinian ideas he emigrated in 1847, and after a short stay in England and France served in the French army in Algeria.
The revolution of 1848 recalled him to Italy; he played a part in the brief Roman Republic, and was an instrumental part of the war commission in the defence of the city. After its capture by the French, he again went into exile, first to London and then to Genoa, maintaining himself by teaching.
Pisacane regarded the rule of the House of Savoy as no better than that of Austria. When Mazzini, undeterred by the failure of the abortive Milan rising on the 6th of February, 1853, determined to organize an expedition to provoke a rising in the Neapolitan kingdom, Pisacane offered himself for the task, and sailed from Genoa with a few followers (including Giovanni Nicotera) on board the Cagliari steamer on June 25, 1857.
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Carlo Sforza
Count Carlo Sforza (24 January 1872 – 4 September 1952) was an Italian diplomat and anti-Fascist politician.
Sforza was born at Montignoso (Tuscany).
Sforza entered the diplomatic service in 1896. He served in Cairo, Paris, Constantinople, Beijing, Bucharest, Madrid, London, and Belgrade, and after the First World War became foreign minister under Giovanni Giolitti. In 1921 Sforza upset right-wing forces by signing the Rapallo Treaty which returned the important port of Fiume to Yugoslavia.
Sforza was ambassador to France but resigned from office when Benito Mussolini gained power in 1922. He led the anti-fascist opposition in the Senate until being forced into exile in 1926. While living in exile Sforza published the books, European Dictatorships, Contemporary Italy, or Synthesis of Europe. He said that Italy, a nation with so long and rich a tradition, "can afford luxury - waiting".
Sforza lived in France until the German occupation in June 1940. He then settled in England where he lived until moving on to the United States.
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Cesare Mori
Cesare Mori (Pavia, December 22, 1871 – Udine, July 6, 1942) was a prefect (prefetto) before and during the Fascist period in Italy. He is known in Italy as the Iron Prefect (Prefetto di Ferro) because of his iron-fisted campaigns against the Mafia on Sicily in the second half of the 1920s.
Mori was born in Pavia and grew up in an orphananage and was only recognised by his natural parents in October 1879 at the age of seven. He studied at the Turin Military Academy. However, he married a girl, Angelina Salvi, who did not have the dowry stipulated by military regulations of the time, and had to resign. He joined the police, serving first in Ravenna, then Castelvetrano in the province of Trapani (Sicily) – where he made his name capturing the bandit Paolo Grisalfi – before moving to Florence in 1915 as vice-quaestor.
At the end of the First World War, the situation of Sicilian criminality got worse when war veterans joined gangs of bandits. In 1919 Mori was sent back to Sicily as the head of special forces against brigandage. In his roundups, Mori distinguished himself for his energetic and radical methods. At Caltabellotta he arrested more than 300 people in one night. The press wrote of a "lethal blow to the Mafia", but Mori said to a member of his staff :
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Charles Péguy
Charles Péguy (January 7, 1873 – September 4, 1914) was a noted French poet, essayist, and editor. His two main philosophies were socialism and nationalism, but by 1908 at the latest, after years of uneasy agnosticism, he had become a devout but non-practicing Roman Catholic. From that time, Catholicism strongly influenced his works.
Péguy was born to poverty. His mother Cécile, widowed when he was an infant, mended chairs for a living. His father, Désiré Péguy, was a cabinet maker, who died in 1874 as a result of combat wounds. He studied at the Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, winning a scholarship at the École Normale Supérieure, where he attended notably the lectures of Henri Bergson and Romain Rolland, whom he befriended. He formally left the École Normale, without graduating, in 1897, even though he continued attending some lectures in 1898. Influenced by Lucien Herr (librarian of the École Normale), he became an ardent Dreyfusard.
In 1897, at age 24, Péguy married Charlotte-Françoise Baudoin; they had one daughter and three sons, one of whom was born after Péguy's death. Around 1910 he fell deeply in love with Blanche Raphael, a young Jewish friend, however he was faithful to his wife.
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Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I. Chaplin used mime, slapstick and other visual comedy routines, and continued well into the era of the talkies, though his films decreased in frequency from the end of the 1920s. His most famous role was that of The Tramp, which he first played in the Keystone comedy Kid Auto Races at Venice in 1914. From the April 1914 one-reeler Twenty Minutes of Love onwards he was writing and directing most of his films, by 1916 he was also producing them, and from 1918 he was even composing the music for them. With Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith, he co-founded United Artists in 1919.
Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era. He was influenced by his predecessor, the French silent film comedian Max Linder, to whom he dedicated one of his films. His working life in entertainment spanned over 75 years, from the Victorian stage and the music hall in the United Kingdom as a child performer, until close to his death at the age of 88. His high-profile public and private life encompassed both adulation and controversy. Chaplin was identified with left-wing politics during the McCarthy era and he was ultimately forced to resettle in Europe from 1952.
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Ciriaco de Mita
Ciriaco Luigi de Mita (Italian pronunciation: [tʃi'riːako luˈiːʤi de ˈmiːta]; born 2 February 1928) is an Italian politician. He served as the 47th Prime Minister of Italy from 1988 to 1989 and is currently Member of the European Parliament.
De Mita was born in Nusco, in the Avellinese hinterland.
As a young man he joined the Christian Democracy and entered politics. He rose through the ranks of the party, becoming a member of its council in 1956, a member of Parliament in 1963 and a member of the Italian cabinet in 1973. During the next decade he served as Minister of Industry and then as Minister of Foreign Trade.
De Mita became chairman of the party in 1982 at a time when its power was declining. He was reelected in 1986 with 60% support from the party. The Christian Democrats did well in the elections of 1987. De Mita waited a year to become Prime Minister, and then served as Prime Minister for a year, maintaining the party chairmanship. At the beginning of that service, on 16 April 1988, in Forlì, Red Brigades killed Senator Roberto Ruffilli, an advisor of de Mita.
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Clara Petacci
Clara Petacci (Claretta Petacci) (28 February 1912 – 28 April 1945) was the mistress of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who was twenty-eight years her senior. On 27 April 1945, when a convoy of escaping Italian Social Republic members, including Mussolini, was captured by Communist partisans, it is said that Petacci was offered the opportunity to go unmolested.[citation needed] On 28 April, she and Mussolini were taken to Mezzegra and shot. On the following day, 29 April, Mussolini and Petacci's bodies were taken to the Piazzale Loreto in Milan and hung upside down in front of a petrol station. The bodies were photographed as a crowd vented their rage upon them.
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Count Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari (18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Benito Mussolini's son-in-law. In early 1944 Count Ciano was shot by firing squad at the behest of his father-in-law, Mussolini, under pressure from Nazi Germany.
Ciano was born in Livorno, Italy, in 1903, to an aristocratic family. He was the son of Count Costanzo Ciano and his wife Carolina Pini; his father was an Admiral and World War I hero in the Royal Italian Navy, founding member of the National Fascist Party and re-organizer of the Italian Merchant Marine in the 1920s. The elder Ciano (he was nicknamed Ganascia, meaning "The Jaw") was not above making a private profit from his public office; and as a side effect his son was soon used to living a high-profile glamorous life, which he continued to maintain until almost the end. He would use his influence to depress the stock of a company, after which he would buy a controlling interest, which would increase his wealth after its value rebounded and owned among other holdings a newspaper, farmland in Tuscany, and other properties worth millions. After studying Philosophy of Law, the younger Ciano had a brief experience as a journalist before choosing a diplomatic career, and served as an attaché in Rio de Janeiro. On 24 April 1930, he married Benito Mussolini's daughter Edda Mussolini, with whom he soon left for Shanghai where he served as Italian Consul. Back in Italy, a few years later, he became the minister of press and propaganda.
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Cy Schindell
Seymour "Cy" Schindell (March 4, 1907 – August 24, 1948) was an American actor who appeared in 37 Three Stooges short subjects, mostly as a heavy.
Brooklyn-born Schindell was born Seymour Schindel in 1907. He was a former middleweight boxer with 19 fights from 1926-1928. He was later bitten by the acting bug, and found work as an extra at Columbia Studios, most notably appearing with comedy team the Three Stooges. Schindell was also a skilled stuntman, performing many pratfalls himself. His ability to deliver straight, tough dialogue ("youse mugs") made him a natural for parts as heavies. Shorts like Calling All Curs, Nutty But Nice and Fright Night gave Schindell a chance to bully the Stooges around to great effect. The ex-puglist also twice had the chance to be knocked cold by the trio, only to the have the Stooges (concealed behind a curtain) maneuver the unconscious Schindell like a puppet in the films Matri-Phony, Fright Night and Fling in the Ring. Schindell also memorably played Chizzilini, a parody of Benito Mussolini, in the short I'll Never Heil Again.
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Denis Mack Smith
Denis Mack Smith CBE FBA FRSL (born 3 March 1920 in London) is an English historian, specialising in the history of Italy from the Risorgimento onwards. He is best known for studies of Garibaldi and Cavour and of Mussolini, and for his single-volume Modern Italy: A Political History. He was named Grand Official of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1996.
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Dimitrije Ljotić
Dimitrije Ljotić (Serbian Cyrillic: Димитрије Љотић; August 12, 1891, Belgrade - April 23, 1945, Ajdovščina) was a Serbian fascist politician and Nazi German collaborationist during World War II.
Although born in Belgrade he spent most of his life in Smederevo. His Serbian ancestors came to Serbia from the village of Blace in what is today Greek Macedonia during the first half of 19th century. His father Vladimir Ljotić had a notable political and diplomatic career during which he was a consul in Thessaloniki, mayor of Smederevo and a Member of Parliament in the Serbian Parliament. Dimitrije started his education in Smederevo, before going on to graduate at the age of 16 from the Serbian lycée in Thesaloniki, and concluding his education by graduating at the University of Belgrade's Law School.
During the Balkan wars he volunteered for military medical service. In 1913 he stayed in Paris where he remained until the beginning of World War I; soon after he returned to Serbia and enlisted in the Serbian Army. After the Great War he served as commander of a railway station in Bakar, Croatia where he broke a railway strike arresting 36 workers. This event proved crucial in his life and career since it determined his choice to become a politician rather than a clergyman. In Bakar he met his wife Ivka, with whom he moved back to Smederevo in 1920 and started practicing law. In Smederevo he joined the People's Radical Party soon becoming president of the Youth branch. In 1931 King Alexander I proclaimed him Minister of Justice in the government of Petar Živković, in which capacity he would make a new draft Constitution and present it to the King. He proposed voters should vote in free and secret elections whilst candidates would be nominated by non-governmental organizations. The King refused his proposal and Ljotić resigned from office.
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Dino Grandi
Dino Grandi (June 4, 1895 – May 21, 1988), 1st Conte di Mordano, was an Italian Fascist politician, minister of justice, minister of foreign affairs and president of parliament.
Born at Mordano, province of Bologna, Grandi was a graduate in law and economics at the University of Bologna in 1919 (after serving in World War I), Grandi started a career as a lawyer in Imola. Attracted to the political left, he nonetheless became impressed with Benito Mussolini after the two met in 1914, and became a staunch advocate of Italy's entry into the World War.
He joined the Blackshirts at age 25, and was one of 35 Fascist delegates elected, along with Mussolini, in May 1921 to the Chamber of Deputies. Grandi survived an ambush carried out by leftist militants in 1920, and had his studio devastated on one occasion.
After the March on Rome on October 28, 1922, in which the Fascists took power in Italy, Grandi became part of the new government; first as the under secretary of interior (1923), then as the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (1929), and also served as Italy's ambassador to the United Kingdom (1932 to 1939). He was recalled to Italy in order to be appointed as the Minister of Justice. Dino Grandi was an ally to the most radical and violent groups of fascists, always surrounding himself with members of the Blackshirts. He used his position to voice criticism of Mussolini's attempt to reach an armistice with left-wingers, and was under suspicion for having attempted to replace the latter with the skeptical alleged Mussolini forerunner Gabriele D'Annunzio.
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Domenico Leccisi
Domenico Leccisi (20 May 1920, Molfetta – 2 November 2008) was an Italian politician best known for stealing the corpse of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini from an unmarked grave.
Leccisi died at age 88 on 2 November 2008 at a retirement home in Milan due to heart and respiratory disease.
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Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (pronounced /ˈaɪzənhaʊər/, EYE-zən-how-ər; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. He had previously been a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II, and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe; he had responsibility for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45, from the Western Front. In 1951, he became the first supreme commander of NATO.
Eisenhower was of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, and was reared in a large family in Kansas, by parents with a robust work ethic and religious background. As one of five sons, he was conditioned by a competitive atmosphere which instilled self-reliance. He attended and graduated from West Point, and later was married with two sons. After World War II Eisenhower served as Chief of Staff under President Harry S. Truman, then assumed the post of President at Columbia University.
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Edda Mussolini
Edda Mussolini (1 September 1910 – 9 April 1995) was the eldest child of Benito Mussolini, Italy's fascist dictator from 1922 to 1943. Upon her marriage to fascist propagandist and foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano she became Edda Ciano, Countess of Cortellazzo and Buccari.
She strongly denied her involvement in the National Fascist Party regime and had an affair with a Communist after her father's execution by the Italian communist partisans in World War II.
She was born out of wedlock to Benito Mussolini and Rachele Guidi in Forlì, Romagna. Her parents did not marry until December 1915. In her early years, while her father was editor of Il Popolo d'Italia in Milan, Edda lived with Rachele in Forlì. Her father became Prime Minister of Italy in October 1922 and Dictator after January 1925.
In March 1925, Rachele and Edda with her brothers and sisters, moved from Milan to Carpegna and then to Rome in November 1929 to live with their father. Edda was, herself, a rebellious woman in her youth. Her powerful father made dating difficult, as most young men feared him. She has been described as being opinionated and outspoken. It was while in Rome that she met Galeazzo Ciano, son of Admiral Count Costanzo Ciano, a loyal Fascist and supporter of Benito Mussolini before his March on Rome. They were married on 24 April 1930 in a lavish ceremony attended by 4,000 guests.
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Emilio Colombo
Emilio Colombo (born 11 April 1920) is an Italian politician who was Prime Minister of Italy from 1970 to 1972. In addition to having held top positions in Italian governments, he was also active in European politics and is currently an Italian senator-for-life.
Born in Potenza, Basilicata, Colombo entered politics as a member of the Christian Democratic Party. Having held several cabinet posts, he was Prime Minister of Italy from 1970 until his resignation in 1972. Later he became President of the European Parliament (occupying that office from 1977 until 1979) and Foreign Minister of Italy (from 1980 until 1983, and again from 1992 until 1993). A decade after he last held that position, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi bestowed Italy's highest political honour on him, by nominating him Senator for life.
Shortly after this, in November 2003, he admitted to have used cocaine (for "therapeutic purposes") over a 12- to 18-month period, and to be a homosexual.
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Engelbert Dollfuss
Engelbert Dollfuss (in German: Engelbert Dollfuß; October 4, 1892 – July 25, 1934) was an Austrian Christian Social and Patriotic Front statesman. Serving previously as Minister for Forest and Agriculture, he ascended to Federal Chancellor in 1932 in the midst of a crisis for the conservative government. In early 1933, he shut down parliament, banned the Austrian Nazi party and assumed dictatorial powers. Suppressing the Socialist movement in February 1934, he cemented the rule of “austrofascism” through the authoritarian First of May Constitution. Dollfuss was assassinated as part of a failed coup attempt by Nazi agents in 1934. His regime was maintained through the Stresa Front until Adolf Hitler's annexing of Austria in 1938.
He was born in Texing in Lower Austria to unmarried mother Josepha Dollfuss and her lover Joseph Weninger. The couple of peasant origin was unable to get married due to financial problems. Josepha married landowner Leopold Schmutz a few months after her son's birth, who did not adopt Engelbert however as his own child. Dollfuss, who was raised as a devout Roman Catholic, was shortly in seminary before deciding to study law at the University of Vienna and then economics at the University of Berlin. Here he met Alwine Glienke, a German woman from a Protestant family, whom he married in 1921. The couple had a son and two daughters, one of which died in early childhood.
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Enrico Corradini
Enrico Corradini (July 20, 1865 — December 10, 1931) was an Italian novelist, essayist, journalist and nationalist political figure.
Corradini was born near Montelupo Fiorentino, Tuscany.
A follower of Gabriele D'Annunzio, he founded the right-wing newspaper Il Regno (1903-1905), together with intellectuals Giovanni Papini, Vilfredo Pareto, and Giuseppe Prezzolini. It quickly became a staple for irredentist and radical thought that was to blend into Fascism. In 1910, the Italian Nationalist Association (Associazione Nazionalista Italiana, ANI) was founded with the participation of Corradini, who was among the leaders. It made a name for itself after giving full support to Italian imperialism and the Italo-Turkish War of 1911 - Corradini wrote two political essays on the matter (Il volere d'Italia - "Italy's Desire", and L'ora di Tripoli - "Tripoli's Moment"). He expanded such bellicose theories in the weekly L'Idea Nazionale, founded by him together with Alfredo Rocco and Luigi Federzoni.
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Eoin O'Duffy
Eoin O'Duffy (Irish: Eoin Ó Dubhthaigh; 30 October 1892 – 30 November 1944) was in succession a Teachta Dála (TD), the Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the second Commissioner of the Garda Síochána, leader of the Army Comrades Association and then the first leader of Fine Gael (1933–34), before leading the Irish Brigade to fight for Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. He once proclaimed himself the "third most important man in Europe" after Adolf Hitler and fellow fascist Benito Mussolini.
Eoin O'Duffy was born Owen O'Duffy in Lough Egish, near Castleblayney, County Monaghan. O'Duffy did an apprenticeship as an engineer in Wexford before working as an engineer and architect in Monaghan. In 1919 he became an auctioneer. O'Duffy was a leading member of the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ulster in the 1910s. A stand in a ground in Clones, County Monaghan, is named after him.
In 1917 O'Duffy joined the Irish Volunteers and took an active part in the Irish War of Independence. In February 1920, he (along with Ernie O'Malley) was involved in the first capture of a Royal Irish Constabulary barracks by the IRA in Ballytrain, in his native Monaghan. He came to the attention of Michael Collins, who enrolled him into the Irish Republican Brotherhood and supported his advancement in the Nationalist hierarchy.
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Ettore Ovazza
Ettore Ovazza (Turin, 21 March 1892 - Intra, 11 October 1943) was an Italian Jew who was a financial patron of Mussolini, and served as a minister for some years with the Economy Ministry in Benito Mussolini's government. Believing that his privileged position would be restored after the war, Ovazza stayed on after the Germans marched into Italy. Together with his wife and children, he was killed by SS troops at the end of World War II near the Swiss border.
He was born, one of three brothers, to the Ovazza family, a wealthy and influential Jewish banking family based in Turin. They were one of the leading banking families in Italy. His father and his three brothers voluntarily enlisted to fight in the First World War. The family was well integrated into Italian high society, while they followed Jewish traditions such as celebrating Passover. His father served as the leader of the Turinese Jewish community.
Ettore Ovazza studied law at university and then travelled to Germany with a view to a diplomatic career. At the outbreak of World War I he had volunteered and trained as an officer, only to suffer the humiliating defeat at Caporetto. His patriotic letters from the front were published in 1928 and received general praise. After the war, the city of Turin was badly affected by the turmoil of the Biennio Rosso (Two Red Years) with repeated strikes, lockouts and violent demonstrations. The Ovazza family were alarmed by these developments.
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Ferdinand Tönnies
Ferdinand Tönnies (26 July 1855, near Oldenswort (Eiderstedt, North Frisia, Schleswig) - 9 April 1936, Kiel, Germany) was a German sociologist. He was a major contributor to sociological theory and field studies, best known for his distinction between two types of social groups, Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft. He was also a prolific writer and co-founder of the German Society for Sociology (of which he was president from 1909 to 1933, when he was ousted by the Nazis).
Ferdinand Tönnies was born into a wealthy farmer's family in North Frisia, Schleswig (today Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Holstein), then under Danish rule. He studied at the universities of Jena, Bonn, Leipzig, Berlin, and Tübingen. He received a doctorate in Tübingen in 1877 (with a Latin thesis on the ancient Siwa Oasis). Four years later he became a private lecturer at the University of Kiel. Because he had sympathized with the Hamburg dockers' strike of 1896, the conservative Prussian government considered him to be a social democrat, and Tönnies was not called to a professorial chair until 1913. He held this post at the University of Kiel for only three years. He returned to the university as a professor emeritus in 1921 and taught until 1933 when he was ousted by the Nazis, due to his earlier publications that criticized them.
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Ferenc Szálasi
Ferenc Szálasi (Szálasi Ferenc in Hungarian, Hungarian pronunciation: [saːlaʃi fɛrɛnts]) (6 January 1897 – 12 March 1946) was the leader of the National Socialist Arrow Cross Party – Hungarist Movement, the "Leader of the Nation" (Nemzetvezető), being both Head of State and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary's "Government of National Unity" (Nemzeti Összefogás Kormánya) for the final three months of Hungary's participation in World War II. During his brief rule, Szálasi's men murdered 10–15,000 Jews. After the war, he was executed by the Soviets for crimes against the state.
Born the son of a soldier in Kassa (now Košice in Slovakia) of mixed Armenian (the surname of his great-grandfather was Saloshyan), German, Hungarian (one grandparent), Slovak and Rusyn heritage.
Szálasi followed in his father's footsteps and joined the army at a young age. He eventually became an officer and served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I. Upon the dissolution and break-up of Austria-Hungary after the war, the Hungarian Democratic Republic and then the Hungarian Soviet Republic were briefly proclaimed in 1918 and 1919 respectively. The short-lived communist government of Béla Kun launched what was known as the "Red Terror" and ultimately involved Hungary in an ill-fated war with Romania. In 1920, the country went into a period of civil conflict with Hungarian anti-communists and monarchists violently purging the nation of communists, leftist intellectuals, and others they felt threatened by, especially Jews. This period was known as the "White Terror" and, in 1920, after the pullout of the last of the Romanian occupation forces, it led to the restoration of the Kingdom of Hungary (Magyar Királyság).
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Fernando Tambroni
Fernando Tambroni Armaroli (25 November 1901 – 18 February 1963) was an Italian politician of the Christian Democratic Party. He was a lawyer, a prominent supporter of law and order policies, and for a brief time in 1960, the 37th Prime Minister of Italy. His role as prime minister is best remembered for the riots which resulted from the possibility that he might look to the Movimento Sociale Italiano for support against the parliamentary left.
Tambroni was born in Ascoli Piceno (Marche).
He was a member of the Italian Constituent Assembly and was later elected to the new Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1948-1958. In 1953, he was Minister of Merchant Marine, a position he held under two more governments until 1954. The following year, he was Minister of the Interior under the first government of Antonio Segni, being confirmed under the following ones, led by Adone Zoli and Amintore Fanfani respectively. In 1959, again under Segni, he was Minister of Economy.
In 1960, sponsored by President Giovanni Gronchi, he formed the Tambroni Cabinet and became Prime Minister. Tambroni's politics soon appeared strongly right-wing: having abandoned the alliance with the Italian Socialist Party, he was elected with votes coming also from the post-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI). On 21 May 1960, a street assembly led by the communist leader was stopped by police, with the support of the government. This caused a series of riots.
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Ferruccio Parri
Ferruccio Parri (Pinerolo, January 19, 1890 – Rome, December 8, 1981) was an Italian partisan and politician who served as the 43rd Prime Minister of Italy for several months in 1945. During the resistance he was known as Maurizio.
Parri was born in Pinerolo, Piedmont. A soldier during World War I, he was wounded four times and received four decorations. He studied literature and after the war he was a journalist with the Corriere della Sera.
He became active against Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime and joined Carlo and Nello Rosselli's group Giustizia e Libertà (Justice and Liberty), the principal Italian non-Marxist antifascist movement.
In 1926 he was involved in the escape of the reformist socialist leader Filippo Turati, together with Carlo Rosselli and Sandro Pertini. He was sentenced to 10 months in prison. He was arrested several times and banished to the islands Ustica and Lipari. In 1930 he was again banished for five years together with other leaders of Giustizia e Libertà.
During World War II, Parri joined the Italian resistance movement to fight the Nazi German occupiers and Mussolini's Italian Social Republic, leading the Action Party (Partito d'Azione) – founded in 1942 by former militants of Giustizia e Libertà – and its partisan groups in northern Italy (alongside representatives of other factions, such as Sandro Pertini, Rodolfo Morandi and Lelio Basso). He was also president of the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale.
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Francesco Cossiga
Francesco Cossiga (26 July 1928 – 17 August 2010) was an Italian politician, the 43rd Prime Minister and the eighth President of the Italian Republic. He was also a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sassari.
Cossiga was born in Sassari in the north of Sardinia. He started his political career during World War II. His name is now usually pronounced Italian pronunciation: [kosˈsiːɡa], but it was originally pronounced Italian pronunciation: [ˈkɔssiɡa], with the stress on the first syllable, meaning "Corsica". He was the cousin of Enrico Berlinguer.
He was a minister several times for the Democrazia Cristiana party (DC), notably during his stay at Viminale (Ministry for internal affairs) where he re-structured the Italian police, civil protection and secret services. In 1977, when Cossiga was minister of internal affairs, police squads organized by Cossiga shot against a demonstration in Rome, killing student Giorgiana Masi. Cossiga for many years stated that she was killed by her companions.
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Francesco Crispi
Francesco Crispi (Ribera, October 4, 1819 – Naples, August 11, 1901) was a 19th-century Italian politician from Sicily. He was among the key figures in the Italian Risorgimento and a close friend and supporter of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, and one of the architects of the unification of Italy in 1860.
He was Italy's 17th and 20th Prime Minister for six years, from 1887 until 1891 and again from 1893 until 1896. Originally an enlightened Italian patriot and democrat liberal he went on to become a bellicose authoritarian prime minister and ally and admirer of Bismarck. He is often seen as a precursor of Benito Mussolini.
Crispi’s paternal family came originally from the small agricultural community of Palazzo Adriano, in south-western Sicily. It had been founded in later fifteenth century by Catholic Albanians (later Arbëreshë), who settled in Sicily after the Ottoman occupation of Albania. Crispi himself was born in Ribera, Sicily and baptised as a Greek Orthodox. Belonging to a family of Albanian descent, he spoke Italian as his third language.
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Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde, better known under the name of Franco, (Spanish: [fɾanˈθisko ˈfɾaŋko]; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general, dictator and the leader of the Nationalist military rebellion in the Spanish Civil War, and totalitarian head of state of Spain, from October 1936 (as a unified nation from 1939 onwards) until his death in November 1975. He came to power while recognizing the principles of the far-right Falange movement, although this was for propaganda reasons, as he belonged to no political party before becoming Head of State. As head of state, Franco used the titles Caudillo de España and Generalísimo, but also was called formally as His Excellency, The Head of State.
Franco was from a military family, and although originally intent on entering the Spanish Navy, he instead became a soldier. He participated in the Rif War in Morocco, becoming the youngest general in Europe by 1926. After returning to the Spanish mainland, he saw service suppressing an anarchist-led strike in 1934, defending the stability of Alcalá-Zamora's conservative government. Following the formation of a Popular Front government, made up of various left-wing factions, instability heightened. Violence between militant groups rose sharply with assassination of conservative parliamentary leader José Calvo Sotelo, in retaliation for the killing of José Castillo. Franco and his co-conspirators used Calvo's death as their pretext for war, as they had already initiated the plan for their rebellion.
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Franco Frattini
Franco Frattini (born 14 March 1957 in Rome) is an Italian politician, who served as Italy's Foreign minister in the Berlusconi Cabinet until 16 November 2011. Before 8 May 2008 he served as European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security and one of five vice-presidents of the 27-member Barroso Commission.
Initially a member of the Italian Socialist Party, Frattini was first elected MP within Silvio Berlusconi's party Forza Italia in 1996, and has been a member of Silvio Berlusconi's government since 2001, and Foreign minister of Italy since 14 November 2002; he is also a member of the centre-right party People of Freedom.
On 4 November 2004, he was nominated to take up the Justice and security portfolio in the Commission, in place of the controversial Rocco Buttiglione (who outed Frattini as a Freemason). His resignation from the Italian government took effect on 18 November. Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini succeeded him as Foreign Minister. Frattini has outlined his key priorities as: fundamental Rights and citizenship; the fight against terrorism and organised crime; immigration and asylum, visa and border issues; closer co-operation between police, judicial and customs authorities; ensuring all EU citizens have the same access to justice; and the Rights of the Child.
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Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche ( /ˈniːtʃə/;German pronunciation: [ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈniːtsʃə]; October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) was a German philosopher, poet, cultural critic and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and aphorism.
Nietzsche's influence remains substantial within and beyond philosophy, notably in existentialism, nihilism and postmodernism. His style and radical questioning of the value and objectivity of truth have resulted in much commentary and interpretation, mostly in the continental tradition. His key ideas include the death of God, the Übermensch, the eternal recurrence, the Apollonian and Dionysian dichotomy, perspectivism and the will to power. Central to his philosophy is the idea of "life-affirmation", which involves an honest questioning of all doctrines that drain life's expansive energies, however socially prevalent and radical those views might be.
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Fumimaro Konoe
Prince Fumimaro Konoe (近衛 文麿, Konoe Fumimaro?, often Konoye, October 12, 1891 – December 16, 1945) was a politician in the Empire of Japan who served as the 34th, 38th and 39th Prime Minister of Japan and founder/leader of the Taisei Yokusankai.
Prince Fumimaro Konoe was born into the ancient Fujiwara clan, and was the heir of the princely Konoe family in Tokyo. This was a highly prestigious Japanese family, so lofty that the older and more powerful noble, Saionji Kinmochi, addressed the young student as "your Excellency" when he first met him. The Prince received a broad education, acquiring both German and English. He was particularly drawn to Socialist writings, he studied socialist philosopher Hajime Kawakami, and at age 23 translated and published Oscar Wilde’s The Soul of Man Under Socialism.
Konoe’s father, Atsumaro, had been politically active, having organized the Anti-Russia Society in 1903. Atsumaro had been considered a potential candidate for Prime Minister, but died in 1904. That left Konoe with the title of Prince, plenty of social standing but not much money, and plenty of room for a mentor/father-figure. That mentor was Saionji. Even so, Konoe never fully embraced his mentor’s pro-Western attitudes.
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Gabriele d'Annunzio
Gabriele D'Annunzio or d'Annunzio (ennobled by the King of Italy in 1924 as Principe di Montenevoso; Italian pronunciation: [ɡabriˈɛːle danˈnuntsjo]; 12 March 1863 – 1 March 1938) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, dramatist, and soldier during World War I. He was a prominent Italian nationalist figure. His role in politics is controversial due to his influence on the Italian Fascist movement and his status as the alleged forerunner of Benito Mussolini.
D'Annunzio was of Dalmatian extraction. He was born in Pescara, Abruzzo, the son of a wealthy landowner and mayor of the town whose name was originally Francesco Rapagnetta, to which both father and son legally added D'Annunzio. The son was baptized Gaetano and gained the name of Gabriele as a nickname in childhood, from his angelic looks. His precocious talent was recognised early in life, and he was sent to school at the Liceo Cicognini in Prato, Tuscany. He published his first poetry while still at school at the age of sixteen with a small volume of verses called Primo Vere (1879), influenced by Giosuè Carducci's Odi barbare, in which, side by side with some almost brutal imitations of Lorenzo Stecchetti, the fashionable poet of Postuma, were some translations from the Latin, distinguished by such agile grace that Giuseppe Chiarini on reading them brought the unknown youth before the public in an enthusiastic article. In 1881 D'Annunzio entered the University of Rome La Sapienza, where he became a member of various literary groups, including Cronaca Bizantina and wrote articles and criticism for local newspapers. In those university years he started to promote Italian irredentism.
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Gaetano Martino
Gaetano Martino (25 November 1900 - 21 July 1967) was an Italian politician and university teacher.
A native of Messina, Sicily, he was a member of Italian Liberal Party. Gaetano Martino was one of the participants of the Messina Conference in 1955, which would lead to the Treaty of Rome in 1957. He was also President of the European Parliament from 1962 to 1964.
He died in Rome in 1967. His son Antonio Martino would follow in his footseps as Minister of Foreign Affairs, but would distinguish himself from his father, in that he would generally be considered one of Italy's leading Eurosceptics.
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Galeazzo Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari (18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Benito Mussolini's son-in-law. In early 1944 Count Ciano was shot by firing squad at the behest of his father-in-law, Mussolini, under pressure from Nazi Germany.
Ciano was born in Livorno, Italy, in 1903, to an aristocratic family. He was the son of Count Costanzo Ciano and his wife Carolina Pini; his father was an Admiral and World War I hero in the Royal Italian Navy, founding member of the National Fascist Party and re-organizer of the Italian Merchant Marine in the 1920s. The elder Ciano (he was nicknamed Ganascia, meaning "The Jaw") was not above making a private profit from his public office; and as a side effect his son was soon used to living a high-profile glamorous life, which he continued to maintain until almost the end. He would use his influence to depress the stock of a company, after which he would buy a controlling interest, which would increase his wealth after its value rebounded and owned among other holdings a newspaper, farmland in Tuscany, and other properties worth millions. After studying Philosophy of Law, the younger Ciano had a brief experience as a journalist before choosing a diplomatic career, and served as an attaché in Rio de Janeiro. On 24 April 1930, he married Benito Mussolini's daughter Edda Mussolini, with whom he soon left for Shanghai where he served as Italian Consul. Back in Italy, a few years later, he became the minister of press and propaganda.
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George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove.
George Campbell Scott was born in Wise, Virginia, the son of Helena Agnes (née Slemp; 1904–1935) and George Dewey Scott (1902–1988). His mother died just before his eighth birthday, and he was raised by his father, an executive with Buick. Scott's original ambition was to be a writer like his favorite author, F. Scott Fitzgerald; while attending Redford High School in Detroit, he wrote many short stories, none of which were ever published. As an adult, he tried on many occasions to write a novel, but was never able to complete one to his satisfaction.[citation needed]
Scott joined the US Marines, serving from 1945-49. He was assigned to 8th and I Barracks in Washington, D.C., in which capacity he taught English literature and radio speaking/writing at the Marine Corps Institute. He later claimed his duties at Arlington led to his drinking. After his military service, Scott enrolled in the University of Missouri, where he majored in journalism and then became interested in drama; he left college after a year to pursue acting.
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Gerhard Weinberg
Gerhard Ludwig Weinberg (born January 1, 1928) is a German-born American diplomatic and military historian noted for his studies in the history of World War II. Weinberg currently is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been a member of the history faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill since 1974. Previously he served on the faculties of the University of Michigan (1959–1974) and the University of Kentucky (1957–1959).
Weinberg was born in Hanover, Germany, and resided there the first ten years of his life. As Jews in Nazi Germany, he and his family suffered increasing persecution. They emigrated in 1938, first to the United Kingdom and then in 1941 to New York State. Weinberg became a U.S. citizen, served in the U.S. Army during its occupation of Japan in 1946-1947, and returned to receive a B.A. in social studies from the State University of New York at Albany. He received his MA (1949) and PhD (1951) in history from the University of Chicago.
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Giacomo Matteotti
Giacomo Matteotti ( It-Giacomo Matteotti.ogg (help·info)) (22 May 1885 – 10 June 1924) was an Italian socialist politician. On 30 May 1924, he openly spoke in the Italian Parliament alleging the Fascists committed fraud in the recently held elections, and denounced the violence they used to gain votes. Eleven days later he was kidnapped and killed by Fascists.
Matteotti was born a son of a wealthy family, in Fratta Polesine, Province of Rovigo (Veneto).
A graduate in law from the University of Bologna and from early on an activist in the socialist movement and the Italian Socialist Party, he opposed Italy's entry into World War I (and was interned in Sicily during the conflict for this reason).
He was elected deputy three times: in 1919, 1921 and 1924.
As a follower of Filippo Turati, Matteotti became the leader of the United Socialist Party in the Italian Chamber of Deputies after the scission of the Socialist Party. He openly spoke out against Fascism and Benito Mussolini, and for a time was leader of the opposition to the National Fascist Party (PNF). Since 1921 he denounced fascist violences in a pamphlet titled Inchiesta socialista sulle gesta dei fascisti in Italia (Socialist enquiry on the deeds of the fascists in Italy).
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Gianfranco Fini
Gianfranco Fini (born January 3, 1952 in Bologna) is an Italian politician, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, leader of the center-right Future and Freedom party, and the former leader of the conservative National Alliance and the post-fascist Italian Social Movement. He was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in Silvio Berlusconi’s government from 2001 to 2006.
His grandfather, a communist activist, died in 1970. His father, Argenio "Sergio" Fini (Bologna 1923 - Rome 1998), was a volunteer with the Italian Social Republic (the nazi Germany puppet state in Northern Italy in 1943-45); he later declared feeling close to the Italian Socialist Democratic Party, but he withdrew from political activity after his son became involved in the Movimento Sociale Italiano.
His mother, Erminia Marani (Ferrara 1926 - Rome 2008), was the daughter of Antonio Marani, who took part along with Italo Balbo in the march on Rome, which signaled the beginning of fascism in 1922. The name Gianfranco was chosen in remembrance of a cousin, who was killed when he was 20 years old by partisans soon after the liberation of Northern Italy on April 25, 1945.
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Gino Lucetti
Gino Lucetti (August 31, 1900 - September 17, 1943) was an Italian anarchist and would-be assassin.
Born in Carrara, Italy, he fought in the assault troops during World War I. Later he emigrated to France, from where he returned to attempt the assassination of Benito Mussolini, Italy's Fascist Duce. On September 11, 1926, in the Porta Pia square in Rome, he threw a bomb against Mussolini's car, but without effect.
Arrested, Lucetti stood trial in June 1927, and was condemned to 30 years in prison. The politician Vincenzo Baldazzi was also condemned for having supported him in preparing the attempt.
In 1943 Lucetti escaped from prison with the help of others, but was killed shortly afterwards during a German bombing raid on Ischia.
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Giovanni Amendola
Giovanni Amendola (April 15, 1882, Napoli – April 7, 1926 Cannes) was an Italian journalist and politician, noted as an opponent of Fascism.
Amendola was born in Salerno. After he graduated with a degree in philosophy, he collaborated with some newspapers, among them being Il Leonardo of Giovanni Papini and La voce of Giuseppe Prezzolini. After that, he obtained the chair of theoretical philosophy at the University of Pisa.
Attracted by the politics, he was elected three times to the Italian Chamber of Deputies for Salerno. In the 1910s, Amendola supported the Italian liberal movement, but he was completely against the ideology of Giovanni Giolitti. During World War I, he adopted a position of democratic irredentism and, at the end of the war, he was nominated minister by Prime Minister Francesco Saverio Nitti.
His critical positions while confronting the right-wing extremism cost him a series of aggressions from the Fascist hired killers. In 1924 Amendola refused to adhere to the "Listone Mussolini", and attempted to become Prime Minister, as the head of a liberal coalition which ran in elections. He was defeated, but continued the democratic battle by writing columns for the Il Mondo, a new daily newspaper which he founded together with other intellectuals.
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Giovanni Gentile
Giovanni Gentile (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoˈvanni dʒenˈtiːle]; May 30, 1875 – April 15, 1944) was an Italian neo-Hegelian Idealist philosopher, a peer of Benedetto Croce. He described himself as 'the philosopher of Fascism', and ghostwrote A Doctrine of Fascism (1932) for Benito Mussolini. He also devised his own system of philosophy, Actual Idealism.
Giovanni Gentile was born in Castelvetrano, Sicily. He was inspired by Italian intellectuals such as Mazzini, Rosmini, Gioberti, and Spaventa from whom he borrowed the idea of autoctisi, “self-construction”, but also was strongly influenced by the German idealist and materialist schools of thought — namely Karl Marx, Hegel, and Fichte with whom he shared the ideal of creating a Wissenschaftslehre, theory for a structure of knowledge that makes no assumptions. Friedrich Nietzsche, too, influenced him, as seen in an analogy between Nietzsche's Übermensch and Gentile's Uomo Fascista.
He won the fierce competition and became one of the four exceptional students of the mythic Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, where he enrolled at the Faculty of Humanities.
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Giovanni Giolitti
Giovanni Giolitti (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoˈvanni dʒoˈlitti]; Mondovì, October 27, 1842 – Cavour, July 17, 1928) was an Italian statesman. He was the 19th, 25th, 29th, 32nd and 37th Prime Minister of Italy between 1892 and 1921. He is the second-longest serving Prime Minister in Italian history, after Benito Mussolini, becoming Prime Minister on five occasions over 20 years.
Giolitti was a master in the political art of Trasformismo, the method of making a flexible, centrist coalition of government which isolated the extremes of the left and the right in Italian politics after the unification. Under his influence, the Italian Liberals did not develop as a structured party. They were, instead, a series of informal personal groupings with no formal links to political constituencies. The period between the turn-of-the-twentieth-century to the start of Word War I, when he was Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior from 1901-1914 with only brief interruptions, is often called the Giolittian Era.
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Giovanni Goria
Giovanni Giuseppe Goria (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoˈvanni dʒuˈzɛppe ɡoˈriːa]; July 30, 1943 – May 21, 1994) was an Italian politician. He served as the 47th Prime Minister of Italy from 1987 until 1988.
Goria was born in Asti (Piedmont).
Goria joined the Democrazia Cristiana in 1960 and entered local politics. He was elected to the chamber of deputies in 1976. He was undersecretary of the budget from 1981 until 1983 and then became treasury minister. He became known for his easygoing style and his adeptness at television appearances.
Following the elections of 1987, in which his party did well, Goria became Prime Minister (the youngest his country had seen since World War II), as a protégé of party chairman (and prime ministerial successor) Ciriaco de Mita. He was forced to resign in 1988 after the Parliament refused to pass his budget.
Goria was elected to the European Parliament in 1989. He resigned in 1991 to become Italian minister of agriculture. He remained in that position until 1992 when he became finance minister.
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Giovanni Lanza
Domenico Giovanni Giuseppe Maria Lanza (February 15, 1810 – March 9, 1882) was an Italian politician and the tenth Prime Minister from 1869 to 1873.
Lanza was born in the Piedmontese city of Casale Monferrato. He studied medicine at Turin, capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia, then returned to Casale where he divided his energies between practising medicine and developing his 33 hectare estate in nearby Roncaglia. He studied and wrote on agriculture developments in both the practical and social aspects. Lanza was among the first in Monferrato to introduce modern equipment (iron ploughs, seed drills, etc.), and also involved himself in the agricultural education of poor children, hoping to achieve at once “the betterment of our agriculture and the moral and intellectual betterment of our agricultural workers.”
He was also an active member of the Associazione Agraria Subalpina of Turin and became its secretary. The association was concerned for reform in the political and economic spheres, as well as in that of agriculture, and its identification with the cause of liberal nationalism—with the Risorgimento—was underlined at the September 1847 agrarian congress in Casale, when Lanza raised the cry of “Viva l’Italia libera ed indipendente!” Later he commented on that event: “I did not join the association purely to improve the cultivation of cabbages.”,
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Giovanni Leone
Giovanni Leone (Italian pronunciation: [ʤoˈvanni leˈoːne]; 3 November 1908 – 9 November 2001) was an Italian politician. He was the 38th Prime Minister of Italy from 21 June 1963 to 4 December 1963 and again from 24 June 1968 to 12 December 1968. He also served as the sixth President of the Republic from 1971 to 1978.
Leone was born in Naples.
He graduated in law in 1929. His father was one of the founders of Democrazia Cristiana in his native city, and he was elected to the Italian Constituent Assembly in 1946. A member of the right wing faction of his party, he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1948, being confirmed until 1963. In 1955-1963 he was also President of the Chamber, from which he resigned for a brief stint as Premier.
After having been unofficially several times candidate to the Presidency of the Republic, he was named Life Senator in 1967. In 1968 he was again Premier for some months. In 1971 he succeeded Giuseppe Saragat as President of Italy, being elected with votes of a right-centre majority of the Parliament (518 out of 996 votes, including those of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement).
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Giovanni Spadolini
Giovanni Spadolini (21 June 1925 –, 4 August 1994) was a liberal Italian politician, the 45th Prime Minister of Italy, newspaper editor, journalist and a noted historian.
Spadolini was born in Florence.
As a journalist, he sometimes used the pseudonym Giovanni dalle Bande Nere. Before entering politics, he was editor of Il Corriere della Sera from 1968 to 1972.
Giovanni Spadolini served as Ministro dei Beni e delle Attività culturali (Minister for Cultural Assets and Activities) from 1974 to 1976.
He was leader of the Italian Republican Party (PRI) from 1979 to 1987, during both the 10th and the 11th Legislatures.
He served as Prime Minister of Italy from 1981 to 1982, the first in the post-1945 Republic to do so who was not a member of the Christian Democrat party.
From 1987 to April 1994 he was President of the Italian Senate. Following the electoral success of Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms, he lost the chairmanship of the Senate to Carlo Scognamiglio Pasini by a single vote. He died four months later in Rome, on 4 August 1994.
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Giuliano Amato
Giuliano Amato (born 13 May 1938 in Turin) is an Italian politician. He was Prime Minister of Italy twice, first from 1992 to 1993 and then from 2000 to 2001. He was more recently Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted the new European Constitution and headed the Amato Group. He is commonly nicknamed dottor Sottile, (which means "Doctor Subtilis", the sobriquet of the Scottish Medieval philosopher John Duns Scotus, a reference to his political subtlety). From 2006 to 2008, he was the Minister of the Interior in Romano Prodi's government.
Born in Turin into a Sicilian family, Amato grew up in Tuscany. He received a first degree in law from the University of Pisa in 1960, while attending the prestigious Collegio Medico-Giuridico of the Scuola Normale Superiore, which today is Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, and a masters degree in comparative law from Columbia Law School in 1963. After teaching at the Universities of Modena, Perugia and Florence, he worked as professor of Italian and Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Rome La Sapienza from 1975 to 1997.
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Giulio Andreotti
Giulio Andreotti (Italian pronunciation: [ˈʤuːljo andreˈɔtti]; born January 14, 1919) is an Italian politician of the now dissolved centrist Christian Democracy party. He served as the 42nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1972 to 1973, from 1976 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1992. He also served as Minister of the Interior (1954 and 1978), Defense Minister (1959–1966 and 1974) and Foreign Minister (1983–1989) and he has been a senator for life since 1991. He is also a journalist and author.
He is sometimes called Divo Giulio (from Latin Divus Iulius, "divine Julius", an epithet of Julius Caesar). The movie Il Divo tells about Andreotti's links with the Mafia and won the Prix du Jury at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
Andreotti was born in Rome into a family from Segni. He studied law in Rome, during which time he was member of the Federazione Universitaria Cattolica Italiana (FUCI, or Italian Catholic University Federation), which was then the only Catholic university association allowed by the Fascist government. Its members included many of the future leaders of the Italian Democrazia Cristiana (or DC, the Christian Democracy party). In July 1939, while Aldo Moro was president of FUCI, Andreotti became director of its magazine Azione Fucina. In 1942, when Moro was enrolled in the Italian Army, Andreotti succeeded him as president of FUCI, a position he held until 1944.
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Giulio Prinetti
Giulio Nicolò Marchese Prinetti (6 June 1851 - 9 June 1908) was an Italian businessman and politician from Milan. He was the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs in Giuseppe Zanardelli's period between 1901 and 1903, and signed the Triple Alliance (1882) renewal in 1902. Before that, he was deputy to the department of public works, elected in 1882. He became the Italian Minister of Public Works under Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì between March 1896 and Cecember 1897. Between 1883 and 1901, he was the co-owner of the Prinetti & Stucchi automobile manufacturer. Prinetti left politics after being struck by apoplexy in 1904, and died on Rome four years later.
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Giuseppe Mazzini
Giuseppe Mazzini (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈzɛppe matˈtsini]; 22 June 1805 – 10 March 1872), nicknamed The Beating Heart of Italy, was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century. He also helped define the modern European movement for popular democracy in a republican state.[citation needed]
Mazzini was born in Genoa, then part of the Ligurian Republic, under the rule of the French Empire. His father, Giacomo, originally from Chiavari, was a university professor who had adhered to Jacobin ideology; his mother, Maria Drago, was renowned for her beauty and religious (Jansenist) fervour. Since a very early age, Mazzini showed good learning qualities (as well as a precocious interest towards politics and literature), and was admitted to the University at only 14, graduating in law in 1826, initially practicing as a "poor man's lawyer". He also hoped to become a historical novelist or a dramatist, and in the same year he wrote his first essay, Dell'amor patrio di Dante ("On Dante's Patriotic Love"), which was published in 1837. In 1828–29 he collaborated with a Genoese newspaper, L'indicatore genovese, which was however soon closed by the Piedmontese authorities. He then became one of the leading authors of L'Indicatore Livornese, published at Livorno by F.D. Guerrazzi, until this paper was closed down by the authorities, too.
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Giuseppe Medici
Giuseppe Medici (October 24, 1907 – August 21, 2000) was an Italian politician. Born in Sassuolo, he was a member of the Christian Democracy. He died at Modena.
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Giuseppe Pella
Giuseppe Pella (April 18, 1902 – May 31, 1981) was an Italian Christian Democratic politician who served as the 32nd Prime Minister of Italy from 1953 to 1954. He was also President of the European Parliament from 1954 to 1956 after the death of Alcide De Gasperi.
He was born in Valdengo, Piedmont. After graduation in Economy and Commerce, he adhered to the Christian Democracy (DC), in the right wing of the party. His first government position was as under-secretary of Finances in the II and III De Gasperi cabinets. In the IV De Gasperi he was Minister of Finances.
Pella was Minister of Treasure in 1948–1953, gaining the enmity of the Communist and Socialist parties, as well as some DC members due to his liberal and monetarist policies. After the political crisis caused by the failure of the Cheat Law, Pella was appointed Prime Minister in a deliberately provisional government. Pella gained further critics when, by issuing nationalistic declarations, he created strife with Josip Broz Tito regarding the Free Territory of Trieste. Pella resigned on January 12, 1954.
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Giuseppe Saracco
Giuseppe Saracco (6 October 1821 – 19 January 1907) was an Italian politician, financier and Knight of the Annunziata.
Giuseppe Saracco was born at Bistagno (province of Alessandria).
After qualifying as an advocate, he entered the Piedmontese parliament in 1849. He was a supporter of Cavour. After Cavour died in 1861, Saracco joined the party of Rattazzi and became under-secretary of state for public works in the Rattazzi cabinet of 1862. In 1864 Sella appointed Saracco as secretary-general of finance, and after being created senator in 1865, he acquired considerable fame as a financial authority.
In 1879 he succeeded in postponing the total abolition of the grist tax, and was throughout a fierce opponent of Magliani's loose financial administration. Selected as minister of public works by Depretis in 1887, and by Crispi in 1893, he worked to mitigate the worst consequences of Depretis's corruptly extravagant policy, and introduced a sounder system of government participation in public works.
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Giuseppe Saragat
Giuseppe Saragat (Italian pronunciation: [ʤuˈzɛppe ˈsaːraɡat]; 19 September 1898 – 11 June 1988) was an Italian politician who was the fifth President of the Italian Republic from 1964 to 1971.
Saragat was born in Turin, from Sardinian parents.
He was a reformist socialist, who split from the Italian Socialist Party in 1947, out of concern over its close (at the time) alliance with the Communists, to found the Italian Socialist Workers' Party, which would soon become the Italian Democratic Socialist Party. He was to be the latter's paramount leader for the rest of his life.
Saragat was the foreign minister of Italy from 1963 to 1964, and the President of the Italian Republic from 1964. Its election was the result of one of the rare cases of unity of Italian left, threatened by rumors of a possible neo-fascist coup during Antonio Segni's presidency.
He died in Rome on 11 June 1988.
He was an atheist.
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Gustavs Celmiņš
Gustavs Celmiņš (April 1, 1899 in Riga – April 10, 1968), was a Latvian politician. He was educated at the commerce school of the Riga Stock Exchange, and graduated in Moscow. In 1917, he began studies at the Riga Polytechnical Institute which had been evacuated to Moscow. After the October Revolution, he returned to Latvia.
In 1918, Celmiņš enlisted into the newly-created Latvian Army, and was promoted to lieutenant the following year, and was then appointed Latvian military attaché in Poland. In 1921, he was awarded the Order of Lāčplēsis.
Retired from army in 1924, he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1925 to 1927. Celmiņš became the secretary of Minister of Foreign Affairs, and subsequently worked in the Finance Ministry. On 24 January 1932, the Latvian nationalist group Ugunskrusts was founded, and Gustavs Celmiņš was elected as its leader. After Ugunskrusts was banned, he founded the organization Pērkonkrusts ("Thundercross"). Common for both organisations was that they advocated a national revolution for a radical re-organisation of society, politics, and the economy in Latvia. Following Kārlis Ulmanis' 15 May 1934 coup d'état, Celmiņš was arrested and imprisoned for three years. He was exiled from Latvia in 1937.
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Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I (Ge'ez: ኃይለ፡ ሥላሴ, "Power of the Trinity") (23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975), born Tafari Makonnen, was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He was the heir to a dynasty that traced its origins to the 13th century, and from there by tradition back to King Solomon and Queen Makeda, Empress of Axum, known in the Abrahamic tradition as the Queen of Sheba. Haile Selassie is a defining figure in both Ethiopian and African history.
At the League of Nations in 1936, the emperor condemned the use of chemical weapons by Italy against his people. His internationalist views led to Ethiopia becoming a charter member of the United Nations, and his political thought and experience in promoting multilateralism and collective security have proved seminal and enduring. His suppression of rebellions among the nobles (mekwannint), as well as what some perceived to be Ethiopia's failure to modernize adequately, earned him criticism among some contemporaries and historians.
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Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (pronounced [ˈhaɪnʁɪç ˈluˑɪtˌpɔlt ˈhɪmlɐ] ( listen) 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was Reichsführer of the Schutzstaffel (SS), a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo (Secret State Police). Serving as Reichsführer and later as Commander of the Replacement (Home) Army and General Plenipotentiary for the entire Reich's administration (Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung), Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and one of the persons most directly responsible for the Holocaust.
As overseer of the concentration camps, extermination camps, and Einsatzgruppen (literally: task forces, often used as death squads operating to the rear of frontline troops to murder Jews, communists and 'untermensch' in occupied territories), Himmler coordinated the killing of some six million Jews, between 200,000 and 500,000 Roma, many prisoners of war, and possibly another three to four million Poles, as well as other groups whom the Nazis deemed unworthy to live, including people with physical and mental disabilities, Jehovah's Witnesses, members of the Confessing Church, and homosexuals. Shortly before the end of the war, he offered to surrender both Germany and himself to the Western Allies if he were spared prosecution. After being arrested by British forces on 22 May 1945, he committed suicide the following day before he could be questioned.
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Hirohito
Hirohito (裕仁?), posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or the Shōwa Emperor (昭和天皇, Shōwa tennō?), (April 29, 1901 – January 7, 1989) was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to exclusively by his posthumous name Emperor Shōwa. The word Shōwa is the name of the era that corresponded with the Emperor's reign, and was made the Emperor's own name upon his death.
At the start of his reign, Japan was already one of the great powers—the ninth largest economy in the world after Italy, the third largest naval country, and one of the five permanent members of the council of the League of Nations. He was the head of state under the limitation of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan during Japan's imperial expansion, militarization, and involvement in World War II. After the war, he was not prosecuted for war crimes as many other leading government figures were. During the postwar period, he became the symbol of the new state.
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Hitler
Adolf Hitler (German: [ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ] ( listen); 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and dictator of Nazi Germany (as Führer und Reichskanzler) from 1934 to 1945. Hitler is commonly associated with the rise of fascism in Europe, World War II, and the Holocaust.
A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the German Workers' Party, precursor of the Nazi Party, in 1919, and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923, he attempted a coup d'état, known as the Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich. The failed coup resulted in Hitler's imprisonment, during which time he wrote his memoir, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anticommunism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. After his appointment as chancellor in 1933, he transformed the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism. His aim was to establish a New Order of absolute Nazi German hegemony in continental Europe.
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Ibn Khaldūn
Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun (full name, Arabic: أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي , Abū Zayd ‘Abdu r-Raḥmān bin Muḥammad bin Khaldūn Al-Ḥaḍrami, May 27, 1332 AD/732 AH – March 19, 1406 AD/808 AH) was a Muslim historiographer and historian who is often viewed as one of the forerunners of modern historiography,sociology and economics.
He is best known for his Muqaddimah (known as Prolegomenon in English), which was discovered, evaluated and fully appreciated first by 19th century European scholarship, although it has also had considerable influence on 17th-century Ottoman historians like Ḥajjī Khalīfa and Mustafa Naima who relied on his theories to analyze the growth and decline of the Ottoman empire. Later in the 19th century, Western scholars recognized him as one of the greatest philosophers to come out of the Muslim world.
Ibn Khaldun's life is relatively well-documented, as he wrote an autobiography (التعريف بابن خلدون ورحلته غربا وشرقا; Al-Taʻrīf bi Ibn-Khaldūn wa Riħlatuhu Gharbān wa Sharqān) in which numerous documents regarding his life are quoted word-for-word. However, the autobiography has little to say about his private life, so little is known about his family background. Generally known as "Ibn Khaldūn" after a remote ancestor, he was born in Tunis in AD 1332 (732 A.H.) into an upper-class Andalusian family, the Banū Khaldūn. His family, which held many high offices in Andalusia, had emigrated to Tunisia after the fall of Seville to Reconquista forces around the middle of the 13th century. Under the Tunisian Hafsid dynasty some of his family held political office; Ibn Khaldūn's father and grandfather however withdrew from political life and joined a mystical order. His brother, Yahya Ibn Khaldun, was also a historian who wrote a book on the Abdalwadid dynasty, and who was assassinated by a rival for being the official historiographer of the court.
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Ida Dalser
Ida Irene Dalser (20 August 1880 – 11 December 1937) was a lover and probably the first wife of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
Ida Dalser was born in Sopramonte, a village near Trento, the capital of the ethnically Italian Trentino region, at that time within the borders of the Tyrol region Austro-Hungarian Empire. The daughter of the village mayor, she was sent to Paris to study cosmetic medicine, and when she came back she moved to Milan, where she opened a French-style beauty salon.
It is unclear whether Ida Dalser first met young Benito Mussolini in Trento (where he had found his first job as a journalist in 1909) or in Milan (where he had moved soon afterwards). The two started a relationship and when Mussolini was refused work on the basis of his fervent socialist political activity, she financed him with the revenues of her beautician job. According to some sources, they married in 1914, and in 1915 she bore him his first child, Benito Albino Mussolini. Though the records of this marriage were destroyed by Mussolini's government, an edict from the city of Milan ordering Mussolini to make maintenance payments to “his wife Ida Dalser” and their child was overlooked.
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Ikki Kita
Ikki Kita (北 一輝, Kita Ikki?, 3 April 1883 – 19 August 1937) was a Japanese author, intellectual and political philosopher who was active in early-Shōwa period Japan.
Born on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture, Ikki Kita’s real name was Kita Terujirō (北 輝次郎). He audited lectures at Waseda University in Tokyo, and while a student, was attracted to socialist ideas, meeting with many influential figures in the early socialist movement in Japan. This movement was, however, full of "opportunist" and other statist currents. The Shakai seisaku gakkai, or Japanese social-policy school, followed their authoritarian and statist, Bismarckian and von Schmollerian German forebears in arguing for, as well as being very practical in, their implementation of extending state controls from above—including the social insurance policies that were adopted by Bismarck to prevent any further expansion of the mass-revolutionary socialist party in late 19th-century Germany.
The socialism that Kita espoused in his early period was a nationalism brand of socialism (or right-wing Romantic anti-capitalism[clarification needed]) that had nothing in common with any Marxian notions of "socialism from below".
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Istria
Istria (Croatian, Slovene: Istra, Čakavian: Istrija, Jistra, Croatian pronunciation: [îstra]; Italian: Istria; Istriot: Eîstria; German: Istrien; Hungarian: Isztria), formerly Histria (Latin), is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner. It is shared by three countries: Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy.
The geographical features of Istria include the Učka mountain ridge, which is the highest portion of the Ćićarija mountain range; the rivers Dragonja, Mirna, Pazinčica, and Raša; and the Lim bay and valley. Istria lies in three countries: Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. By far the largest portion (89%) lies in Croatia. "Croatian Istria" is divided into two counties, the larger being Istria County in western Croatia. Important towns in Istria County include Pula, Poreč, Rovinj, Pazin, Labin, Umag, Motovun, Buzet, and Buje. Smaller towns in Istria County include Višnjan, Roč, and Hum.
The northwestern part of Istria lies in Slovenia: it is known as Slovenian Istria, and includes the coastal municipalities of Piran, Izola and Koper, and the Karstic municipality of Hrpelje-Kozina. Northwards of Slovenian Istria, there is a tiny portion of the peninsula that lies in Italy. This smallest portion of Istria consists of the comunes of Muggia and San Dorligo della Valle.
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Italo Balbo
Italo Balbo (Ferrara, June 6, 1896 – Tobruk, June 28, 1940) was an Italian Blackshirt (Camicie Nere, or CCNN) leader who served as Italy's Marshal of the Air Force (Maresciallo dell'Aria), Governor-General of Libya, Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa (Africa Settentrionale Italiana, or ASI), and the "heir apparent" to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
After serving in World War I, Balbo became the leading Fascist organizer in his home region of Ferrara. He was one of the four principal architects of the March on Rome that brought Mussolini and the Fascists to power in 1922. In 1926, he began the task of building the Italian Royal Air Force and took a leading role in popularizing aviation in Italy, and promoting Italian aviation to the world. In 1933, perhaps to relieve tensions surrounding him in Italy, he was given the government of Italian Libya, where he resided for the remainder of his life. Balbo was the only leading Fascist to oppose both anti-Jewish racial laws and Mussolini's alliance with Nazi Germany. Early in World War II, he was killed by friendly fire when his plane was shot down over Tobruk by Italian anti-aircraft guns.
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Ivanoe Bonomi
Ivanoe Bonomi [iˈvaːnoe boˈnɔːmi] (18 October 1873 – 20 April 1951) was an Italian politician and statesman before and after World War II.
Bonomi was born in Mantua. He was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1909, representing Mantua as a member of the Italian Socialist Party. He was among those expelled from the party in 1912, for his advocacy of reformism and moderation, as well as his support for the Italian invasion of Libya. Bonomi joined the Italian Reform Socialist Party, and supported Italy's participation in World War I on the side of the Triple Entente.
Bonomi served as Minister of Public Works from 1916 until 1917, and as Minister of War during 1920 - helping to negotiate a treaty with Yugoslavia (the Treaty of Rapallo). Later in 1920 he became Treasury Minister. In 1921, he became Prime Minister of Italy for the first time, in a coalition government. Early in 1922, his government collapsed, and he was replaced as Prime Minister by Luigi Facta, amidst the Fascist insurgency led by Benito Mussolini. In October 1922, Mussolini gained power through the March on Rome, and Bonomi withdrew from politics.
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Jack Oakie
Jack Oakie (November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television.
Oakie was born as Lewis Delaney Offield in Sedalia, Missouri. He grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, the source of his "Oakie" nickname. His adopted first name, Jack, was the name of the first character he played on stage.
Oakie worked as a runner on Wall Street, New York, and narrowly escaped being killed in the Wall Street bombing of 16 September 1920. While in New York, he also started appearing in amateur theatre as a mimic and a comedian, finally making his professional debut on Broadway in 1923 as a chorus boy in a production of Little Nellie Kelly by George M. Cohan.
Oakie worked in various musicals and comedies on Broadway from 1923 to 1927, when he moved to Hollywood to work in movies at the end of the silent film era. Oakie appeared in five silent films during 1927 and 1928. As the age of the "talkies" began, he signed with Paramount Pictures, making his first talking film, The Dummy, in 1929.
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Jan Hus
Jan Hus (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjan ˈɦus] ( listen); c. 1369 – 6 July 1415), often referred to in English as John Hus or John Huss, was a Czech priest, philosopher, reformer, and master at Charles University in Prague. After John Wycliffe, the theorist of ecclesiastical Reformation, Hus is considered the first Church reformer (living prior to Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli).
He is famed for having been burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Catholic Church, including those on ecclesiology, the Eucharist, and other theological topics. Hus was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century, and his teachings had a strong influence on the states of Europe, most immediately in the approval for the existence of a reformist Bohemian religious denomination, and, more than a century later, on Martin Luther himself.
Between 1420 and 1431, the Hussite forces defeated five consecutive papal crusades against followers of Hus. Their defence and rebellion against Roman Catholics became known as the Hussite Wars. A century later, as many as 90% of inhabitants of the Czech lands were non-Catholic and followed the teachings of Hus and his successors.
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Jean-Marie Guyau
Jean-Marie Guyau (October 28, 1854, Laval, Mayenne – March 31, 1888, Menton) was a French philosopher and poet.
Guyau was inspired by, amongst others, the philosophies of Epicurus, Epictetus, Plato, Immanuel Kant, Herbert Spencer, and Alfred Fouillée, and the poetry/literature of Pierre Corneille, Victor Hugo, and Alfred de Musset.
Guyau got his first exposure to Plato and Kant, as well as the history of religions and philosophy in his youth via his stepfather, the noted French philosopher Alfred Fouillée. With this background, he was able to attain his Bachelor of Arts at only 17 years of age, and at this time, translated the Handbook of Epictetus. At 19, he published his 1300-page "Mémoire" that, a year later in 1874, won a prize from the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences and helped to earn him a philosophy lectureship at the Lycée Condorcet. However, this was short-lived, as he soon began to suffer from pulmonary disease. Following the first attacks of his disease, he went to southern France where he wrote philosophical works and poetry. He remained there until his early death at 33 years of age.
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John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill, FRSE (20 May 1806 – 8 May 1873) was a British philosopher, political economist and civil servant. He was an influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy. He has been called "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century". Mill's conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham. Hoping to remedy the problems found in an inductive approach to science, such as confirmation bias, he clearly set forth the premises of falsification as the key component in the scientific method. Mill was also a Member of Parliament and an important figure in liberal political philosophy.
John Stuart Mill was born on Rodney Street in the Pentonville area of London, the eldest son of the Scottish philosopher, historian and economist James Mill, and Harriet Burrow. John Stuart was educated by his father, with the advice and assistance of Jeremy Bentham and Francis Place. He was given an extremely rigorous upbringing, and was deliberately shielded from association with children his own age other than his siblings. His father, a follower of Bentham and an adherent of associationism, had as his explicit aim to create a genius intellect that would carry on the cause of utilitarianism and its implementation after he and Bentham had died.
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Joseph Goebbels
Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels (help·info) (German: [ˈɡœbəls]; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism.
Goebbels earned a Ph.D. from Heidelberg University in 1921, writing his doctoral thesis on 19th century romantic drama; he then went on to work as a journalist and later a bank clerk and caller on the stock exchange. He also wrote novels and plays, but they were rejected by publishers. Goebbels came into contact with the National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP) or Nazi Party in 1923 during the French occupation of the Ruhr and became a member in 1924. He was appointed Gauleiter (regional party leader) of Berlin. In this position, he put his propaganda skills to full use, combating the local socialist and communist parties with the help of Nazi papers and the paramilitary Sturmabteilung (Brownshirts). By 1928, he had risen in the party ranks to become one of its most prominent members.
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Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (Classical Latin: [ˈɡaː.i.ʊs ˈjuː.lɪ.ʊs ˈkaj.sar], July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.
In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus and Pompey formed a political alliance that was to dominate Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed by the conservative elite within the Roman Senate[citation needed], among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero. Caesar's conquest of Gaul, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both when he built a bridge across the Rhine and conducted the first invasion of Britain.
These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse Pompey's standing. The balance of power was further upset by the death of Crassus in 53 BC. Political realignments in Rome finally led to a standoff between Caesar and Pompey, the latter having taken up the cause of the Senate. Ordered by the Senate to stand trial in Rome for various charges, Caesar marched on Rome with one legion—legio XIII—from Gaul to Italy, crossing the Rubicon in 49 BC. This sparked a civil war from which he emerged as the unrivaled leader of the Roman world.
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Lamberto Dini
Lamberto Dini (help·info) (born March 1, 1931) is an Italian politician and economist. He was the 75th Prime Minister of Italy from 1995 to 1996 and Foreign Minister from 1996 to 2001.
After studying Economics in his native city of Florence, Dini took up a post at the International Monetary Fund in 1959, where he worked his way up until he served as Executive Director for Italy, Greece, Portugal and Malta between 1976 and 1979. Then, in October 1979, he moved to the Banca d'Italia, where he served as executive until May 1994. When the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, with whom Dini had developed a rivalry, was called upon to serve as Premier, in April, 1993, Dini was widely tipped to succeed him, but was passed over (allegedly on Ciampi's instigation) in favour of Antonio Fazio.
Dini scored a comeback, though, when Silvio Berlusconi formed the Berlusconi I Cabinet in May 1994, in which Dini served as Treasury Minister. Due to a split between Berlusconi and his coalition partner Umberto Bossi, the Lega Nord leader, Berlusconi's government collapsed in December 1994, after a mere seven months in power. In January 1995, Dini was appointed Prime Minister by President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. Though he was not noted as a left-winger, Dini, was given the confidence vote of the left-wing parties (apart from the Communist Refoundation) and by Lega Nord, whereas his erstwhile partners in the right-wing government chose to abstain whilst citing benevolence. In theory, his cabinet was a technocratic one.
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Leonida Bissolati
Leonida Bissolati (Cremona, February 20, 1857 -- Rome, March 6, 1920) was a leading exponent of the Italian socialist movement at the turn of the nineteenth century.
He was born from the liaison of Paolina Bergamaschi, a nurse, with Stefano Bissolati, a priest who left the Church in 1859, at age 37, and later became director of Cremona's city library and a noted scholar. At birth the child was named Leonida Bergamaschi; his name was changed at age 18, when Stefano Bissolati legally adopted him (after marrying Paolina in 1868, five years after she had become a widow). With this family background, Leonida Bissolati naturally was a leftist already as a student at the University of Bologna, where he earned his law degree at age 20. Returning to Cremona, he practiced law as an attorney and published many articles in journals and newspapers. In 1876 he was elected to the City Council of Cremona, at first in the ranks of the Radicals, then gradually moving closer to the Socialists. He served for 18 years, notably by being in charge of Public Education. He married Ginevra Coggi, who soon fell chronically illand died in 1894; later, his soulmate and companion was Carolina Cassola, whom he eventually married in 1913.
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Leopoldo Elia
Leopoldo Elia (November 4, 1925 – October 5, 2008) was an Italian politician.
Born in Fano, Marche, he was judge of the Constitutional Court, in Carlo Azeglio Ciampi's government(1993 - 1994) was Minister for Reforms and briefly Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994, when Beniamino Andreatta belong President of Popular Party parliamentary group.
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List of SS personnel
Between 1925 and 1945, the German SS grew from a mere eight members to over a quarter of a million Waffen-SS and over a million Allgemeine-SS members. The following list of SS personnel gives the names of persons who are counted among the organization's most famous, influential, and notorious members.
Prior to 1934 the SS were nominally under the command of the Sturmabteilung and so it could be said that both Adolf Hitler as Oberster SA-Führer and Ernst Röhm as Stabschef SA outranked the most senior SS position of Reichsführer. Following the Night of the Long Knives Hitler "raised the SS, hitherto subordinate to the SA, to the rank of an independent organisation". Hitler also was considered SS Member #1, Emil Maurice (considered the founder of the SS) was Member #2, while Himmler was SS Member #168. Based on the seniority system of SS membership number, this made Hitler senior in the SS to all other members even if not by rank.
After the Night of the Long Knives, when the SS became independent from the SA, Hitler was listed on SS officer rolls as Member #1 and considered supreme commander of the entire SS by virtue of his position as the Führer of Germany. There is no photographic record of Hitler ever wearing an actual SS uniform nor was there a special SS insignia for Hitler above that worn by Himmler
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Luigi Carlo Farini
Luigi Carlo Farini (October 22, 1812 – August 1, 1866) was an Italian statesman and historian.
Farini was born at Russi, in what is now the province of Ravenna.
After completing a brilliant university course at Bologna, which he interrupted to take part in the revolution of 1831, he practised as a physician at Russi and at Ravenna. He acquired a considerable reputation, but in 1843 his political opinions brought him under the suspicion of the police and caused his expulsion from the papal states. He resided successively in Florence and Paris, and travelled about Europe as private physician to Prince Jérôme Bonaparte, but when Pius IX was elected to the Holy See and began his reign with apparently Liberal and nationalist tendencies, Farini returned to Italy and was appointed secretary-general to G Recchi, the minister of the interior (March 1848).
But he held office for little more than a month, since like all the other Italian Liberals he disapproved of the Pius IX's change of front in refusing to allow his troops to fight against Austria, and resigned with the rest of the ministry on April 29. Pius, wishing to counteract the effect of this policy, sent Farini to Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, to hand over the command of the papal contingent to him. Elected member of parliament for Faenza, he was again appointed secretary to the ministry of the interior in the Mamiani cabinet, and later director-general of the public health department.
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Luigi Facta
Luigi Facta (November 16, 1861, Pinerolo, Province of Turin – November 5, 1930) was an Italian politician, journalist and last Prime Minister of Italy before the leadership of Benito Mussolini.
Facta was born in Pinerolo, Piedmont, Italy. He studied law and later became a journalist. He entered politics in 1892 when he was elected to the chamber of deputies for Pinerolo, a seat which he held for 30 years. Facta, a member of the Liberal Party, served as undersecretary of the justice and interior departments in the coalition cabinets for much of his time in Parliament. He was also finance minister from 1910 until 1912 and 1917 until 1924. At the outbreak of World War I, Facta supported neutrality for Italy, but then supported the war when Italy entered it. His son was killed in the war, and he said that he was proud to give a son to his country.
Facta was appointed Prime Minister in February 1922. At the time, Italy was in political turmoil, and was dealing with Mussolini's fascist insurgency. In July 1922, Facta was dismissed from office for not effectively dealing with the fascists,[citation needed] but no one else was able to form a government, so he was again reappointed Prime Minister by the King. Facta did not openly oppose Benito Mussolini, even though the latter had openly called for his resignation, and he was slow to react to insurrectionist attitudes within the population. When Facta did finally react to the mounting situation, it was to declare martial law. Instead of signing Facta's decree, King Victor Emmanuel III again dismissed Facta from office and asked Mussolini to form a government instead. In 1924, King Victor Emmanuel III named him senator.
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Luigi Federzoni
Luigi Federzoni (27 September 1878, Bologna, Italy – 24 January 1967, Rome, Italy) was a twentieth-century Italian nationalist and later Fascist politician.
Federzoni was born in Bologna. Educated at the university there, he took to journalism and literature, and for several years was on the staff of the newspaper Giornale d'Italia in Rome.
A warm supporter of the Nationalist movement, which later on identified itself with fascism, he was elected a deputy for one of Rome's divisions, at the elections of 1913. In the chamber he never missed an opportunity to combat the Socialists, Republicans and Democrats.
He endorsed Italy joining World War I on the side of France and the United Kingdom against Austria-Hungary and Germany. As soon as Italy intervened in the war, he joined the army as a lieutenant of artillery and was awarded a medal for valour.
Federzoni supported Benito Mussolini when the latter issued his manifesto of 26 October 1922, announcing the march on Rome. In the cabinet formed by Mussolini five days later, Federzoni was minister for the colonies. After the Matteotti murder in June 1924, Mussolini selected Federzoni for the post of minister of the interior from 1924 to 1926 and he was president of the senate from 1929 to 1939. He was also president of the Royal Academy of Italy (founded by Mussolini).
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Luigi Luzzatti
Luigi Luzzatti (March 11, 1841 – March 29, 1927) was an Italian political figure and served as the 31st Prime Minister of Italy between 1910 and 1911. He was Italy's second Jewish prime minister after Alessandro Fortis, though predecessor Sidney Sonnino was of partial Jewish ancestry.
He is remembered being the founder of the Italian credit union movement and for his book Dio nella libertà (God in Freedom), in which he advocates religious tolerance. This provoked an exchange of correspondence between him and Benedetto Croce.
Luzzatti was born of Jewish parents in Venice on the March 11, 1841. After completing his studies in law at the University of Padua, he attracted the attention of the Austrian police by his lectures on political economy, and was obliged to emigrate. In 1863 he obtained a professorship at the Milan Technical Institute; in 1867 he was appointed professor of constitutional law at Padua, whence he was transferred to the University of Rome. Gifted with eloquence and energy, he popularized in Italy the economic ideas of Franz Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch, worked for the establishment of a commercial college at Venice, and contributed to the spread of people's banks on a basis of limited liability throughout the country.
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Luigi Pelloux
Luigi Gerolamo Pelloux (La Roche-sur-Foron, 1 March 1839 – Bordighera, 26 October 1924) was an Italian general and politician, born of parents who retained their Italian nationality when Savoy was annexed to France.
Pelloux was born in La Roche-sur-Foron, Savoy, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Entering the army as lieutenant of artillery in 1857 he gained the medal for military valour at the battle of Custoza in 1866, and in 1870 commanded the brigade of artillery which battered the breach in the wall of Rome at Porta Pia. He was elected to the Chamber in 1881 as deputy for Livorno, which he represented until 1895, and joined the party of the Left. He had entered the war office in 1870, and in 1880 became general secretary, in which capacity he introduced many useful reforms in the army.
After a succession of high military commands he received the appointment of chief of the general staff in 1896. He was minister of war in the Rudinì and Giolitti cabinets of 1891–1893. In July 1896 he resumed the portfolio of war in the Rudinì cabinet, and was appointed senator. In May 1897 he secured the adoption of the Army Reform Bill, fixing Italian military expenditure at a maximum of 9,560,000 a year, but in December of that year he was defeated in the Chamber on the question of the promotion of officers.
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Léon Degrelle
Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle (15 June 1906 – 31 March 1994) was a Walloon Belgian politician, who founded Rexism and later joined the Waffen SS (becoming a leader of its Walloon contingent) which were front-line troops in the fight against the Soviet Union. After World War II, he was a prominent figure in neo-nazi movements.
After studying at a Jesuit college and successfully studying for a law doctorate at the Université catholique de Louvain, Degrelle worked as a journalist for the conservative Roman Catholic periodical Christus Rex. During his time at this publication, he became attracted to the ideas of Charles Maurras and French Integralism. Until 1934, Degrelle worked as a correspondent for the paper in Mexico, during the Cristero War. He led a militant tendency inside the Catholic Party, which he formed around the Éditions de Rex he founded. The Éditions drew its name from the battle cry of the Cristeros: Viva Cristo Rey y Santa María de Guadalupe, alluding to Christ the King.
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Marcel Déat
Marcel Déat (7 March 1894, Guérigny, France – 5 January 1955, near Turin, Italy) was a French Socialist until 1933, when he initiated a spin-off from the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) along with other right-wing 'Neosocialists'. He then founded the collaborationist National Popular Rally (RNP) during the Vichy regime. In 1944, he became "Minister of Labor and National Solidarity" in Pierre Laval's government, before escaping to Sigmaringen along with Vichy officials after the Allied landings in Normandy. Condemned in absentia for collaborationism, he died while still in hiding in Italy.
Marcel Déat was raised in a modest environment, which shared republican and patriotic values. After brilliant studies, he entered in 1914 the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) after having been the student of Alain, a philosopher who was active in the Radical Party and who would write a deeply anti-militarist book after World War I. The same year, Déat joined the SFIO.
While he attended the ENS and worked to get a philosophy degree, World War I broke out. He joined the French Army as a private and saw active duty, winning the Légion d'honneur and five bravery citations. By the war's end, Déat had achieved the rank of captain. Under the pseudonym of Taëd, he then published Cadavres et maximes, philosophie d'un revenant (approximately translated by "Corpses and Maxims, Philosophy of a Ghost"), in which he expressed his horror of trenches, strong pacifist views, as well as his fascination for collective discipline and war camaraderie. When the war ended in 1918, he finished his studies at the École Normale and passed his agrégation of philosophy, and oriented himself towards sociology under the direction of Célestin Bouglié, a friend of Alain and also member of the Radical Party. In the meanwhile, Déat taught philosophy in Reims.
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Marco Minghetti
Marco Minghetti (November 18, 1818 – December 10, 1886) was an Italian economist and statesman.
Minghetti was born at Bologna, then part of the Papal States.
He signed the petition to the Papal conclave, 1846 urging the election of a liberal pope, and was appointed member of the state council summoned to prepare the constitution for the Papal States. With Antonio Montanan and Rodolfo Audinot he founded at Bologna a paper, Il Felsineo. In the first constitutional cabinet of the Papal States, presided over by Cardinal Antonelli, Minghetti held the portfolio of public works, but after Pius IX publicly spoke against the Italian Risorgimento he resigned and joined the Piedmontese army as captain on the general staff.
Returning to Rome in September 1848, he refused to form a cabinet after the assassination of Pellegrino Rossi (15 November), and spent the next eight years in study and travel. Summoned to Paris by Cavour in 1856 to prepare the memorandum on the Romagna provinces for the Paris congress resolving the Crimean War, he was in 1859 appointed by Cavour secretary-general of the Piedmontese Foreign Office. In the same year he was elected president of the assembly of the Romagna after the rejection of pontifical rule by those provinces, and prepared their annexation to Piedmont.
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Mario Scelba
Mario Scelba (September 5, 1901 – October 29, 1991) was an Italian Christian Democratic politician who served as the 34th Prime Minister of Italy from February 1954 to July 1955. He was also President of the European Parliament from 1969 to 1971.
Scelba was born in Caltagirone, Sicily, the son of a poor sharecropper on land owned by the priest Don Luigi Sturzo, one of the founders of the Italian People's Party (Partito Popolare Italiano, PPI). He studied law and graduated at the University of Rome.
Scelba was Sturzo's godchild and protégé. Sturzo paid for his law studies in Rome and employed him as his private secretary. When the Fascists suppressed the PPI and forced Sturzo into exile (in Brooklyn, part of the time), Scelba remained in Rome as his agent. He wrote for the underground paper Il Popolo during World War II. Arrested by the Germans, he was released within three days as a worthless catch.
On the day of Rome's liberation by the Allied forces, he joined the new five-man national directorate of the Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana, DC). The Christian Democrats started organising post-Fascist Italy in competition with, but also for a time in coalition with, the parties of the centre and left. In 1945, Scelba won a seat in the post-war Italian Constituent Assembly and entered Ferruccio Parri's anti-fascist government as Minister of Post and Telecommunications, a post he retained in the two successive governments of Alcide de Gasperi.
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Massimo D'Alema
Massimo D'Alema (born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician. He is also a journalist and a former national secretary of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS). He was the 77th Prime Minister from 1998 to 2000, and later he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008.
Massimo D'Alema was born in Rome, the son of Giuseppe D'Alema, a communist politician. He is married to Linda Giuva, a professor at the University of Siena, and has two children, Giulia and Francesco. He is an atheist.
D'Alema's first steps in politics were in the 1970s as secretary of the Italian Federation of Young Communists (FGCI). He later became a notable member of Italian Communist Party (PCI), part of which in 1991 gave origin to the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), and in 1998 to the Democrats of the Left (DS). In 1998, succeeding Romano Prodi, he became Prime Minister, as the leader of The Olive Tree centre-left coalition. He was the first former Communist to become prime minister of a NATO country.
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Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin (Russian: Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Баку́нин; IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil ˌbaˈkunʲin]; 30 May [O.S. 18 May] 1814 – 1 July 1876) was a well-known Russian revolutionary and philosopher, theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up in Premukhino, a family estate near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists, leading to enthusiasm for the philosophy of Fichte. From Fichte, Bakunin went on to immerse himself in the works of Hegel, the most influential thinker among German intellectuals at the time. That led to his wholehearted embrace of Hegelianism, as he became bedazzled by Hegel's famous maxim; "Everything that exists is rational". In 1840 Bakunin traveled to St. Petersburg and Berlin, preparing himself for a professorship in philosophy or history at the University of Moscow.
Bakunin moved from Berlin, in 1842, to Dresden. Eventually he arrived in Paris, where he met George Sand, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Karl Marx. He was eventually deported from France for speaking against Russia's oppression of Poland. In 1849 he was apprehended in Dresden for his participation in the Czech rebellion of 1848. He was turned over to Russia where he was imprisoned in Peter-Paul Fortress in Saint Petersburg. He remained there until 1857, when he was exiled to a work camp in Siberia. Escaping to Japan, the USA and finally ending up in London for a short time, he worked with Herzen on the journal Kolokol ("The Bell"). In 1863, he left to join the insurrection in Poland, but he failed to reach his destination and spent some time in Switzerland and Italy. Despite his criminal status, Bakunin gained great influence with the youth in Russia, and all of Europe. In 1870, he was involved in the insurrection in Lyon, which foreshadowed the Paris Commune.
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Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS (18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Germany. When Adolf Hitler continued his aggression by invading Poland, Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, and Chamberlain led Britain through the first eight months of the Second World War.
After working in business and local government and after a short spell as Director of National Service in 1916 and 1917, Chamberlain followed his father and older half-brother in becoming a Member of Parliament in the 1918 general election at age 49. He declined a junior ministerial position, remaining a backbencher until 1922. He was rapidly promoted in 1923 to Minister of Health and then Chancellor of the Exchequer. After a short Labour-led government, he returned as Minister of Health, introducing a range of reform measures from 1924 to 1929. He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer in the National Government in 1931.
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Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche ( /ˈniːtʃə/;German pronunciation: [ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈniːtsʃə]; October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) was a German philosopher, poet, cultural critic and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and aphorism.
Nietzsche's influence remains substantial within and beyond philosophy, notably in existentialism, nihilism and postmodernism. His style and radical questioning of the value and objectivity of truth have resulted in much commentary and interpretation, mostly in the continental tradition. His key ideas include the death of God, the Übermensch, the eternal recurrence, the Apollonian and Dionysian dichotomy, perspectivism and the will to power. Central to his philosophy is the idea of "life-affirmation", which involves an honest questioning of all doctrines that drain life's expansive energies, however socially prevalent and radical those views might be.
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Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists. He was a Member of Parliament for Harrow from 1918 to 1924 and for Smethwick from 1926 to 1931, as well as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Labour Government of 1929–1931.
Mosley was the eldest of three sons of Sir Oswald Mosley, 5th Baronet, of Ancoats (29 December 1873 - 21 September 1928), and wife Katharine Maud Edwards-Heathcote (1874–1950), the second child of Captain Justinian Edwards-Heathcote of Market Drayton, Shropshire. Mosley's family were Anglo-Irish. His branch were prosperous landowners in Staffordshire, seated at Rolleston Hall, near Burton-on-Trent. Through the intermarriage common among the British upper classes, the 5th Baronet was the third cousin of the Earl of Strathmore, which would eventually make Oswald Mosley, the 6th baronet, fourth cousin to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, who was the Earl of Strathmore's daughter, and fourth cousin once removed to Queen Elizabeth II.
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Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an SS-Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he was chosen as the field commander to carry out the rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity. Skorzeny was also the leader of Operation Greif, in which German soldiers were to infiltrate through enemy lines, using their opponents' uniforms and customs. At the end of the war, Skorzeny was involved with the Werwolf guerrilla movement and the ODESSA network where he would serve as Spanish coordinator.
Although he was charged with breaching the 1907 Hague Convention in relation with Operation Greif, the Dachau Military Tribunal acquitted Skorzeny after the war. Skorzeny fled from his holding prison in 1948, first to France, and then to Spain.
Otto Skorzeny was born in Vienna into a middle-class Austrian family which had a long history of military service. In addition to his native German, he spoke excellent French.
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Paolino Taddei
Paolino Tadei ( 1860–1922) was an Italian politician and the last minister of Interior before the March on Rome.
Born in Poggio a Caiano near Florence in 1911 he was named Prefetto of the Province of Ferrara where he worked as mediator in the contention between the local Trade Unions and the entrepreneurs, then he was named prefetto of Ancona and Turin. On 1921 he was named as Senator of the Kingdom by king Victor Emmanuel III.
In August 1922 he was named Minister of Interior of the government headed by Luigi Facta. In the night between 27 October and 28 October 1922 he joined the decision to declare the State of Siege against the fascists, but the king refused to sign the order and Taddei resigned from his post like the whole Cabinet. He died in Florence in 1925.
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Paolo Boselli
Paolo Boselli (June 8, 1838 – March 10, 1932) was an Italian politician who served as the 34th Prime Minister of Italy during World War I.
Boselli was born in Savona, Liguria.
In June 1916 he was a relatively undistinguished center-right politician and one the oldest members of the Italian parliament, when he was appointed Prime Minister, following the collapse of the Salandra government as a result of military defeats. His government fell in October 1917 as a result of the Italian military defeat in the Caporetto.
He died in Rome.
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Paul the Apostle
Paul the Apostle (c. AD 5 – c. AD 67; variously referred to as the "Apostle Paul" or "Saint Paul"), also known as Saul of Tarsus, is perhaps the most influential early Christian missionary. The writings ascribed to him by the church form a considerable portion of the New Testament. The influence on Christian thinking of the epistles ascribed to him has been significant, due in part to his association as a prominent apostle of Christianity during the spreading of the Gospel through early Christian communities across the Roman Empire.
According to the writings in the New Testament, Paul was known as Saul prior to his conversion, and was dedicated to the persecution of the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem. While traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus on a mission to "bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem", the resurrected Jesus appeared to him in a great light. Saul was struck blind, but after three days his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus, and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God.
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Pietro Badoglio
Pietro Badoglio, 1st Duke of Addis Abeba, 1st Marquess of Sabotino (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjɛtro baˈdɔʎʎo]; 28 September 1871 – 1 November 1956) was an Italian soldier and politician. He was a member of the National Fascist Party and commanded fascist troops under Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and is an alleged war criminal for the use of poison gas and systematically bombarding and strafing Red Cross hospitals and ambulances during the Ethiopia campaign. Due to post-war expediencies, however, he was never brought to justice.
On 24 July 1943, as Italy had suffered several setbacks in World War II, Mussolini summoned the Fascist Grand Council, which voted no confidence in Mussolini. The following day Il Duce was removed from government by King Victor Emmanuel III and arrested. Badoglio was named Prime Minister of Italy and while mass confusion in Italy reigned, he eventually signed an armistice with the Allies. When this was made public, it threw Italy into chaos. A civil war took place, and the fascists fought the partisans. The king and Badoglio fled Rome leaving the Italian Army with no orders to follow.
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Pietro Nenni
Pietro Sandro Nenni (February 9, 1891, Faenza, Emilia-Romagna – January 1, 1980) was an Italian socialist politician, the national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) and lifetime Senator since 1970. He was a recipient of the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951. He was a central figure of the Italian left from the 1920s to the 1960s.
He was born in Faenza, in Emilia-Romagna. After his peasant parents died, he was placed in an orphanage by an aristocratic family. Every Sunday Nenni recited his catechism before the countess and if he did well received a silver coin. "Generous but humiliating", he recalled.
He affiliated with the Italian Republican Party. In 1908 he became editor of a Republican paper in Forlì. The socialist paper in the town was edited at the time by Benito Mussolini - the later Fascist dictator of Italy. Nenni was imprisoned in 1911 for his participation in the protest movement against the Italo-Turkish War in Libya, together with Mussolini.
When the First World War broke out, he advocated the intervention of Italy in the war. In 1915 he volunteered for the Isonzo front. After he was wounded and sent home, he became an editor of the Republican paper Mattine d'Italia. He defended Italy's participation in the war, trying not to alienate his socialist friends. In the last years of the war Nenni served at the front again.
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Plato
Plato ( /ˈpleɪtoʊ/; Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn, "broad"; 424/423 BC – 348/347 BC) was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science. In the words of A. N. Whitehead:
The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them.
Plato's sophistication as a writer is evident in his Socratic dialogues; thirty-six dialogues and thirteen letters have been ascribed to him. Plato's writings have been published in several fashions; this has led to several conventions regarding the naming and referencing of Plato's texts. Plato's dialogues have been used to teach a range of subjects, including philosophy, logic, ethics, rhetoric, and mathematics.
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Plínio Salgado
Plínio Salgado (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈplĩnju sawˈɡadu]; January 22, 1895 – December 8, 1975) was a Brazilian politician, writer, journalist, and theologian. He founded and led the Brazilian Integralist Action, a far-right political party inspired on the Italian Fascist movement.
Initially a supporter of the dictatorship led by Getúlio Vargas, he was later persecuted and exiled in Portugal for promoting uprisings against the government. After his return, he launched the Party of Popular Representation, and was elected to represent Paraná in the Chamber of Deputies in 1958, being re-elected in 1962, this time to represent São Paulo. He was also a candidate in the 1955 presidential election, securing 8.28% of the votes. After the 1964 coup d'état, which led to the extinction of political parties, he joined the National Renewal Alliance Party, obtaining two terms in the Chamber of Deputies. He retired from politics in 1974, just a year before his death.
Born in the small conservative town of São Bento do Sapucaí in the São Paulo state, Plínio Salgado was the son of Colonel Francisco das Chagas, a local political leader, and Ana Francisca Rennó Cortez, a teacher. A very active child at school, he had special interest for mathematics and geometry. After the loss of his father, at the age of 16 – a fact that is said to have made him a bitter young man –, his interests shifted towards psychology and philosophy.
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Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI (Latin: Pius PP. XI; Italian: Pio XI; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939. He issued numerous encyclicals including Quadragesimo Anno, highlighting capitalistic greed of international finance, and social justice issues, and Quas Primas, establishing the feast of Christ the King. He took as his papal motto, "Christ's peace in Christ's kingdom".
Achille Ratti was an accomplished scholar, librarian and priest. He celebrated his 60th birthday as a priest on 31 May 1917. Fewer than five years later, on 6 February 1922, he was elected Pope, succeeding Pope Benedict XV, who was only thirty months older and thus from the same generation as Ratti. In those five years, he had short stints as papal nuncio in Poland, which forced him to leave the country, and as Archbishop of Milan and Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Silvestro e Martino ai Monti, where he served for a few months before being elected Pope. He chose the name Pius, and his personality was strong, similar to Pius IX and Pius X. But as a scholar, he was open to science and research like no other Pope since Leo XIII.
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Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII (Latin: Pius PP. XII; Italian: Pio XII), born Eugenio Marìa Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (2 March 1876 – 9 October 1958), reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958.
Before election to the papacy, Pacelli served as secretary of the Department of Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs, papal nuncio and Cardinal Secretary of State, in which capacity he worked to conclude treaties with European and Latin American nations, most notably the Reichskonkordat with Nazi Germany. The concordat of 1933 which saw the self-destruction of the Centre (Catholic) Party, on the orders of the Holy See, and Pius' leadership of the Catholic Church during World War II, including his "decision to stay silent in public about the fate of the Jews", remain the subject of controversy.
After the war Pius XII advocated peace and reconciliation, including lenient policies towards Axis and Axis-satellite nations. The Church experienced severe persecution and mass deportations of Catholic clergy in the Eastern Bloc. In light of his overt involvement in Italian politics – anyone who voted for a Communist candidate in the 1948 elections was threatened with automatic excommunication – Pius XII became known as a staunch opponent of the Italian Communist Party. Pius XII explicitly invoked ex cathedra papal infallibility with the dogma of the Assumption of Mary in his 1950 Apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus. His magisterium includes almost 1,000 addresses and radio broadcasts. His forty-one encyclicals include Mystici Corporis, the Church as the Body of Christ; Mediator Dei on liturgy reform; and Humani generis on the Church's positions on theology and evolution. He eliminated the Italian majority in the College of Cardinals in 1946.
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Rachele Guidi
Donna Rachele Mussolini (11 April 1890 – 30 October 1979) was the mistress, wife, and widow of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
Rachele Mussolini was born Rachele Guidi in Predappio, Romagna, Kingdom of Italy (Regno d'Italia). She was born into a peasant family and was the daughter of Agostino Guidi and wife Anna Lombardi. After the death of her father, her mother became the lover of the widowed Alessandro Mussolini.
In 1910, Rachele Guidi moved in with Benito Mussolini. In 1914, Mussolini married his first wife Ida Dalser. Though the records of this marriage were destroyed by Mussolini's government, an edict from the city of Milan ordering Mussolini to make maintenance payments to “his wife Ida Dalser” and their child was overlooked. Shortly before his son Benito Albino Mussolini was born to Ida Dalser, Rachele Guidi and Benito Mussolini were married in a civil ceremony in Treviglio, Lombardy, 17 December 1915. In 1925, they renewed their vows in a religious service (after Mussolini's rise to power).
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Rachele Mussolini
Donna Rachele Mussolini (11 April 1890 – 30 October 1979) was the mistress, wife, and widow of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
Rachele Mussolini was born Rachele Guidi in Predappio, Romagna, Kingdom of Italy (Regno d'Italia). She was born into a peasant family and was the daughter of Agostino Guidi and wife Anna Lombardi. After the death of her father, her mother became the lover of the widowed Alessandro Mussolini.
In 1910, Rachele Guidi moved in with Benito Mussolini. In 1914, Mussolini married his first wife Ida Dalser. Though the records of this marriage were destroyed by Mussolini's government, an edict from the city of Milan ordering Mussolini to make maintenance payments to “his wife Ida Dalser” and their child was overlooked. Shortly before his son Benito Albino Mussolini was born to Ida Dalser, Rachele Guidi and Benito Mussolini were married in a civil ceremony in Treviglio, Lombardy, 17 December 1915. In 1925, they renewed their vows in a religious service (after Mussolini's rise to power).
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Renato Ricci
Renato Ricci (born 1st June 1896 in Carrara - died 22 January 1956 in Rome) was an Italian fascist politician active during the government of Benito Mussolini.
Ricci first came to prominence as a legionary of Gabriele d'Annunzio from 1919 to 1920. He was arrested for his activities and imprisoned in Sarzana leading in 1920 to a failed attempt to 'liberate' him by fascist activists which, despite being a failure proved a propaganda success. As ras of the fascio squad in his native town Ricci initially demonstrated the left-wing origins of fascism by supporting a 40 day strike by quarry workers in 1924.
After the spell as a squad leader in Carrara Ricci's profile rose and he eventually became head of the Opera Nazionale Balilla youth movement. He became a member of government and served as Mussolini's Minister of Corporations. Politically he became known as one of the main Nazi sympathisers in the fascist government. Indeed along with others of a similar persuasion such as Giovanni Preziosi and Roberto Farinacci, he had fled to Nazi Germany before Gran Sasso raid and met up with Il Duce there after Otto Skorzeny's capture of the fascist leader.
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Renato Ruggiero
Renato Ruggiero (born April 9, 1930) is an Italian politician. He has been director-general of the World Trade Organisation and was briefly the Italian Foreign Minister in 2001.
Born in Naples, Ruggiero has held posts as Commerce secretary and in many private firms such as Fiat and the energy firm ENI. Ruggiero entered the foreign service following a degree in law from the University of Naples. After a brilliant career he became a top ranking diplomat managing tough situations in the 1980s such as the Sigonella crisis. He is famous for his ability as a tough negotiator and has thus earned the nickname of "Rocky" Ruggiero. Ruggiero is currently an Ambassador and now works for Citigroup.
Ruggiero was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sacred Treasure by the government of Japan.
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Renzo De Felice
Renzo De Felice (8 April 1929 - 25 May 1996) was an Italian historian, who specialized in the Fascist era.
He was born in Rieti and studied under Federico Chabod and Delio Cantimori at the Sapienza University of Rome. During his time as student, De Felice was a member of the Italian Communist Party. After the 1956 Soviet repression of the Hungarian Revolution, De Felice was among 101 Italian intellectuals who sharply criticized the Italian Communist Party for its backing of the Soviets. He broke with the Communists and joined the Italian Socialist Party. He taught history at the University of Rome. He was married to Livia De Ruggiero. He died in Rome.
De Felice was best known for a massive seven volume biography of Benito Mussolini that was unfinished at the time of his death. De Felice was the founder and editor of the influential journal Storia Contemporanea. De Felice also wrote a well-regarded history of Jewish life under the Fascist government and articles on Italian Jacobinism.
De Felice's leading interest was in fascism. In his view, there were two types of fascism, "fascism as a movement" and "fascism as a regime". De Felice saw the fascism, especially in the "movement" stage, as a revolutionary middle-class ideology that had deep roots in the Enlightenment. Moveover, De Felice insisted that fascism was not caused by fear of a proletarian revolution on the part of the lower middle classes - as much of the historiography on fascism maintained - but was rather an assertive movement originated by an emerging middle class in search for its proper role.
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Robert Baden-Powell
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB ( /ˈbeɪdən ˈpoʊ.əl/; 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941), also known as B.-P., B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement.
After having been educated at Charterhouse School, Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the Second Boer War in South Africa, Baden-Powell successfully defended the town in the Siege of Mafeking. Several of his military books, written for military reconnaissance and scout training in his African years, were also read by boys. Based on those earlier books, he wrote Scouting for Boys, published in 1908 by Sir Arthur Pearson, for youth readership. In 1907, he held the first Brownsea Island Scout camp, which is now seen as the beginning of Scouting.
After his marriage to Olave St Clair Soames, Baden-Powell, his sister Agnes Baden-Powell and notably his wife actively gave guidance to the Scouting Movement and the Girl Guides Movement. Baden-Powell lived his last years in Nyeri, Kenya, where he died and was buried in 1941.
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Robert Paxton
Robert O. Paxton (born 1932 in Lexington, Virginia) is an American political scientist and historian specializing in Vichy France, fascism, and Europe during the World War II era.
Paxton was born in Lexington, Virginia, and studied at Washington and Lee University for B.A. He earned his M.A. at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University.
Paxton taught at the University of California, Berkeley and the State University of New York at Stony Brook before joining the faculty of Columbia University in New York, where he is now Mellon Professor Emeritus of Social Science in the Department of History.
Paxton was called to testify at the trial of Maurice Papon (1910–2007), who was convicted for crimes against humanity in 1998.
In April, 2009, the French government awarded Paxton the Legion d'honneur.
Paxton is best known for his 1972 book Vichy France, Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944, in which he argued that Vichy collaboration with Germany was a voluntary program entered into by the Vichy government, not forced upon it by German pressure. It is considered one of the path-breaking works on France in the Vichy era. Its thesis has earned respect among both American and French historians. Paxton was the co-writer of Claude Chabrol's The Eye of Vichy.
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Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger (April 14, 1925 – July 9, 2002) was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the television programs Marty and Jesus of Nazareth.
Steiger was born in Westhampton, New York, the son of Lorraine (née Driver) and Frederick Steiger, of French, Scottish, and German descent. Steiger was raised as a Lutheran. He never knew his father, a vaudevillian who had been part of a traveling song-and-dance team with Steiger's mother (who subsequently left show business). Steiger grew up with his alcoholic mother before running away from home at age sixteen to join the United States Navy during World War II, where he saw action on destroyers in the Pacific.
Steiger appeared in over 100 motion pictures. He began his acting career in theatre and on live television in the early 1950s. On May 24, 1953, an episode of Goodyear Television Playhouse jump-started his career. The episode was the story of Marty written by Paddy Chayefsky. Marty is the story of a lonely homely butcher from the Bronx in search of love. Refusing to sign a seven-year studio contract, Steiger later turned down the role in the film version in 1955. Signing a studio contract at that time would "pigeon-hole" Steiger as to the roles he would later play and image portrayed on screen; those were two things Steiger objected to throughout his career. The role of Marty was turned over to Ernest Borgnine. Borgnine would receive the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Rod Steiger never regretted his decision to turn down the film role of Marty.
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Rodolfo Graziani
Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli (August 11, 1882 – January 11, 1955), was an officer in the Italian Regio Esercito (Royal Army) who led military expeditions in Africa before and during World War II.
Rodolfo Graziani was born in Filettino in the province of Frosinone. In 1903, he decided to pursue a military career. He served in World War I and became the youngest Colonnello (Colonel) in the Regio Esercito.
In the 1920s, Graziani commanded the Italian forces in Libya. He was responsible for suppressing the Senussi rebellion. During this so-called "pacification", he was responsible for the construction of several concentration camps and labor camps, where thousands Libyan prisoners died, some killed directly by hanging, like Omar Mukhtar, or bullets, but most indirectly by starvation or disease. His deeds earned him the nickname "the Butcher of Fezzan" among the Arabs, but was called by the Italians the Pacifier of Libya (Pacificatore della Libia).
From 1926-1930, Graziani was the Vice Governor of Italian Cyrenaica in Libya. In 1930, he became Governor of Cyrenaica and held this position until 1934, when it was determined that he was needed elsewhere. In 1935, Graziani was made the Governor of Italian Somaliland.
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Romano Mussolini
Romano Mussolini (26 September 1927 – 3 February 2006) was the fourth and youngest son of Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943. Romano was never involved in politics, but rather was a well-appreciated jazz pianist, painter and an unsuccessful film producer.
A native of Villa Carpena, Forlì (Emilia-Romagna), Romano Mussolini studied music as a child playing classical pieces with his father on the violin.
After World War II, he started playing jazz under an assumed name and by the mid 1950s, he had formed a trio. Romano Mussolini released a self-titled record through RCA Records in 1956. By the 1960s, he had formed the "Romano Mussolini All Stars", which became one of Italy's foremost jazz bands.
The All Stars recorded a well-received record Jazz Allo Studio 7 in 1963 with At the Santa Tecla following a year later. Mussolini's band toured internationally with artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Helen Merrill and Chet Baker. In the 1990s, Mussolini recorded two more albums, Perfect Alibi and Soft and Swing. His playing style has been described as "...like a slightly melancholic Oscar Peterson. Occasionally inspired, he was always efficient; he made the refrain run on time."
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Romano Prodi
Romano Prodi (Italian pronunciation: [roˈmaːno ˈprɔːdi] ( listen); born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician and statesman. He served as the Prime Minister of Italy, from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998 and from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008. He was also the tenth President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004.
Prodi ran in 1996 as lead candidate of The Olive Tree coalition, winning the general election and serving as Prime Minister of Italy until 1998. Following the victory of his coalition The Union over the House of Freedoms led by Silvio Berlusconi in the April 2006 Italian elections Prodi was in power again. On 24 January 2008, he lost a vote of confidence in the Senate house, and consequently tendered his resignation as Prime Minister to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, but continued in office for almost four months for routine business, until early elections were held and a new government was formed.
On 14 October 2007, Prodi became the first President of the Democratic Party upon foundation of the party.
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Sadao Araki
Baron Sadao Araki (荒木 貞夫, Araki Sadao?, 26 May 1877 – 2 November 1966) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army before World War II. A charismatic leader and one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the late Japanese Empire, he was regarded as the leader of the radical faction within the politicized Japanese Army and served as Minister of War under Prime Minister Inukai. He later served a Minister of Education during the Konoe and Hiranuma administrations.
Araki was born in Komae, Tokyo; his father was an ex-samurai retainer of the Hitotsubashi branch of the Tokugawa family. Araki graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in November 1897; and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in June of the following year.
Promoted to lieutenant in November 1900 and promoted to captain in June 1904, Araki served as company commander of the 1st Imperial Regiment during the Russo-Japanese War.
After the war, Araki returned to graduate from the Army Staff College at the head of his class. He served on the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff in April 1908, and served as a language officer stationed in Russia from November 1909 to May 1913, when he was made military attaché to Saint Petersburg during World War I. He was promoted to major in July 1918 and was assigned to the Kwantung Army.
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Sidney Sonnino
Baron Sidney Costantino Sonnino (11 March 1847 – 24 November 1922) was an Italian politician.
Sonnino was born in Pisa to an Italian father of Jewish heritage (Isach Sonnino, who converted himself to Anglicanism) and a Welsh mother. He was raised as a Protestant.
In 1876, Sonnino traveled to Sicily with Leopoldo Franchetti to conduct a private investigation into the state of Sicilian society. In 1877, the two men published their research on Sicily in a substantial two-part report for the Italian Parliament. In the first part Sonnino analysed the lives of the island's landless peasants. Leopoldo Franchetti's half of the report, Political and Administrative Conditions in Sicily, was an analysis of the Mafia in the nineteenth century that is still considered authoritative today. Franchetti would ultimately influence thinking about the Mafia more than anyone else until Giovanni Falcone over a hundred years later. Political and Administrative Conditions in Sicily is the first convincing explanation of how the Mafia came to be.
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Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsilvjo berluˈskoːni] ( listen); born 29 September 1936) is an Italian politician and media tycoon who served three times as Prime Minister of Italy from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the controlling shareholder of Mediaset and owner of A.C. Milan. He is nicknamed Il Cavaliere (The Knight) for his knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour, which he received in 1977.
Berlusconi is the longest-serving post-war Prime Minister of Italy, and third longest-serving since Italy's unification, after Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Giolitti, holding three separate terms. Technically, he has been sworn in four times because after a cabinet reshuffle, as happened with Berlusconi in 2005, the new ministry is sworn in and subjected to a vote of confidence. He is the leader of the People of Freedom political movement, a centre-right party he founded in 2009. From November 2009 to November 2011, he was the most senior leader of the G8 countries. In 2012, Forbes magazine ranked him as the 169th richest man in the world with a net worth of US$5.9 billion.
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Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI (born Sofia Villani Scicolone; 20 September 1934) is an Italian actress.
In 1962, Loren, among 21 other awards, won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance. Loren has won several international awards, including one Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Laurel Award. Her other films include: Houseboat (1958), El Cid (1961), Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963), Marriage Italian-Style (1964), and A Special Day (1977). She has received critical and commercial success in TV movies such as Courage (1986) and in American blockbusters such as Grumpier Old Men (1995), and Nine (2009). In 1994 she starred in Robert Altman's Ready to Wear, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination the same year. In 1995 she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievements. In 2011 she dubbed one of the characters of Pixar blockbuster Cars 2 for non-English speaking markets.
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Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. The war began after a pronunciamiento (declaration of opposition) by a group of generals under the leadership of José Sanjurjo against the elected government of the Second Spanish Republic, at the time under the leadership of President Manuel Azaña. The rebel coup was supported by a number of conservative groups including the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right, monarchists such as the religious conservative Carlists, and the Fascist Falange. The uprising was authoritarian and anti-separatist in inspiration; anti-Basque and anti-Catalan feeling marked the Nationalist zone.
Following the only partially successful coup, Spain was left militarily and politically divided. From that moment onwards, general Francisco Franco began a protracted war of attrition against the established government for the control of the country. The rebel forces received the support of Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy, as well as neighbouring Portugal, while the Soviet Union and Mexico intervened in support of the Republican government or loyalist side.
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Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon (born Susan Abigail Tomalin; October 4, 1946) is an American actress. She has worked in movies and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her work. She is also noted for her social and political activism for a variety of liberal causes.
Sarandon was born Susan Abigail Tomalin in New York City to a Roman Catholic family. She is the eldest of nine children of Lenora Marie (née Criscione) and Phillip Leslie Tomalin, who worked as an advertising executive, television producer, and nightclub singer during the big band era. Her father was of English, Irish, and Welsh ancestry, his English ancestors being from Hackney in London. On her mother's side, she is of Italian descent, with ancestors from the regions of Tuscany and Sicily. Sarandon attended Roman Catholic schools.[citation needed] She grew up in Edison, New Jersey, where she graduated from Edison High School in 1964. She then attended The Catholic University of America, from 1964 to 1968, where she began dating actor Chris Sarandon whom she married in 1967.
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Susanna Agnelli
Susanna Agnelli, Contessa Rattazzi, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (April 24, 1922 – May 15, 2009) was an Italian politician, businesswoman and writer. She was the only woman to have been Minister of Foreign Affairs in Italy.
Born in Turin, she was the daughter of Edoardo Agnelli and Donna Virginia Bourbon del Monte, a daughter of the Prince di San Faustino and his Kentucky-born wife Jane Campbell. Her brother, Gianni Agnelli, was the head of Fiat until 1996; the Agnelli family is still the controlling shareholders of the company as of 2009. The family also held investments which represented the largest percentage of the Italian stock market.
She was elected to the Italian Parliament in 1976 for the Italian Republican Party (PRI), becoming a senator in 1983. Also for PRI, she was a member of the European Parliament in 1979–1981. She also served as mayor of Monte Argentario in 1974-1984.
In 1945 she married Count Urbano Rattazzi (born 1918) with whom she had six children, the youngest of whom is photographer Priscilla Rattazzi. The marriage was dissolved in 1975. She divided her time between New York City and Italy and she was long a loyal fan of Robert Denning, of Denning & Fourcade, who designed over 15 homes for her in Manhattan, South America and Italy.
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Tommaso Tittoni
Tommaso Tittoni (16 November 1855 – 7 February 1931) was an Italian diplomat, politician and Knight of the Annunziata.
Tommaso Tittoni was born in Rome, to which he returned in 1870, because his father, Vincenzo, a devotee of the Risorgimento, was forced in 1860 to flee the Papal States.
He studied law and, after graduating, entered into politics under the auspices of the right-wing politicians.
He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies from 1886 to 1897, and was himself selected as senator by Victor Emmanuel III in 1902. From 1898 to 1903 he served as prefect in Perugia until 1900, and later in Naples.
Foreign Minister of Italy from 1903 to 1905, was acting Prime Minister of Italy for only eleven days, from 16 March to 27 March 1905. Italian ambassador to London (February to May 1906), he returned Foreign Minister in the third cabinet Giolitti and then was Italian ambassador to Paris (April 1910 - November 1916). For the third time Foreign Minister in the Nitti government from 23 June 1919, he was at the same time head of the Italian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference until his resignation from the government on 25 November 1919. From 1 December 1919 to 21 January 1929 he was president of the Italian Senate of the Kingdom.
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Umberto II of Italy
Umberto II, occasionally anglicized as Humbert II (15 September 1904 – 18 March 1983), was the last King of Italy for slightly over a month, from 9 May 1946 to 12 June 1946. He was nicknamed the King of May (Italian: Re di Maggio)
Umberto was born at the Castle of Racconigi in Piedmont. He was the third child, and the only son, of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Princess Elena of Montenegro.
Umberto was married in Rome on 8 January 1930 to Marie José of Belgium (1906–2001).
They had four children:
The Prince of Piedmont was educated to a military career and in time became the commander in chief of the Northern Armies, and then of the Southern ones. However, his role was merely formal, the de facto command belonging to Benito Mussolini. By mutual agreement, Umberto and Mussolini always kept a distance.
As Prince of Piedmont, Umberto visited South America, between July and September of 1924. With his preceptor, Bonaldi, he went to Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. This trip was part of the political plan of fascism to link the Italian people living outside of Italy with their mother country and the interests of the regime.
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Urbano Lazzaro
Urbano Lazzaro (1924 - January 3, 2006) was an Italian resistance fighter who played an important role in capturing Benito Mussolini near the end of World War II.
Lazzaro was born in Quinto Vicentino in the Veneto region. As a young man, he joined the Italian Guardia di Finanza before the war. When Italy's alliance with Germany collapsed in 1943, Lazzaro was among many Italian officials arrested by the Germans.
Lazzaro escaped from German detention and joined the communist partisans in northern Italy. By April 27, 1945, he was serving as the political commissar of the 52nd Garibaldi Partisan Brigade. At Dongo, troops of the brigade had halted a convoy of German trucks trying to escape into Switzerland. A partisan became suspicious of an older "German" in a greatcoat, wearing glasses, and with his helmet pulled down over his head. Upon having the man brought to his attention, Lazzaro immediately recognized him as the former Duce.
Lazzaro was not present at Mussolini's subsequent execution. However, he investigated the execution after the war and came to believe that Mussolini was shot the same day he was arrested, in contrast to the officially accepted version of events. Lazzaro published a book on this topic titled Dongo: la Fine di Mussolini in 1962.
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Urbano Rattazzi
Urbano Pio Francesco Rattazzi (Italian pronunciation: [urˈbano ratˈtattsi]; June 29, 1808 – June 5, 1873) was an Italian statesman.
He was born in Alessandria (Piedmont). He studied law at Turin, and in 1838 began his practice, which met with marked success at the capital and Casale. In 1848, Rattazzi was sent to the Sardinian chamber of deputies in Turin as representative of his native town. He allied himself with the Liberal party, i.e. Democrats. By his debating powers, he contributed to the defeat of the Balbo ministry, and in August received the portfolio of Public Instruction, though he left office after a few days. In December, in the Gioberti cabinet, he became minister of the Interior, and on the fall of Gioberti, in February 1849, Rattazzi was entrusted with the formation of a new cabinet. The defeat at Novara compelled Rattazzi's resignation in March 1849.
He left the Democrats for the Moderate Liberals, and formed the party of the left center. This party formed a coalition with the right center headed by Cavour. This coalition was known as the connubio, i.e. the union of the moderate men of the Right and of the Left, and brought about the fall of the d'Azeglio cabinet in November 1852 and the organization of a new ministry by Cavour. Rattazzi gave up a Parliament presidency in 1853 to become minister of Justice and later minister of the Interior. As minister of the Interior, he carried a number of measures of reform, including that for the suppression of certain of the monastic orders, partial secularization of church property, and restricting the influence of the religious associations. This precipitated a bitter struggle with the Clerical party. During a momentary reaction of public opinion he resigned office in 1858, but again entered the cabinet under La Marmora in 1859 as minister of the Interior.
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Victor Emanuel III
Victor Emmanuel III (Italian: Vittorio Emanuele III; 11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947) was a member of the House of Savoy and King of Italy (29 July 1900 – 9 May 1946). In addition, he claimed the thrones of Ethiopia and Albania as Emperor of Ethiopia (1936–41) and King of the Albanians (1939–43), which were unrecognised by the Great Powers. During his long reign (46 years), the Kingdom of Italy became involved in two World Wars. His reign also encompassed the birth, rise, and fall of Italian Fascism.
Victor Emmanuel was born in Naples, Italy. He was the only child of Umberto I, King of Italy, and his consort (first cousin by his grandfather Charles Albert of Sardinia, Princess Margherita of Savoy. Margherita was the daughter of the duke of Genoa.
Unlike his paternal first cousin's son, the 1.98 m (6 foot 6") tall Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta, Victor Emmanuel was short of stature even by 19th-century standards, to the point that today he would appear diminutive. He was just 1.53 m tall (just over 5 feet). From birth, Victor Emmanuel was known by the title of Prince of Naples.
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Vidkun Quisling
Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (Norwegian: [ˈʋɪdkʉn ˈkʋɪʃlɪŋ] (listen); 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian politician. On 9 April 1940, with the German invasion of Norway in progress, he seized power in a Nazi-backed coup d'etat.
From 1942 to 1945 he served as Minister-President, working with the occupying forces. His government, known as the Quisling regime, was dominated by ministers from Nasjonal Samling, the party he had founded in 1933. The collaborationist government participated in Germany's Final Solution. Quisling was put on trial during the post-war legal purge in Norway and found guilty of charges including embezzlement, murder and high treason. He was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress, Oslo, on 24 October 1945. During World War II, quisling became a synonym for traitor.
The son of a Church of Norway pastor, Quisling blended Christian fundamentals, scientific developments and philosophy into a new theory he called Universism. Before going into politics, he proved himself in the military, joining the General Staff in 1911 and specialising in Russian affairs. He was posted to Russia in 1918, and worked with Fridtjof Nansen during the 1921 famine in the Ukraine, returning to Russia to work with Frederik Prytz in Moscow. When Prytz left in 1927, Quisling stayed on as the Norwegian diplomat responsible for managing British diplomatic affairs. For these services he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by King George V, though the honour was later rescinded. He returned to Norway in 1929, and served as Minister of Defence during the Agrarian governments (1931–33). Although Quisling achieved some popularity after his attacks on the political left, his party never polled well and was little more than peripheral at the time of his 1940 coup.
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Vihtori Kosola
Iisakki Vihtori Kosola (10 July 1884 – 14 December 1936) was the leader of the Finnish right-wing radical Lapua Movement.
Kosola was born in Ylihärmä, Southern Ostrobothnia. His family's farmhouse burnt down the next year, and the family moved to Lapua. His formative years were spent in farming and cattle-breeding.
Kosola was an active recruiter of Finnish Jäger troops to Germany from autumn 1915, and was incarcerated in 1916. He was imprisoned in Helsinki, then at the Shpalernaya prison in St. Petersburg among other Finnish activists. He was released after the Russian Revolution and eagerly took part in the Finnish Civil War against the Red Guards and the Russians. After the war Kosola led the Lapua White Guard.
In the 1920s he organized Vientirauha, a strikebreakers' organisation, in Southern Ostrobothnia. He made a speech at the first meeting of the anti-communist Lapua Movement as it was organized in 1929, and was chosen as its leader as the movement radicalized in the following year. He took part of the abortive Mäntsälä Rebellion of 1932 that ended with the dissolution and banning of the Lapua Movement and the brief imprisonment of Kosola.
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Vilfredo Pareto
Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto (Italian pronunciation: [vilˈfreːdo paˈreːto]; 15 July 1848 – 19 August 1923), born Wilfried Fritz Pareto, was an Italian engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist and philosopher. He made several important contributions to economics, particularly in the study of income distribution and in the analysis of individuals' choices.
He introduced the concept of Pareto efficiency and helped develop the field of microeconomics. He also was the first to discover that income follows a Pareto distribution, which is a power law probability distribution. The Pareto principle was named after him and built on observations of his such as that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. He also contributed to the fields of sociology and mathematics.
Pareto was born of an exiled noble Genoese family in 1848 in Paris, the centre of the popular revolutions of that year. His father, Raffaele Pareto (1812–1882), was an Italian civil engineer and Ligurian marchese who had left Italy much like Mazzini and other Italian nationalists. His mother, Marie Metenier, was a French woman. Enthusiastic about the 1848 German revolution, his parents named him Fritz Wilfried, which became Vilfredo Federico upon his family's move back to Italy in 1858. In his childhood, Pareto lived in a middle-class environment, receiving a high standard of education. In 1870, he earned a degree in engineering from what is now the Polytechnic University of Turin. His dissertation was entitled "The Fundamental Principles of Equilibrium in Solid Bodies". His later interest in equilibrium analysis in economics and sociology can be traced back to this paper.
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Vincenzo Scotti
Vincenzo Scotti (born September 16, 1933) is an Italian politician and member of Christian Democracy (DC). He was Minister of the Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Born in Naples, he graduated in economics at the Università di Roma La Sapienza in 1955.
In his early career he was responsible for the Centre for Research of the Workers union CISL. In 1968 Scotti was elected as Deputy for the Christian Democracy in the Italian Parliament. Later he was Minister for Cultural Assets and Activities (1981-82), member of the Finance Commission to the House of Deputies, Undersecretary of State to the Ministry of Budget, Labour Minister, Minister for Coordination of European Community Policies, Minister of Art and Cultural Heritage and the Environment, Minister of Civil Protections, and President of the Parliamentary Group for the Christian Democrats to the House of Deputies (the largest group of the Italian parliament with 230 deputies). He was elected Mayor of Naples in 1984.
During his term as Minister of Interior (1990-1992) laws which permitted police authorities and magistrates to act against the Mafia organisation Camorra were promulgated. In collaboration with judge Giovanni Falcone and US attorney Rudy Giuliani, he founded the DIA (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia), a specialised anti-mafia police force.
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Violet Gibson
Hon. Violet Albina Gibson (1876 - 2 May 1956), the daughter of the 1st Lord Ashbourne, is best known for shooting Benito Mussolini in Rome in 1926.
Gibson was born in Dublin, Ireland.
On 7 April 1926, Violet Gibson shot Mussolini, Italy's Fascist leader, while he sat in a car after leaving an assembly of the International Congress of Surgeons, to whom he had delivered a speech on the wonders of modern medicine. Gibson shot at Mussolini three times twice hitting him in the nose. Gibson was almost lynched on the spot by an angry mob, but police intervened and took her off for questioning. Mussolini was wounded only slightly and after his nose was bandaged he continued his parade on the Capitoline.
At the time of the assassination attempt Violet Gibson was 50 years old and did not explain her reason for trying to assassinate Mussolini. It has been theorised that Gibson, an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, was insane at the time of the attack and the idea of assassinating Mussolini was hers and that she worked alone. Gibson was later deported to Britain after being released without charge at the request of Mussolini. She spent the rest of her life in a mental asylum, St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton. She is buried in Kingsthorpe Cemetery, Northampton.
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Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil /ˈvɜrdʒəl/ in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, are sometimes attributed to him.
Virgil is traditionally ranked as one of Rome's greatest poets. His Aeneid has been considered the national epic of ancient Rome from the time of its composition to the present day. Modeled after Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the Aeneid follows the Trojan refugee Aeneas as he struggles to fulfill his destiny and arrive on the shores of Italy—in Roman mythology the founding act of Rome. Virgil's work has had wide and deep influence on Western literature, most notably the Divine Comedy of Dante, in which Virgil appears as Dante's guide through hell and purgatory.
Virgil's biographical tradition is thought to depend on a lost biography by Varius, Virgil's editor, which was incorporated into the biography by Suetonius and the commentaries of Servius and Donatus, the two great commentators on Virgil's poetry. Although the commentaries no doubt record much factual information about Virgil, some of their evidence can be shown to rely on inferences made from his poetry and allegorizing; thus, Virgil's biographical tradition remains problematic.
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Vittorio Mussolini
Vittorio Mussolini (27 September 1916 - 12 June 1997) was an Italian film critic and producer. He was also the second son of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. However, he was the first son of Mussolini with his second wife Rachele.
Vittorio Mussolini was born in Milan, Lombardy, Kingdom of Italy (Regno d'Italia). He married Milanese Orsola Buvoli Mussolini (1914–2009), two years his senior. In January 1938, Mussolini and his wife announced the birth of their first child, a son. Guido Mussolini was born in Rome.
In addition to film-producing, the heavy set Mussolini served as a Lieutenant (Tenente) in the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica). He flew during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, the Spanish Civil War, and World War II. In Ethiopia, both he and his younger brother Bruno crewed bombers. Unlike his brother, Vittorio was not considered a serious pilot. Vittorio made a spectacle of himself describing bombs as "budding roses" and killing as "exceptionally good fun."
Mussolini worked with many of Italy's best film artists. Different projects with which he was involved included the efforts of Federico Fellini, Roberto Rosselini, and Michelangelo Antonioni.
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Walter Audisio
Walter Audisio (June 28, 1909, Alessandria – October 11, 1973, Rome) was an Italian partisan and communist politician. He was responsible for the death of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
In school, Audisio rose to the top of his class, and first worked making Borsalino hats during the Great Depression. Next he worked for years as an accountant before entering a group of clandestine anti-fascists in 1931. The local group was discovered by the Italian secret police, the Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism (Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dell'Antifascismo, or OVRA). In 1934, Audisio was sentenced to five years of confinement on the island of Ponza. Released during World War II, he resumed his activities against the government of Benito Mussolini, and in September 1943 he started to organize the first bands of partisans in Casale Monferrato. During this time he held jobs in the Fascist civil service.
During the war, he joined the Italian Communist Party and became the inspector of the Garibaldi Brigades, a faction of the National Liberation Committee (CNL), commanding the formations operating in the Province of Mantova and the Po Valley. By January 1945, he had become the principal figure of the Italian resistance movement in Milan. He used the Nom de guerre "Comandante Valerio", a name possibly also used by Luigi Longo. As an official of the National Liberation Committee, he received on April 28, 1945 the order to enter Dongo and enforce the capital punishment that was decreed against Mussolini and others in the fascist hierarchy. The death of Mussolini remains shrouded in mystery today, but Audisio always claimed that he was the one who shot and killed the dictator and his mistress, Claretta Petacci.
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William L. Shirer
William Lawrence Shirer (February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist, war correspondent, and historian, who wrote The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly works for more than 50 years. Originally a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the International News Service, Shirer was the first reporter hired by Edward R. Murrow for what would become a CBS radio team of journalists, and he became known for his broadcasts from Berlin, from the rise of the Nazi dictatorship through the first year of World War II (1940). With Murrow, he organized the first broadcast world news roundup, a format still followed by news broadcasts.
Shirer wrote more than a dozen books beside The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, including Berlin Diary (published in 1941); The Collapse of the Third Republic (1969), which drew on his experience living and working in France from 1925 to 1933; and a three-volume autobiography, Twentieth Century Journey (1976 to 1990).
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World War I
World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.
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Zeev Sternhell
Zeev Sternhell (Hebrew: זאב שטרנהל,born 1935) is an Israeli historian and one of the world's leading experts on Fascism. Sternhell headed the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and writes for Haaretz newspaper.
Zeev Sternhell was born in Przemyśl, Poland to an affluent secular Jewish family with Zionist tendencies. His grandfather and father were textile merchants. When Russia occupied eastern Poland, Russian troops took over part of his home. His father died of natural causes. A few months after Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, the family was sent to the ghetto. His mother and older sister, Ada, were killed by the Nazis when he was seven years old. An uncle who had a permit to work outside the ghetto smuggled him to Lwow. The uncle found a Polish officer who was willing to help them. Supplied with false Aryan papers, Sternhell lived with his(?) aunt, uncle and cousin as a Polish Catholic. After the war, he was baptized, taking the Polish name Zbigniew Orolski. He became an altar boy in the Cathedral of Kraków. In 1946, at the age of 11, Sternhell was taken to France on a Red Cross children's train, where he lived with an aunt. He learned French and was accepted to a school in Avignon despite stiff competition.
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Zoltán Böszörmény
Zoltán Böszörmény (5 January 1893-?) was a leading exponent of Fascism in Hungary before the Second World War.
The son of a bankrupt landowner, he initially worked a series of odd jobs, ranging from a labourer to a porter. He first flirted with politics in 1919 when he became involved in activity against Béla Kun, albeit on a very minor scale. Whilst studying at the University of Budapest he became leader of the state student movement and a supporter of Gyula Gömbös. Whilst at University he also became a poet, writing largely patriotic verses published by two agents who would later become involved in the organisation of his political movement.
He formed the National Socialist Party of Work in 1931, and a meeting with Adolf Hitler that same year convinced him further of the benefits of Nazism. The group followed Hitler's lead closely, adopting the brown shirt and swastika whilst publishing a newspaper National Socialist. As the Scythe Cross, Böszörmény's movement grew to have some 20,000 followers at its peak, although Gömbös, fearing the growing power of the movement, suppressed it. As lead of the movement Böszörmény insisted on the title vezér or 'great leader' in imitation of Hitler's Führer. A word-for-word translation of the Nazi Party's National Socialist Program served as the founding document for the Scythe Cross.
wn.com/Zoltán_Böszörmény -
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim (French pronunciation: [emil dyʁˈkɛm], [dyʁˈkajm]) (April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.
Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain their integrity and coherence in modernity; an era in which traditional social and religious ties are no longer assumed, and in which new social institutions have come into being. His first major sociological work was The Division of Labor in Society (1893). In 1895, he published his Rules of the Sociological Method and set up the first European department of sociology, becoming France's first professor of sociology. In 1898, he established the journal L'Année Sociologique. Durkheim's seminal monograph, Suicide (1897), a study of suicide rates amongst Catholic and Protestant populations, pioneered modern social research and served to distinguish social science from psychology and political philosophy. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), presented a theory of religion, comparing the social and cultural lives of aboriginal and modern societies.
wn.com/Émile_Durkheim
Famous quotes by Benito Mussolini:
"The truth is that men are tired of liberty."
"Inactivity is death"
"Every anarchist is a baffled dictator"
"Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands, and an infinite scorn in our hearts"
"War alone brings up to their highest tension all human energies and imposes the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to make it."
"Socialism is a fraud, a comedy, a phantom, a blackmail."
"We deny your internationalism, because it is a luxury which only the upper classes can afford; the working people are hopelessly bound to their native shores."
"Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy"
"It's good to trust others but, not to do so is much better"
"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power"
"The truth is that men are tired of liberty."
"Inactivity is death"
"Every anarchist is a baffled dictator"
"Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands, and an infinite scorn in our hearts"
"War alone brings up to their highest tension all human energies and imposes the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have the courage to make it."
"Socialism is a fraud, a comedy, a phantom, a blackmail."
"We deny your internationalism, because it is a luxury which only the upper classes can afford; the working people are hopelessly bound to their native shores."
"Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy"
"It's good to trust others but, not to do so is much better"
"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power"
"CURZON: What is your foreign programme?"
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Benito Mussolini - Biography
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 46:04
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 1883 -- 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party, ruling the country from 1922 to his ousting in 1943, and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of fascism.
http://wn.com/Benito_Mussolini_Biography
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 1883 -- 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party, ruling the country from 1922 to his ousting in 1943, and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of fascism.
Benito Mussolini 1937 speaking in German
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:00
- Updated: 12 Dec 2012
Benito Mussolini speaks in the Berlin Olympic stadium at night during his 1937 visit to Germany. He spoke very good German
http://wn.com/Benito_Mussolini_1937_speaking_in_German
Benito Mussolini speaks in the Berlin Olympic stadium at night during his 1937 visit to Germany. He spoke very good German
- published: 23 Oct 2007
- views: 199117
- author: mostcynical
Benito Mussolini: Biography of Fascist Italy's Dictator
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:01
- Updated: 12 Dec 2012
As leader of Fascist Italy, he was 'Il Duce.' www.WatchMojo.com learns more about the life, rule and death of Benito Mussolini.
http://wn.com/Benito_Mussolini_Biography_of_Fascist_Italy's_Dictator
As leader of Fascist Italy, he was 'Il Duce.' www.WatchMojo.com learns more about the life, rule and death of Benito Mussolini.
- published: 04 Jan 2012
- views: 11960
- author: WatchMojo
(Very Rare!) Mussolini's Speech - in English! (1929 Fox Movietone Newsreel)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:24
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
Very rare footage of the infamous Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini. In his Fox movietone newsreel footage from March 1929, he speaks in English (!) - Not so many people don't know, but Mussolini could speak English, French and German fluently, although he had very strong accent when speaking English. Mussolini says (Roughly transcribed); "I am very glad to be able to express my feelings to the American nation. Friendship which Italy looks to millions of citizens who from..... from Pacific to Atlantic..... United States is very deeply rooted in our hearts. This feeling created by mutual interest in preparation of an even brighter era in the life of both nations. I agree - the wonderful energy of the American people and I feel....... my fellow citizens who are working to make America great. I salute the great American people, I salute the Italians of America who unite in the love of the nation."
http://wn.com/Very_Rare!_Mussolini's_Speech_in_English!_1929_Fox_Movietone_Newsreel
Very rare footage of the infamous Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini. In his Fox movietone newsreel footage from March 1929, he speaks in English (!) - Not so many people don't know, but Mussolini could speak English, French and German fluently, although he had very strong accent when speaking English. Mussolini says (Roughly transcribed); "I am very glad to be able to express my feelings to the American nation. Friendship which Italy looks to millions of citizens who from..... from Pacific to Atlantic..... United States is very deeply rooted in our hearts. This feeling created by mutual interest in preparation of an even brighter era in the life of both nations. I agree - the wonderful energy of the American people and I feel....... my fellow citizens who are working to make America great. I salute the great American people, I salute the Italians of America who unite in the love of the nation."
- published: 27 Dec 2008
- views: 270416
- author: transformingArt
The Executions of Benito Mussolini and Clara Petacci
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:24
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
A short and very explicit video, originally made by mishima1970, about the executions in 1945, of the mighty conqueror of Abyssinia and his "lady friend".
http://wn.com/The_Executions_of_Benito_Mussolini_and_Clara_Petacci
A short and very explicit video, originally made by mishima1970, about the executions in 1945, of the mighty conqueror of Abyssinia and his "lady friend".
- published: 13 Jan 2010
- views: 1227137
- author: charlottecorday1793
Benito Mussolini - Wiki Article
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 115:34
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (Italian pronunciation: beˈnito mussoˈlini; 29 July 1883 -- 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party, ruling the country from 1922 t... Benito Mussolini - Wiki Article - wikiplays.org Original @ http All Information Derived from Wikipedia using Creative Commons License: en.wikipedia.org Author: Unknown Image URL: en.wikipedia.org Licensed under:This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore is in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship., This work is in the Public Domain., This work is in the public domain in the United States. Author: Sanna66 from the Italian Wikipedia Image URL: en.wikipedia.org Licensed under:This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore is in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship., This work is in the Public Domain., This work is in the public domain in the United States. Author: Police of the Canton of Berne Image URL: en.wikipedia.org Licensed under:This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore is in the public domain, because it consists entirely of infor...
http://wn.com/Benito_Mussolini_Wiki_Article
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (Italian pronunciation: beˈnito mussoˈlini; 29 July 1883 -- 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party, ruling the country from 1922 t... Benito Mussolini - Wiki Article - wikiplays.org Original @ http All Information Derived from Wikipedia using Creative Commons License: en.wikipedia.org Author: Unknown Image URL: en.wikipedia.org Licensed under:This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore is in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship., This work is in the Public Domain., This work is in the public domain in the United States. Author: Sanna66 from the Italian Wikipedia Image URL: en.wikipedia.org Licensed under:This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore is in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship., This work is in the Public Domain., This work is in the public domain in the United States. Author: Police of the Canton of Berne Image URL: en.wikipedia.org Licensed under:This image is ineligible for copyright and therefore is in the public domain, because it consists entirely of infor...
- published: 31 Oct 2012
- views: 1252
- author: WikiPlays
Benito Mussolini Executed April 1945
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:49
- Updated: 13 Dec 2012
Benito Mussolini (29 July 1883 -- 28 April 1945) Executed
http://wn.com/Benito_Mussolini_Executed_April_1945
Benito Mussolini (29 July 1883 -- 28 April 1945) Executed
- published: 29 Apr 2011
- views: 18529
- author: l80omarlllomar08l
Execution and Death Benito Mussolini 1945
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:24
- Updated: 28 Nov 2012
Benito Mussolini (29 July 1883 - 28 April 1945) Execution and Death
http://wn.com/Execution_and_Death_Benito_Mussolini_1945
Benito Mussolini (29 July 1883 - 28 April 1945) Execution and Death
- published: 30 Jul 2010
- views: 50026
- author: wolf4045
Benito Mussolini declared war on Britain and France 1940
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:54
- Updated: 27 Nov 2012
Benito Mussolini declared war on Britain and France 1940 Soldiers, sailors, and aviators! Black shirts of the revolution and of the [Fascist] legions! Men and women of Italy, of the Empire, and of the kingdom of Albania! Pay heed! An hour appointed by destiny has struck in the heavens of our fatherland. (Very lively cheers). The declaration of war has already been delivered (cheers, very loud cries of "War! War!") to the ambassadors of Great Britain and France. We go to battle against the plutocratic and reactionary democracies of the west who, at every moment have hindered the advance and have often endangered the very existence of the Italian people. Recent historical events can be summarized in the following phrases: promises, threats, blackmail, and finally to crown the edifice, the ignoble seige by the fifty-two states of the League of Nations. Our consience is absolutely tranquil. (Applause). With you the entire world is witness that Fascist Italy has done all that is humanly possible to avoit the torment which is throwing Europe into turmoil; but all was in vain. It would have suffieced to revise the treaties to bring them up to date with the changing needs of the life of nations and not consider them untouchable for eternity; it would have sufficed not to have begun the stupid policy of guarantees, which has shown itself particularly lethal for those who accepted them; it would have sufficed not to reject the proposal [for peace] that the Fuhrer made on 6 October ...
http://wn.com/Benito_Mussolini_declared_war_on_Britain_and_France_1940
Benito Mussolini declared war on Britain and France 1940 Soldiers, sailors, and aviators! Black shirts of the revolution and of the [Fascist] legions! Men and women of Italy, of the Empire, and of the kingdom of Albania! Pay heed! An hour appointed by destiny has struck in the heavens of our fatherland. (Very lively cheers). The declaration of war has already been delivered (cheers, very loud cries of "War! War!") to the ambassadors of Great Britain and France. We go to battle against the plutocratic and reactionary democracies of the west who, at every moment have hindered the advance and have often endangered the very existence of the Italian people. Recent historical events can be summarized in the following phrases: promises, threats, blackmail, and finally to crown the edifice, the ignoble seige by the fifty-two states of the League of Nations. Our consience is absolutely tranquil. (Applause). With you the entire world is witness that Fascist Italy has done all that is humanly possible to avoit the torment which is throwing Europe into turmoil; but all was in vain. It would have suffieced to revise the treaties to bring them up to date with the changing needs of the life of nations and not consider them untouchable for eternity; it would have sufficed not to have begun the stupid policy of guarantees, which has shown itself particularly lethal for those who accepted them; it would have sufficed not to reject the proposal [for peace] that the Fuhrer made on 6 October ...
- published: 10 Jun 2010
- views: 5080
- author: l80omarlllomar08l
WW2 - "Il Duce" Benito Mussolini
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:28
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
Mussolini, Benito A former socialist, Benito Mussolini founded the Italian Fascist Party in 1919, thereby establishing the basis for a philosophy of military dictatorship and authoritarianism that would sweep through Europe in the 1920s and 30s, culminating in the overthrow of democracy in much of Southern and Central Europe. Taking advantage of acute economic distress and fears of a communist take over, Mussolini led his supporters in a march on Rome, a demonstration of strength and popular support that persuaded the Italian monarch to confer power on Mussolini, thus lending a spurious legitimacy to political violence. By 1929 Mussolini had eliminated all opposition, created a one party state, and concentrated all political and legislative power in a Fascist Grand Council, entirely dominated by himself. Linked, but distinct ideologies brought Mussolini into close contact with Adolf Hitler, after the latter's accession to power in Germany. The Anti-Commintern Pact of 1936 committed their countries, along with Japan, to a diplomatic alliance against the spread of communism and laid the foundations for a more comprehensive military alliance that became known as the Axis. But from this time onwards, Mussolini's star declined, his status as the senior statesman of the European dictatorships, eclipsed by the burgeoning economic and military power of Hitler's Germany. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, Mussolini was neither consulted nor informed. Yet the stunning victories of ...
http://wn.com/WW2_Il_Duce_Benito_Mussolini
Mussolini, Benito A former socialist, Benito Mussolini founded the Italian Fascist Party in 1919, thereby establishing the basis for a philosophy of military dictatorship and authoritarianism that would sweep through Europe in the 1920s and 30s, culminating in the overthrow of democracy in much of Southern and Central Europe. Taking advantage of acute economic distress and fears of a communist take over, Mussolini led his supporters in a march on Rome, a demonstration of strength and popular support that persuaded the Italian monarch to confer power on Mussolini, thus lending a spurious legitimacy to political violence. By 1929 Mussolini had eliminated all opposition, created a one party state, and concentrated all political and legislative power in a Fascist Grand Council, entirely dominated by himself. Linked, but distinct ideologies brought Mussolini into close contact with Adolf Hitler, after the latter's accession to power in Germany. The Anti-Commintern Pact of 1936 committed their countries, along with Japan, to a diplomatic alliance against the spread of communism and laid the foundations for a more comprehensive military alliance that became known as the Axis. But from this time onwards, Mussolini's star declined, his status as the senior statesman of the European dictatorships, eclipsed by the burgeoning economic and military power of Hitler's Germany. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, Mussolini was neither consulted nor informed. Yet the stunning victories of ...
- published: 20 Jul 2008
- views: 158615
- author: Pzkfw5
Storia di Benito Mussolini 1/3
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:55
- Updated: 30 Nov 2012
Storia di Benito Mussolini e del fascismo.
http://wn.com/Storia_di_Benito_Mussolini_1_3
dedicated to benito mussolini
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:15
- Updated: 10 Dec 2012
this video is dedicated to benito mussolini.
http://wn.com/dedicated_to_benito_mussolini
this video is dedicated to benito mussolini.
- published: 29 Dec 2007
- views: 17771
- author: youngyankee13
Biografia de Benito Mussolini
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 45:05
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/Biografia_de_Benito_Mussolini
Benito Mussolini - Ave Duce
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:36
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
SALVE DUCE DUCE DUCE DUCE DUCE DUCE DUCE BENITO MUSSOLINI
http://wn.com/Benito_Mussolini_Ave_Duce
SALVE DUCE DUCE DUCE DUCE DUCE DUCE DUCE BENITO MUSSOLINI
- published: 09 Feb 2009
- views: 34342
- author: ELFACHOFACHOMEN
Benito Mussolini: Hero or Villian? A Documentary
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:56
- Updated: 08 Dec 2012
This was a documentary we (my partners and I) made for History Day, regarding Benito Mussolini. This competed at LA's History Day on March 24th, 2007. It got to finals. I was not there at the competition, but I did edit it. EDIT 2: I've opened up this to ratings as of 1/3/2009 as I geniunely want to see what everyone thinks. When you rate, please put aside your biases and think about the QUALITY of the documentary. Uploaded for friends and to show people. EDIT: As of 6/30/2008, I've decided to allow comments on a "Constructive criticism/non-racist" basis. If you had a comment that you wanted to post, try it again. I will not accept any "Love live Mussolini" comments. It's an educational documentary, not WWII again.
http://wn.com/Benito_Mussolini_Hero_or_Villian?_A_Documentary
This was a documentary we (my partners and I) made for History Day, regarding Benito Mussolini. This competed at LA's History Day on March 24th, 2007. It got to finals. I was not there at the competition, but I did edit it. EDIT 2: I've opened up this to ratings as of 1/3/2009 as I geniunely want to see what everyone thinks. When you rate, please put aside your biases and think about the QUALITY of the documentary. Uploaded for friends and to show people. EDIT: As of 6/30/2008, I've decided to allow comments on a "Constructive criticism/non-racist" basis. If you had a comment that you wanted to post, try it again. I will not accept any "Love live Mussolini" comments. It's an educational documentary, not WWII again.
- published: 14 Nov 2007
- views: 43590
- author: chaosxemperor
Benito Mussolini Speaks in Berlin 1937 English Sub Titles
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:27
- Updated: 12 Dec 2012
When Mussolini visited Berlin in September 1937 one million people crowed the Olympic Stadium and ajoining Mayfield to hear The Duce address them in German.
http://wn.com/Benito_Mussolini_Speaks_in_Berlin_1937_English_Sub_Titles
When Mussolini visited Berlin in September 1937 one million people crowed the Olympic Stadium and ajoining Mayfield to hear The Duce address them in German.
- published: 02 May 2009
- views: 77123
- author: belfastwizard
Mussolini
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:53
- Updated: 12 Dec 2012
A brief history of the Italian dictator, Mussolini. From his early life within the Socialist movement to his death at the end of a rope.
http://wn.com/Mussolini
A brief history of the Italian dictator, Mussolini. From his early life within the Socialist movement to his death at the end of a rope.
- published: 10 Jan 2008
- views: 98913
- author: worcesterjonny
Benito Mussolini dichiarazione di guerra (tratto dall' istituto luce versione integrale)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:48
- Updated: 15 Dec 2012
la dichiarazione di guerra che benito mussolini dovette accettare per poter difendere la nostra patria, si dice che se mussolini non avesse accettato di intervenire in guerra l' esercito tedesco avrebbe attaccato il regno unito il quale avrebbe chiesto l' armistizio, dopo di che hitler per vendetta contro l' italia si sarebbe alleato con gli inglesi per attaccare l' italia...e di noi non sarebbe rimasto piu' nulla...la dittatura fascista prima del patto d' acciaio fu la cosa piu' grande e sensata che l' italia abbia mai potuto avere ecco il discorso che fece affacciato al balcone di palazzo venezia il giorno 10 Giugno 1940 "Combattenti di terra, di mare, e dell'aria! Camicie Nere della Rivoluzione e delle Legioni, uomini e donne d'Italia, dell'Impero e del Regno di Albania. Ascoltate! Un'ora segnata dal destino, batte nel cielo della nostra Patria... L'ora... l'ora delle decisioni irrevocabili. La dichiarazione di guerra è già stata consegnata a gli ambasciatori di... A gli ambasciatori di Gran Bretagna e di Francia." "Scendiamo in campo contro le democrazie plutocratiche e reazionarie dell'Occidente che in ogni tempo hanno ostacolato la marcia e spesso insidiato l'esistenza medesima del Popolo italiano. Alcuni lustri della storia più recente si possono riassumere in queste parole: frasi, promesse, minacce, ricatti e, alla fine, quale coronamento dell'edificio, l'ignobile assedio societario di cinquantadue Stati. La nostra coscienza è assolutamente tranquilla. Con voi il ...
http://wn.com/Benito_Mussolini_dichiarazione_di_guerra_tratto_dall'_istituto_luce_versione_integrale
la dichiarazione di guerra che benito mussolini dovette accettare per poter difendere la nostra patria, si dice che se mussolini non avesse accettato di intervenire in guerra l' esercito tedesco avrebbe attaccato il regno unito il quale avrebbe chiesto l' armistizio, dopo di che hitler per vendetta contro l' italia si sarebbe alleato con gli inglesi per attaccare l' italia...e di noi non sarebbe rimasto piu' nulla...la dittatura fascista prima del patto d' acciaio fu la cosa piu' grande e sensata che l' italia abbia mai potuto avere ecco il discorso che fece affacciato al balcone di palazzo venezia il giorno 10 Giugno 1940 "Combattenti di terra, di mare, e dell'aria! Camicie Nere della Rivoluzione e delle Legioni, uomini e donne d'Italia, dell'Impero e del Regno di Albania. Ascoltate! Un'ora segnata dal destino, batte nel cielo della nostra Patria... L'ora... l'ora delle decisioni irrevocabili. La dichiarazione di guerra è già stata consegnata a gli ambasciatori di... A gli ambasciatori di Gran Bretagna e di Francia." "Scendiamo in campo contro le democrazie plutocratiche e reazionarie dell'Occidente che in ogni tempo hanno ostacolato la marcia e spesso insidiato l'esistenza medesima del Popolo italiano. Alcuni lustri della storia più recente si possono riassumere in queste parole: frasi, promesse, minacce, ricatti e, alla fine, quale coronamento dell'edificio, l'ignobile assedio societario di cinquantadue Stati. La nostra coscienza è assolutamente tranquilla. Con voi il ...
- published: 25 Apr 2009
- views: 270909
- author: logangabe529
Benito Mussolini declaring war on Great Britain and France HD
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:30
- Updated: 08 Dec 2012
Benito Mussolini declaring war on Great Britain and France Do not comment on the video if you do not have anything positive to say. I dont own anything in this video, i uploaded this only for entertainment purposes.
http://wn.com/Benito_Mussolini_declaring_war_on_Great_Britain_and_France_HD
Benito Mussolini declaring war on Great Britain and France Do not comment on the video if you do not have anything positive to say. I dont own anything in this video, i uploaded this only for entertainment purposes.
- published: 27 Jul 2012
- views: 1681
- author: xRockett
Francisco Franco Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:28
- Updated: 01 Dec 2012
Francisco Franco (4 December 1892 -- 20 November 1975) Benito Mussolini (29 July 1883 -- 28 April 1945) Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 -- 30 April 1945)
http://wn.com/Francisco_Franco_Benito_Mussolini_and_Adolf_Hitler
Francisco Franco (4 December 1892 -- 20 November 1975) Benito Mussolini (29 July 1883 -- 28 April 1945) Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 -- 30 April 1945)
- published: 13 Feb 2011
- views: 13246
- author: 80omar80omar80
The Executions Of Benito Mussolini And Clara Petacci
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:49
- Updated: 08 Oct 2012
http://wn.com/The_Executions_Of_Benito_Mussolini_And_Clara_Petacci
Alexei Sayle as Benito Mussolini
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:24
- Updated: 14 Dec 2012
In an episode of the Young Ones, Alexei Sayle's famous impression of the deceased Italian fascist dictator.
http://wn.com/Alexei_Sayle_as_Benito_Mussolini
In an episode of the Young Ones, Alexei Sayle's famous impression of the deceased Italian fascist dictator.
- published: 10 Jun 2008
- views: 73453
- author: NotInterestedThanks
Mussolini, il cadavere vivente - La Grande Storia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 116:40
- Updated: 16 Dec 2012
Altri video de La Grande Storia: www.youtube.com La storia della Repubblica Sociale Italiana e la vita quotidiana di Benito Mussolini e Clara Petacci, attraverso le lettere scritte dal dittatore e dall'amante, durante i seicento giorni di Salò, lette ed interpretate da Michele Placido e Maya Sansa. 318. Tante sono le lettere scritte da Benito Mussolini tra l'ottobre del 1943 e l'aprile del 1945. Diverse centinaia le risposte di Clara. Dattiloscritte, manoscritte. Stilate e inviate di getto, a volte trattenute. Vere e proprie confessioni. Mussolini è un fiume in piena. Un racconto in presa diretta, quasi una cronaca. Si firma Ben, il Duce della Repubblica Sociale Italiana. Come sempre, come negli anni felici, ma non è più lui. E' un uomo stanco, invecchiato, malato. E' il cadavere vivente che attende la sua ora. Al suo fianco, a raccogliere quelle confessioni che voleva distrutte, come sempre Clara. L'amante - certo - ma anche la consigliera. Soprattutto la donna che muore con e per il dittatore. Agli storici Mauro Canali, Giovanni De Luna ed Emilio Gentile è affidata l'analisi, l'interpretazione e la riflessione storica dell'intera vastissima documentazione. Tutti i diritti appartengono alla RAI e ai rispettivi detentori.
http://wn.com/Mussolini,_il_cadavere_vivente_La_Grande_Storia
Altri video de La Grande Storia: www.youtube.com La storia della Repubblica Sociale Italiana e la vita quotidiana di Benito Mussolini e Clara Petacci, attraverso le lettere scritte dal dittatore e dall'amante, durante i seicento giorni di Salò, lette ed interpretate da Michele Placido e Maya Sansa. 318. Tante sono le lettere scritte da Benito Mussolini tra l'ottobre del 1943 e l'aprile del 1945. Diverse centinaia le risposte di Clara. Dattiloscritte, manoscritte. Stilate e inviate di getto, a volte trattenute. Vere e proprie confessioni. Mussolini è un fiume in piena. Un racconto in presa diretta, quasi una cronaca. Si firma Ben, il Duce della Repubblica Sociale Italiana. Come sempre, come negli anni felici, ma non è più lui. E' un uomo stanco, invecchiato, malato. E' il cadavere vivente che attende la sua ora. Al suo fianco, a raccogliere quelle confessioni che voleva distrutte, come sempre Clara. L'amante - certo - ma anche la consigliera. Soprattutto la donna che muore con e per il dittatore. Agli storici Mauro Canali, Giovanni De Luna ed Emilio Gentile è affidata l'analisi, l'interpretazione e la riflessione storica dell'intera vastissima documentazione. Tutti i diritti appartengono alla RAI e ai rispettivi detentori.
- published: 07 Sep 2012
- views: 7176
- author: TentacoloSquiddi
photo: AP / Nick Ut
14 Dec 2012
Former President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, meet 55-year-old Martha Sellers. For the past nine years, Sellers has worked as a Walmart cashier in Paramount, California ... More than 10,000 community members joined more than 30 striking employees who walked off the job to demand better working conditions. . "It was wonderful ... That's not too much to ask for." ... 1698 ... ....(size: 23.6Kb)
photo: AP / Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks
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The massacre of 26 children and adults at an elementary school in the US state of Connecticut elicited horror and soul-searching around the world even as it raised more basic questions about why the gunman, a 20-year-old described as brilliant but remote, would have been driven to such a crime and how he chose his victims ... He paused for several seconds to keep his composure as he teared up and wiped an eye ... ... "I'm numb ... Yes, yeah....(size: 8.8Kb)
photo: AP / Khalil Hamra
16 Dec 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. "Fundamentalism is good for protest, good for revolution, and good for war, but not so good for development.". After a century of being persecuted and driven underground, mainly for their vibrant nationalism and their anti-imperialist and pro-Palestinian views, Egypt's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood has finally taken center-state ... Such actions will have to be avoided....(size: 6.9Kb)
photo: AP / Newtown Bee, Shannon Hicks
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Newtown, Conn. Twenty schoolchildren were slaughtered by a heavily armed gunman who opened fire at a suburban elementary school in Connecticut on Friday, ultimately killing at least 27 people including himself in the one of the worst mass shootings in US history ... Authorities found 18 children and seven adults, including the gunman, dead at the school, and two children were pronounced dead later after being taken to a hospital ... Reuters ....(size: 7.5Kb)
photo: AP / Jason DeCrow
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NEWTOWN, Conn. — The gunman in the Connecticut shooting rampage committed suicide as first responders closed in, the governor said Sunday, raising the specter that Adam Lanza had planned an even more gruesome massacre and was stopped short. Lanza blasted his way into the building and used a high-power rifle to kill 20 children and six adults, including the principal who tried to stop him, authorities said ... Among the questions ... H ... The Rev....(size: 8.8Kb)
National Geographic News
14 Dec 2012
A World War II-era amphibious truck belonging to the U.S ... Army's 10th Mountain Division crossed the lake—Italy's largest—in a duck to overtake the villa of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who was operating the Italian Social Republic from Lake Garda's western shore ... ....(size: 1.3Kb)
The Washington Post
14 Dec 2012
In a wide-ranging professional life, Albert O ... Through his books, lectures and essays, Dr. Hirschman, who died Dec ... Loading... Comments Weigh In Corrections?. Recommend. Personal Post ... He was baptized a Protestant ... Dr ... Francisco Franco ... He eventually returned to his studies and received a doctorate in economics from the University of Trieste in Italy in 1938 — the year Benito Mussolini’s regime enacted the anti-Semitic racial laws....(size: 3.8Kb)
ABC News
13 Dec 2012
"Kiss your calories goodbye." ... View Full Size ... Bottles of Lunardelli wine with labels depicting Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini are displayed in a wine shop September 2003, in Bibbione near Venice, Italy ... Notwithstanding protests, Italian wine maker Lunardelli continues to sell wines whose labels depict not just Hitler and other prominent Nazis (Goring, Himmler, Hess, even Eva Braun) but also Mussolini, Stalin and Franco ... It travels ... ....(size: 4.4Kb)
Indian Express
12 Dec 2012
Wreckage of an American amphibious jeep that sunk along with 24 US Army men in World War II during assault on Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's lakeside home has been discovered after 67 years ... The servicemen were lost traversing the famed lake as they crossed to Gargnano, where Mussolini had operated as the "puppet" ......(size: 1.6Kb)
Yahoo Daily News
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ROME (Reuters) - Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which has enjoyed a meteoric rise in public support over the last year, is suddenly looking more ragged and disunited just as an election campaign gets under way ... The decision sparked a barrage of angry tweets among the party's mostly young, internet-savvy supporters, many comparing Grillo with famous dictators including Benito Mussolini, Nicolae Ceausescu and Joseph Stalin....(size: 3.3Kb)
Huffington Post
12 Dec 2012
The Inquisitr
10 Dec 2012
Posted. December 10, 2012. Just when many were convinced that Italian politics couldn’t get any stranger, Silvio Berlusconi’s announcement that he would be willing to run for office again, has them re-thinking that premise. The 76 year old former Prime Minister will likely run for office in February of 2013 ... Arguably, no one since Benito Mussolini has had a greater impact on Italian government and society than the 76 year old Berlusconi....(size: 6.7Kb)
BBC News
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In the 1920s and 30s, the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini encouraged Italians from the south to settle in the region ... Tension increased sharply in 1939, when Hitler and Mussolini agreed to give ... A wartime meeting in South Tyrol between Mussolini (l) and Hitler (centre) ... And in the centre, on horseback, is a large chiselled image of Benito Mussolini....(size: 6.4Kb)
CNN
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December 6, 2012 -- Updated 2344 GMT (0744 HKT). (CNN) -- Here's a look at the life of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Personal.. Birth date. September 11, 1965. Birth place. Damascus, Syria. Father ... Mother ... U.S ... November 22, 2011 - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls on al-Assad to resign and warns that he faces the same fate as Benito Mussolini, Nicolae Ceausescu, and Moammar Gadhafi, all leaders killed by their own people ... 0....(size: 6.8Kb)
The Washington Times
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Eric Golub. Ask me a question. Follow @TYGRRRREXPRESS. LOS ANGELES, December 7, 2012—Every December 7th, America remembers Pearl Harbor Day, the day that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said would "live in infamy." The worst attack on American soil since 1812, America would not see anything like it until September 11th, 2001 ... Americans today are forever in their debt ... The 1930s brought Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini ... ... ....(size: 9.4Kb)
Huffington Post
07 Dec 2012
"Mussolini" redirects here. For other uses, see Mussolini (disambiguation).
| Benito Mussolini | |
|---|---|
| 220px | |
| Head of Government of Italy and Duce of Fascism | |
| In office 24 December 1925 – 25 July 1943 |
|
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Preceded by | Himself (as Prime Minister) |
| Succeeded by | Pietro Badoglio (as Prime Minister) |
| 27th Prime Minister of Italy | |
| In office 31 October 1922 – 25 July 1943 |
|
| Monarch | Victor Emmanuel III |
| Preceded by | Luigi Facta |
| Succeeded by | Pietro Badoglio |
| First Marshal of the Empire | |
| In office 30 March 1938 – 25 July 1943 Serving with Victor Emmanuel III |
|
| Head of State of the Italian Social Republic | |
| In office 23 September 1943 – 25 April 1945 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1883-07-29)29 July 1883 Predappio, Forlì, Kingdom of Italy |
| Died | 28 April 1945(1945-04-28) (aged 61) Giulino di Mezzegra, Kingdom of Italy |
| Resting place | San Cassiano cemetery, Predappio, Forlì, Italian Republic |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Political party | Republican Fascist Party (1943–1945) National Fascist Party (1921–1943) Italian Fasci of Combat (1919–1921) Fasci of Revolutionary Action (1914–1919) Italian Socialist Party (1901–1914) |
| Spouse(s) | Rachele Mussolini |
| Relations | Ida Dalser Margherita Sarfatti Clara Petacci |
| Children | Edda Mussolini Vittorio Mussolini Bruno Mussolini Romano Mussolini Anna Maria Mussolini |
| Profession | Politician, journalist, novelist, teacher |
| Religion | (See this section for details.) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of Italy |
| Service/branch | Regio Esercito |
| Years of service | 1915–1917 |
| Rank | Corporal |
| Unit | 11th Bersaglieri Regiment |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (Italian pronunciation: [beˈniːto musːoˈliːni]; 29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party, ruling the country from 1922 to his ousting in 1943, and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of fascism.
Originally a member of the Italian Socialist Party and editor of the Avanti! from 1912 to 1914, Mussolini fought in World War I as an ardent nationalist and created the Fasci di Combattimento in 1919, catalyzing his nationalist and socialist beliefs in the Fascist Manifesto, published in 1921. Following the March on Rome in October 1922 he became the 27th Prime Minister of Italy and began using the title Il Duce by 1925, about which time he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. After 1936, his official title was Sua Eccellenza Benito Mussolini, Capo del Governo, Duce del Fascismo e Fondatore dell'Impero ("His Excellency Benito Mussolini, Head of Government, Duce of Fascism, and Founder of the Empire")[1] Mussolini also created and held the supreme military rank of First Marshal of the Empire along with King Victor Emmanuel III, which gave him and the King joint supreme control over the military of Italy. Mussolini remained in power until he was replaced in 1943; for a short period after this until his death, he was the leader of the Italian Social Republic.
Mussolini was among the founders of Italian Fascism, which included elements of nationalism, corporatism, national syndicalism, expansionism, social progress, and anti-socialism in combination with censorship of subversives and state propaganda. In the years following his creation of the Fascist ideology, Mussolini influenced, or achieved admiration from, a wide variety of political figures.[2]
Among the domestic achievements of Mussolini from the years 1924–1939 were: his public works programs such as the taming of the Pontine Marshes, the improvement of job opportunities, the public transport, and the so-called Italian economic battles. Mussolini also solved the Roman Question by concluding the Lateran Treaty between the Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See. Mussolini and the Fascist regime initiated an aggressive campaign to destroy the Sicilian mafia with mass arrests and mass trials of mafiosi.[3] Mussolini was unable to purge Sicily of the mafia, because the mafia utilized its strong base of supporters to hide and protect itself as an underground movement during Fascist rule in Italy.[4]
On 10 June 1940, Mussolini led Italy into World War II, ultimately siding with Germany. Mussolini was aware that Italy did not have the military capacity to carry out a long war with France and the United Kingdom.[5] Therefore, he waited until the former was on the verge of imminent collapse and surrender because of the German invasion before declaring war on France and the UK, on the assumption that - following France's collapse - the war would be short-lived and peace negotiations would soon take place.[6] Mussolini believed that after the imminent French surrender, Italy could gain from this country some territorial concessions and then concentrate its forces on a major offensive in Egypt where British and Commonwealth forces were outnumbered by Italian forces.[7] However the UK refused to accept German proposals for a peace that would involve accepting Germany's victories in Eastern and Western Europe, plans for a German invasion of the UK did not proceed, and the war continued.
On 24 July 1943, soon after the start of the Allied invasion of Italy, through the Ordine del giorno Grandi Mussolini was defeated in the vote at the Grand Council of Fascism, and the day after the King had him arrested. On 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the daring Gran Sasso raid by German special forces. Following his rescue, Mussolini headed the Italian Social Republic in parts of Italy that were not occupied by Allied forces. In late April 1945, with total defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape north,[8] only to be quickly captured and summarily executed near Lake Como by Italian partisans. His body was then taken to Milan where it was hung upside down at a petrol station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of his demise.[9]
Contents |
Early life[link]
44°06′22″N 11°58′50″E / 44.10613°N 11.980451°E / 44.10613; 11.980451 (Birthplace of Benito Mussolini)
Mussolini was born in Dovia di Predappio, a small town in the province of Forlì in Emilia-Romagna on 29 July 1883. In the Fascist era, Predappio was dubbed "Duce's town", and Forlì was "Duce's city". Pilgrims went to Predappio and Forlì, to see the birthplace of Mussolini. His father Alessandro Mussolini was a blacksmith and a socialist,[10] while his mother Rosa Mussolini, née Maltoni, a devoutly Catholic schoolteacher.[11] Owing to his father's political leanings, Mussolini was named Benito after Mexican reformist President Benito Juárez, while his middle names Andrea and Amilcare were from Italian socialists Andrea Costa and Amilcare Cipriani.[12] Benito was the eldest of his parents' three children. His siblings Arnaldo and Edvige followed.[13]
As a young boy, Mussolini would spend time helping his father in his smithy.[citation needed] Mussolini's early political views were heavily influenced by his father, Alessandro Mussolini, a revolutionary socialist who idolized 19th century Italian nationalist figures with humanist tendencies such as Carlo Pisacane, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Giuseppe Garibaldi.[14] His father's political outlook combined views of anarchist figures like Carlo Cafiero and Mikhail Bakunin, the military authoritarianism of Garibaldi, and the nationalism of Mazzini. [15] In 1902, at the anniversary of Garibaldi's death, Benito Mussolini made a public speech in praise of the republican nationalist. [15] The conflict between his parents about religion meant that, unlike most Italians, Mussolini was not baptised at birth and would not be until much later in life. As a compromise with his mother, Mussolini was sent to a boarding school run by Salesian monks. Mussolini was rebellious and was soon expelled after a series of behaviour related incidents, including throwing stones at the congregation after Mass, stabbing a fellow student in the hand and throwing an inkpot at a teacher.[citation needed] After joining a new school, Mussolini achieved good grades, and qualified as an elementary schoolmaster in 1901.[11]
Emigration to Switzerland and military service[link]
In 1902, Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland, partly to avoid military service.[10] He worked briefly as a stonemason in Geneva, Fribourg and Bern, but was unable to find a permanent job.
During this time he studied the ideas of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, the sociologist Vilfredo Pareto, and the syndicalist Georges Sorel. Mussolini also later credited the Marxist Charles Péguy and the syndicalist Hubert Lagardelle as some of his influences.[16] Sorel's emphasis on the need for overthrowing decadent liberal democracy and capitalism by the use of violence, direct action, the general strike, and the use of neo-Machiavellian appeals to emotion, impressed Mussolini deeply.[10]
Mussolini became active in the Italian socialist movement in Switzerland, working for the paper L'Avvenire del Lavoratore, organizing meetings, giving speeches to workers and serving as secretary of the Italian workers' union in Lausanne.[17] In 1903, he was arrested by the Bernese police because of his advocacy of a violent general strike, spent two weeks in jail, was deported to Italy, set free there, and returned to Switzerland.[18] In 1904, after having been arrested again in Lausanne for falsifying his papers, he returned to Italy to take advantage of an amnesty for desertion of which he had been convicted in absentia.[17]
He subsequently volunteered for military service in the Italian Army. After serving for two years in the military (from January 1905 until September 1906), he returned to teaching.[19]
Political journalist and socialist[link]
In February 1908, Mussolini once again left Italy, this time to take the job as the secretary of the labor party in the Italian-speaking city of Trento, which at the time was under control of Austria-Hungary. He also did office work for the local Socialist Party, and edited its newspaper L'Avvenire del Lavoratore (The Future of the Worker). Returning to Italy, he spent a brief time in Milan, and then in 1910 he returned to his hometown of Forli, where he edited the weekly Lotta di classe (The Class Struggle).
During this time, he published Il Trentino veduto da un Socialista (Trentino as seen by a Socialist) in the radical periodical La Voce.[20] He also wrote several essays about German literature, some stories, and one novel: L'amante del Cardinale: Claudia Particella, romanzo storico (The Cardinal's Mistress). This novel he co-wrote with Santi Corvaja, and was published as a serial book in the Trento newspaper Il Popolo. It was released in installments from 20 January to 11 May 1910[21] The novel was bitterly anticlerical, and years later was withdrawn from circulation after Mussolini made a truce with the Vatican.[10]
By now, he was considered to be one of Italy's most prominent Socialists. In September 1911, Mussolini participated in a riot, led by Socialists, against the Italian war in Libya. He bitterly denounced Italy's "imperialist war" to capture the Libyan capital city of Tripoli, an action that earned him a five-month jail term.[22] After his release he helped expel from the ranks of the Socialist party two "revisionists" who had supported the war, Ivanoe Bonomi, and Leonida Bissolati. As a result, he was rewarded the editorship of the Socialist Party newspaper Avanti! Under his leadership, its circulation soon rose from 20,000 to 100,000.[23]
In 1913, he published Giovanni Hus, il veridico (Jan Hus, true prophet), an historical and political biography about the life and mission of the Czech ecclesiastic reformer Jan Hus, and his militant followers, the Hussites. During this socialist period of his life Mussolini sometimes used the pen name "Vero Eretico" (sincere misbeliever).
While Mussolini was associated with socialism, he also was supportive of figures who opposed egalitarianism. For instance Mussolini was influenced by Nietszche's anti-Christian ideas and negation of God's existence.[24] Mussolini saw Nietzsche as similar to Jean-Marie Guyau, who advocated a philosophy of action. [24] Mussolini's use of Nietzsche made him a highly unorthodox socialist, due to Nietzsche's promotion of elitism and anti-egalitarian views. [24] Mussolini felt that socialism had faltered due to the failures of Marxist determinism and social democratic reformism, and believed that Nietzsche's ideas would strengthen socialism. [24] While associated with socialism, Mussolini's writings eventually indicated that he had abandoned Marxism and egalitarianism in favour of Nietzsche's übermensch concept and anti-egalitarianism. [24]
Expulsion from the Italian Socialist Party[link]
With the outbreak of World War I a number of socialist parties initially supported the war when it began in August 1914.[25] Once the war began, Austrian, British, French, German, and Russian socialists followed the rising nationalist current by supporting their country's intervention in the war. [26] The outbreak of the war had resulted in a surge of Italian nationalism and the war supported by a variety of political factions. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war was Gabriele d'Annunzio who promoted Italian irredentism and helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war. [27] The Italian Liberal Party under the leadership of Paolo Boselli promoted intervention in the war on the side of the Allies and utilized the Società Dante Alighieri to promote Italian nationalism. [28] [29] Italian socialists were divided on whether to support the war or oppose it. [30] Prior to Mussolini taking a position on the war, a number of revolutionary syndicalists had announced their support of intervention, including Alceste De Ambris, Filippo Corridoni, and Angelo Oliviero Olivetti. [31] The Italian Socialist Party decided to oppose the war after anti-militarist protestors had been killed, resulting in a general strike called Red Week. [32]
Mussolini initially held official support for the party's decision and, in an August 1914 article, Mussolini wrote "Down with the War. We remain neutral."[33] However, he saw the war as an opportunity, both for his own ambitions as well as those of socialists and Italians.[33] He was influenced by anti-Austrian Italian nationalist sentiments, believing that the war offered Italians in Austria-Hungary the chance to liberate themselves from rule of the Habsburgs.[33] He eventually decided to declare support for the war by appealing to the need for socialists to overthrow the Hohenzollern and Habsburg monarchies in Germany and Austria-Hungary whom he claimed had consistently repressed socialism.[33] He further justified his position by denouncing the Central Powers for being reactionary powers; for pursuing imperialist designs against Belgium and Serbia as well as historically against Denmark, France, and against Italians, since hundreds of thousands of Italians were under Habsburg rule. [31] He claimed that the fall of Hohenzollern and Habsburg monarchies and the repression of "reactionary" Turkey would create conditions beneficial for the working class. [31] While he was supportive of the Entente powers, Mussolini responded to the conservative nature of Tsarist Russia by claiming that the mobilization required for the war would undermine Russia's reactionary authoritarianism and the war would bring Russia to social revolution. [31] He claimed that for Italy the war would complete the process of Risorgimento by uniting the Italians in Austria-Hungary into Italy and by allowing the common people of Italy to be participating members of the Italian nation in what would be Italy's first national war. [31] Thus he claimed that the vast social changes that the war could offer meant that it should be supported as a revolutionary war. [31]
As Mussolini's support for the intervention solidified, he became in conflict with socialists who opposed the war. He attacked the opponents of the war and claimed that those proletarians who supported pacifism were out of step with the proletarians who had joined the rising interventionist vanguard that was preparing Italy for a revolutionary war. [34] He began to criticize the Italian Socialist Party and socialism itself for having failed to recognize the national problems that had led to the outbreak of the war. [34] He was expelled from the party due to his support of intervention.
The following excerpts are from a police report prepared by the Inspector-General of Public Security in Milan, G. Gasti, that describe his background and his position on the First World War that resulted in his ouster from the Italian Socialist Party.
The Inspector General wrote:
- Regarding Mussolini
- Professor Benito Mussolini, ... 38, revolutionary socialist, has a police record; elementary school teacher qualified to teach in secondary schools; former first secretary of the Chambers in Cesena, Forli, and Ravenna; after 1912 editor of the newspaper Avanti! to which he gave a violent suggestive and intransigent orientation. In October 1914, finding himself in opposition to the directorate of the Italian Socialist party because he advocated a kind of active neutrality on the part of Italy in the War of the Nations against the party's tendency of absolute neutrality, he withdrew on the twentieth of that month from the directorate of Avanti! Then on the fifteenth of November [1914], thereafter, he initiated publication of the newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia, in which he supported – in sharp contrast to Avanti! and amid bitter polemics against that newspaper and its chief backers – the thesis of Italian intervention in the war against the militarism of the Central Empires. For this reason he was accused of moral and political unworthiness and the party thereupon decided to expel him... Thereafter he ... undertook a very active campaign in behalf of Italian intervention, participating in demonstrations in the piazzas and writing quite violent articles in Popolo d'Italia...[23]
In his summary, the Inspector also notes:
- He was the ideal editor of Avanti! for the Socialists. In that line of work he was greatly esteemed and beloved. Some of his former comrades and admirers still confess that there was no one who understood better how to interpret the spirit of the proletariat and there was no one who did not observe his apostasy with sorrow. This came about not for reasons of self-interest or money. He was a sincere and passionate advocate, first of vigilant and armed neutrality, and later of war; and he did not believe that he was compromising with his personal and political honesty by making use of every means – no matter where they came from or wherever he might obtain them – to pay for his newspaper, his program and his line of action. This was his initial line. It is difficult to say to what extent his socialist convictions (which he never either openly or privately abjure) may have been sacrificed in the course of the indispensable financial deals which were necessary for the continuation of the struggle in which he was engaged... But assuming these modifications did take place ... he always wanted to give the appearance of still being a socialist, and he fooled himself into thinking that this was the case.[35]
Beginning of Fascism and service in World War I[link]
After being ousted by the Italian Socialist Party for his support of Italian intervention, Mussolini made a radical transformation, ending his support for class conflict and joining in support of revolutionary nationalism transcending class lines. [34] He formed the interventionist newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia and the Fasci Rivoluzionari d'Azione Internazionalista ("Revolutionary Fasci for International Action") in October 1914. [29] His nationalist support of intervention enabled him to raise funds from Ansaldo (an armaments firm) and other companies to create Il Popolo d'Italia to convince socialists and revolutionaries to support the war.[36] Further funding for Mussolini's Fascists during the war came from the French sources beginning in May 1915. [37] A major source of this funding from France is believed to have probably been from French socialists who sent support to dissident socialists who wanted Italian intervention on France's side. [37]
On 5 December 1914, Mussolini denounced orthodox socialism for having failed to recognize that the war had brought about national identity and loyalty as being of greater significance than class distinction. [34] His transformation was fully demonstrated in a speech he made in which he acknowledged the nation as an entity, a notion that he had previously rejected prior to the war, saying:
- The nation has not disappeared. We used to believe that the concept was totally without substance. Instead we see the nation arise as a palpitating reality before us! ... Class cannot destroy the nation. Class reveals itself as a collection of interests—but the nation is a history of sentiments, traditions, language, culture, and race. Class can become an integral part of the nation, but the one cannot eclipse the other. [38]
- The class struggle is a vain formula, without effect and consequence wherever one finds a people that has not integrated itself into its proper linguistic and racial confines—where the national problem has not been definitely resolved. In such circumstances the class movement finds itself impaired by an inauspicious historic climate. [39]
Mussolini continued to promote the need of a revolutionary vanguard elite to lead society, but he no longer advocated a proletarian vanguard but instead a vanguard led by dynamic and revolutionary people of any social class. [39]
Though he denounced orthodox socialism and class conflict, he maintained at the time that he was a nationalist socialist and a supporter of the legacy of nationalist socialists in Italy's history, such as Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini, and Carlo Pisacane. [40] As for the Italian Socialist Party and its support of orthodox socialism, he claimed that his failure as a member of the party to revitalize and transform it to recognize the contemporary reality revealed the hopelessness of orthodox socialism as outdated and a failure. [40] This perception of the failure of orthodox socialism in the light of the outbreak of World War I was not solely held by Mussolini, other pro-interventionist Italian socialists such as Filippo Corridoni and Sergio Panunzio had also denounced classical Marxism in favour of intervention. [41]
These basic political views and principles formed the basis of Mussolini's newly formed political movement, the Fasci Rivoluzionari d'Azione Internazionalista in 1914, who called themselves Fascisti (Fascists). [42] At this time, the Fascists did not have an integrated set of policies and the movement was very small, ineffective in its attempts to hold mass meetings, and was regularly harassed by government authorities and orthodox socialists. [43] Antagonism between the interventionists, including the Fascists, versus the anti-interventionist orthodox socialists resulted in violence between the Fascists and socialists. [44] The opposition and attacks by the anti-interventionist revolutionary socialists against the Fascists and other interventionists were so violent that even democratic socialists who opposed the war such as Anna Kuliscioff said that the Italian Socialist Party had gone too far in a campaign of silencing the freedom of speech of supporters of the war. [44] These early hostilities between the Fascists and the revolutionary socialists shaped Mussolini's conception of the nature of Fascism in its support of political violence. [44]
Mussolini became an ally with the irredentist politician and journalist Cesare Battisti, and like him he entered the Army and served in the war. "He was sent to the zone of operations where he was seriously injured by the explosion of a grenade."[23]
The Inspector General continues:
- He was promoted to the rank of corporal "for merit in war". The promotion was recommended because of his exemplary conduct and fighting quality, his mental calmness and lack of concern for discomfort, his zeal and regularity in carrying out his assignments, where he was always first in every task involving labor and fortitude.[23]
Mussolini's military experience is told in his work Diario Di Guerra. Overall, he totalled about nine months of active, front-line trench warfare. During this time, he contracted paratyphoid fever.[45] His military exploits ended in 1917 when he was wounded accidentally by the explosion of a mortar bomb in his trench. He was left with at least 40 shards of metal in his body[45] He was discharged from the hospital in August 1917 and resumed his editor-in-chief position at his new paper, Il Popolo d'Italia. He wrote there positive articles about Czechoslovak Legions in Italy.
On 25 December 1915, in Trevalglio, he contracted a marriage with his fellow countrywoman Rachele Guidi, who had already born him a daughter, Edda, at Forli in 1910. In 1915, he had a son with Ida Dalser, a woman born in Sopramonte, a village near Trento.[11][12][46] He legally recognized this son on 11 January 1916.
Creation of Fascism[link]
Main articles: Fascism and Italian Fascism
By the time Mussolini returned from Allied service in World War I, he had decided that socialism as a doctrine had largely been a failure. In 1917, Mussolini got his start in politics with the help of a £100 weekly wage from MI5, the British Security Service; this help was authorised by Sir Samuel Hoare.[47] In early 1918, Mussolini called for the emergence of a man "ruthless and energetic enough to make a clean sweep" to revive the Italian nation.[48] Much later in life Mussolini said he felt by 1919 "Socialism as a doctrine was already dead; it continued to exist only as a grudge".[49] On 23 March 1919, Mussolini reformed the Milan fascio as the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (Italian Combat Squad), consisting of 200 members.[50]
An important factor in fascism gaining support in its earliest stages was the fact that it claimed to oppose discrimination based on social class and was strongly opposed to all forms of class war.[51][52] Fascism instead supported nationalist sentiments such as a strong unity, regardless of class, in the hopes of raising Italy up to the levels of its great Roman past. The ideological basis for fascism came from a number of sources. Mussolini utilized works of Plato, Georges Sorel, Nietzsche, and the socialist and economic ideas of Vilfredo Pareto, to create fascism. Mussolini admired The Republic, which he often read for inspiration.[53] The Republic held a number of ideas that fascism promoted such as rule by an elite promoting the state as the ultimate end, opposition to democracy, protecting the class system and promoting class collaboration, rejection of egalitarianism, promoting the militarization of a nation by creating a class of warriors, demanding that citizens perform civic duties in the interest of the state, and utilizing state intervention in education to promote the creation of warriors and future rulers of the state.[54] The Republic differed from fascism in that it did not promote aggressive war but only defensive war, unlike fascism it promoted very communist-like views on property, and Plato was an idealist focused on achieving justice and morality while Mussolini and fascism were realist, focused on achieving political goals.[55]
The basic underlying idea behind Mussolini’s foreign policy was that of spazio vitale (vital space), a concept in Fascism that was analogous to lebensraum in German National Socialism.[56] The concept of spazio vitale was first announced in 1919 when the entire Mediterranean was claimed as Italy’s exclusive sphere of influence, which was justified under the grounds that Italy was suffering from overpopulation, and so needed to colonize other areas of the Mediterranean inhabited by what were alleged to be less developed peoples. [57] Borrowing the idea first developed by Enrico Corradini before 1914 of the natural conflict between "plutocratic" nations like Britain and "proletarian" nations like Italy, Mussolini claimed that Italy's principle problem was that it was "plutocratic" countries like Britain that were blocking Italy from achieving the necessary spazio vitale that would let the Italian economy grow. [58] Mussolini equated a nation’s potential for economic growth with territorial size, thus in his view the problem of poverty in Italy could only be solved by winning the necessary spazio vitale. [59] Through biological racism was less prominent in Fascism than National Socialism, right from the start there was a strong racist undercurrent to the spazio vitale concept, in which Mussolini asserted there was a “natural law” for stronger peoples to subject and dominate “inferior” peoples such as the “barbaric” Slavic peoples of Yugoslavia as Mussolini claimed in a September 1920 speech. [60] In the same way, Mussolini argued that Italy was right to follow an imperalist policy in Africa because all black people were "inferior" to whites. [60] Mussolini claimed that the world was divided into a hierarchy of races (stirpe), through this was justified more on cultural than on biological grounds, and that history was nothing more than a Darwinian struggle for power and territory between various "racial masses".[60] The very fact that Italy was suffering from overpopulation was seen as proving the cultural and spirtual vitality of the Italians, who were thus justified in seeking to colonize lands that Mussolini argued on a historical basis belonged to Italy anyway, which was the heir to the Roman Empire. [60] In Mussolini's thinking, demography was destiny; nations with rising populations were nations destined to conquer, and nations with falling populations were decaying powers that deserved to die. [60] Hence, the importance of natalism to Mussolini, since only by increasing the Italian birth rate could Italy's future as a great power that would win its spazio vitale be assured. [60] For Mussolini, the Italian population had to reach 60 million in order to enable Italy to fight a major war, and hence his relentless demands for Italian women to have more children to reach the magic number of 60 million. [60]
Mussolini and the fascists managed to be simultaneously revolutionary and traditionalist;[61][62] because this was vastly different to anything else in the political climate of the time, it is sometimes described as "The Third Way".[63] The Fascisti, led by one of Mussolini's close confidants, Dino Grandi, formed armed squads of war veterans called Blackshirts (or squadristi) with the goal of restoring order to the streets of Italy with a strong hand. The blackshirts clashed with communists, socialists, and anarchists at parades and demonstrations; all of these factions were also involved in clashes against each other. The government rarely interfered with the blackshirts' actions, owing in part to a looming threat and widespread fear of a communist revolution. The Fascisti grew so rapidly that within two years, it transformed itself into the National Fascist Party at a congress in Rome. Also in 1921, Mussolini was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time.[12] In the meantime, from about 1911 until 1938, Mussolini had various affairs with the Jewish author and academic Margherita Sarfatti, called the "Jewish Mother of Fascism" at the time.[64]
March on Rome and early years in power[link]
Further information: March on Rome
The March on Rome was a coup d'état by which Mussolini's National Fascist Party came to power in Italy and ousted Prime Minister Luigi Facta. The "march" took place in 1922 between 27–29 October. On 28 October King Victor Emmanuel III who according to the Statuto Albertino had both the executive and the Supreme military power, refused Facta's request to declare martial law, which led to Facta's resignation. The King then handed over power to Mussolini by inviting him to form a new government. Mussolini was supported by the military, the business class, and the liberal right-wing.
As Prime Minister, the first years of Mussolini's rule were characterized by a right-wing coalition government composed of Fascists, nationalists, liberals, and two Catholic clerics from the Popular Party. The Fascists made up a small minority in his original governments. Mussolini's domestic goal was the eventual establishment of a totalitarian state with himself as supreme leader (Il Duce) a message that was articulated by the Fascist newspaper Il Popolo, which was now edited by Mussolini's brother, Arnaldo. To that end, Mussolini obtained from the legislature dictatorial powers for one year (legal under the Italian constitution of the time). He favored the complete restoration of state authority, with the integration of the Fasci di Combattimento into the armed forces (the foundation in January 1923 of the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale) and the progressive identification of the party with the state. In political and social economy, he passed legislation that favored the wealthy industrial and agrarian classes (privatisations, liberalisations of rent laws and dismantlement of the unions).[12]
In 1923, Mussolini sent Italian forces to invade Corfu during the "Corfu Incident." In the end, the League of Nations proved powerless and Greece was forced to comply with Italian demands. Writing of Mussolini's foreign policy, the American historian Gerhard Weinberg stated:
"If the new regime Benito Mussolini installed in 1922 on the ruins of the old glorified war as a sign of vitality and repudiated pacifism as a form of decay, the lesson drawn from the terrible battles against Austria on the Isonzo river-in which the Italians fought far better than popular imagination often allows-was that the tremendous material and technical preparations needed for modern war were simply beyond the contemporary capacity of the country. This was almost certainly a correct perception, but, given the ideology of Fascism with its emphasis on the moral benefits of war, it did not lead to the conclusion that an Italy without a big stick had best speak very, very softly. On the contrary, the new regime drew the opposite conclusion. Noisy eloquence and rabid journalism might be substitued for serious preparations for war, a procedure that was harmless enough if no one took any of it seriously, but a certain road to disaster once some outside and Mussolini inside the country came to believe that the "eight million bayonets" of the Duce's imagination actually existed."[65]
Acerbo Law[link]
In June 1923, the government passed the Acerbo Law, which transformed Italy into a single national constituency. It also granted a two-thirds majority of the seats in Parliament to the party or group of parties which had obtained at least 25% of the votes.[citation needed] This law was applied in the elections of 6 April 1924. The "national alliance", consisting of Fascists, most of the old Liberals and others, won 64% of the vote largely by means of violence and voter intimidation.[citation needed] These tactics were especially prevalent in the south.
Squadristi violence[link]
The assassination of the socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti, who had requested the annulment of the elections because of the irregularities committed,[66] provoked a momentary crisis of the Mussolini government. The murderer, a squadrista named Amerigo Dumini, reported to Mussolini soon after the murder.[citation needed] Mussolini ordered a cover-up, but witnesses saw the car used to transport Matteotti's body parked outside Matteotti's residence, which linked Dumini to the murder. The Matteotti crisis provoked cries for justice against the murder of an outspoken critic of Fascist violence.[citation needed]
Mussolini later confessed that a few resolute men could have altered public opinion and started a coup that would have swept fascism away. Dumini was imprisoned for two years. On his release Dumini allegedly told other people that Mussolini was responsible, for which he served further prison time. For the next 15 years, Dumini received an income from Mussolini, the Fascist Party, and other sources.[citation needed]
The opposition parties responded weakly or were generally unresponsive. Many of the socialists, liberals, and moderates boycotted Parliament in the Aventine Secession, hoping to force Victor Emmanuel to dismiss Mussolini. Despite the leadership of communists such as Antonio Gramsci, socialists such as Pietro Nenni, and liberals such as Piero Gobetti and Giovanni Amendola, a mass antifascist movement never crystallized.[citation needed] The king, fearful of violence from the Fascist squadristi, kept Mussolini in office.[citation needed] Because of the boycott of Parliament, Mussolini could pass any legislation unopposed. The political violence of the squadristi had worked, for there was no popular demonstration against the murder of Matteotti. Within his own party, Mussolini faced doubts and dissension during these critical weeks.[citation needed]
On 31 December 1924, MVSN consuls met with Mussolini and gave him an ultimatum—crush the opposition or they would do so without him. Fearing a revolt by his own militants, Mussolini decided to drop all trappings of democracy.[67] On 3 January 1925, Mussolini made a truculent speech before the Chamber in which he took responsibility for squadristi violence (though he did not mention the assassination of Matteotti).[citation needed]
He promised a crackdown on dissenters. Before his speech, MVSN detachments beat up the opposition and prevented opposition newspapers from publishing. Mussolini correctly predicted that as soon as public opinion saw him firmly in control the "fence-sitters", the silent majority, and the "place-hunters" would all place themselves behind him.[citation needed]
Building a dictatorship[link]
Assassination attempts[link]
Mussolini's influence in propaganda was such that he had surprisingly little opposition to suppress. Nonetheless, he was "slightly wounded in the nose" when he was shot on 7 April 1926 by Violet Gibson, an Irish woman and daughter of Baron Ashbourne, who was subsequently deported after her arrest.[68] On 31 October 1926, 15-year-old Anteo Zamboni attempted to shoot Mussolini in Bologna. Zamboni was lynched on the spot.[69][70] Mussolini also survived a failed assassination attempt in Rome by anarchist Gino Lucetti,[71] and a planned attempt by the Italian anarchist Michele Schirru,[72] which ended with Schirru's capture and execution.[73]
Police state[link]
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File:Benito Mussolini Face.jpg
A young Mussolini in his early years in power.
At various times after 1922, Mussolini personally took over the ministries of the interior, foreign affairs, colonies, corporations, defense, and public works. Sometimes he held as many as seven departments simultaneously, as well as the premiership. He was also head of the all-powerful Fascist Party and the armed local fascist militia, the MVSN or "Blackshirts", who terrorised incipient resistances in the cities and provinces. He would later form the OVRA, an institutionalised secret police that carried official state support. In this way he succeeded in keeping power in his own hands and preventing the emergence of any rival.
Between 1925 and 1927, Mussolini progressively dismantled virtually all constitutional and conventional restraints on his power, thereby building a police state. A law passed on Christmas Eve 1925 changed Mussolini's formal title from "president of the Council of Ministers" to "head of the government". He was no longer responsible to Parliament and could only be removed by the king. While the Italian constitution stated that ministers were only responsible to the sovereign, in practice it had become all but impossible to govern against the express will of Parliament. The Christmas Eve law ended this practice, and also made Mussolini the only person competent to determine the body's agenda. Local autonomy was abolished, and podestàs appointed by the Italian Senate replaced elected mayors and councils.
All other parties were outlawed following Zamboni's assassination attempt in 1926, though in practice Italy had been a one-party state since Mussolini's 1925 speech. In the same year, an electoral law abolished parliamentary elections. Instead, the Grand Council of Fascism selected a single list of candidates to be approved by plebiscite. The Grand Council had been created five years earlier as a party body but was "constitutionalised" and became the highest constitutional authority in the state. On paper, the Grand Council had the power to recommend Mussolini's removal from office, and was thus theoretically the only check on his power. Only Mussolini could summon the Grand Council and determine its agenda. To gain control of the South, especially Sicily, he appointed Cesare Mori as a Prefect of the city of Palermo, with the charge of eradicating the Mafia at any price. In the telegram, Mussolini wrote to Mori:
- "Your Excellency has carte blanche; the authority of the State must absolutely, I repeat absolutely, be re-established in Sicily. If the laws still in force hinder you, this will be no problem, as we will draw up new laws."[74]
He did not hesitate laying siege to towns, using torture, and holding women and children as hostages to oblige suspects to give themselves up. These harsh methods earned him the nickname of "Iron Prefect". In 1927 Mori's inquiries brought evidence of collusion between the Mafia and the Fascist establishment, and he was dismissed for length of service in 1929, at which time the number of murders in the Palermo Province had decreased from some 200 to 23. Mussolini nominated Mori as a senator, and fascist propaganda claimed that the Mafia had been defeated.[75][citation needed]
Economic policy[link]
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Main article: Economy of Italy under Fascism, 1922-1943
Mussolini launched several public construction programs and government initiatives throughout Italy to combat economic setbacks or unemployment levels. His earliest, and one of the best known, was the "Battle for Wheat", by which 5,000 new farms were established and five new agricultural towns (among them Littoria and Sabaudia) on land reclaimed by draining the Pontine Marshes. In Sardinia, a model agricultural town was founded and named Mussolinia, but has long since been renamed Arborea. This town was the first of what Mussolini hoped would have been thousands of new agricultural settlements across the country. The Battle for Wheat diverted valuable resources to wheat production away from other more economically viable crops. Landowners grew wheat on unsuitable soil using all the advances of modern science, and although the wheat harvest increased, prices rose, consumption fell and high tariffs were imposed.[76] The tariffs promoted widespread inefficiencies and the government subsidies given to farmers pushed the country further into debt.
Mussolini also initiated the "Battle for Land", a policy based on land reclamation outlined in 1928. The initiative had a mixed success; while projects such as the draining of the Pontine Marsh in 1935 for agriculture were good for propaganda purposes, provided work for the unemployed and allowed for great land owners to control subsidies, other areas in the Battle for Land were not very successful. This program was inconsistent with the Battle for Wheat (small plots of land were inappropriately allocated for large-scale wheat production), and the Pontine Marsh was lost during World War II. Fewer than 10,000 peasants resettled on the redistributed land, and peasant poverty remained high. The Battle for Land initiative was abandoned in 1940.
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He also combated an economic recession by introducing the "Gold for the Fatherland" initiative, by encouraging the public to voluntarily donate gold jewellery such as necklaces and wedding rings to government officials in exchange for steel wristbands bearing the words "Gold for the Fatherland". Even Rachele Mussolini donated her own wedding ring. The collected gold was then melted down and turned into gold bars, which were then distributed to the national banks.
Mussolini pushed for government control of business: by 1935, Mussolini claimed that three quarters of Italian businesses were under state control. That same year, he issued several edicts to further control the economy, including forcing all banks, businesses, and private citizens to give up all their foreign-issued stocks and bonds to the Bank of Italy. In 1938, he also instituted wage and price controls.[77][citation needed] He also attempted to turn Italy into a self-sufficient autarky, instituting high barriers on trade with most countries except Germany.
In 1943 he proposed the theory of economic socialization.
Government[link]
Main article: Italian Fascism
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File:Benito mussolini28.jpg
After taking power, Mussolini was often seen in military uniform.
Mussolini's foremost priority was the subjugation of the minds of the Italian people and the use of propaganda to do so. Press, radio, education, films—all were carefully supervised to create the illusion that fascism was the doctrine of the twentieth century, replacing liberalism and democracy.[citation needed] A lavish cult of personality centered on Mussolini was promoted by the regime.
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The principles of this doctrine were laid down in the article on fascism, written by Giovanni Gentile and signed by Mussolini that appeared in 1932 in the Enciclopedia Italiana. In 1929, a concordat with the Vatican was signed, the Lateran treaties, by which the Italian state was at last recognised by the Roman Catholic Church, and the independence of Vatican City was recognised by the Italian state.
The 1929 treaty included a legal provision whereby the Italian government would protect the honor and dignity of the Pope by prosecuting offenders.[78] In 1927, Mussolini was re-baptised by a Roman Catholic priest in an attempt to assuage certain Catholic opposition, who were still critical.[citation needed] After 1929, Mussolini, with his anti-Communist doctrines, convinced many Catholics to actively support him. In the encyclical Non abbiamo bisogno, Pope Pius XI attacked the Fascist regime for its policy against the Catholic Action and certain tendencies to overrule Catholic education morals.[citation needed]
The law codes of the parliamentary system were rewritten under Mussolini. All teachers in schools and universities had to swear an oath to defend the fascist regime. Newspaper editors were all personally chosen by Mussolini and no one who did not possess a certificate of approval from the fascist party could practice journalism. These certificates were issued in secret; Mussolini thus skillfully created the illusion of a "free press". The trade unions were also deprived of any independence and were integrated into what was called the "corporative" system. The aim (never completely achieved), inspired by medieval guilds, was to place all Italians in various professional organizations or "corporations", all of which were under clandestine governmental control.
Large sums of money were spent on highly visible public works, and on international prestige projects such as the Blue Riband ocean liner SS Rex and aeronautical achievements such as the world's fastest seaplane the Macchi M.C.72 and the transatlantic flying boat cruise of Italo Balbo, who was greeted with much fanfare in the United States when he landed in Chicago.
Role of education and youth organizations[link]
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Nationalists in the years after the war thought of themselves as combating the both liberal and domineering institutions created by cabinets such as those of Giovanni Giolitti, including traditional schooling. Futurism, a revolutionary cultural movement which would serve as a catalyst for Fascism, argued for "a school for physical courage and patriotism", as expressed by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in 1919. Marinetti expressed his disdain for "the by now prehistoric and troglodyte Ancient Greek and Latin courses", arguing for their replacement with exercise modelled on those of the Arditi soldiers ("[learning] to advance on hands and knees in front of razing machine gun fire; to wait open-eyed for a crossbeam to move sideways over their heads etc."). It was in those years that the first Fascist youth wings were formed Avanguardia Giovanile Fascista (Fascist Youth Vanguards) in 1919, and Gruppi Universitari Fascisti (Fascist University Groups), in 1922.
After the March on Rome that brought Benito Mussolini to power, the Fascists started considering ways to ideologize the Italian society, with an accent on schools. Mussolini assigned former ardito and deputy-secretary for Education Renato Ricci the task of "reorganizing the youth from a moral and physical point of view". Ricci sought inspiration with Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, meeting with him in England, as well as with Bauhaus artists in Germany. The Opera Nazionale Balilla was created through Mussolini's decree of 3 April 1926, and was led by Ricci for the following eleven years. It included children between the ages of 8 and 18, grouped as the Balilla and the Avanguardisti.
According to Mussolini: "Fascist education is moral, physical, social, and military: it aims to create a complete and harmoniously developed human, a fascist one according to our views". Mussolini structured this process taking in view the emotional side of childhood: "Childhood and adolescence alike ... cannot be fed solely by concerts, theories, and abstract teaching. The truth we aim to teach them should appeal foremost to their fantasy, to their hearts, and only then to their minds".
The "educational value set through action and example" was to replace the established approaches. Fascism opposed its version of idealism to prevalent rationalism, and used the Opera Nazionale Balilla to circumvent educational tradition by imposing the collective and hierarchy, as well as Mussolini's own personality cult.
Foreign policy[link]
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In foreign policy, Mussolini soon shifted from the anti-imperialism of his lead-up to power to an extreme form of aggressive nationalism. He dreamt of making Italy a nation that was "great, respected, and feared" throughout Europe, and indeed the world. An early example was his bombardment of Corfu in 1923. Soon after he succeeded in setting up a puppet regime in Albania and in ruthlessly consolidating Italian power in Libya, which had been loosely a colony since 1912. It was his dream to make the Mediterranean mare nostrum ("our sea" in Latin), and he established a large naval base on the Greek island of Leros to enforce a strategic hold on the eastern Mediterranean.
His first steps into foreign policy seemed to portray him as a "statesman", for he participated in the Locarno Treaties of 1925 and the attempted Four Power Pact of 1933 was Mussolini's brainchild. Following the Stresa Front against Germany in 1935, Mussolini's policy took a dramatic turning point and revealed itself once again to be that of an aggressive nature. This domino effect of war began with the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. He also disagreed with Hitler's treaties with the Soviet Union.[better source needed]
Conquest of Ethiopia[link]
Main article: Second Italo-Abyssinian War
File:Mussolini standing on a tank.jpg
Il Duce standing on top of a tank.
In an effort to create an Italian Empire – or as supporters called it, the New Roman Empire[79] – Italy set its sights on Ethiopia with an invasion that was carried out rapidly. Italy's forces were far superior to the Abyssinian forces, especially in regards to air power, and they were soon victorious. Emperor Haile Selassie was forced to flee the country, with Italy entering the capital Addis Ababa to proclaim an empire by May 1936, making Ethiopia part of Italian East Africa.[80]
Although all of the major European powers of the time had also colonised parts of Africa and committed atrocities in their colonies, the Scramble for Africa had finished by the beginning of the twentieth century. The international mood was now against colonialist expansion and Italy's actions were condemned. Retroactively, Italy was criticised for its use of mustard gas and phosgene against its enemies and also for its zero tolerance approach to enemy guerrillas, allegedly authorised by Mussolini.[80]
When Rodolfo Graziani the viceroy of Ethiopia was nearly assassinated at an official ceremony, with the guerrilla bomb exploding among the people there, a very stronghanded reaction followed against the guerrillas, including those who were prisoners according to the International Red Cross.[80] The IRC also alleged that Italy bombed their tents in areas of guerrillas military encampment; though Italy denied it had intended to, insisting that the rebels were targeted.[80] It was not until the East African Campaign's conclusion in 1941 that Italy lost its East African territories, after taking on a fourteen nation allied force.
Spanish Civil War[link]
Main articles: Spanish Civil War and Foreign Involvement and Corpo Truppe Volontarie
Italian military help to Nationalists against the anti-clerical and anti-Catholic atrocities committed by the Republican side worked well in Italian propaganda targeting Catholics. On 27 July 1936 the first squadron of Italian airplanes sent by Benito Mussolini arrived in Spain.[81] This active intervention in 1936–1939 on the side of Franco in the Spanish Civil War ended any possibility of reconciliation with France and Britain. As a result, his relationship with Adolf Hitler became closer, and he chose to accept the German annexation of Austria in 1938 and the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in 1939. At the Munich Conference in September 1938, he posed as a moderate working for European peace, helping Nazi Germany seize control of the Sudetenland. His "axis" with Germany was confirmed when he made the "Pact of Steel" with Hitler in May 1939, as the previous "Rome-Berlin Axis" of 1936 had been unofficial. Members of TIGR, a Slovene anti-fascist group, plotted to kill Mussolini in Kobarid in 1938, but their attempt was unsuccessful.
Axis[link]
Rome-Berlin relations[link]
Main articles: Rome-Berlin Axis and Pact of Steel
File:Hitler and Mussolini June 1940.jpg
Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in Munich, June 1940.
The relationship between Mussolini and Adolf Hitler was a contentious one early on. While Hitler cited Mussolini as an influence and expressed privately great admiration for him,[82] Mussolini had little regard for Hitler, especially after the Nazis had assassinated his friend and ally, Engelbert Dollfuss the Austrofascist dictator of Austria in 1934.
With the assassination of Dollfuss, Mussolini attempted to distance himself from Hitler by rejecting much of the racialism (particularly Nordicism and Germanicism) and anti-Semitism espoused by the German radical. Mussolini during this period rejected biological racism, at least in the Nazi sense, and instead emphasized "Italianizing" the parts of the Italian Empire he had desired to build.[83] He declared that the ideas of Eugenics and the racially charged concept of an Aryan nation were not possible.[83]
Mussolini was particularly sensitive to German accusations that the Italians were a mongrelized race. He retaliated by mockingly referring to the Germans' own lack of racial purity on several occasions. When discussing the Nazi decree that the German people must carry a passport with either Aryan or Jewish racial affiliation marked on it, in the summer of 1934, Mussolini wondered how they would designate membership in the "Germanic race":
| “ | But which race? Does there exist a German race? Has it ever existed? Will it ever exist? Reality, myth, or hoax of the theorists?
Ah well, we respond, a Germanic race does not exist. Various movements. Curiosity. Stupor. We repeat. Does not exist. We don't say so. Scientists say so. Hitler says so. |
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—Benito Mussolini, 1934.[84] |
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When German-Jewish journalist Emil Ludwig asked about his views on race, Mussolini exclaimed:
| “ | Race! It is a feeling, not a reality: ninety-five percent, at least, is a feeling. Nothing will ever make me believe that biologically pure races can be shown to exist today. Amusingly enough, not one of those who have proclaimed the "nobility" of the Teutonic race was himself a Teuton. Gobineau was a Frenchman, Chamberlain, an Englishman; Woltmann, a Jew; Lapouge, another Frenchman. | ” |
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—Benito Mussolini, 1933.[85] |
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In a speech given in Bari, he reiterated his attitude toward German racism:
| “ | Thirty centuries of history allow us to look with supreme pity on certain doctrines which are preached beyond the Alps by the descendants of those who were illiterate when Rome had Caesar, Virgil and Augustus. | ” |
Mussolini's rejection of both racialism and the importance of race in 1934 during the height of his antagonism towards Hitler contradicted his own earlier statements about race, such as in 1928 in which he emphasized the importance of race:
| “ | [When the] city dies, the nation — deprived of the young life-blood of new generations — is now made up of people who are old and degenerate and cannot defend itself against a younger people which launches an attack on the now unguarded frontiers [...] This will happen, and not just to cities and nations, but on an infinitely greater scale: the whole White race, the Western race can be submerged by other coloured races which are multiplying at a rate unknown in our race. | ” |
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—Benito Mussolini, 1928.[88] |
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Though Italian Fascism variated its official positions on race from the 1920s to 1934, ideologically Italian fascism did not originally discriminate against the Italian Jewish community: Mussolini recognised that a small contingent had lived there "since the days of the Kings of Rome" and should "remain undisturbed".[89] There were even some Jews in the National Fascist Party, such as Ettore Ovazza who in 1935 founded the Jewish Fascist paper La Nostra Bandiera ("Our Flag").[90]
By 1938, the enormous influence Hitler now had over Mussolini became clear with the introduction of the Manifesto of Race. The Manifesto, which was closely modeled on the Nazi Nuremberg laws,[67] stripped Jews of their Italian citizenship and with it any position in the government or professions. The German influence on Italian policy upset the established balance in Fascist Italy and proved highly unpopular to most Italians, to the extent that Pope Pius XII sent a letter to Mussolini protesting against the new laws.[citation needed]
It has been widely speculated that Mussolini's reasoning to adopt the Manifesto of Race in 1938 was merely tactical, in order to strengthen Italy's relations with Germany. In December 1943, Mussolini made a confession to Bruno Spampanato that seems to indicate that he regretted the Manifesto of Race, as Mussolini put it:
| “ | The Racial Manifesto could have been avoided. It dealt with the scientific abstruseness of a few teachers and journalists, a conscientious German essay translated into bad Italian. It is far from what I have said, written and signed on the subject. I suggest that you consult the old issues of Il Popolo d'Italia. For this reason I am far from accepting (Alfred) Rosenberg's myth. | ” |
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—Benito Mussolini, 1943.[91] |
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Mussolini also reached out to the Muslims in his empire and in the predominantly Arab countries of the Middle East. In 1937, the Muslims of Libya presented Mussolini with the "Sword of Islam" while Fascist propaganda pronounced him as the "Protector of Islam."[92]
Munich Conference, war looming[link]
Main articles: Munich Agreement and Italian invasion of Albania
By the late 1930s, Mussolini's obsession with demography led him to conclude that Britain and France were finished as powers, and that it was Germany and Italy who were destined to rule Europe if for no other reason than their demographic strength.[93] Mussolini stated his belief that declining birth rates in France were "absolutely horrifying" and that the British Empire was doomed because one-quarter of the British population was over 50. [94] As such, Mussolini believed that an alliance with Germany was preferable to an alignment with Britain and France as it was better to be allied with the strong instead of the weak. [95] The only things that held Mussolini back from full alignment with Berlin were his awareness of Italian economic and military weaknesses, which required further time to rearm and his desire to use the Easter Accords of April 1938 as a way of splitting Britain from France. [96] A military alliance with Germany as opposed to the already existing looser political alliance with the Reich under the Anti-Comintern Pact (which had no military commitments) would end any chance of Britain implementing the Easter Accords. [97] The Easter Accords in turn was intended by Mussolini to allow Italy to take on France alone by sufficiently improving Anglo-Italian relations that London would presumably remain neutral in the event of a Franco-Italian war. [97] In turn, the Easter Accords were intended by Britain to win Italy away from Germany.
Mussolini had imperial designs on Tunisia, and had some support in that country.[98] In January 1939, the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain visited Rome, during which visit, Mussolini learned that through Britain very much wanted better relations with Italy, and was prepared to make concessions, that Britain would not sever all ties with France for the sake of an improved Anglo-Italian relationship. [99] With that, Mussolini grew more interested in the German offer of a military alliance, which first been made in May 1938. [99] The new course was not without its critics. On 21 March 1939, during a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council, Italo Balbo accused Mussolini of "licking Hitler's boots", blasted the Duce's pro-German foreign policy as leading Italy to disaster, and noted that the "opening to Britain" still existed and it was not inevitable that Italy had to ally with Germany. [100] Through many gerarchi like Balbo were not keen on closer relations with Berlin, Mussolini's control of the foreign-policy machinery meant this dissidence counted for little. [100] In April 1939, Mussolini ordered the Italy invaded Albania. Italy defeated Albania within just five days forcing king Zog to flee, setting up a period of Albania under Italy. Until May 1939, the Axis had not been entirely official, but during that month the Pact of Steel treaty was signed outlining the "friendship and alliance" between Germany and Italy, signed by each of its foreign ministers.[101] The Pact of Steel was an offensive and defensive military alliance, through Mussolini had signed the treaty only after receiving a promise from the Germans that there would be no war for the next three years. Italy's king Victor Emanuel III was also wary of the pact, favouring the more traditional Italian allies like France, and fearful of the implications of an offensive military alliance, which in effect meant surrendering control over questions of war and peace to Hitler.[102]
Hitler was intent on invading Poland, though Galeazzo Ciano warned this would likely lead to war with the Allies. Hitler dismissed Ciano's comment, predicting that instead that Britain and the other Western countries would back down, and he suggested that Italy should invade Yugoslavia.[103] The offer was tempting to Mussolini, but at that stage world war would be a disaster for Italy as the armaments situation from building the Italian Empire thus far was lean. Most significantly, Victor Emmanuel had demanded neutrality in the dispute.[103] Thus when World War II in Europe began on 1 September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland eliciting the response of the United Kingdom and France declaring war on Germany, Italy did not become involved in the conflict.[103]
War declared[link]
Main article: Military history of Italy during World War II
As World War II began, Ciano and Viscount Halifax were holding secret phone conversations. The British wanted Italy on their side against Germany as it had been in World War I.[103] French government opinion was more geared towards action against Italy; they were eager to attack Italy in Libya. In September 1939, France swung to the opposite extreme, offering to discuss issues with Italy, but as the French were unwilling to discuss Corsica, Nice and Savoy, Mussolini did not answer.[103]
| “ | So long as the Duce lives, one can rest assured that Italy will seize every opportunity to achieve its imperialistic aims. | ” |
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—Adolf Hitler, late November 1939[103] |
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Convinced that the war would soon be over, with a German victory looking likely at that point, Mussolini decided to enter the war on the Axis side. Accordingly, Italy declared war on Britain and France on 10 June 1940.[104] Italy joined the Germans in the Battle of France, fighting the fortified Alpine Line at the border. Just eleven days later, France surrendered to the Axis powers. Included in Italian-controlled France was most of Nice and other southeastern counties.[104] Meanwhile in Africa, Mussolini's Italian East Africa forces attacked the British in their Sudan, Kenya and British Somaliland colonies, in what would become known as the East African Campaign.[105] British Somaliland was conquered and became part of Italian East Africa on 3 August 1940, and there were Italian advances in Sudan and Kenya.[106]
Just over a month later, the Italian Tenth Army commanded by General Rodolfo Graziani crossed from Italian Libya into Egypt where British forces were located; this would become the Western Desert Campaign. Advances were successful, but the Italians stopped at Sidi Barrani waiting for logistic supplies to catch up. During 25 October 1940, Mussolini sent the Italian Air Corps to Belgium, where the air force took part in the Battle of Britain for around two months.[107] In October, Mussolini also sent Italian forces into Greece starting the Greco-Italian War. After initial success, this backfired as the Greek counterattack proved relentless, resulting in Italy losing one quarter of Albania. Germany soon committed forces to the Balkans to fight the gathering Allies.[better source needed]
Events in Africa had changed by early 1941 as Operation Compass had forced the Italians back into Libya, causing high losses in the Italian Army.[108] Also in the East African Campaign, an attack was mounted against Italian forces. Despite putting up a resistance, they were overwhelmed at the Battle of Keren, and the Italian defense started to crumble with a final defeat in the Battle of Gondar. When addressing the Italian public on the events, he was completely open about the situation saying, "We call bread bread and wine wine, and when the enemy wins a battle it is useless and ridiculous to seek, as the English do in their incomparable hypocrisy, to deny or diminish it."[109] Part of his comment was in relation to earlier success the Italians had in Africa, before being defeated by an Allied force later. In danger of losing the control of all Italian possessions in North Africa, Germany finally sent the Afrika Korps to support Italy. Meanwhile Operation Marita took place in Yugoslavia to end the Greco-Italian War, resulting in an Axis victory and the Occupation of Greece by Italy and Germany.[110] With the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, Mussolini declared war on the Soviet Union in June 1941 and sent an army to fight there. Mussolini first learned of Barbarossa after it began on 22 June 1941, and was not asked by Hitler to involve himself. [111] Mussolini took the initiative in ordering an Italian Army Corps to head to the Eastern Front, where he hoped that Italy might score an easy victory to restore the Fascist regime’s lustre which had been damaged by defeats in Greece and North Africa; Mussolini told the Council of Ministers of 5 July that his only worry was that Germany might defeat the Soviet Union before the Italians arrived. [112] At a meeting with Hitler in August, Mussolini offered and Hitler accepted the commitment of further Italian troops to the Soviet Union. [113] The heavy losses suffered by the Italians on the Eastern Front, where service was extremely unpopular owing to the widespread view that this was not Italy's fight did much to damage Mussolini's prestige with the Italian people. [113] After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941.[better source needed] An interesting evidence regarding Mussolini's response to the attack on Pearl Harbor comes from the diary of his Foreign Minister Ciano:
"A night telephone call from Ribbentrop. He is overjoyed about the Japanese attack on America. He is so happy about it that I am happy with him, though I am not too sure about the final advantages of what has happened. One thing is now certain, that America will enter the conflict and that the conflict will be so long that she will be able to realize all her potential forces. This morning I told this to the King who had been pleased about the event. He ended by admitting that, in the long run, I may be right. Mussolini was happy, too. For a long time he has favored a definite clarification of relations between America and the Axis".[114]
Dismissed and arrested[link]
File:Pbadoglio.jpg
Marshal Pietro Badoglio succeeded Mussolini as Prime Minister.
By early 1942, Italy's position in the war became more and more untenable. After the defeat at El Alamein at the end of 1942, the Axis troops had to retreat to where they were finally defeated in the Tunisia Campaign in the spring of 1943. Also at the Eastern Front were major setbacks and the war had come to the nation's very doorstep with the Allied invasion of Sicily.[115] The Italian home front was also in bad shape as the Allied bombings were taking their toll. Factories all over Italy were brought to a virtual standstill due to a lack of raw materials, as well as coal and oil. Additionally, there was a chronic shortage of food, and what food was available was being sold at nearly confiscatory prices. Mussolini's once-ubiquitous propaganda machine lost its grip on the people; a large number of Italians turned to Vatican Radio or Radio London for more accurate news coverage. Discontent came to a head in March 1943 with a wave of labor strikes in the industrial north—the first large-scale strikes since 1925.[116] Also in March, some of the major factories in Milan and Turin stopped production to secure evacuation allowances for workers' families. The physical German presence in Italy had sharply turned public opinion against Mussolini; for example, when the Allies invaded Sicily, the majority of the public there welcomed them as liberators.[117]
Earlier in April 1943, Mussolini had begged Hitler to make a separate peace with Stalin and send German troops to the west to guard against an expected Allied invasion of Italy. Mussolini feared that with the losses in Tunisia and North Africa, the next logical step for Dwight Eisenhower's armies would be to come across the Mediterranean and attack the Italian peninsula. Within a few days of the Allied landings on Sicily in July 1943, it was obvious Mussolini's army was on the brink of collapse. This led Hitler to summon Mussolini to a meeting in northern Italy on 19 July 1943. By this time, Mussolini was so shaken from stress that he could no longer stand Hitler's boasting. His mood darkened further when that same day, the Allies bombed Rome—the first time that city had ever been the target of enemy bombing.[118]
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Italian radio statement announcing the dismissal of Mussolini, 25 July 1943.
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| Problems listening to this file? See media help. | |
Some prominent members of the Italian Fascist government had turned against Mussolini by this point. Among them were his confidant Dino Grandi and Mussolini's son-in-law Galeazzo Ciano. With several of his colleagues close to revolt, Mussolini was forced to summon the Grand Council of Fascism on 24 July 1943: the first time that body had met since the start of the war. When he announced that the Germans were thinking of evacuating the south, Grandi launched a blistering attack on him.[115] Grandi moved a resolution asking the king to resume his full constitutional powers, in effect, a vote of no confidence in Mussolini. This motion carried by a 19–7 margin. Despite this sharp rebuke, Mussolini showed up for work the next day as usual. He allegedly viewed the Grand Council as merely an advisory body and did not think the vote would have any substantive effect.[116] That afternoon, he was summoned to the royal palace by King Victor Emmanuel III, who had been planning to oust Mussolini earlier. When Mussolini tried to tell the king about the meeting, Victor Emmanuel cut him off and told him that he was being replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio.[116] After Mussolini left the palace, he was arrested by Carabinieri on the king's orders.[119]
By this time, discontent with Mussolini was such that when the news of his ouster was announced on the radio, there was no resistance.[116] In an effort to conceal his location from the Germans, Mussolini was moved around the country before being sent to Campo Imperatore, a mountain resort in Abruzzo where he was completely isolated.[115] Given the large Nazi presence in Italy, Badoglio announced that "the war continues at the side of our Germanic ally" in the hopes that chaos and Nazi retaliation against civilians could be avoided.[115] Even as Badoglio was keeping up the appearance of loyalty to the Axis, he dissolved the Fascist Party two days after taking over. Also, his government was negotiating an Armistice with the Allies, which was signed on 3 September 1943. Its announcement five days later threw Italy into chaos, a civil war of sorts. Badoglio and the king fled Rome, leaving the Italian Army without orders. Immediately after the Italian surrender was announced, German troops started taking over the Italian Peninsula by force as part of Operation Achse and occupied Rome on 10 September.[120] After a period of anarchy, Italy finally declared war on Nazi Germany on 13 October 1943 from Malta; thousands of troops were supplied to fight against the Germans, others refused to switch sides and had joined the Germans. The Badoglio government held a social truce with the leftist partisans for the sake of Italy and to rid the land of the Nazis.[121]
Italian Social Republic[link]
Main article: Italian Social Republic
Only two months after Mussolini had been dismissed and arrested, he was rescued from his prison at the Hotel Campo Imperatore in the Gran Sasso raid by a special Fallschirmjäger unit on 12 September 1943; present was Otto Skorzeny.[119] The rescue saved Mussolini from being turned over to the Allies, as per the armistice.[121] Hitler had made plans to arrest the king, Crown Prince Umberto, Badoglio, and the rest of the government and restore Mussolini to power in Rome, but the government's escape south likely foiled those plans.[118]
Three days following his rescue in the Gran Sasso raid, Mussolini was taken to Germany for a meeting with Hitler in Rastenberg at his East Prussian headquarters. Despite public professions of support, Hitler was clearly shocked by Mussolini's disheveled and haggard appearance as well as his unwillingness to go after the men in Rome who overthrew him. At this time, Mussolini was in very poor health which was the result of severe stress because of Italy's bleak war situation and he wanted to retire from politics altogether.[citation needed] Hitler firmly told him that unless he agreed to return to Italy and set up a new fascist state, the Germans would destroy Milan, Genoa and Turin.[citation needed] Feeling that he had to do what he could to blunt the edges of Nazi repression, Mussolini agreed to set up a new regime, the Italian Social Republic,[115] informally known as the Salò Republic because of its administration from the town of Salò where he settled in just 11 days after his rescue by the Germans. Mussolini's new regime faced numerous territorial losses: in addition to losing the Italian lands held by the Allies and Badoglio's government, the provinces of Bolzano, Belluno and Trento were placed under German administration in the Operational Zone of the Alpine Foothills, while the provinces of Udine, Gorizia, Trieste, Pola (now Pula), Fiume (now Rijeka) and Ljubljana (Lubiana) were incorporated into the German Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral.[122] In addition, the German army occupied the Dalmatian provinces of Split (Spalato) and Kotor (Cattaro), which were subsequently annexed by the Croatian fascist regime. Italy's gains in Greece and Albania were also lost to Germany, with the exception of the Italian Aegean Islands, which remained nominally under RSI rule.[123] Mussolini opposed any territorial reductions of the Italian state and told his associates "I am not here to renounce even a square meter of state territory. We will go back to war for this. And we will rebel against anyone for this. Where the Italian flag flew, the Italian flag will return. And where it has not been lowered, now that I am here, no one will have it lowered. I have said these things to the Führer".[124]
For two years, Mussolini lived in Gargnano on Lake Garda in Lombardy during this period. Although he insisted in public that he was in full control, he himself knew that he was little more than a puppet ruler under the protection of his German liberators—for all intents and purposes, the Gauleiter of Lombardy.[118] After yielding to pressures from Hitler and the remaining loyal fascists who formed the government of the Republic of Salo, Mussolini helped orchestrate a series of executions of some of the fascist leaders who had betrayed him at the last meeting of the Fascist Grand Council. One of those executed included his son-in-law, Galeazzo Ciano. As Head of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Italian Social Republic, Mussolini used much of his time to write his memoirs. Along with his autobiographical writings of 1928, these writings would be combined and published by Da Capo Press as My Rise and Fall. In an interview in January 1945, a few months before he was captured and executed by Italian anti-fascist partisans, he stated flatly: "Seven years ago, I was an interesting person. Now, I am little more then a corpse." He continued:
| “ | Yes, madam, I am finished. My star has fallen. I have no fight left in me. I work and I try, yet know that all is but a farce... I await the end of the tragedy and – strangely detached from everything – I do not feel any more an actor. I feel I am the last of spectators. | ” |
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—Benito Mussolini, interviewed in early 1945 by Madeleine Mollier.[125] |
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Death[link]
Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were stopped by communist partisans Valerio and Bellini and identified by the Political Commissar of the partisans' 52nd Garibaldi Brigade, Urbano Lazzaro, on 27 April 1945, near the village of Dongo (Lake Como), as they headed for Switzerland to board a plane to escape to Spain. During this time Claretta's brother even posed as a Spanish consul.[126] Mussolini had been traveling with retreating German forces and was apprehended while attempting to escape recognition by wearing a German military uniform.[citation needed] After several unsuccessful attempts to take them to Como they were brought to Mezzegra. They spent their last night in the house of the De Maria family.
The next day, Mussolini and Petacci were both summarily executed, along with most of the members of their 15-man train, primarily ministers and officials of the Italian Social Republic. The shootings took place in the small village of Giulino di Mezzegra. According to the official version of events, the shootings were conducted by Colonnello Valerio, whose real name was Walter Audisio. Audisio was the communist partisan commander who was reportedly given the order to kill Mussolini by the National Liberation Committee. When Audisio entered the room where Mussolini and the other fascists were being held, he reportedly announced, "I have come to rescue you!... Do you have any weapons?" He then had them loaded into transports and driven a short distance. Audisio ordered, "Get down"; Petacci hugged Mussolini and refused to move away from him when they were taken to an empty space. Shots were fired and Petacci fell down. Just then Mussolini opened his jacket and screamed, "Shoot me in the chest!" Audisio complied and shot him in the chest. Mussolini fell but did not die and was breathing heavily. Audisio went near and he shot one more bullet in his chest. Mussolini's face looked as if he had significant pain. Audisio said to his driver, "Look at his face, the emotions on his face don't suit him." The other members of Mussolini's entourage were also executed before a firing squad later that same day towards nightfall.[127]
Mussolini's body[link]
On 29 April 1945, the bodies of Mussolini, Petacci, and the other executed Fascists were loaded into a moving van and trucked south to Milan. There, at 3:00 am, they were dumped on the ground in the old Piazzale Loreto. The piazza had been renamed "Piazza Quindici Martiri" in honor of 15 anti-Fascists recently executed there.[128]
After being shot, kicked, and spat upon, the bodies were hung upside down on meathooks from the roof of an Esso gas station.[129] The bodies were then stoned by civilians from below. This was done both to discourage any Fascists from continuing the fight and as an act of revenge for the hanging of many partisans in the same place by Axis authorities. The corpse of the deposed leader became subject to ridicule and abuse. Fascist loyalist Achille Starace was captured and sentenced to death and then taken to the Piazzale Loreto and shown the body of Mussolini. Starace, who once said of Mussolini "He is a god,"[130] saluted what was left of his leader just before he was shot. The body of Starace was subsequently strung up next to the body of Mussolini.
After his death and the display of his corpse in Milan, Mussolini was buried in an unmarked grave in the Musocco cemetery, to the north of the city. On Easter Sunday 1946 his body was located and dug up by Domenico Leccisi and two other neo-Fascists. Making off with their hero, they left a message on the open grave: "Finally, O Duce, you are with us. We will cover you with roses, but the smell of your virtue will overpower the smell of those roses."[citation needed]
On the loose for months—and a cause of great anxiety to the new Italian democracy—the Duce's body was finally "recaptured" in August, hidden in a small trunk at the Certosa di Pavia, just outside Milan. Two Fransciscan brothers were subsequently charged with concealing the corpse, though it was discovered on further investigation that it had been constantly on the move. Unsure what to do, the authorities held the remains in a kind of political limbo for 10 years, before agreeing to allow them to be re-interred at Predappio in Romagna, his birth place, after a campaign headed by Leccisi and the Movimento Sociale Italiano.[citation needed]
Leccisi, a fascist deputy, went on to write his autobiography, With Mussolini Before and After Piazzale Loreto. Adone Zoli, the prime minister of the day, contacted Donna Rachele, the former dictator's widow, to tell her he was returning the remains, as he needed the support of the far-right in parliament, including Leccisi himself. In Predappio the dictator was buried in a crypt (the only posthumous honour granted to Mussolini). His tomb is flanked by marble fasces, and a large idealised marble bust of himself sits above the tomb.[131]
Personal life[link]
Mussolini was first married to Ida Dalser in Trento in 1914.[46] The couple had a son one year later and named him Benito Albino Mussolini. In December 1915, Mussolini married Rachele Guidi, his mistress since 1910, and with his following political ascendency the information about his first marriage was suppressed and both his first wife and son were later persecuted.[46] With Rachele, Mussolini had two daughters, Edda (1910–1995) and Anna Maria (Forlì, Villa Carpena, 3 September 1929 – Rome, 25 April 1968), married in Ravenna on 11 June 1960 to Nando Pucci Negri, and three sons Vittorio (1916–1997), Bruno (1918–1941), and Romano (1927–2006). Mussolini had a number of mistresses among them Margherita Sarfatti and his final companion, Clara Petacci. Furthermore, Mussolini had innumerable brief sexual encounters with female supporters as reported by his biographer Nicholas Farrell.[132]
Religious beliefs[link]
Atheism and anti-clericalism[link]
Mussolini was raised by a devoutly Catholic mother[133] and an anti-clerical father.[134] His mother Rosa had him baptized into the Roman Catholic Church, and took her children to services every Sunday. His father never attended.[133] Mussolini regarded his time at a religious boarding school as punishment, compared the experience to hell, and "once refused to go to morning mass and had to be dragged there by force".[135]
Mussolini would become anti-clerical like his father. As a young man, he "proclaimed himself to be an atheist and several times tried to shock an audience by calling on God to strike him dead."[134] He denounced socialists who were tolerant of religion, or who had their children baptized. He believed that science had proven there was no God, and that the historical Jesus was ignorant and mad. He considered religion a disease of the psyche, and accused Christianity of promoting resignation and cowardice.[134]
Mussolini was an admirer of Friedrich Nietzsche. According to Denis Mack Smith, "In Nietzsche he found justification for his crusade against the Christian virtues of humility, resignation, charity, and goodness."[136] He valued Nietzsche's concept of the superman, "The supreme egoist who defied both God and the masses, who despised egalitarianism and democracy, who believed in the weakest going to the wall and pushing them if they did not go fast enough."[136]
Mussolini made vitriolic attacks against Christianity and the Catholic Church, "which he accompanied with provocative and blasphemous remarks about the consecrated host and about a love affair between Christ and Mary Magdalen."[137] He believed that socialists who were Christian or who accepted religious marriage should be expelled from the party. He denounced the Catholic Church for "its authoritarianism and refusal to allow freedom of thought..." Mussolini's newspaper, La Lotta di Classe, reportedly had an anti-Christian editorial stance.[137]
Lateran Pact[link]
Despite making such attacks, Mussolini would try to win popular support by appeasing the Catholic majority in Italy. In 1924, Mussolini saw that three of his children were given communion. In 1925, he had a priest perform a religious marriage ceremony for himself and his wife Rachele, whom he had married in a civil ceremony 10 years earlier.[138] On 11 February 1929, he signed a concordat and treaty with the Roman Catholic Church.[139] Under the Lateran Pact, Vatican City was granted independent statehood and placed under Church law—rather than Italian law—and the Catholic religion was recognized as Italy's state religion.[140] The Church also regained authority over marriage, Catholicism could be taught in all secondary schools, birth control and freemasonry were banned, and the clergy received subsidies from the state, and was exempted from taxation.[141][142] Pope Pius XI praised Mussolini, and the official Catholic newspaper pronounced "Italy has been given back to God and God to Italy."[140]
After this conciliation, he claimed the Church was subordinate to the State, and "referred to Catholicism as, in origin, a minor sect that had spread beyond Palestine only because grafted onto the organization of the Roman empire."[139] After the concordat, "he confiscated more issues of Catholic newspapers in the next three months than in the previous seven years."[139] Mussolini reportedly came close to being excommunicated from the Catholic Church around this time.[139]
Mussolini publicly reconciled with the Pope Pius XI in 1932, but "took care to exclude from the newspapers any photography of himself kneeling or showing deference to the Pope."[139] He wanted to persuade Catholics that "[f]ascism was Catholic and he himself a believer who spent some of each day in prayer..."[139] The Pope began referring to Mussolini as "a man sent by Providence."[137][139] Despite Mussolini's efforts to appear pious, by order of his party, pronouns referring to him "had to be capitalized like those referring to God..."[139]
In 1938 Mussolini began reasserting his anti-clericalism. He would sometimes refer to himself as an "outright disbeliever," and once told his cabinet that "Islam was perhaps a more effective religion than Christianity" and that the "papacy was a malignant tumor in the body of Italy and must 'be rooted out once and for all', because there was no room in Rome for both the Pope and himself."[143] He would publicly back down from these anti-clerical statements, but continued making similar statements in private.
After his fall from power in 1943, Mussolini began speaking "more about God and the obligations of conscience", although "he still had little use for the priests and sacraments of the Church,".[144] He also began drawing parallels between himself and Jesus Christ.[144] Mussolini's widow, Rachele, stated that her husband had remained "basically irreligious until the later years of his life.[145] Mussolini was given a Catholic funeral in 1957.[146]
Legacy[link]
Mussolini was survived by his wife, Rachele Mussolini, two sons, Vittorio and Romano Mussolini, and his daughters Edda, the widow of Count Ciano, and Anna Maria. A third son, Bruno, was killed in an air accident while flying a P108 bomber on a test mission, on 7 August 1941.[147] His oldest son, Benito Albino Mussolini, from his marriage with Ida Dalser, was ordered to stop declaring that Mussolini was his father and in 1935 forcibly committed to an asylum in Milan, where he was murdered on 26 August 1942 after repeated coma-inducing injections.[46] Actress Sophia Loren's sister, Anna Maria Scicolone, was formerly married to Romano Mussolini, Mussolini's son. Mussolini's granddaughter Alessandra Mussolini was a member of the European Parliament for the far right party Alternativa Sociale and currently serves in the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the ruling People of Freedom. Other relatives of Edda (Castrianni) moved to England after World War II.[citation needed]
Mussolini's National Fascist Party was banned in the postwar Constitution of Italy, but a number of successor neo-fascist parties emerged to carry on its legacy. Historically, the strongest neo-fascist party was MSI (Movimento Sociale Italiano), which was declared dissolved in 1995 and replaced by the National Alliance, which distanced itself from Fascism (its leader Gianfranco Fini once declared that Fascism was "an absolute evil"). These parties were united under Silvio Berlusconi's House of Freedoms coalition and in 2009 a broad based group of right-wing parties, including Gianfranco Fini's National Alliance and Alessandra Mussolini's Azione Sociale, were merged to create The People of Freedom party led by Prime Minister Berlusconi.
In popular culture[link]
Charlie Chaplin's 1940 film The Great Dictator satirizes Mussolini as "Benzino Napaloni", portrayed by Jack Oakie. In the Three Stooges' I'll Never Heil Again, Cy Schindell plays "Chizzolini", from the then topical insult of "chisler".
More serious biographical depictions include a look at the last few days of Mussolini's life in Carlo Lizzani's movie Mussolini: Ultimo atto (Mussolini: The last act, 1974) starring Rod Steiger and George C. Scott's portrayal in the 1985 television mini-series Mussolini: The Untold Story.
Another 1985 movie was Mussolini and I, in which Bob Hoskins plays the dictator (with Susan Sarandon as his daughter Edda and Anthony Hopkins as Count Ciano). Actor Antonio Banderas also played the title role in Benito in 1993, which covered his life from his school teacher days to the beginning of World War I, before his rise as dictator. Mussolini is also depicted in the films Tea with Mussolini, Lion of the Desert (also with Steiger) and the award-winning Italian film Vincere.
A comic strip ran in the British comic The Beano entitled Musso the Wop. This strip which ran from 1940 to 1943 featured Mussolini as an arrogant buffoon.[148]
See also[link]
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References[link]
- ^ Image Description: Propaganda poster of Benito Mussolini, with caption "His Excellency Benito Mussolini, Head of Government, Leader of Fascism, and Founder of the Empire...".
- ^ Hakim, Joy (1995). A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509514-6.
- ^ John Dickie. Cosa Nostra: A History Of The Sicilian Mafia. Hampshire, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 2004. Pp. 150-159.
- ^ Martin Blinkhorn. Mussolini And Fascist Italy. Third edition. New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2006. Pp. 53.
- ^ MacGregor Knox. Mussolini unleashed, 1939-1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War. Edition of 1999. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. 122-123.
- ^ MacGregor Knox. Mussolini unleashed, 1939-1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War. Edition of 1999. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. 122-123.
- ^ MacGregor Knox. Mussolini unleashed, 1939-1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War. Edition of 1999. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Pp. 122-127.
- ^ Viganò, Marino (2001), "Un'analisi accurata della presunta fuga in Svizzera" (in Italian), Nuova Storia Contemporanea 3
- ^ "1945: Italian partisans kill Mussolini". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/28/newsid_3564000/3564529.stm. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d Mediterranean Fascism 1919–1945 Edited by Charles F. Delzel, Harper Rowe 1970, page 3
- ^ a b c "Benito Mussolini". Grolier.com. 8 January 2008. http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_mussolini.html. [dead link]
- ^ a b c d Living History 2; Chapter 2: Italy under Fascism. ISBN 1-84536-028-1
- ^ "Alessandro Mussolini". GeneAll.net. 8 January 2008. http://www.geneall.net/I/per_page.php?id=283037.
- ^ Gregor 1979, p. 29.
- ^ a b Gregor 1979, p. 31.
- ^ Mediterranean Fascism by Charles F. Delzel page 96
- ^ a b Mauro Cerutti: Benito Mussolini in .php German, .php French and .php Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
- ^ Haugen, Brenda (2007). Benito Mussolini. Compass Point Books. ISBN 978-0-7565-1892-9. http://books.google.com/?id=rleP5CVe070C&pg=PA24.
- ^ "Mussolini: il duce". ThinkQuest.org. 24 October 2009. http://library.thinkquest.org/19592/Persons/mussolin.htm.
- ^ "The Life of Benito Mussolini" by Margherita G. Sarfatti, p. 156
- ^ taken from WorldCat's entry for this book's title.
- ^ Mediterranean Fascism 1919–1945 Edited by Charles F. Delzel, Harper Rowe 1970, bottom of page 3
- ^ a b c d Mediterranean Fascism 1919–1945 Edited by Charles F. Delzel, Harper Rowe 1970, page 4
- ^ a b c d e Golomb 2002, p. 249.
- ^ Tucker 2005, p. 1001.
- ^ Tucker 2005, p. 884.
- ^ Tucker 2005, p. 335.
- ^ Tucker 2005, p. 219.
- ^ a b Tucker 2005, p. 826.
- ^ Tucker 2005, p. 209.
- ^ a b c d e f Gregor 1979, p. 189.
- ^ Tucker 2005, p. 596.
- ^ a b c d Emile Ludwig. Nine Etched in Life. Ayer Company Publishers, 1934 (original), 1969. p. 321.
- ^ a b c d Gregor 1979, p. 191.
- ^ Mediterranean Fascism 1919–1945 Edited by Charles F. Delzel, Harper Rowe 1970, page 6.
- ^ Dennis Mack Smith. 1997. Modern Italy; A Political History. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 284.
- ^ a b Gregor 1979, p. 200.
- ^ Gregor 1979, pp. 191-192.
- ^ a b Gregor 1979, p. 192.
- ^ a b Gregor 1979, p. 193.
- ^ Gregor 1979, p. 195.
- ^ Gregor 1979, pp. 193, 195.
- ^ Gregor 1979, pp. 195-196.
- ^ a b c Gregor 1979, p. 196.
- ^ a b Mussolini: A Study In Power, Ivone Kirkpatrick, Hawthorne Books, 1964. ISBN 0-8371-8400-2
- ^ a b c d Owen, Richard (13 January 2005). "Power-mad Mussolini sacrificed wife and son". The Times (UK). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article411675.ece. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
- ^ Kington, Tom (13 October 2009). "Recruited by MI5: the name's Mussolini. Benito Mussolini – Documents reveal Italian dictator got start in politics in 1917 with help of £100 weekly wage from MI5". Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/13/benito-mussolini-recruited-mi5-italy. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
- ^ "The Rise of Benito Mussolini". 8 January 2008. http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/ww2timeline/Prelude05.html.
- ^ "We're all fascists now". Salon.com. 8 January 2008. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/01/11/goldberg/print.html.
- ^ "The Rise of Benito Mussolini". http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/ww2timeline/Prelude05.html.
- ^ Giovanni Gentile; Benito Mussolini (1932). "La Dottrina del fascismo [The Doctrine of Fascism]" (in Italian). Lit Gloss, University of Buffalo. Section I.8.. http://litgloss.buffalo.edu/mussolini/text.shtml. Retrieved 21 March 2011. "So fascism is against socialism, which stiffens the historical movement in the class struggle and ignores the unity of the state that the classes merged into one economic and moral reality, and similarly, it is against the class unionism. (Google Translate from: Perciò il fascismo è contro il socialismo che irrigidisce il movimento storico nella lotta di classe e ignora l'unità statale che le classi fonde in una sola realtà economica e morale; e analogamente, è contro il sindacalismo classista.)" [citation needed]
- ^ Vox Day (28 June 2004). "Flunking Fascism 101". VoxDay.net. http://voxday.net/archive/2004/062804.html. Retrieved 21 March 2011. [citation needed]
- ^ Moseley 2004, p. 39.
- ^ Sharma, Urmila. Western Political Thought. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors (P) Ltd, 1998. p. 66.
- ^ Sharma, Urmila. Western Political Thought. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors (P) Ltd, 1998. pp. 66–67.
- ^ Kallis 2002, pp. 48-51.
- ^ Kallis 2002, pp. 50-51.
- ^ Kallis 2002, pp. 48-50.
- ^ Kallis 2002, p. 50.
- ^ a b c d e f g Kallis 2002, p. 52.
- ^ Roland Sarti (8 January 2008). "Fascist Modernization in Italy: Traditional or Revolutionary". The American Historical Review 75 (4): 1029–1045. DOI:10.2307/1852268. JSTOR 1852268.
- ^ "Mussolini's Italy". Appstate.edu. 8 January 2008. http://www.appstate.edu/~brantzrw/history3134/mussolini.html. [dead link]
- ^ Macdonald, Hamish (1999). Mussolini and Italian Fascism. Nelson Thornes. ISBN 0-7487-3386-8. http://books.google.com/?id=221W9vKkWrcC&pg=PT17&lpg=PT17&dq=%22third+way%22+mussolini.
- ^ "Ha'aretz Newspaper, Israel, 'The Jewish Mother of Fascism". Haaretz. Israel. Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080617050824/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=735492. Retrieved 13 March 2009. [dead link]
- ^ Weinberg 2005, p. 18.
- ^ Speech of the 30th of May 1924 the last speech of Matteotti, from it.wikisource
- ^ a b Paxton, Robert (2004). The Anatomy of Fascism. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4094-9.
- ^ The Times, Thursday, 8 April 1926; p. 12; Issue 44240; column A
- ^ Cannistraro, Philip (March 1996). "Mussolini, Sacco-Vanzetti, and the Anarchists: The Transatlantic Context". The Journal of Modern History (The University of Chicago Press) 68 (1): 55. DOI:10.1086/245285. JSTOR 2124332.
- ^ "Father inspired Zamboni. But Parent of Mussolini's Assailant Long Ago Gave Up Anarchism. Blood Shed in Riots throughout Italy". The New York Times. 3 November 1926. http://www.proquest.com. Retrieved 6 September 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "The attempted assassination of Mussolini in Rome". Libcom.org. 10 September 2006. http://libcom.org/history/1926-attempted-assassination-mussolini. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
- ^ Andrew (3 March 2005). "Remembering the Anarchist Resistance to fascism". Anarkismo.net. http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=87. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
- ^ Melchior Seele (11 September 2006). "1931: The murder of Michael Schirru". Libcom.org. http://www.libcom.org/history/articles/murder-michael-schirru. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
- ^ Arrigo Petacco, L'uomo della provvidenza: Mussolini, ascesa e caduta di un mito, Milano, Mondadori, 2004, p. 190
- ^ Göran Hägg: Mussolini, en studie i makt
- ^ Clark, Martin, Modern Italy, Pearson Longman, 2008, p.322
- ^ The Vampire Economy: Italy, Germany, and the US, Jeffrey Herbener, Mises Institute, 13 October 2005
- ^ Comic escapes prosecution for insulting pope (Oddly Enough) Reuters, (Friday 19 September 2008 1:15 pm EDT) By Phil Stewart
- ^ "A Brief History of Italy: From the Etruscans to today". LifeinItaly.com. 8 January 2008. http://www.lifeinitaly.com/history/. [dead link]
- ^ a b c d "Ethiopia 1935–36". icrc.org. 8 January 2008. http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/5RUHGM?OpenDocument&View=defaultBody&style=custo_print.
- ^ Speech delivered by Premier Benito Mussolini. Rome, Italy, 23 February 1941
- ^ "If the Duce were to die, it would be a great misfortune for Italy. As I walked with him in the gardens of the Villa Borghese, I could easily compare his profile with that of the Roman busts, and I realised he was one of the Caesars. There's no doubt at all that Mussolini is the heir of the great men of that period." Hitler's Table Talk
- ^ a b Cannistraro, P. V. (April 1972). "Mussolini's Cultural Revolution: Fascist or Nationalist?". Journal of Contemporary History (SAGE Journals Online) 7 (3): 115–139. DOI:10.1177/002200947200700308. http://jch.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/7/3/115. Retrieved 23 March 2011. (Subscription required)
- ^ Gillette, Aaron (2002). Racial Theories in Fascist Italy. Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 0-415-25292-X. http://books.google.com/?id=6Y8XRZAdv9IC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA42&dq=mussolini+thoughts+on+race.
- ^ Gillette, Aaron (2002). Racial Theories in Fascist Italy. Routledge. p. 44. ISBN 0-415-25292-X. http://books.google.com/?id=6Y8XRZAdv9IC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=mussolini+thoughts+on+race.
- ^ Institute of Jewish Affairs (2007). Hitler's ten-year war on the Jews. Kessinger Publishing. p. 283. ISBN 1-4325-9942-9. http://books.google.com/?id=vCA4AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Thirty+centuries+of+history+allow+us+to+look+with+supreme+pity%22.
- ^ Video clip from the speech
- ^ Griffen, Roger (ed.). Fascism. Oxford University Press, 1995. Pp. 59.
- ^ Hollander, Ethan J (1997) (PDF). Italian Fascism and the Jews. University of California. ISBN 0-8039-4648-1. http://weber.ucsd.edu/~ejhollan/Haaretz%20-%20Ital%20fascism%20-%20English.PDF.
- ^ Peter Egill Brownfeld (Fall 2003). "The Italian Holocaust: The Story of an Assimilated Jewish Community". The American Council for Judaism. http://www.acjna.org/acjna/articles_detail.aspx?id=300. Retrieved 23 March 2011. "Ovazza started a Jewish fascist newspaper, "La Nostra Bandiera" (Our Flag) in an effort to show that the Jews were among the regime's most loyal followers."
- ^ Gillette, Aaron (2002). Racial Theories in Fascist Italy. Routledge. p. 95. ISBN 0-415-25292-X. http://books.google.com/?id=6Y8XRZAdv9IC&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=mussolini+thoughts+on+race.
- ^ Arielli, Nir (9 June 2010). Fascist Italy and the Middle East, 1933–40. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 92–99. ISBN 978-0-230-23160-3.
- ^ Stang 1999, p. 172.
- ^ Stang 1999.
- ^ Stang 1999, pp. 172-174.
- ^ Stang 1999, pp. 173-174.
- ^ a b Stang 1999, pp. 174-175.
- ^ Lowe, CJ (1967). Italian Foreign Policy 1870–1940. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26597-5. http://books.google.com/?id=5Cfuax6XHF0C&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=irredentism.
- ^ a b Kallis 2002, p. 153.
- ^ a b Kallis 2002, p. 97.
- ^ "The Italo-German Alliance, May 22, 1939". astro.temple.edu. 8 January 2008. http://astro.temple.edu/~rimmerma/Italo_German_alliance_1939.htm.
- ^ "Victor Emanuel III". Questia.com. 8 January 2008. http://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/victor_emmanuel_iii.jsp.
- ^ a b c d e f Knox, MacGregor (1986). Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-33835-2. http://books.google.com/?id=_PwCu_D-HiUC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA44&dq=mussolini+non-belligerent.
- ^ a b "Italy Declares War". ThinkQuest.org. 8 January 2008. http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212881/italdewa.html.
- ^ Samson, Anne (1967). Britain, South Africa and East African Campaign: International Library of Colonial History. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 0-415-26597-5. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1845110404.
- ^ "1940 World War II Timeline". WorldWarIIHistory.info. 8 January 2008. http://www.worldwariihistory.info/1940.html.
- ^ Mollo, Andrew (1987). The Armed Forces of World War II. I B Tauris & Co Ltd. ISBN 978-0-517-54478-5. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0517544784.
- ^ "World War II: Operation Compass". About.com. 8 January 2008. http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwarii/p/compass.htm.
- ^ "Speech Delivered by Premier Benito Mussolini". IlBiblio.org. 8 January 2008. http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1941/410223a.html.
- ^ "The Invasion and Battle for Greece (Operation Marita)". Feldgrau.com. 8 January 2008. http://www.feldgrau.com/greecewar.html.
- ^ Weinberg 2005, p. 276.
- ^ Weinberg 2005, pp. 276-277.
- ^ a b Weinberg 2005, p. 277.
- ^ Trial of German Major War Criminals, vol. 3, p. 398.
- ^ a b c d e Moseley 2004.
- ^ a b c d Whittam, John (2005). Fascist Italy. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-4004-3. http://books.google.com/?id=hHgMm6APG_0C&dq=%22Vatican+Radio%22+%22Radio+London%22+fascist.
- ^ "Modern era". BestofSicily.com. 8 January 2008. http://www.bestofsicily.com/history3.htm.
- ^ a b c Shirer, William (1960). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. New York City: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-72868-7.
- ^ a b Annussek, Greg (2005). Hitler's Raid to Save Mussolini. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81396-2. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0306813963.
- ^ Moseley(2004), p. 23
- ^ a b Moseley, Ray (2004). Mussolini: The Last 600 Days of Il Duce. Taylor Trade. ISBN 1-58979-095-2. http://books.google.com/?id=UmxaWvOL_IgC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=Campo+Imperatore+abruzzo+mussolini.
- ^ A copy of an existing document is available online. It reads
"In addition to my (...) order of the commander of the Greater German Reich in Italy and the organisation of the occupied Italian area from 10 September 1943 I determine:
The supreme commanders in the Operational Zone Adriatic Coast consisting of the provinces of Friaul, Görz, Triest, Istrien, Fiume, Quarnero, Laibach, and in the Prealpine Operations Zone consisting of the provinces of Bozen, Trient and Belluno receive the fundamental instructions for their activity from me.
Führer's headquarters, 10 September 1943.
The Führer Gen. Adolf Hitler".
See second document at
http://www.karawankengrenze.at/ferenc/document/show/id/317?symfony=ad81b9f2cd1e66a7c973073ed0532df1 - ^ Nicola Cospito; Hans Werner Neulen (1992). Salò-Berlino: l'alleanza difficile. La Repubblica Sociale Italiana nei documenti segreti del Terzo Reich. Mursia. p. 128. ISBN 88-425-1285-0.
- ^ Moseley (2004), p. 26.
- ^ "The twilight of Italian fascism". EnterStageRight.com. 8 January 2008. http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0105/0105mussolini.htm.
- ^ Toland, John. (1966). The Last 100 Days Random House, p. 504, OCLC 294225
- ^ "Benito Mussolini". Celebritymorgue.com. 28 April 1945. http://www.celebritymorgue.com/benito-mussolini/. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
- ^ Time Magazine, 7 May 1945
- ^ Video: Beaten Nazis Sign Historic Surrender, 1945/05/14 (1945). Universal Newsreel. 1945. http://www.archive.org/details/1945-05-14_Beaten_Nazis_Sign_Historic_Surrender. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
- ^ Quoted in "Mussolini: A New Life", p. 276 by Nicholas Burgess Farrell – 2004
- ^ "The tomb". findagrave.com. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=11638&PIpi=91458.
- ^ Peter York. Dictator Style. Chronicle Books, San Francisco (2006), ISBN 0-8118-5314-4. pp. 17–18.
- ^ a b D.M. Smith 1982, p. 1
- ^ a b c D.M. Smith 1982, p. 8
- ^ D.M. Smith 1982, pp. 2–3
- ^ a b D.M. Smith 1982, p. 12
- ^ a b c D.M. Smith 1982, p. 15
- ^ Rachele Mussolini 1974, p. 129
- ^ a b c d e f g h D.M. Smith 1982, p. 162-163
- ^ a b Roberts, Jeremy (2006). Benito Mussolini. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books, p. 60.
- ^ Neville, Peter (2004). Mussolini: Routledge Historical Biographies. New York: Psychology Press, p. 84.
- ^ Townley, Edward (2002). Mussolini and Italy. New York: Heinemann Press, p. 49.
- ^ D.M. Smith 1982, pp. 222–223
- ^ a b D.M. Smith 1982, p. 311
- ^ Rachele Mussolini 1974, p. 131
- ^ Rachele Mussolini 1974, p. 135
- ^ Jim Heddlesten. "Commando Supremo: Events of 1941". Comandosupremo.com. http://www.comandosupremo.com/1941.html. Retrieved 13 March 2009.
- ^ The History of the Beano. Dundee, Scotland: D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.. 2008. pp. 77–78. ISBN 978-1-902407-73-9.
Bibliography[link]
- 2007. Mussolini's Cities: Internal Colonialism in Italy, 1930–1939, Cambria Press.
- Bosworth, R.J.B. 2002. Mussolini. London, Hodder.
- Bosworth, R.J.B. 2006. "Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Dictatorship 1915–1945". London, Allen Lane.
- Corvaja, Santi. 2001. Hitler and Mussolini. The Secret Meetings. Enigma. ISBN 1-929631-00-6
- Daldin, Rudolph S. The Last Centurion. http://www.benito-mussolini.com ISBN 0-921447-34-5
- Renzo De Felice. 1995. Mussolini. Torino: Einaudi.
- Golomb, Jacob; Wistrich, Robert S. 2002. Nietzsche, godfather of fascism?: on the uses and abuses of a philosophy. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
- Farrell, Nicholas. 2003. Mussolini: A New Life. London: Phoenix Press, ISBN 1-84212-123-5.
- Garibaldi, Luciano. 2004. Mussolini. The Secrets of his Death. Enigma. ISBN 1-929631-23-5
- Hibbert, Christopher. Il Duce.
- Kallis, Aristotle. 2000. Fascist Ideology. London: Routledge.
- Lowe, Norman. Italy, 1918–1945: the first appearance of fascism. In Mastering Modern World History.
- Morris, Terry; Murphy, Derrick. Europe 1870–1991.
- Moseley, Ray. 2004. Mussolini: The Last 600 Days of Il Duce. Dallas: Taylor Trade Publishing.
- Mussolini, Rachelle. 1977 [1974]. Mussolini: An Intimate Biography. Pocket Books. Originally published by William Morrow, ISBN 0-671-81272-6, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 74-1129
- O'Brien, Paul. 2004. Mussolini in the First World War: The Journalist, the Soldier, the Fascist. Oxford: Berg Publishers.
- Painter, Borden W. Jr., 2005. Mussolini's Rome: rebuilding the Eternal City,
- Petacco, Arrigo (ed.). 1998. L'archivio segreto di Mussolini. Mondadori. ISBN 88-04-44914-4
- Smith, Denis Mack. 1982. Mussolini: A biography, Borzoi Book published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ISBN 0-394-50694-4
- Sternhell, Zeev; Sznajder, Mario; Asheri, Maia (1999). [The birth of Fascist ideology, from cultural rebellion to political revolution]. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Stang, G. Bruce (1999). "War and peace: Mussolini’s road to Munich". In Lukes, Igor; Goldstein, Erik. The Munich crisis 1938: prelude to World War II. London: Frank Cass. pp. 160-190.
- Tucker, Spencer. 2005. Encyclopedia of World War I: a political, social, and military history. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.
- Weinberg, Gerhard. 2005. A World in arms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Writings of Mussolini[link]
- Giovanni Hus, il Veridico(Jan Hus, True prophet), Rome (1913). Published in America as John Hus (New York: Albert and Charles Boni, 1929). Republished by the Italian Book Co., NY (1939) as John Hus, the Veracious.
- The Cardinal's Mistress (trans. Hiram Motherwell, New York: Albert and Charles Boni, 1928)
- There is an essay on "The Doctrine of Fascism" written by Benito Mussolini that appeared in the 1932 edition of the Enciclopedia Italiana, and excerpts can be read at Doctrine of Fascism. There are also links to the complete text.
- La Mia Vita ("My Life"), Mussolini's autobiography written upon request of the American Ambassador in Rome (Child). Mussolini, at first not interested, decided to dictate the story of his life to Arnaldo Mussolini, his brother. The story covers the period up to 1929, includes Mussolini's personal thoughts on Italian politics and the reasons that motivated his new revolutionary idea. It covers the march on Rome and the beginning of the dictatorship and includes some of his most famous speeches in the Italian Parliament (Oct 1924, Jan 1925).
- Vita di Arnaldo, Milano, Il Popolo d'Italia, 1932.
- Scritti e discorsi di Benito Mussolini, 12 voll., Milano, Hoepli, 1934-1940.
- Parlo con Bruno, Milano, Il Popolo d'Italia, 1941.
- Storia di un anno. Il tempo del bastone e della carota, Milano, Mondadori, 1944.
- From 1951 to 1962 Edoardo and Duilio Susmel worked for the publisher "La Fenice" in order to print opera omnia (the complete works) of Mussolini in 35 volumes.
External links[link]
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- Benito Mussolini in pictures
- Comando Supremo: Benito Mussolini
- Did Mussolini really make the trains run on time?
- Is Mussolini quote on corporatism accurate?
- Benito Mussolini Speeches
- Michael Schirru's failed attempt on Mussolini's life
- Il Duce 'sought Hitler ban' September 2003 BBC News
- Mussolini shaking hands with King George V. of England, 1923, The Illustrated London News
- Mussolini's Piazza Augusto Imperatore
- Time Magazine, 5 April 1937 (5 April 1937). "Islam, Duce, and Duke.". http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757543,00.html. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
- Time Magazine, 7 May 1945 (7 May 1945). "Death in Milan.". http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,797481-1,00.html. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
Related information[link]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Luigi Facta |
Prime Minister of Italy 1922 – 1943 |
Succeeded by Pietro Badoglio |
| Preceded by Carlo Schanzer |
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1922 – 1929 |
Succeeded by Dino Grandi |
| Preceded by Dino Grandi |
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1932 – 1936 |
Succeeded by Galeazzo Ciano |
| Preceded by Galeazzo Ciano |
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1943 |
Succeeded by Raffaele Guariglia |
| Preceded by Paolino Taddei |
Italian Minister of the Interior 1922 – 1924 |
Succeeded by Luigi Federzoni |
| Preceded by Luigi Federzoni |
Italian Minister of the Interior 1926 – 1943 |
Succeeded by Bruno Fornaciari |
| Preceded by New Title |
Head of State of the Italian Social Republic 1943 – 1945 |
Succeeded by End Title |
| Preceded by New Title |
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Social Republic 1943 – 1945 |
Succeeded by End Title |
|
||||||||
.svg)
|
||||||||||
.svg){kind=small}
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mussolini, Benito Amilcare Andrea |
| Alternative names | Mussolini, Benito |
| Short description | Prime-Minister and fascist dictator of Italy |
| Date of birth | (1883-07-29)29 July 1883 |
| Place of birth | Dovia di Predappio, Italy |
| Date of death | 28 April 1945(1945-04-28) |
| Place of death | Giulino di Mezzegra, Italy |
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File:Clara Petacci.jpg
Clara Petacci
Clara Petacci (Claretta Petacci) (28 February 1912 – 28 April 1945) was the mistress of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, who was twenty-eight years her senior. On 27 April 1945, when a convoy of escaping Italian Social Republic members, including Mussolini, was captured by Communist partisans, it is said that Petacci was offered the opportunity to go unmolested.[citation needed] On 28 April, she and Mussolini were taken to Mezzegra and shot. On the following day, 29 April, Mussolini and Petacci's bodies were taken to the Piazzale Loreto in Milan and hung upside down in front of a petrol station. The bodies were photographed as a crowd vented their rage upon them.[1]
Contents |
Family[link]
- Clara Petacci's sister was actress Miriam di San Servolo (31 May 1923 – 24 May 1991), also known as Miriam Petacci or Miriam Day.
- Clara Petacci's brother, Marcello Petacci, was captured with Mussolini and Petacci. But, rather than being murdered in Dongo, he was shot while trying to escape.
In popular culture[link]
- Claretta, 1984 film starring Claudia Cardinale
- Other films
- The American musician Scott Walker recorded a song about Petacci called "Clara" on his 2006 album The Drift.
- The Spanish nazi music band 'División 250' also recorded a song about Petacci called 'Clara'.
- Mussolini: The Untold Story, 1985 TV-miniseries featured Virginia Madsen as Petacci.
See also[link]
- Margherita Sarfatti, one of Mussolini's earlier mistresses
References[link]
Further reading[link]
- Nicholas Farrell, Mussolini: A New Life (Phoenix Press, London, 2003) ISBN 1-84212-123-5
- Luciano Garibaldi, Mussolini: The Secrets of His Death (Enigma Books, New York, 2004) ISBN 1-929631-23-5
- Ray Moseley, Mussolini: The Last 600 Days of Il Duce (Taylor Trade Publishing, Dallas, 2004) ISBN 1-58979-095-2
- Rudolph S. Daldin "The Last Centurion" Volumes I&II ISBN 0-921447-34-5
External links[link]
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Petacci, Clara |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 28 February 1912 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | 28 April 1945 |
| Place of death | |
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Petacci
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
For other uses, see Franco (disambiguation).
This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Franco and the second or maternal family name is Bahamonde.
| His Excellency Generalísimo Francisco Franco |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Official portait of Francisco Franco, in 1970. | |
| Caudillo of Spain Head of State |
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| In office 1 April 1939 – 20 November 1975 |
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| Preceded by | Manuel Azaña* |
| Succeeded by | Alejandro Rodríguez de Valcárcel** |
| 68th Prime Minister of Spain | |
| In office 30 January 1938 – 8 June 1973 |
|
| Vice President | |
| Preceded by | Juan Negrín |
| Succeeded by | Luis Carrero Blanco |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francisco Franco y Bahamonde (1892-12-04)4 December 1892 Ferrol, Galicia, Spain |
| Died | 20 November 1975(1975-11-20) (aged 82) Madrid, Spain |
| Resting place | Valley of the Fallen 40°38′31″N 4°09′19″W / 40.641944°N 4.155278°W / 40.641944; -4.155278 |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Political party | FET y de las JONS |
| Spouse(s) | Carmen Polo |
| Children | María del Carmen |
| Residence | El Pardo, Madrid |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
Spain
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| Service/branch | Spanish Armed Forces |
| Years of service | 1907–1975 |
| Rank | Chief of the General Staff |
| Commands | All (Generalissimo/supreme commander) |
| Battles/wars | Rif War Spanish Civil War |
| Awards | . |
| *As President ** For the handover to Juan Carlos I (King of Spain) *** Formally as "Leader of the Government of Spain" |
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Francisco Franco y Bahamonde, better known under the name of Franco, (Spanish: [fɾanˈθisko ˈfɾaŋko]; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general, dictator and the leader of the Nationalist military rebellion in the Spanish Civil War, and totalitarian head of state of Spain, from October 1936 (as a unified nation from 1939 onwards) until his death in November 1975. He came to power while recognizing the principles of the far-right Falange movement, although this was for propaganda reasons, as he belonged to no political party before becoming Head of State. As head of state, Franco used the titles Caudillo de España and Generalísimo, but also was called formally as His Excellency, The Head of State.
Franco was from a military family, and although originally intent on entering the Spanish Navy, he instead became a soldier. He participated in the Rif War in Morocco, becoming the youngest general in Europe by 1926. After returning to the Spanish mainland, he saw service suppressing an anarchist-led strike in 1934, defending the stability of Alcalá-Zamora's conservative government. Following the formation of a Popular Front government, made up of various left-wing factions, instability heightened. Violence between militant groups rose sharply with assassination of conservative parliamentary leader José Calvo Sotelo, in retaliation for the killing of José Castillo.[1] Franco and his co-conspirators used Calvo's death as their pretext for war, as they had already initiated the plan for their rebellion.[2]
Franco and the military participated in a coup d'état against the Popular Front government. The coup failed and evolved into the Spanish Civil War, during which Franco emerged as the leader of the Nationalists against the Popular Front government. After winning the civil war with military aid from Italy and Germany as exemplified in the Bombing of Guernica — while the Soviet Union and various Internationalists aided the Republicans —, he dissolved the Spanish Parliament. He then established a right-wing authoritarian regime and was de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain, that lasted until 1978, when a new constitution was drafted. During World War II, Franco officially maintained a policy of non-belligerency and later of neutrality, in part because Spain had not recovered from the considerable damage of the civil war. However, he supported the volunteer Blue Division that fought with the Axis on the Eastern Front. He was initially disliked by Cuban Fulgencio Batista, who, during World War II, had suggested a joint U.S.-Latin American assault on Spain in order to overthrow Franco's regime.[3]
After the end of World War II, Franco maintained his control in Spain through the implementation of austere measures: the systematic suppression of dissident views through censorship and coercion,[4][5] the imprisonment of ideologically opposed enemies in concentration camps (1936–1947) throughout the country (such as Los Merinales in Seville, San Marcos in León, Castuera in Extremadura, and Miranda de Ebro),[6] the implementation of forced labor in prisons,[7] and the use of the death penalty and heavy prison sentences as deterrents for his ideological enemies.[8] During the Cold War, the United States established a diplomatic and trade alliance with Spain, due to Franco's harsh anti-Communist policy. American President Richard Nixon toasted Franco,[9] and, after Franco's death, stated: "General Franco was a loyal friend and ally of the United States."[10] After his death, Spain gradually began its transition to democracy. Today, pre-constitutional symbols from the Franco regime—such as the national coat of arms or flag with the Imperial Eagle—are banned by law in Spain.[11]
Contents |
Early life[link]
Francisco Franco was born at 12:30 p.m. on 4 December 1892 at number 108 Calle Frutos Saavedra, Ferrol (currently known as Calle María), in the city's old town. He was baptised on 17 December at the military church of San Francisco with the baptismal names Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo: Francisco for his paternal grandfather, Paulino for his godfather, Hermenegildo for his maternal grandmother and godmother and Teódulo for the saint day of his birth.
His father's ancestry originated in Andalucia.[note 1] Since relocating to Galicia, his father's family was strongly involved in the Spanish Navy and over two centuries produced naval officers for six generations uninterrupted, right down to Franco's father Nicolás Franco y Salgado-A (22 November 1855 – 22 February 1942). His mother was María del Pilar Bahamonde y Pardo de Andrade (1865 – 28 February 1934), and his parents married in 1890. The young Franco spent much of his childhood with his two brothers, Nicolás (Ferrol, 1891–1977), a naval officer and diplomat who in time was married to María Isabel Pascual del Pobil y Ravello, and Ramón , and his two sisters, María del Pilar (Ferrol, 1894 – Madrid, 1989), later wife of Alonso Jaráiz y Jeréz, and María de la Paz (Ferrol, 1899 – Ferrol, 1900).
Military career[link]
Rif War and rise through the ranks[link]
Francisco was to follow his father into the Navy but as a result of the Spanish-American War the country lost much of its navy as well as most of its colonies. Not needing more officers, entry into the Naval Academy was closed from 1906 to 1913. To his father's chagrin, he decided to join the Spanish Army. In 1907, he entered the Infantry Academy in Toledo, from which he graduated in 1910. He was commissioned as a lieutenant. Two years later, he obtained a commission to Morocco. Spanish efforts to physically occupy their new African protectorate provoked the protracted Rif War (from 1909 to 1927) with native Moroccans. Tactics at the time resulted in heavy losses among Spanish military officers, but also gave the chance of earning promotion through merit. It was said that officers would get either la caja o la faja (a box or a girdle's sash). Franco soon gained a reputation as a good officer. He joined the newly formed regulares, colonial native troops with Spanish officers, who acted as shock troops.
In 1916, at the age of 23 and already a captain, he was badly wounded in a skirmish at El Biutz and possibly lost a testicle.[13] His survival marked him permanently in the eyes of the native troops as a man of baraka (good luck). He was also recommended unsuccessfully for Spain's highest honor for gallantry, the coveted Cruz Laureada de San Fernando. Instead, he was promoted to major field grade officer in the Spanish Army. From 1917 to 1920, he was posted on the Spanish mainland. That last year, Lieutenant Colonel José Millán Astray, a histrionic but charismatic officer, founded the Spanish Foreign Legion, along similar lines to the French Foreign Legion. Franco became the Legion's second-in-command and returned to Africa. On 24 July 1921, the poorly commanded and overextended Spanish Army suffered a crushing defeat at Annual at the hands of the Rif tribes led by the Abd el-Krim brothers. The Legion symbolically, if not materially, saved the Spanish enclave of Melilla after a three-day forced march led by Franco. In 1923, already a lieutenant colonel, he was made commander of the Legion.
The same year, he married María del Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdès; they had one child, a daughter, María del Carmen, born in 1926.[14] As a special mark of honor, his best man (padrino) at the wedding was King Alfonso XIII, a fact that would mark him during the Republic as a monarchical officer. Promoted to colonel, Franco led the first wave of troops ashore at Al Hoceima in 1925. This landing in the heartland of Abd el-Krim's tribe, combined with the French invasion from the south, spelled the beginning of the end for the short-lived Republic of the Rif. Becoming the youngest general in Spain in 1926, Franco was appointed in 1928 director of the newly created General Military Academy of Zaragoza, a new college for all Army cadets, replacing the former separate institutions for young men seeking to become officers in infantry, cavalry, artillery, and other branches of the army.
During the Second Spanish Republic[link]
With the fall of the monarchy in 1932, in keeping with his long-standing apolitical record[citation needed], Franco did not take any notable stand. But the closing of the Academy, in June, by War Minister Manuel Azaña, provoked his first clash with the Spanish Republic. Azaña found Franco's farewell speech to the cadets[15] insulting. For six months, Franco was without a post and under surveillance.
Franco was a subscriber to Acción Española, an ultra-right wing monarchist theoretical journal, and a firm believer in the Jewish-Masonic-Bolshevik conspiracy - or contubernio, (filthy cohabitation), 'one of Franco's favourite words'; a conspiracy in which Jews and Freemasons, and leftists, notionally sought the destruction of Christian Europe, with Spain as a principal target. [16]
On 5 February 1932, he was given a command in A Coruña. Franco avoided involvement in José Sanjurjo's attempted coup that year, and even wrote a hostile letter to Sanjurjo expressing his anger over the attempt. As a side result of Azaña's military reform, in January 1933, Franco was relegated from the first to the 24th in the list of Brigadiers; conversely, the same year (17 February), he was given the military command of the Balearic Islands: a post above his rank.
New elections held in October 1933 resulted in a center-right majority. In opposition to this government, a revolutionary movement broke out 5 October 1934. This uprising was rapidly quelled in most of the country, but gained a stronghold in Asturias, with the support of the miners' unions. Franco, already general of a Division and aide to the war minister, Diego Hidalgo, was put in command of the operations directed to suppress the insurgency. The forces of the Army in Africa carried this out, with General Eduardo López Ochoa as commander in the field. After two weeks of heavy fighting (and a death toll estimated between 1,200 and 2,000), the rebellion was suppressed.
The insurgency in Asturias sharpened the antagonism between Left and Right. Franco and López Ochoa—who, prior to the campaign in Asturias, was seen as a left-leaning officer[citation needed] emerged as officers prepared to use 'troops against Spanish civilians as if they were a foreign enemy'.[17] Franco did not hesitate to ship Moorish merecenaries to fight in Asturias and described the rebelion to a journalist in Oviedo as, 'a frontier war and its fronts are socialism, communism and whatever attacks civilization in order to replace it with barbarism.' Though the colonial units sent to the north by Franco consisted of the Spanish Foreign Legion and the Moroccan mercenaries of the Regulares Indigenas, the right wing press portrayed the Asturian rebels in xenophobic terms as lackeys of a foreign Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy. [18] At the start of the Civil War, López Ochoa was assassinated. Some time after these events, Franco was briefly commander-in-chief of the Army of Africa (from 15 February onwards), and from 19 May 1935 on, Chief of the General Staff.
General election of 1936[link]
After the ruling centre-right coalition collapsed amid the Straperlo corruption scandal, new elections were scheduled. Two wide coalitions formed: the Popular Front on the left, ranging from Republican Union Party to Communists, and the Frente Nacional on the right, ranging from the center radicals to the conservative Carlists. On 16 February 1936, the left won by a narrow margin.[19] Growing political bitterness surfaced again. The government and its supporters, the Popular Front, had launched a campaign against the Opposition whom they accused of plotting against the Republic.[citation needed] According to the right wing opposition, the real enemies of the Republic were not on the Right but on the Left; Spain was in imminent danger of falling under a Communist dictatorship, and therefore by fighting the democratically elected Popular Front they, the opposition, were merely doing their duty in defence of law and order and of the freedom and the fundamental rights of the Spanish people.[20]
The days after the election were marked by near-chaotic circumstances.[citation needed]
On 23 February, Franco was sent to the distant Canary Islands to serve as the islands' military commander, a position in which he had few troops under his command.[citation needed] Meanwhile, a conspiracy led by Emilio Mola was taking shape.[citation needed] In June, Franco was contacted and a secret meeting was held in Tenerife's La Esperanza Forest to discuss a military coup. (An obelisk commemorating this historic meeting can be found in a clearing at Las Raíces.)
Outwardly, Franco maintained an ambiguous attitude almost up until July. On 23 June 1936, he wrote to the head of the government, Casares Quiroga, offering to quell the discontent in the Spanish Republican Army, but was not answered.[citation needed] The other rebels were determined to go ahead, con Paquito o sin Paquito (with Franco or without him), as it was put by José Sanjurjo, the honorary leader of the military uprising. After various postponements, 18 July was fixed as the date of the uprising. The situation reached a point of no return and, as presented to Franco by Mola, the coup was unavoidable and he had to choose a side. He decided to join the rebels and was given the task of commanding the Army of Africa. A privately owned DH 89 De Havilland Dragon Rapide, flown by two British MI6 agents, Cecil Bebb and Hugh Pollard,[21] was chartered in England 11 July to take Franco to Africa.
The assassination of the right-wing opposition leader José Calvo Sotelo by government police troops, possibly acting on their own in retaliation for the murder of José Castillo, precipitated the uprising[22]. On 17 July one day earlier than planned, the African Army rebelled, detaining their commanders. On 18 July, Franco published a manifesto[23] and left for Africa, where he arrived the next day to take command.
A week later, the rebels, who soon called themselves the Nationalists, controlled a third of Spain, but most navy units remained under control of the Republican loyalist forces, which left Franco isolated. The coup had failed, but the Spanish Civil War had begun.
From the Spanish Civil War to World War II[link]
Main articles: Spanish Civil War and Spain in World War II
The Spanish Civil War began in July 1936 and officially ended with Franco's victory in April 1939, leaving 190,000[24] to 500,000[25] dead. Despite the Non-Intervention Agreement of August 1936, the war was marked by foreign intervention on behalf of both sides, leading to international repercussions. The nationalist side was supported by Fascist Italy, which sent the Corpo Truppe Volontarie, and later by Nazi Germany, which assisted with the Condor Legion. The United Kingdom and France strictly adhered to the arms embargo,[citation needed] provoking dissensions within the French Popular Front coalition led by Léon Blum, but the Republican side was nonetheless supported by the Soviet Union and volunteers fighting in the International Brigades (see for example Ken Loach's Land and Freedom).
Because Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin used the war as a testing ground for modern warfare, some historians, such as Ernst Nolte, have considered the Spanish Civil War, along with World War II, part of a "European Civil War" lasting from 1936 to 1945 and characterized mainly as a left/right ideological conflict. However, this interpretation has not found acceptance among most historians, who consider the Spanish Civil War and Second World War to be two distinct conflicts. Among other things, they point to the political heterogeneity on both sides (See Spanish Civil War: other factions) and criticize a monolithic interpretation which overlooks the local nuances of Spanish history.
The first months[link]
Despite Franco's having no money, while the state treasury was in Madrid with the government, there was an organized economic lobby in London looking after his financial needs[citation needed] with Lisbon as their operational base. Eventually, he was to receive important help from his economic and diplomatic boosters abroad.[citation needed]
Following the 18 July 1936, pronunciamiento, Franco assumed the leadership of the 30,000 soldiers of the Spanish Army of Africa. The first days of the insurgency were marked with a serious need to secure control over the Spanish Moroccan Protectorate. On one side, Franco managed to win the support of the natives and their (nominal) authorities, and, on the other, to ensure his control over the army. This led to the summary execution of some 200 senior officers loyal to the Republic (one of them his own cousin). Also his loyal bodyguard was shot by a man known as Manuel Blanco.[26] Franco's first problem was how to move his troops to the Iberian Peninsula, since most units of the Navy had remained in control of the Republic and were blocking the Strait of Gibraltar. He requested help from Benito Mussolini, who responded with an unconditional offer of arms and planes; in Germany, Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the Abwehr military intelligence, persuaded Hitler to also support the Nationalists. From 20 July onward, Franco was able, with a small group of 22 mainly German Junkers Ju 52 airplanes, to initiate an air bridge to Seville, where his troops helped to ensure the rebel control of the city. Through representatives, he started to negotiate with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Italy for more military support, and above all for more airplanes. Negotiations were successful with the last two on 25 July and airplanes began to arrive in Tetouan on 2 August. On 5 August Franco was able to break the blockade with the newly arrived air support, successfully deploying a ship convoy with some 2,000 soldiers.
In early August, the situation in western Andalusia was stable enough to allow him to organize a column (some 15,000 men at its height), under the command of then Lieutenant-Colonel Juan Yagüe, which would march through Extremadura towards Madrid. On 11 August Mérida was taken, and on 15 August Badajoz, thus joining both nationalist-controlled areas. Additionally, Mussolini ordered a voluntary army, the Corpo Truppe Volontarie (CTV) of some 12,000 Italians of fully motorized units to Seville and Hitler added to them a professional squadron from the Luftwaffe (2JG/88) with about 24 planes. All these planes had the Nationalist Spanish insignia painted on them, but were flown by Italian and German troops. The backbone of Franco's aviation in those days were the Italian SM.79 and SM.81 bombers, the biplane Fiat CR.32 fighter and the German Junkers Ju 52 cargo-bomber and the Heinkel He 51 biplane fighter.
On 21 September, with the head of the column at the town of Maqueda (some 80 km away from Madrid), Franco ordered a detour to free the besieged garrison at the Alcázar of Toledo, which was achieved 27 September. This controversial decision gave the Popular Front time to strengthen its defenses in Madrid and hold the city that year but was an important morale and propaganda success.
Rise to power[link]
The designated leader of the uprising, Gen. José Sanjurjo died on 20 July 1936 in an airplane crash. Therefore, in the nationalist zone, "Political life ceased."[27] Initially, only military command mattered; this was divided into regional commands (Emilio Mola in the North, Gonzalo Queipo de Llano in Seville commanding Andalusia, Franco with an independent command and Miguel Cabanellas in Zaragoza commanding Aragon). The Spanish Army of Morocco itself was split into two columns, one commanded by General Juan Yagüe and the other commanded by Colonel José Varela.
From 24 July, a coordinating junta was established, based at Burgos. Nominally led by Cabanellas, as the most senior general,[28] it initially included Mola, three other generals, and two colonels; Franco was later added in early August.[29] On 21 September it was decided that Franco was to be commander-in-chief (this unified command was opposed only by Cabanellas),[30] and, after some discussion, with no more than a lukewarm agreement from Queipo de Llano and from Mola, also head of government.[31] He was, doubtlessly, helped to this primacy by the fact that, in late July, Hitler had decided that all of Germany's aid to the nationalists would go to Franco.[32]
Mola considered Franco as unfit and not part of the initial rebel group.[citation needed] But Mola himself had been somewhat discredited as the main planner of the attempted coup that had now degenerated into a civil war, and was strongly identified with the Carlists monarchists and not at all with the Falange, a party with Fascist leanings and connections ("phalanx", a far-right Spanish political party founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera), nor did he have good relations with Germany; Queipo de Llano and Cabanellas had both previously rebelled against the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera and were therefore discredited in some nationalist circles; and Falangist leader José Antonio Primo de Rivera was in prison in Alicante (he would be executed a few months later) and the desire to keep a place open for him prevented any other falangist leader from emerging as a possible head of state. Franco's previous aloofness from politics meant that he had few active enemies in any of the factions that needed to be placated, and had cooperated in recent months with both Germany and Italy.[33]
On 1 October 1936, in Burgos, Franco was publicly proclaimed as Generalísimo of the National army and Jefe del Estado (Head of State).[34] When Mola was killed in another air accident a year later (which some believe was an assassination) (2 June 1937), no military leader was left from those who organized the conspiracy against the Republic between 1933 and 1935.[35]
Military command[link]
From that time until the end of the war, Franco personally guided military operations. After the failed assault on Madrid in November 1936, Franco settled to a piecemeal approach to winning the war, rather than bold maneuvering. As with his decision to relieve the garrison at Toledo, this approach has been subject of some debate; some of his decisions, such as, in June 1938, when he preferred to head for Valencia instead of Catalonia, remain particularly controversial from a military viewpoint. It was however, in Valencia, Castellon and Alicante where the last troops were defeated by Franco.
Although both Germany and Italy provided military support to Franco, the degree of influence of both powers on his direction of the war seems to have been very limited. Nevertheless, the Italian troops, despite not being always effective, were present in most of the large operations in big numbers, while the CTV helped the Nationalist air force dominate the skies for most of the war. António de Oliveira Salazar's Portugal also openly assisted the Nationalists from the start, contributing some 20,000 troops.
It is said that Franco's direction of the German and Italian forces was limited, particularly in the direction of the Condor Legion, however, he was officially, by default, their supreme commander and they rarely made decisions on their own. For reasons of prestige, it was decided to continue assisting Franco until the end of the war, and Italian and German troops paraded on the day of the final victory in Madrid.[36]
Political command[link]
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In April 1938, Franco managed to fuse the ideologically incompatible national-syndicalist Falange ("phalanx", a far-right Spanish political party founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera) and the Carlist monarchist parties under a single-party under his rule, dubbed Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS), which became the only legal party in 1939. The Falangists' hymn, Cara al Sol, became the semi-national anthem of Franco's not yet established regime.
This new political formation appeased the pro-Nazi Falangists while tempering them with the anti-German Carlists. Franco's brother-in-law Ramón Serrano Súñer, who was his main political advisor, was able to turn the various parties under Franco against each other to absorb a series of political confrontations against Franco himself. At a certain moment he even expelled the original leading members of both the Carlists (Manuel Fal Conde) and the Falangists (Manuel Hedilla) to secure Franco's political future. Franco also appeased the Carlists by exploiting the Republicans' anti-clericalism in his propaganda, in particular concerning the "Martyrs of the war". While the loyalist forces presented the war as a struggle to defend the Republic against Fascism, Franco depicted himself as the defender of "Catholic Spain" against "atheist Communism."
The end of the Civil War[link]
Before the fall of Catalonia in February 1939, the Prime Minister of Spain Juan Negrín unsuccessfully proposed, in the meeting of the Cortes in Figueres, capitulation with the sole condition of respecting the lives of the vanquished. Negrín was ultimately deposed by Colonel Segismundo Casado, later joined by José Miaja.[citation needed]
Thereafter, only Madrid (see History of Madrid) and a few other areas remained under control of the government forces. On 27 February Chamberlain and Daladier's governments recognized the Franco regime, before the official end of the war. The PCE (the Spanish Communist Party) attempted a mutiny in Madrid with the aim of re-establishing Negrín's leadership, but José Miaja retained control. Finally, on 28 March 1939, with the help of pro-Franco forces inside the city (the "fifth column" General Mola had mentioned in propaganda broadcasts in 1936), Madrid fell to the Nationalists. The next day, Valencia, which had held out under the guns of the Nationalists for close to two years, also surrendered. Victory was proclaimed on 1 April 1939, when the last of the Republican forces surrendered. On this very date, Franco placed his sword upon the altar in a church and in a vow, promised that he would never again take up his sword unless Spain itself was threatened with invasion.
At least 50,000 people were executed during the civil war.[25][37] Franco's victory was followed by thousands of summary executions (from 15,000 to 25,000 people[38]) and imprisonments, while many were put to forced labour, building railways, drying out swamps, digging canals (La Corchuela, the Canal of the Bajo Guadalquivir), construction of the Valle de los Caídos monument, etc. The 1940 shooting of the president of the Catalan government, Lluís Companys, was one of the most notable cases of this early suppression of opponents and dissenters. According to Gabriel Jackson, the number of victims of the "White Terror" (executions and hunger or illness in prisons) only between 1939 and 1943 was 200,000.[39]
Although leftists suffered from an important death-toll, the Spanish intelligentsia, atheists and military and government figures who had remained loyal to the Madrid government during the war were also targeted for oppression.
In his recent, updated history of the Spanish Civil War, Antony Beevor "reckons Franco's ensuing 'white terror' claimed 200,000 lives. The 'red terror' had already killed 38,000."[40] Julius Ruiz concludes that "although the figures remain disputed, a minimum of 37,843 executions were carried out in the Republican zone with a maximum of 150,000 executions (including 50,000 after the war) in Nationalist Spain."[41] In Checas de Madrid, César Vidal comes to a nationwide total of 110,965 victims of Republican violence; 11,705 people being killed in Madrid alone.[42]
Despite the official end of the war, guerrilla resistance to Franco (known as "the maquis") was widespread in many mountainous regions, and continued well into the 1950s. In 1944, a group of republican veterans, which also fought in the French resistance against the Nazis, invaded the Val d'Aran in northwest Catalonia, but they were quickly defeated.
The end of the war led to hundreds of thousands of exiles, mostly to France (but also Mexico, Chile, Cuba, the USA and so on.).[43] On the other side of the Pyrenees, refugees were confined in internment camps of the French Third Republic, such as Camp Gurs or Camp Vernet, where 12,000 Republicans were housed in squalid conditions (mostly soldiers from the Durruti Division[44]). The 17,000 refugees housed in Gurs were divided into four categories (Brigadists, pilots, Gudaris and ordinary 'Spaniards'). The Gudaris (Basques) and the pilots easily found local backers and jobs, and were allowed to quit the camp, but the farmers and ordinary people, who could not find relations in France, were encouraged by the Third Republic, in agreement with the Francoist government, to return to Spain. The great majority did so and were turned over to the Francoist authorities in Irún. From there they were transferred to the Miranda de Ebro camp for "purification" according to the Law of Political Responsibilities.
After the proclamation by Marshal Philippe Pétain of the Vichy France regime, the refugees became political prisoners, and the French police attempted to round-up those who had been liberated from the camp. Along with other "undesirables", they were sent to the Drancy internment camp before being deported to Nazi Germany. 5,000 Spaniards thus died in Mauthausen concentration camp.[45] The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, who had been named by the Chilean President Pedro Aguirre Cerda special consul for immigration in Paris, was given responsibility for what he called "the noblest mission I have ever undertaken": shipping more than 2,000 Spanish refugees, who had been housed by the French in squalid camps, to Chile on an old cargo ship, the Winnipeg.[46]
World War II[link]
For more details on this topic, see Spain in World War II.
In September 1939, World War II broke out in Europe, and although Hitler met Franco once in Hendaye, France (23 October 1940), to discuss Spanish entry on the side of the Axis, Franco's demands (food, military equipment, Gibraltar, French North Africa etc.) proved too much and no agreement was reached. (An oft-cited remark attributed to Hitler is that the German leader would rather have some teeth extracted than to have to deal further with Franco).[47] Franco's tactics received important support from Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini during the civil war. He remained emphatically neutral in the Second World War, but nonetheless offered various kinds of support to Italy and Germany. He allowed Spanish soldiers to volunteer to fight in the German Army against the USSR (the Blue Division), but forbade Spaniards to fight in the West against the democracies. Franco's common ground with Hitler was particularly weakened by Hitler's propagation of Nazi mysticism and his attempts to manipulate Christianity, which went against Franco's fervent commitment to defending Christianity and Catholicism.[48] Contributing to the disagreement was an ongoing dispute over German mining rights in Spain. Some historians argue that Franco made demands that he knew Hitler would not accede to in order to stay out of the war.[citation needed] Other historians argue that he, as leader of a destroyed country in chaos following a brutal three-year civil war, simply had nothing to offer the Germans and their military.[citation needed]
Yet, after the collapse of France in June 1940, Spain did adopt a pro-Axis non-belligerency stance (for example, he offered Spanish naval facilities to German ships) until returning to complete neutrality in 1943 when the tide of the war had turned decisively against Germany and its allies. Franco did also consider blocking allied access to the Mediterrean Sea by invading the British-controlled Gibraltar,[47] but abandoned the idea after learning that the plan would have likely failed and would have given the British an excellent opportunity to take both the Canary Islands and Spanish Morocco.[47][49] Some volunteer Spanish troops (the División Azul, or "Blue Division")—not given official state sanction by Franco—went to fight on the Eastern Front under German command from 1941–1943. Some historians have argued that not all of the Blue Division were true volunteers and that Franco expended relatively small but significant resources to aid the Axis powers' battle against the Soviet Union.
According to the recent discovery of a World War II document, Franco ordered his provincial governors to compile a list of Jews while he negotiated an alliance with the Axis powers.[citation needed] Franco supplied Heinrich Himmler with a list of 6,000 Jews in Spain, for the Nazis' "Final Solution".[citation needed] It is true that Franco built no concentration camps on Spanish territory, nor did he voluntarily hand Jews over to Germany.[50] Spanish diplomats, acting outside of Franco's authority,[citation needed] extended their diplomatic protection over Jews in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the Balkans.
On 14 June 1940, the Spanish forces in Morocco occupied Tangier (a city under the rule of the League of Nations) and did not leave it until 1945.
Spain under Franco[link]
Main article: Francoist Spain
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Franco was recognized as the Spanish head of state by Britain and France in February 1945, two months before the war officially ended. Already proclaimed Generalissimo of the Nationalists and Jefe del Estado (Head of State) in October 1936,[34] he thereafter assumed the official title of "Su Excelencia el Jefe de Estado" ("His Excellency the Head of State"). However, he was also referred to in state and official documents as "Caudillo de España" ("the Leader of Spain"), and sometimes called "el Caudillo de la Última Cruzada y de la Hispanidad" ("the Leader of the Last Crusade and of the Hispanic heritage") and "el Caudillo de la Guerra de Liberación contra el Comunismo y sus Cómplices" ("the Leader of the War of Liberation Against Communism and Its Accomplices").
In 1947, Franco proclaimed Spain a monarchy, but did not designate a monarch. This gesture was largely done to appease the Movimiento Nacional (Carlists and Alfonsists). Although a self-proclaimed monarchist himself, Franco had no particular desire to proclaim himself King of Spain, nor have a King to rule the country yet, and as such, he left the throne vacant, with himself as a de facto Regent. He wore the uniform of a Captain General (a rank traditionally reserved for the King) and resided in the El Pardo Palace. In addition, he appropriated the royal privilege of walking beneath a canopy, and his portrait appeared on most Spanish coins and postage stamps. He also added "by the grace of God", a phrase usually part of the styles of monarchs, to his style.
Franco initially sought support from various groups. He initially garnered support from the fascist elements of the Falange, but distanced himself from fascist ideology after the defeat of the Axis in World War II. Franco's administration marginalized fascist ideologues in favor of technocrats, many of whom were linked with Opus Dei, who promoted the economic modernization under Franco.[51]
Although Franco and Spain under his rule adopted some trappings of fascism, he, and Spain under his rule, are not generally considered to be fascist; among the distinctions, fascism entails a revolutionary aim to transform society, where Franco and Franco's Spain did not seek to do so, and, to the contrary, although authoritarian, were conservative and traditional.[52][53][54][55][56] Stanley Payne notes: "scarcely any of the serious historians and analysts of Franco consider the generalissimo to be a core fascist".[55][57] The consistent points in Franco's long rule, along with the Moroccan Moorish Guard, included above all authoritarianism, nationalism, the defense of Catholicism, anti-Freemasonry, and anti-Communism.
The aftermath of the Civil War was socially bleak: many of those who had supported the Republic fled into exile. Spain lost thousands of doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, judges, professors, businessmen, artists, etc. Many of those who had to stay lost their jobs or lost their rank. Sometimes those jobs were given to unskilled and even untrained personnel. This deprived the country of many of its brightest minds, and also of a very capable workforce.[citation needed] However, this was done to keep Spain's citizens consistent with the ideals sought by the Nationalists and Franco.
With the end of World War II, Spain suffered from the economic consequences of its isolation from the international community. This situation ended in part when, due to Spain's strategic location in light of Cold War tensions, the United States entered into a trade and military alliance with Spain. This historic alliance commenced with United States President Eisenhower's visit in 1953 which resulted in the Pact of Madrid. Spain was then admitted to the UN in 1955.
In 1952, a syndicate from Dallas, Texas, including Jack Crichton, Everette Lee DeGolyer, and Clint Murchison sought drilling rights to petroleum in Spain. The operation was handled by Delta Drilling Company.
Political oppression[link]
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| * Personal Standard Franco as Head of State. * Coat of arms of Franco as Head of State. * The Victor, another emblem used by Franco. |
The first decade of Franco's rule in the 1940s following the end of the Civil War in 1939 saw continued oppression and the killing of an undetermined number of political opponents. Estimation is difficult and controversial, but the number of people killed probably lies somewhere between 15,000 and 50,000 (see above, The end of the Civil War).
Subsequently, Franco's state became less violent, but during his rule non-government trade unions and all political opponents across the political spectrum, from communist and anarchist organizations to liberal democrats and Catalan or Basque separatists, were either suppressed or tightly controlled by all means, up to and including violent police repression. The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) trade-unions were outlawed, and replaced in 1940 by the corporatist Sindicato Vertical. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and the Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) were banned in 1939, while the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) went underground. The Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) went into exile, and in 1959, the ETA armed group was created to wage a low-intensity war against Franco.
Franco's Spanish nationalism promoted a unitary national identity by repressing Spain's cultural diversity. Bullfighting and flamenco[58] were promoted as national traditions while those traditions not considered "Spanish" were suppressed. Franco's view of Spanish tradition was somewhat artificial and arbitrary: while some regional traditions were suppressed, Flamenco, an Andalusian tradition, was considered part of a larger, national identity. All cultural activities were subject to censorship, and many, such as the Sardana, the national dance of Catalunya,were plainly forbidden (often in an erratic manner). This cultural policy relaxed with time, most notably in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Franco also used language politics in an attempt to establish national homogeneity. He promoted the use of Castilian Spanish and suppressed other languages such as Catalan, Galician, and Basque. The legal usage of languages other than Castilian was forbidden. All government, notarial, legal and commercial documents were to be drawn up exclusively in Castilian and any written in other languages were deemed null and void. The usage of any other language was forbidden in schools, in advertising, and on road and shop signs. For not official uses, citizens continued to speak these languages. This was the situation throughout the 1940s and, to a lesser extent, during the 1950s, but after 1960 the non-Castilian Spanish languages were freely spoken and written and reached bookshops and stages, although they never received official status.
On the other hand, the Catholic Church was upheld as the established church of the Spanish State, and regained many of the traditional privileges it had lost under the Republic. Civil servants had to be Catholic, and some official jobs even required a "good behavior" statement by a priest. Civil marriages which had taken place under Republican Spain were declared null and void unless confirmed by the Catholic Church. Divorce was forbidden, and also contraceptives and abortion.
Francoism professed a devotion to the traditional role of women in society, that is: loving child to her parents and brothers, faithful to her husband, residing with her family. Official propaganda confined her role to family care and motherhood. Immediately after the war, most progressive laws passed by the Republic aimed at equality between the sexes were made void. Women could not become judges, or testify in trial. They could not become university professors. Their affairs and economy had to be managed by their father or by their husbands. Even in the 1970s a woman fleeing from an abusive husband could be arrested and imprisoned for "abandoning the home" (abandono del hogar). Until the 1970s a woman could not have a bank account without a co-sign by her father or husband.[citation needed] In the 1960s and 1970s the situation was somewhat relieved, but it was not until after Franco's death that a more egalitarian view of the sexes was adopted.[citation needed] The enforcement by public authorities of traditional Catholic values was a stated intent of the regime, mainly by using a law (the Ley de Vagos y Maleantes, Vagrancy Act) enacted by Azaña.[59] The remaining nomads of Spain (Gitanos and Mercheros like El Lute) were especially affected. In 1954, homosexuality, pedophilia, and prostitution were, through this law, made criminal offenses,[60] although its application was seldom consistent.[citation needed]
Most country towns, and rural areas, were patrolled by pairs of Guardia Civil, a military police for civilians, which functioned as his chief means of social control. Larger cities, and capitals, were mostly under the Policia Armada, or grises ("greys") as they were called.
Student revolts, at universities in the late 1960s and early 1970s, were violently repressed by the heavily armed Policía Armada (Armed Police). Plainclothes secret police worked inside Spanish universities. In May 1972, an American student was arrested by university secret police in Barcelona and charged and imprisoned under martial law for the crime of wearing an old Spanish Army jacket.
Spanish colonial empire and decolonisation[link]
Further information: Spanish Empire
Spain attempted to retain control of its colonial empire throughout Franco's rule. During the Algerian War (1954–62), Madrid became the base of the Organisation de l'armée secrète (OAS) right-wing French Army group which sought to preserve French Algeria. Despite this, Franco was forced to make some concessions. When French Morocco became independent in 1956, he surrendered Spanish Morocco to Mohammed V, retaining only a few enclaves (the Plazas de soberanía). The year after, Mohammed V invaded Spanish Sahara during the Ifni War (known as the "Forgotten War" in Spain). Only in 1975, with the Green March, did Morocco take control of all of the former Spanish territories in the Sahara.
In 1968, under United Nations pressure,[citation needed] Franco granted Spain's colony of Equatorial Guinea its independence, and the next year, ceded the exclave of Ifni to Morocco. Under Franco, Spain also pursued a campaign to force a negotiation on the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, and closed its border with that territory in 1969. The border would not be fully reopened until 1985.
Economic policy[link]
File:Spanish peseta coin with Franco 1963.gif
1963 Spanish peseta coin with the image of Franco saying: Francisco Franco, Leader of Spain, by the grace of God
The Civil War had ravaged the Spanish economy. Infrastructure had been damaged, workers killed, and daily business severely hampered. For more than a decade after Franco's victory, the devastated economy recovered very slowly. Franco initially pursued a policy of autarky, cutting off almost all international trade. The policy had devastating effects, and the economy stagnated. Only black marketeers could enjoy an evident affluence.
On the brink of bankruptcy, a combination of pressure from the USA, the IMF and, most importantly, the technocrats from Opus Dei, managed to convince the regime to adopt a freer market economy. Many of the old guard in charge of the economy were replaced by "technocrata", despite some initial opposition from Franco. From the mid 1950s there was a modest pick up in economic activity after some minor reforms and a freeing up of controls. But the growth proved too much for the economy, with shortages and inflation breaking out towards the end of the 1950s.
When Franco replaced his ideological ministers with the apolitical technocrats, the regime implemented several development policies that included deep economic reforms. After a recession, growth took off from 1959, creating an economic boom that lasted until 1974, and became known as the "Spanish Miracle".
Concurrent with the absence of social reforms, and the economic power shift, a tide of mass emigration commenced to other European countries, and to a lesser extent, to South America. Emigration helped the regime in two ways. The country got rid of populations it would not have been able to keep in employment, and the emigrants supplied the country with much needed monetary remittances.
During the 1960s, the wealthy classes of Francoist Spain experienced further increases in wealth, particularly those who remained politically faithful, while a burgeoning middle class became visible as the "economic miracle" progressed. International firms established factories in Spain where salaries were low, company taxes very low, strikes forbidden and workers' health or state protections almost unheard of. State owned firms like the car manufacturer SEAT, truck builder Pegaso and oil refiner INH, massively expanded production. Furthermore, Spain was virtually a new mass market. Spain became the second-fastest growing economy in the world during the 1959–1973 period, just behind Japan. By the time of Franco's death in 1975, Spain still lagged behind most of Western Europe, but the gap between its per capita GDP and that of the leading Western European countries had narrowed greatly and the country had developed a large industrialized economy.
Regions[link]
Franco was reluctant to enact any form of administrative and legislative decentralisation and kept a fully centralized government with a similar administrative structure to that established by the House of Bourbon and General Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja. Such structures were both based on the model of the French centralised State. The main drawback of this kind of management is that government attention and initiatives were irregular, and often depended more on the goodwill of regional Government representatives than on regional needs. Thus, inequalities in schooling, health care or transport facilities among regions were patent: classically affluent regions like Madrid, Catalonia, or the Basque Country fared much better than Extremadura, Galicia or Andalusia. Some regions, like Extremadura or La Mancha did not have a university.
The Basque Country and Catalonia were among the regions that offered the strongest resistance to Franco in the Civil War. Franco dissolved the autonomy granted by the Second Spanish Republic to these two regions and to Galicia. Franco abolished the centuries-old fiscal privileges and autonomy (the fueros) in two of the three Basque provinces: Guipuzcoa and Biscay, but kept them for Alava which had sided with the nationalists in the civil war.
Among Franco's greatest area of support during the civil war was Navarre, also a Basque speaking region in its north half. Navarre remained a separate region from the Basque Country and Franco decided to preserve its also centuries' old fiscal privileges and autonomy, the so-called Fueros of Navarre. The regional privileges for Alava and Navarre were kept because Alava and Navarre had participated in the initial coup d'État against the Republican government on 18 July 1936.
Franco abolished the official statute and recognition for the Basque, Galician, and Catalan languages that the Second Spanish Republic had granted for the first time in the history of Spain. He returned to Castilian as the only official language of the State and education. The Franco era corresponded with the popularisation of the compulsory national educational system and the development of modern mass media, both controlled by the State and in the Castilian language, and heavily reduced the number of speakers of Basque, Catalan and Galician, as happened during the second half of the 20th century with other European minority languages which were not officially protected such as Scottish Gaelic or French Breton. By the 1970s the majority of the population in the urban areas could not speak the minority language or, as in some Catalan towns, their use had been abandoned. The most endangered case was the Basque language. By the 1970s Basque had reached the point where the language was close to extinction and it is now recognised that the language would have disappeared in a few decades. This was the main reason that drove the Francoist provincial government of Alava to create a network of Basque medium schools (Ikastola) in 1973 which were State-financed.
Franco's death and funeral[link]
In 1969, Franco designated Prince Juan Carlos de Borbón, who had been educated by him in Spain, with the new title of Prince of Spain, as his heir-apparent. This designation came as a surprise for the Carlist pretender to the throne, as well as for Juan Carlos' father, Don Juan, the Count of Barcelona, who technically had a superior right to the throne. By 1973, Franco had surrendered the function of prime minister (Presidente del Gobierno), remaining only as head of state and commander in chief of the military.
As his final years progressed, tension within the various factions of the Movimiento would consume Spanish political life, as varying groups jockeyed for position to control the country's future. On 19 July 1974, the aged Franco fell ill from various health problems, and Juan Carlos took over as Acting Head of State. Franco soon recovered on 2 September and resumed his duties as Head of State, but one year later he fell ill once again from more health problems including a long battle with Parkinson's Disease. On 30 October 1975, he fell into a coma and was put on life support. Franco died just after midnight on 20 November 1975, at the age of 82, just two weeks before his 83rd birthday – the same date as the death of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange. However, the historian Ricardo de la Cierva claims that on 19 November around 6 pm, he was told that Franco had already died. After Franco's death, King Juan Carlos decided to have him buried at Valle de los Caídos, a colossal memorial that nominally honors all the casualties of the Spanish Civil War, but designed by Franco and with a distinctly nationalist tone. Franco's funeral was attended by the Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet, who revered Franco and modeled himself in his image, Bolivia's dictator General Hugo Banzer, Jordan's King Hussein and David Rockefeller[61].
Franco's legacy[link]
Further information: Spanish transition to democracy
In Spain and abroad, the legacy of Franco remains controversial. The length of his rule, the suppression of opposition, and the effective propaganda sustained through the years has made a detached evaluation impossible. For 40 years, Spaniards, and particularly children at school were told that Divine Providence had sent him to save Spain from chaos and poverty. With time, the regime evolved and the ferocious oppression of the early 1940s was reduced over the years. The economic success of the latter part of his regime won support from many citizens, who found the dramatic rise in the everyday standard of living more significant than his regime's human rights abuses, although strong anti-Francoist views are held by large numbers of Spaniards to this day.[citation needed]
In 2006, the BBC reported that Maciej Giertych, an MEP of the League of Polish Families, had expressed admiration for Franco, stating that he "guaranteed the maintenance of traditional values in Europe".[62]
Many Spaniards, particularly those who suffered under Franco's rule, have sought to remove official recognition of his regime. Most government buildings and street names that were named after him during his long rule, have been renamed to their original names. Several statues of Franco and other public Francoist symbols have been removed, with reportedly the last statue in Santander having been removed in 2008.[63] Curiously, the city of Melilla, an autonomous city of Spain located in North Africa, has the distinction of being the only place in Spain where a statue of Franco is still visible on a public street.[64] In 2002, José Maria Aznar's conservative government had voted against proposals to remove street names, statues and other symbols of the Franco era.[63]
In March 2006, the Permanent Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe unanimously adopted a resolution "firmly" condemning the "multiple and serious violations" of human rights committed in Spain under the Francoist regime from 1939 to 1975.[65][66] The resolution was at the initiative of Leo Brincat and of the historian Luis María de Puig, and is the first international official condemnation of the repression enacted by Franco's regime.[65] The resolution also urged to provide public access to historians (professional and amateurs) to the various archives of the Francoist regime, including those of the private Fundación Francisco Franco which, as well as other Francoist archives, remain as of 2006 inaccessible to the public.[65] The Fundación Francisco Franco received various archives from the El Pardo Palace, and is alleged to have sold some of them to private individuals.[67] Furthermore, it urged the Spanish authorities to set up an underground exhibition in the Valle de los Caidos monument, in order to explain the "terrible" conditions in which it was built.[65] Finally, it proposes the construction of monuments to commemorate Franco's victims in Madrid and other important cities.[65]
In Spain, a commission to repair the dignity and restore the memory of the victims of Francoism (Comisión para reparar la dignidad y restituir la memoria de las víctimas del franquismo) was approved in the summer of 2004, and is directed by the socialist vice-president María Teresa Fernández de la Vega.[65]
Recently the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARHM) initiated a systematic search for mass graves of people executed during Franco's regime, which has been supported since the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party`s (PSOE) victory during the 2004 elections by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's government. A Ley de la memoria histórica de España (Law on the Historical Memory of Spain) was approved on 28 July 2006 by the Council of Ministers,[68] but it took until 31 October 2007 for the Congress of Deputies to approve an amended version as "The Bill to recognise and extend rights and to establish measures in favour of those who suffered persecution or violence during the Civil War and the Dictatorship" (in common parlance still known as Law of Historical Memory).[69] The Senate approved the bill on 10 December 2007.[70] Among other things, the law is supposed to enforce an official recognition of the crimes committed against civilians during the Francoist rule and organize under state supervision the search for mass graves.
The accumulated wealth of Franco's family (including much real estate inherited from Franco, such as the Pazo de Meirás, the Canto del Pico in Torrelodones or the Cornide Palace in the Coruña[67]) has also been discussed. Estimates of the family's wealth have ranged from 350 million to 600 million euros.[67] When Franco was sick, the Cortes voted a pension for his wife, Carmen Polo. At the time of her death in 1988, Carmen Polo was receiving more than 12.5 million pesetas (four million more than Felipe González, then head of the government).[67]
Owing to Franco's human rights record, in 2007, the Spanish government banned all public references to the Franco regime and removed any statues, street names, memorials and symbols associated with the regime. Churches which retain plaques commemorating Franco and the victims of his Republican opponents may lose state aid.[71] Since 1978, the national anthem of Spain, the Marcha Real, has not been accompanied by the lyrics introduced by Franco.
Ancestors[link]
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In popular media[link]
- Raza or Espíritu de una Raza (Spirit of a Race) (1941), based on a script by "Jaime de Andrade" (Franco himself), is the semi-autobiographical story of a military officer played by Alfredo Mayo.
- Franco, ese hombre (That man, Franco) (1964) is a pro-Franco documentary film directed by José Luis Sáenz de Heredia
- Argentine actor José "Pepe" Soriano played both Franco and his double in Espérame en el cielo (Wait for Me in Heaven) (1988).
- Ramon Fontserè played him in ¡Buen Viaje, Excelencia! (Bon Voyage, Your Excellency!) (2003).
- The movie Dragon Rapide (1986) deal about the events previous to the Spanish Civil War, with the actor Juan Diego performing Franco
- Manuel Alexandre played the ultimate Franco in the TV Movie 20-N: Los ultimos dias de Franco (20-N: The Last Days of Franco) (2008)
- The Goya Winner Juan Echanove played the dictator in the surrealistic movie MadreGilda (MotherGilda) (1993).
- The comic actor Xavier Deltell played Franco in the movie Operacion Gonada (Operation Gonad) (2000)
- ...Y al tercer año resucitó (...And On the Third Year He Rose Again) (1980) describes what would happen if Franco rose from the dead.
- Juan Viadas played Franco in the Álex de La Iglesia's movie Balada triste de trompeta (The Last Circus) (2010)
- The Swedish film Together depicts a celebration triggered by the radio announcement of Franco's death.
- Franco was a running gag during the first two seasons of Saturday Night Live, where Weekend Update anchor Chevy Chase would frequently report that "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is Still Dead".
- Franco is featured in the novel Triage by Scott Anderson.
- In an episode of Fawlty Towers, John Cleese explains to the Spanish housekeeper that a local "hamster" is in fact a rat. Under his breath, Cleese mutters: "You do have rats in Spain, or did Franco have 'em all shot?"
See also[link]
- Luis Carrero Blanco
- Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead
- History of Spain
- Language politics in Francoist Spain
- Spanish Legion
- Movimiento Nacional
- Emilio Mola
- Spain under Franco
- Ramón Serrano Súñer
Notes[link]
- ^ After the Spanish Government allowed Sephardi and other Jews to seek refuge via Spain from National Socialist areas, an urban legend appeared as a form of derision claiming that the Francos were of Sephardi ancestry. However Payne explains; "Persistent rumours about Franco's alleged Jewish ancestry have no clear foundation, and Harry S. May, Francisco Franco: The Jewish Connection is somewhat fanciful".[12] Furthermore, "a significant portion of the Spanish and Portuguese populations have some remote Jewish ancestry; if this were true of Franco he would simply be in the position of millions of other Spaniards."[12]
References[link]
- ^ Beevor, Anthony. The Spanish Civil War. London: Penguin, 1982. p 49.
- ^ Beevor, Anthony. The Spanish Civil War. London: Penguin, 1982. p 51.
- ^ "Batista's Boost", Time, 18 January, 1943. Retrieved 2 March, 2010.
- ^ Sinova, J. La censura de prensa durante el franquismo/ The Media Censorship During Franco Regime. Random House Mondadori. ISBN 84-8346-134-X.
- ^ Lázaro, A. James Joyce's encounters with Spanish censorship, 1939–1966. Joyce Studies Annual, 1 Jan 2001.
- ^ Rodrigo, J. Cautivos: Campos de concentración en la España franquista, 1936–1947, Editorial Crítica.
- ^ Gastón Aguas, J. M. & Mendiola Gonzalo, F. (eds.) "Los trabajos forzados en la dictadura franquista: Bortxazko lanak diktadura frankistan." ISBN 978-84-611-8354-8
- ^ Duva, J. Octavio Alberola, jefe de los libertarios ajusticiados en 1963, regresa a España para defender su inocencia Diario El País, 9 November 1998
- ^ John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, Toasts of the President and General Francisco Franco of Spain at a State Dinner in Madrid, The American Presidency Project. Santa Barbara, California: University of California (hosted), Gerhard Peters (database). Accessed online 24 May 2008.
- ^ New York Times. "Nixon Asserts Franco Won Respect for Spain." 21 November 1975, Friday, page 16.
- ^ Spiegel Online International "Landmark Law Condemns Dictatorship." 11 January 2007 [1]
- ^ a b Payne 2000, p. 68.
- ^ "Spain's Franco 'had one testicle'". BBC News. 18 May 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8055329.stm. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ Carmen Franco y Polo, 1st Duquesa de Franco on thePeerage.com. Retrieved 8 August 2006.
- ^ "Discurso de Franco a los cadetes de la academia militar de Zaragoza" (in Spanish). 14 June 1931. http://www.generalisimofranco.com/discurso12.htm. Retrieved 21 July 2006.
- ^ Paul Preston, The Theorists of Extermination, essay in Unearthing Franco's Legacy, p.42,45, University of Notre Dame Press, ISBN 0-268-03268-8
- ^ Unearthing Franco's Legacy, University of Notre Dame Press, p.61
- ^ Sebastian Balfour, Deadly Embrace: Morocco and the Road to the Spanish Civil War, OUP 2002 252-254
- ^ "Riots Sweep Spain on Left's Victory; Jails Are Stormed", The New York Times, 18 February 1936.
- ^ Muggeridge, Malcolm, editor, Ciano's Diplomatic Papers, Odhams, London, 1948: 17–18
- ^ Mathieson, David (18 July 2006). "article in the Guardian about Cecil Bebb". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/jul/18/post233. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ Cortada, James W. (2011). Modern Warfare in Spain. Potomac Books, Inc.. p. 43. ISBN 1612341012. http://books.google.com/books?id=3_06uUe91o4C&pg=PT43.
- ^ "Manifesto de las palmas" (in Spanish). 18 July 1936. http://www.generalisimofranco.com/discurso11.htm. Retrieved 21 July 2006.
- ^ Santos Juliá, coord. Víctimas de la guerra civil, Madrid, 1999, ISBN 84-8460-333-4
- ^ a b "Spanish Civil War". Enyclopædia Britannica. Concise.britannica.com. http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9379223/Spanish-Civil-War. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ "La Memoria de los Nuestros" (in Spanish). http://www.memoriahistocheeserica.org/alojados/periquete/paginas/noticias1.html. Retrieved 21 July 2006.
- ^ Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War, re vised and enlarged edition (1977), New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-014278-2. p. 258
- ^ Thomas writes, "to pacify, rather than to dignify, him." op. cit., p. 282.
- ^ Thomas, op. cit., p. 282.
- ^ Thomas, op. cit., p. 421.
- ^ Thomas, op. cit., pp 423–424.
- ^ Thomas, op. cit., p. 356.
- ^ Thomas, op. cit., pp 420–422.
- ^ a b Thomas, op. cit., p. 424.
- ^ Thomas, op. cit., pp 689–690.
- ^ The Spanish Republic and the civil war 1931–39, by Gabriel Jackson, New Jersey, 1967
- ^ Giles Tremlett in Madrid (1 December 2003). "Spain torn on tribute to victims of Franco". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,2763,1096841,00.html. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ Recent searches conducted with parallel excavations of mass graves in Spain (in particular by the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, ARMH) estimate that the total of people executed after the war may arrive at a number between 15,000 to 35,000. See for example Fosas Comunes – Los desaparecidos de Franco. La Guerra Civil no ha terminado, El Mundo, 7 July 2002 (Spanish)
- ^ Jackson, Gabriel. The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931–1939. Princenton University Press. 1967. Princenton. p.539
- ^ "Men of La Mancha". Rev. of Antony Beevor, The Battle for Spain. The Economist (22 June 2006).
- ^ Julius Ruiz, "Defending the Republic: The García Atadell Brigade in Madrid, 1936". Journal of Contemporary History 42.1 (2007):97.
- ^ International justice begins at home by Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami Herald, 4 August 2003
- ^ Caistor, Nick (28 February 2003). "Spanish Civil War fighters look back". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/2809025.stm. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ "(French), ',Camp Vernet', Website". Cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr. http://cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/page/afficheLieu.php?idLang=fr&idLieu=2311. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ Film documentary on the website of the Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration (French)
- ^ "Pablo Neruda: The Poet's Calling". Redpoppy.net. http://www.redpoppy.net/pablo_neruda.php. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
- ^ a b c The Goebbels Diaries, ed. Louis P. Lochner (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1948), 25 Oct 1940, 153.
- ^ Meyers, William P.. "Pius XI and the Rise of General Franco". III Publishing. http://www.iiipublishing.com/religion/catholic/popes/pius_xi_franco.html.
- ^ Sager, Murray (July 2009). "Franco, Hitler & the play for Gibraltar: how the Spanish held firm on the Rock". Esprit de Corps. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6972/is_6_16/ai_n32334981/.
- ^ Aderet, Ofer. "World War II document reveals: General Franco handed Nazis list of Spanish Jews." Haaretz News Agency. 22 June 2010
- ^ "The Franco Years: Policies, Programs, and Growing Popular Unrest". A Country Study: Spain. Library of Congress Country Studies. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/estoc.html#es0034.
- ^ Laqueur, Walter Fascism: Past, Present, Future p. 13 1996 Oxford University Press
- ^ De Menses, Filipe Ribeiro Franco and the Spanish Civil War, p. 87, Routledge
- ^ Gilmour, David, The Transformation of Spain: From Franco to the Constitutional Monarchy, p. 7 1985 Quartet Books
- ^ a b Payne, Stanley Fascism in Spain, 1923–1977, p. 476 1999 University of Wisconsin Press
- ^ Payne, Stanley Fascism in Spain, 1923–1977, p. 347, 476 1999 Univ. of Wisconsin Press
- ^ Laqueur, Walter Fascism: Past, Present, Future, p. 13, 1997 Oxford University Press US
- ^ Roman, Mar. "Spain frets over future of flamenco." 27 October 2007. Associated Press.
- ^ "Gazeta histórica: Referencia: Páginas TIFF". Boletín Oficial del Estado. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071012090326/http://search.boe.es/g/es/bases_datos/tifs.php?coleccion=gazeta&anyo=1933&nbo=217&lim=A&pub=BOE&pco=874&pfi=877.
- ^ "4862 – 17 julio 1954 – B.O. del E. – Núm. 198". Boletín Oficial del Estado. Archived from the original on 26 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080626065607/http://search.boe.es/datos/imagenes/BOE/1954/198/A04862.tif.
- ^ Official journal of the European Communities. 19. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. 1976. p. 18. http://books.google.com/books?id=iGQNAQAAMAAJ&q=Franco+funeral+Pinochet+Banzer.
- ^ Europe diary: Franco and Finland, BBC News, 6 July 2006 (English)
- ^ a b Santander retira la estatua de Franco, El País, 18 December 2008
- ^ Melilla no retirará la estatua de Franco si Defensa no le da otra ubicación 14 April 2009
- ^ a b c d e f Primera condena al régimen de Franco en un recinto internacional, EFE, El Mundo, 17 March 2006 (Spanish)
- ^ Von Martyna Czarnowska, Almunia, Joaquin: EU-Kommission (4): Ein halbes Jahr Vorsprung, Weiner Zeitung, 17 February 2005 (article in German language). Retrieved 26 August 2006.
- ^ a b c d Luis Gomez and Mabel Galaz, La cosecha del dictador, El Pais, 9 September 2007 (Spanish)
- ^ Spain OKs Reparations to Civil War Victims, Associated Press, 28 July 2006
- ^ Politics As Usual? The Trials and Tribulations of The Law of Historical Memory in Spain, Georgina Blakeley (The Open University), 7 September 2008
- ^ Proyecto de Ley por la que se reconocen y amplían derechos y se establecen medidas en favor de quienes padecieron persecución o violencia durante la Guerra Civil y la Dictadura (Spanish)
- ^ Hamilos, Paul (19 October 2007). "Rallies banned at Franco's mausoleum". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/oct/18/spain.paulhamilos. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
Further reading[link]
- Blinkhorn, Martin (1988). Democracy and civil war in Spain 1931–1939. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-00699-6.
- Carroll, Warren H (2004). The Last Crusade: Spain 1936. Christendom Press. ISBN 0-931888-67-0.
- Payne, Stanley G (2000). The Phoenix: Franco Regime 1936–1975. Phoenix Press. ISBN 1-84212-046-8.
- Preston, Paul (1994). Franco: A Biography. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02515-3.
External links[link]
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| Preceded by Juan Negrín |
President of the Government of Spain 1938–1973 |
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| Preceded by Manuel Azaña |
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"Hitler" redirects here. For other uses, see Hitler (disambiguation).
| Adolf Hitler | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Hitler in 1937 | |
| Führer of Germany | |
| In office 2 August 1934 – 30 April 1945 |
|
| Preceded by | Paul von Hindenburg (as President) |
| Succeeded by | Karl Dönitz (as President) |
| Chancellor of Germany | |
| In office 30 January 1933 – 30 April 1945 |
|
| President | Paul von Hindenburg |
| Deputy |
|
| Preceded by | Kurt von Schleicher |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Goebbels |
| Reichsstatthalter of Prussia | |
| In office 30 January 1933 – 30 January 1935 |
|
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Office created |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1889-04-20)20 April 1889 Braunau am Inn, Austria–Hungary |
| Died | 30 April 1945(1945-04-30) (aged 56) Berlin, Germany |
| Nationality |
|
| Political party | National Socialist German Workers' Party (1921–1945) |
| Other political affiliations |
German Workers' Party (1920–1921) |
| Spouse(s) | Eva Braun (29–30 April 1945) |
| Occupation | Politician, soldier, artist, writer |
| Religion | See Adolf Hitler's religious views |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  German Empire |
| Service/branch |  Reichsheer |
| Years of service | 1914–1918 |
| Rank | Gefreiter |
| Unit | 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment |
| Battles/wars | World War I |
| Awards |
|
Adolf Hitler (German: [ˈadɔlf ˈhɪtlɐ] ( listen); 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP), commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and dictator of Nazi Germany (as Führer und Reichskanzler) from 1934 to 1945. Hitler is commonly associated with the rise of fascism in Europe, World War II, and the Holocaust.
A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the German Workers' Party, precursor of the Nazi Party, in 1919, and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923, he attempted a coup d'état, known as the Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich. The failed coup resulted in Hitler's imprisonment, during which time he wrote his memoir, Mein Kampf (My Struggle). After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anticommunism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. After his appointment as chancellor in 1933, he transformed the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideology of Nazism. His aim was to establish a New Order of absolute Nazi German hegemony in continental Europe.
Hitler's foreign and domestic policies had the goal of seizing Lebensraum ("living space") for the Germanic people. He directed the rearmament of Germany and the invasion of Poland by the Wehrmacht in September 1939, leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe. Under Hitler's rule, in 1941 German forces and their European allies occupied most of Europe and North Africa. These gains were gradually reversed, and in 1945 the Allied armies defeated the German army. Hitler's supremacist and racially motivated policies resulted in the systematic murder of eleven million people, including nearly six million Jews.
In the final days of the war, during the Battle of Berlin in 1945, Hitler married his long-time mistress, Eva Braun. On 30 April 1945, less than two days later, the two committed suicide to avoid capture by the Red Army, and their corpses were burned.
Contents |
Early years[link]
Ancestry[link]
Hitler's father, Alois Hitler (1837–1903), was the illegitimate child of Maria Anna Schicklgruber. Alois's birth certificate did not name the father, so the child bore his mother's surname. In 1842 Johann Georg Hiedler married Anna. After she died in 1847 and he in 1856, Alois was brought up in the family of Hiedler's brother, Johann Nepomuk Hiedler.[2] It was not until 1876 that Alois was legitimated and the baptismal register changed by a priest before three witnesses.[3] While awaiting trial at Nuremberg in 1945, Nazi official Hans Frank suggested the existence of letters claiming that Alois' mother was employed as a housekeeper for a Jewish family in Graz and that the family's 19-year-old son, Leopold Frankenberger, had fathered Alois.[4] However, no Frankenberger, Jewish or otherwise, was registered in Graz during that period.[5] Historians doubt the claim that Alois' father was Jewish.[6][7]
At age 39, Alois assumed the surname "Hitler", also spelled as "Hiedler", "Hüttler", or "Huettler". The origin of the name is either "one who lives in a hut" (Standard German Hütte), "shepherd" (Standard German hüten "to guard", English "heed"), or is from the Slavic words Hidlar and Hidlarcek.[8]
Childhood[link]
Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 at the Gasthof zum Pommer, an inn in Ranshofen,[9] a village annexed in 1938 to the municipality of Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary. He was the fourth of six children to Alois Hitler and Klara Pölzl (1860–1907). Adolf's older siblings – Gustav, Ida, and Otto – died in infancy.[10] When Hitler was three, the family moved to Passau, Germany.[11] There he acquired the distinctive lower Bavarian dialect, rather than Austrian German, which marked his speech all of his life.[12][13][14] In 1894 the family relocated to Leonding (near Linz), and in June 1895, Alois retired to a small landholding at Hafeld, near Lambach, where he tried his hand at farming and beekeeping. Adolf attended school in nearby Fischlham. Hitler became fixated on warfare after finding a picture book about the Franco-Prussian War among his father's belongings.[15][16]
The move to Hafeld coincided with the onset of intense father-son conflicts caused by Adolf's refusal to conform to the strict discipline of his school.[17] Alois Hitler's farming efforts at Hafeld ended in failure, and in 1897 the family moved to Lambach. Hitler attended a Catholic school in an 11th-century Benedictine cloister, the pulpit of which bore a stylized swastika symbol on the coat of arms of Theodorich von Hagen, a former abbot.[18] The eight-year-old Hitler took singing lessons, sang in the church choir, and even entertained thoughts of becoming a priest.[19] In 1898 the family returned permanently to Leonding. The death of his younger brother, Edmund, from measles on 2 February 1900 deeply affected Hitler. He changed from being confident and outgoing and an excellent student, to a morose, detached, and sullen boy who constantly fought with his father and teachers.[20]
Alois had made a successful career in the customs bureau and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps.[21] Hitler later dramatised an episode from this period when his father took him to visit a customs office, depicting it as an event that gave rise to an unforgiving antagonism between father and son, who were both strong-willed.[22][23][24] Ignoring his son's desire to attend a classical high school and become an artist, in September 1900 Alois sent Adolf to the Realschule in Linz.[25] (This was the same high school that Adolf Eichmann would attend some 17 years later.)[26] Hitler rebelled against this decision, and in Mein Kampf revealed that he did poorly in school, hoping that once his father saw "what little progress I was making at the technical school he would let me devote myself to my dream."[27]
Hitler became obsessed with German nationalism from a young age.[28] He expressed loyalty only to Germany, despising the declining Habsburg Monarchy and its rule over an ethnically-variegated empire.[29][30] Hitler and his friends used the German greeting "Heil", and sang the German anthem "Deutschland Über Alles" instead of the Austrian Imperial anthem.[31]
After Alois' sudden death on 3 January 1903, Hitler's performance at school deteriorated. His mother allowed him to quit in autumn 1905.[32] He enrolled at the Realschule in Steyr in September 1904; his behaviour and performance showed some slight and gradual improvement.[33] In the autumn of 1905, after passing a repeat and the final exam, Hitler left the school without showing any ambitions for further schooling or clear plans for a career.[34]
Early adulthood in Vienna and Munich[link]
File:The Courtyard of the Old Residency in Munich - Adolf Hitler.jpg
The Alter Hof in Munich. Watercolour by Adolf Hitler, 1914
From 1905, Hitler lived a bohemian life in Vienna, financed by orphan's benefits and support from his mother. He worked as a casual labourer and eventually as a painter, selling watercolours. The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna rejected him twice, in 1907 and 1908, because of his "unfitness for painting". The director recommended that Hitler study architecture,[35] but he lacked the academic credentials.[36] On 21 December 1907, his mother died aged 47. After the Academy's second rejection, Hitler ran out of money. In 1909 he lived in a homeless shelter, and by 1910, he had settled into a house for poor working men on Meldemannstraße.[37] At the time Hitler lived there, Vienna was a hotbed of religious prejudice and 19th-century racism.[38] Fears of being overrun by immigrants from the East were widespread, and the populist mayor, Karl Lueger, exploited the rhetoric of virulent antisemitism for political effect. Georg Schönerer's pan-Germanic antisemitism had a strong following and base in the Mariahilf district, where Hitler lived.[39] Hitler read local newspapers, such as the Deutsches Volksblatt, that fanned prejudice and played on Christian fears of being swamped by an influx of eastern Jews.[40] Hostile to what he saw as Catholic "Germanophobia", he developed an admiration for Martin Luther.[41]
The origin and first expression of Hitler's antisemitism have been difficult to locate.[42] Hitler states in Mein Kampf that he first became an antisemite in Vienna.[43] His close friend, August Kubizek, claimed that Hitler was a "confirmed antisemite" before he left Linz.[44] Kubizek's account has been challenged by historian Brigitte Hamann, who writes that Kubizek is the only person to have said that the young Hitler was an antisemite.[45] Hamann also notes that no antisemitic remark has been documented from Hitler during this period.[46] Historian Ian Kershaw suggests that if Hitler had made such remarks, they may have gone unnoticed because of the prevailing antisemitism in Vienna at that time.[47] Several sources provide strong evidence that Hitler had Jewish friends in his hostel and in other places in Vienna.[48][49] Historian Richard J. Evans states that "historians now generally agree that his notorious, murderous anti-Semitism emerged well after Germany’s defeat [in World War I], as a product of the paranoid 'stab-in-the-back' explanation for the catastrophe".[50]
Hitler received the final part of his father's estate in May 1913 and moved to Munich.[51] Historians believe he left Vienna to evade conscription into the Austrian army.[52] Hitler later claimed that he did not wish to serve the Habsburg Empire because of the mixture of "races" in its army.[51] After he was deemed unfit for service—he failed his physical exam in Salzburg on 5 February 1914—he returned to Munich.[53]
World War I[link]
Main article: Military career of Adolf Hitler
At the outbreak of World War I, Hitler applied to serve in the German army. He was accepted in August 1914, likely as the result of a clerical oversight—he was still an Austrian citizen.[54] Posted to the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 (1st Company of the List Regiment),[55][54] he served as a dispatch runner on the Western Front in France and Belgium,[56] spending nearly half his time well behind the front lines.[57][58] He was present at the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Arras, and the Battle of Passchendaele, and was wounded at the Somme.[59]
He was decorated for bravery, receiving the Iron Cross, Second Class, in 1914.[59] Recommended by Hugo Gutmann, he received the Iron Cross, First Class, on 4 August 1918,[60] a decoration rarely awarded to one of Hitler's rank (Gefreiter). Hitler's post at regimental headquarters, providing frequent interactions with senior officers, may have helped him receive this decoration.[61] Though his rewarded actions may have been courageous, they were probably not highly exceptional.[62] He also received the Black Wound Badge on 18 May 1918.[63]
During his service at the headquarters, Hitler pursued his artwork, drawing cartoons and instructions for an army newspaper. During the Battle of the Somme in October 1916, he was wounded either in the groin area[64] or the left thigh by a shell that had exploded in the dispatch runners' dugout.[65] Hitler spent almost two months in the Red Cross hospital at Beelitz, returning to his regiment on 5 March 1917.[66] On 15 October 1918, he was temporarily blinded by a mustard gas attack and was hospitalised in Pasewalk.[67] While there, Hitler learnt of Germany's defeat,[68] and—by his own account—on receiving this news, he suffered a second bout of blindness.[69]
Hitler became embittered over the collapse of the war effort, and his ideological development began to firmly take shape.[70] He described the war as "the greatest of all experiences", and was praised by his commanding officers for his bravery.[71] The experience reinforced his passionate German patriotism and he was shocked by Germany's capitulation in November 1918.[72] Like other German nationalists, he believed in the Dolchstoßlegende (Stab-in-the-back legend), which claimed that the German army, "undefeated in the field," had been "stabbed in the back" on the home front by civilian leaders and Marxists, later dubbed the "November criminals".[73]
The Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Germany must relinquish several of its territories and demilitarise the Rhineland. The treaty imposed economic sanctions and levied heavy reparations on the country. Many Germans perceived the treaty—especially Article 231, which declared Germany responsible for the war—as a humiliation.[74] The Versailles Treaty and the economic, social, and political conditions in Germany after the war were later exploited by Hitler for political gains.[75]
Entry into politics[link]
Main article: Adolf Hitler's political views
After World War I Hitler returned to Munich.[76] Having no formal education and career plans or prospects, he tried to remain in the army for as long as possible.[77] In July 1919 he was appointed Verbindungsmann (intelligence agent) of an Aufklärungskommando (reconnaissance commando) of the Reichswehr, to influence other soldiers and to infiltrate the German Workers' Party (DAP). While monitoring the activities of the DAP, Hitler became attracted to the founder Anton Drexler's antisemitic, nationalist, anti-capitalist, and anti-Marxist ideas.[78] Drexler favoured a strong active government, a "non-Jewish" version of socialism, and solidarity among all members of society. Impressed with Hitler's oratory skills, Drexler invited him to join the DAP. Hitler accepted on 12 September 1919,[79] becoming the party's 55th member.[80]
At the DAP, Hitler met Dietrich Eckart, one of its early founders and a member of the occult Thule Society.[81] Eckart became Hitler's mentor, exchanging ideas with him and introducing him to a wide range of people in Munich society.[82] To increase its appeal, the DAP changed its name to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party – NSDAP).[83] Hitler designed the party's banner of a swastika in a white circle on a red background.[84]
Hitler was discharged from the army in March 1920 and began working full time for the NSDAP. In February 1921—already highly effective at speaking to large audiences—he spoke to a crowd of over 6,000 in Munich.[85] To publicise the meeting, two truckloads of party supporters drove around town waving swastika flags and throwing leaflets. Hitler soon gained notoriety for his rowdy, polemic speeches against the Treaty of Versailles, rival politicians, and especially against Marxists and Jews.[86] At the time, the NSDAP was centred in Munich, a major hotbed of anti-government German nationalists determined to crush Marxism and undermine the Weimar Republic.[87]
In June 1921, while Hitler and Eckart were on a fundraising trip to Berlin, a mutiny broke out within the NSDAP in Munich. Members of the its executive committee, some of whom considered Hitler to be too overbearing, wanted to merge with the rival German Socialist Party (DSP).[88] Hitler returned to Munich on 11 July 1921 and angrily tendered his resignation. The committee members realised that his resignation would mean the end of the party.[89] Hitler announced he would rejoin on the condition that he would replace Drexler as party chairman, and that the party headquarters would remain in Munich.[90] The committee agreed; he rejoined the party as member 3,680. He still faced some opposition within the NSDAP: Hermann Esser and his allies printed 3,000 copies of a pamphlet attacking Hitler as a traitor to the party.[90][a] In the following days, Hitler spoke to several packed houses and defended himself, to thunderous applause. His strategy proved successful: at a general membership meeting, he was granted absolute powers as party chairman, with only one nay vote cast.[91]
Hitler's vitriolic beer hall speeches began attracting regular audiences. He became adept at using populist themes targeted at his audience, including the use of scapegoats who could be blamed for the economic hardships of his listeners.[92][93][94] Historians have noted the hypnotic effect of his rhetoric on large audiences, and of his eyes in small groups. Kessel writes, "Overwhelmingly ... Germans speak with mystification of Hitler's 'hypnotic' appeal. The word shows up again and again; Hitler is said to have mesmerized the nation, captured them in a trance from which they could not break loose."[95] Historian Hugh Trevor-Roper described "the fascination of those eyes, which had bewitched so many seemingly sober men."[96] He used his personal magnetism and an understanding of crowd psychology to his advantage while engaged in public speaking.[97][98] Alfons Heck, a former member of the Hitler Youth, describes the reaction to a speech by Hitler: "We erupted into a frenzy of nationalistic pride that bordered on hysteria. For minutes on end, we shouted at the top of our lungs, with tears streaming down our faces: Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil! From that moment on, I belonged to Adolf Hitler body and soul".[99] Although his oratory skills and personal traits were generally received well by large crowds and at official events, some who had met Hitler privately noted that his appearance and demeanour failed to make a lasting impression on them.[100][101]
Early followers included Rudolf Hess, former air force pilot Hermann Göring, and army captain Ernst Röhm. The latter became head of the Nazis' paramilitary organisation, the Sturmabteilung (SA, "Stormtroopers"), which protected meetings and frequently attacked political opponents. A critical influence on his thinking during this period was the Aufbau Vereinigung,[102] a conspiratorial group formed of White Russian exiles and early National Socialists. The group, financed with funds channelled from wealthy industrialists like Henry Ford, introduced him to the idea of a Jewish conspiracy, linking international finance with Bolshevism.[103]
Beer Hall Putsch[link]
Main article: Beer Hall Putsch
Hitler enlisted the help of World War I General Erich Ludendorff for an attempted coup known as the "Beer Hall Putsch" (also known as the "Hitler Putsch" or "Munich Putsch"). The Nazi Party had used Italian Fascism as a model for their appearance and policies. Hitler wanted to emulate Benito Mussolini's "March on Rome" (1922) by staging his own coup in Bavaria, to be followed by challenging the government in Berlin. Hitler and Ludendorff sought the support of Staatskommissar (state commissioner) Gustav von Kahr, Bavaria's de facto ruler. However, Kahr, along with Police Chief Hans Ritter von Seisser (Seißer) and Reichswehr General Otto von Lossow, wanted to install a nationalist dictatorship without Hitler.[104]
Hitler wanted to seize a critical moment for successful popular agitation and support.[105] On 8 November 1923 he and the SA stormed a public meeting of 3,000 people that had been organised by Kahr in the Bürgerbräukeller, a large beer hall in Munich. Hitler interrupted Kahr's speech and announced that the national revolution had begun, declaring the formation of a new government with Ludendorff.[106] Retiring to a backroom, Hitler, with handgun drawn, demanded and got the support of Kahr, Seisser, and Lossow.[106] Hitler's forces initially succeeded in occupying the local Reichswehr and police headquarters; however, Kahr and his consorts quickly withdrew their support and neither the army nor the state police joined forces with him.[107] The next day, Hitler and his followers marched from the beer hall to the Bavarian War Ministry to overthrow the Bavarian government, but police dispersed them.[108] Sixteen NSDAP members and four police officers were killed in the failed coup.[109]
Hitler fled to the home of Ernst Hanfstaengl, and by some accounts contemplated suicide.[110] He was depressed but calm when arrested on 11 November 1923 for high treason.[111] His trial began in February 1924 before the special People's Court in Munich,[112] and Alfred Rosenberg became temporary leader of the NSDAP. On 1 April Hitler was sentenced to five years' imprisonment at Landsberg Prison.[113] He received friendly treatment from the guards; he was allowed mail from supporters and regular visits by party comrades. The Bavarian Supreme Court issued a pardon and he was released from jail on 20 December 1924, against the state prosecutor's objections.[114] Including time on remand, Hitler had served just over one year in prison.[115]
While at Landsberg, Hitler dictated most of the first volume of Mein Kampf (My Struggle; originally entitled Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice) to his deputy, Rudolf Hess.[115] The book, dedicated to Thule Society member Dietrich Eckart, was an autobiography and an exposition of his ideology. Mein Kampf was influenced by The Passing of the Great Race by Madison Grant, which Hitler called "my Bible".[116] The book laid out Hitler's plans for transforming German society into one based on race. Some passages implied genocide.[117] Published in two volumes in 1925 and 1926, it sold 228,000 copies between 1925 and 1932. One million copies were sold in 1933, Hitler's first year in office. [118]
Rebuilding the NSDAP[link]
File:Hitler 1928.jpg
Hitler (left), standing behind Hermann Göring at a Nazi rally in Nuremberg (c. 1928)
At the time of Hitler's release from prison, politics in Germany had become less combative, and the economy had improved. This limited Hitler's opportunities for political agitation. As a result of the failed Beer Hall Putsch, the NSDAP and its affiliated organisations were banned in Bavaria. In a meeting with Prime Minister of Bavaria Heinrich Held on 4 January 1925, Hitler agreed to respect the authority of the state: he would only seek political power through the democratic process. The meeting paved the way for the ban on the NSDAP to be lifted.[119] However, Hitler was barred from public speaking, [120] a ban that remained in place until 1927.[121] To advance his political ambitions in spite of the ban, Hitler appointed Gregor Strasser, Otto Strasser, and Joseph Goebbels to organise and grow the NSDAP in northern Germany. A superb organiser, Gregor Strasser steered a more independent political course, emphasising the socialist element of the party's programme.[122]
Hitler ruled the NSDAP autocratically by asserting the Führerprinzip ("Leader principle"). Rank in the party was not determined by elections—positions were filled through appointment by those of higher rank, who demanded unquestioning obedience to the will of the leader.[123]
The stock market in the United States crashed on 24 October 1929. The impact in Germany was dire: millions were thrown out of work and several major banks collapsed. Hitler and the NSDAP prepared to take advantage of the emergency to gain support for their party. They promised to repudiate the Versailles Treaty, strengthen the economy, and provide jobs.[124]
Rise to power[link]
Main article: Adolf Hitler's rise to power
| Date | Total votes |
Votes, percentage |
Reichstag seats |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01924-05-01May 1, 1924May 1924 | &100000000019183000000001,918,300 | &100000000000000065000006.5 | &1000000000000003200000032 | Hitler in prison |
| 01924-12-01December 1, 1924December 1924 | &10000000000907300000000907,300 | &100000000000000030000003.0 | &1000000000000001400000014 | Hitler released from prison |
| 01928-05-01May 1, 1928May 1928 | &10000000000810100000000810,100 | &100000000000000026000002.6 | &1000000000000001200000012 | |
| 01930-09-01September 1, 1930September 1930 | &100000000064096000000006,409,600 | &1000000000000001830000018.3 | &10000000000000107000000107 | After the financial crisis |
| 01932-07-01July 1, 1932July 1932 | &1000000001374500000000013,745,000 | &1000000000000003729999937.3 | &10000000000000230000000230 | After Hitler was candidate for presidency |
| 01932-11-01November 1, 1932November 1932 | &1000000001173700000000011,737,000 | &1000000000000003310000033.1 | &10000000000000196000000196 | |
| 01933-03-01March 1, 1933March 1933 | &1000000001727718000000017,277,180 | &1000000000000004389999943.9 | &10000000000000288000000288 | During Hitler's term as chancellor of Germany |
Brüning administration[link]
The Great Depression in Germany provided a political opportunity for Hitler. Germans were ambivalent to the parliamentary republic, which faced strong challenges from right- and left-wing extremists. The moderate political parties were increasingly unable to stem the tide of extremism, and the German referendum of 1929 had helped to elevate Nazi ideology.[126] The elections of September 1930 resulted in the break-up of a grand coalition and its replacement with a minority cabinet. Its leader, chancellor Heinrich Brüning of the Centre Party, governed through emergency decrees from the president, Paul von Hindenburg. Governance by decree would become the new norm and paved the way for authoritarian forms of government.[127] The NSDAP rose from obscurity to win 18.3% of the vote and 107 parliamentary seats in the 1930 election, becoming the second-largest party in parliament.[128]
Hitler made a prominent appearance at the trial of two Reichswehr officers, Lieutenants Richard Scheringer and Hans Ludin, in the autumn of 1930. Both were charged with membership in the NSDAP, at that time illegal for Reichswehr personnel.[129] The prosecution argued that the NSDAP was an extremist party, prompting defence lawyer Hans Frank to call on Hitler to testify in court.[130] On 25 September 1930 Hitler testified that his party would pursue political power solely through democratic elections,[131] a testimony that won him many supporters in the officer corps.[132]
Brüning's austerity measures brought little economic improvement and were extremely unpopular.[133] Hitler exploited this by targeting his political messages specifically at people who had been affected by the inflation of the 1920s and the Depression, such as farmers, war veterans, and the middle class.[134]
Hitler had formally renounced his Austrian citizenship on 7 April 1925, but at the time did not acquire German citizenship. For almost seven years Hitler was stateless, unable to run for public office, and faced the risk of deportation.[135] On 25 February 1932 the interior minister of Brunswick, who was a member of the NSDAP, appointed Hitler as administrator for the state's delegation to the Reichsrat in Berlin, making Hitler a citizen of Brunswick,[136] and thus of Germany.[137]
In 1932 Hitler ran against von Hindenburg in the presidential elections. The viability of his candidacy was underscored by a 27 January 1932 speech to the Industry Club in Düsseldorf, which won him support from many of Germany's most powerful industrialists.[138] However, Hindenburg had support from various nationalist, monarchist, Catholic, and republican parties, and some social democrats. Hitler used the campaign slogan "Hitler über Deutschland" ("Hitler over Germany"), a reference to both his political ambitions and to his campaigning by aircraft.[139] Hitler came in second in both rounds of the election, garnering more than 35% of the vote in the final election. Although he lost to Hindenburg, this election established Hitler as a strong force in German politics.[140]
Appointment as chancellor[link]
The absence of an effective government prompted two influential politicians, Franz von Papen and Alfred Hugenberg, along with several other industrialists and businessmen, to write a letter to von Hindenburg. The signers urged Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as leader of a government "independent from parliamentary parties", which could turn into a movement that would "enrapture millions of people".[141][142]
Hindenburg reluctantly agreed to appoint Hitler as chancellor after two further parliamentary elections—in July and November 1932—had not resulted in the formation of a majority government. Hitler was to head a short-lived coalition government formed by the NSDAP and Hugenberg's party, the German National People's Party (DNVP). On 30 January 1933 the new cabinet was sworn in during a brief and simple ceremony in Hindenburg's office. The NSDAP held three of the eleven posts: Hitler was named chancellor, Hermann Göring was named minister without portfolio, and Wilhelm Frick was appointed minister of the interior.[143]
Reichstag fire and March elections[link]
As chancellor, Hitler worked against attempts by the NSDAP's opponents to build a majority government. Because of the political stalemate, he asked President Hindenburg to again dissolve the Reichstag, and elections were scheduled for early March. On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was set on fire. Göring blamed a communist plot, because Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe was found in incriminating circumstances inside the burning building.[144] At Hitler's urging, Hindenburg responded with the Reichstag Fire Decree of 28 February, which suspended basic rights and allowed detention without trial. Activities of the German Communist Party were suppressed, and some 4,000 communist party members were arrested.[145] Researchers, including William L. Shirer and Alan Bullock, are of the opinion that the NSDAP itself was responsible for starting the fire.[146][147]
In addition to political campaigning, the NSDAP engaged in paramilitary violence and the spread of anti-communist propaganda in the days preceding the election. On election day, 6 March 1933, the NSDAP's share of the vote increased to 43.9%, and the party acquired the largest number of seats in parliament. However, Hitler's party failed to secure an absolute majority, necessitating another coalition with the DNVP.[148]
Day of Potsdam and the Enabling Act[link]
On 21 March 1933 the new Reichstag was constituted with an opening ceremony at the Garrison Church in Potsdam. This "Day of Potsdam" was held to demonstrate unity between the Nazi movement and the old Prussian elite and military. Hitler appeared in a morning coat and humbly greeted President von Hindenburg.[149][150]
To achieve full political control despite not having an absolute majority in parliament, Hitler's government brought the Ermächtigungsgesetz (Enabling Act) to a vote in the newly elected Reichstag. The act gave Hitler's cabinet full legislative powers for a period of four years and (with certain exceptions) allowed deviations from the constitution.[151] The bill required a two-thirds majority to pass. Leaving nothing to chance, the Nazis used the provisions of the Reichstag Fire Decree to keep several Social Democratic deputies from attending; the Communists had already been banned.[152]
On 23 March, the Reichstag assembled at the Kroll Opera House under turbulent circumstances. Ranks of SA men served as guards inside the building, while large groups outside opposing the proposed legislation shouted slogans and threats toward the arriving members of parliament.[153] The position of the Centre Party, the third largest party in the Reichstag, turned out to be decisive. After Hitler verbally promised party leader Ludwig Kaas that President von Hindenburg would retain his power of veto, Kaas announced the Centre Party would support the Enabling Act. Ultimately, the Enabling Act passed by a vote of 441–84, with all parties except the Social Democrats voting in favour. The Enabling Act, along with the Reichstag Fire Decree, transformed Hitler's government into a de facto legal dictatorship.[154]
Removal of remaining limits[link]
At the risk of appearing to talk nonsense I tell you that the National Socialist movement will go on for 1,000 years! ... Don't forget how people laughed at me 15 years ago when I declared that one day I would govern Germany. They laugh now, just as foolishly, when I declare that I shall remain in power!
— Adolf Hitler to a British correspondent in Berlin, June 1934[155]
Having achieved full control over the legislative and executive branches of government, Hitler and his political allies embarked on a systematic suppression of the remaining political opposition. The Social Democratic Party was banned and all its assets seized.[156] While many trade union delegates were in Berlin for May Day activities, SA stormtroopers demolished trade union offices around the country. On 2 May 1933 all trade unions were forced to dissolve and their leaders were arrested; some were sent to concentration camps.[157] The German Labour Front was formed to represent all workers, administrators, and company owners together as one group. This new labour organisation reflected the concept of national socialism in the spirit of Hitler's "Volksgemeinschaft" (German racial community).[158]
By the end of June, the other parties had been intimidated into disbanding. With the help of the SA, Hitler pressured his nominal coalition partner, Hugenberg, into resigning. On 14 July 1933 Hitler's Nazi Party was declared the only legal political party in Germany.[158][156] The demands of the SA for more political and military power caused much anxiety among military, industrial, and political leaders. Hitler responded by purging the entire SA leadership in what became known as the Night of the Long Knives, which took place from 30 June to 2 July 1934.[159] Hitler targeted Ernst Röhm and other political adversaries (such as Gregor Strasser and former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher). Röhm and other SA leaders, along with a number of Hitler's political enemies, were rounded up, arrested, and shot.[160] While the international community and some Germans were shocked by the murders, many in Germany saw Hitler as restoring order.[161]
On 2 August 1934 President von Hindenburg died. The previous day, the cabinet had enacted a law to take effect upon Hindenburg's death which abolished the office of president and combined its powers with those of the chancellor. Hitler thus became head of state as well as head of government, and was formally named as Führer und Reichskanzler (leader and chancellor).[162] This law actually violated the Enabling Act. While the Enabling Act allowed Hitler to deviate from the constitution, it explicitly barred him from passing any law that tampered with the presidency. In 1932, the constitution had been amended to make the president of the High Court of Justice, not the chancellor, acting president pending new elections.[163] With this law, Hitler removed the last legal remedy by which he could be removed from office.
As head of state, Hitler became Supreme Commander of the armed forces. The traditional loyalty oath of soldiers and sailors was altered to affirm loyalty to Hitler personally, rather than to the office of supreme commander.[164] On 19 August, the merger of the presidency with the chancellorship was approved by a plebiscite with support of 90% of the electorate.[165]
In early 1938 Hitler forced his War Minister, Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, to resign when a police dossier was discovered showing that Blomberg's new wife had a record for prostitution.[166][167] Hitler removed army commander Colonel-General Werner von Fritsch after the Schutzstaffel (SS) produced allegations that he had taken part in a homosexual relationship.[168] Both men had already fallen into disfavour when they objected to his demand that they have the Wehrmacht ready to go to war as early as 1938.[169] Hitler used this incident, known as the Blomberg–Fritsch Affair, to consolidate his hold over the military. He assumed Blomberg's title of Commander-in-Chief, thus taking personal command of the armed forces. He replaced the Ministry of War with the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces, or OKW), headed by General Wilhelm Keitel. On the same day, sixteen generals were stripped of their commands and 44 more were transferred; all were suspected of not being sufficiently pro-Nazi.[170] By early February 1938, twelve other generals had been removed.[171]
Having consolidated his political powers, Hitler suppressed or eliminated his opposition by a process termed Gleichschaltung ("bringing into line"). He attempted to gain additional public support by vowing to reverse the effects of the Depression and the Versailles Treaty.
Third Reich[link]
Main article: Nazi Germany
Economy and culture[link]
In 1935 Hitler appointed Hjalmar Schacht as Plenipotentiary for War Economy, in charge of preparing the economy for war. Reconstruction and rearmament were financed through Mefo bills, printing money, and seizing the assets of people arrested as enemies of the State, including Jews.[172] Unemployment fell substantially, from six million in 1932 to one million in 1936.[173] Hitler oversaw one of the largest infrastructure improvement campaigns in German history, leading to the construction of dams, autobahns, railroads, and other civil works. Wages were slightly reduced in the pre–World War II years over those of the Weimar Republic, while the cost of living increased by 25%.[174]
Hitler's government sponsored architecture on an immense scale. Albert Speer, instrumental in implementing Hitler's classicist reinterpretation of German culture, was placed in charge of the proposed architectural renovations of Berlin.[175] In 1936 Hitler opened the summer Olympic games in Berlin.
Rearmament and new alliances[link]
In a meeting with German military leaders on 3 February 1933, Hitler spoke of "conquest for Lebensraum in the East and its ruthless Germanisation" as his ultimate foreign policy objectives.[176] In March, Prince Bernhard Wilhelm von Bülow, secretary at the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office), issued a major statement of German foreign policy aims: Anschluss with Austria, the restoration of Germany's national borders of 1914, rejection of military restrictions under the Treaty of Versailles, the return of the former German colonies in Africa, and a German zone of influence in Eastern Europe. Hitler found Bülow's goals to be too modest.[177] In his speeches of this period, he stressed the peaceful goals of his policies and willingness to work within international agreements.[178] At the first meeting of his Cabinet in 1933, Hitler prioritised military spending over unemployment relief.[179]
File:Hitlermusso2 edit.jpg
On 25 October 1936 an Axis was declared between Italy and Germany.
Germany withdrew from the League of Nations and the World Disarmament Conference in October 1933.[180] In March 1935 Hitler announced an expansion of the Wehrmacht to 600,000 members—six times the number permitted by the Versailles Treaty—including development of an Air Force (Luftwaffe) and increasing the size of the Navy (Kriegsmarine). Britain, France, Italy, and the League of Nations condemned these plans as violations of the Treaty.[181] The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (AGNA) of 18 June 1935 allowed German tonnage to increase to 35% of that of the British navy. Hitler called the signing of the AGNA "the happiest day of his life", as he believed the agreement marked the beginning of the Anglo-German alliance he had predicted in Mein Kampf.[182] France and Italy were not consulted before the signing, directly undermining the League of Nations and putting the Treaty of Versailles on the path towards irrelevance.[183]
Germany reoccupied the demilitarised zone in the Rhineland in March 1936, in violation the Versailles Treaty. Hitler sent troops to Spain to support General Franco after receiving an appeal for help in July 1936. At the same time, Hitler continued his efforts to create an Anglo-German alliance.[184] In response to a growing economic crisis caused by his rearmament efforts, Hitler issued a memorandum ordering Göring to carry out a Four Year Plan to prepare Germany for war within the next four years.[185] The "Four-Year Plan Memorandum" of August 1936 envisaged an all-out struggle between "Judeo-Bolshevism" and German national socialism, which in Hitler's view required a committed effort of rearmament regardless of the economic costs.[186]
Count Galeazzo Ciano, foreign minister of Benito Mussolini's government, declared an axis between Germany and Italy, and on 25 November, Germany signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan. Britain, China, Italy, and Poland were also invited to join the Anti-Comintern Pact, but only Italy signed in 1937. Hitler abandoned his dream of an Anglo-German alliance, blaming "inadequate" British leadership.[187] At a secret meeting in the Reich Chancellery with his foreign ministers and military chiefs that November, Hitler stated his intention of acquiring Lebensraum ("living space") for the German people. He ordered preparations for war in the east, to begin as early as 1938 and no later than 1943. He stated that the conference minutes, recorded as the Hossbach Memorandum, were to be regarded as his "political testament" in the event of his death.[188] He felt the German economic crisis had reached a point that a severe decline in living standards in Germany could only be stopped by a policy of military aggression—seizing Austria and Czechoslovakia.[189][190] Hitler urged quick action, before Britain and France obtained a permanent lead in the arms race.[189] In early 1938, in the wake of the Blomberg–Fritsch Affair, Hitler asserted control of the military-foreign policy apparatus, dismissing Neurath as Foreign Minister and appointing himself Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht (supreme commander of the armed forces).[185] From early 1938 onwards, Hitler was carrying out a foreign policy ultimately aimed at war.[191]
The Holocaust[link]
Main article: The Holocaust
If the international Jewish financiers outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the bolshevisation of the earth, and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe![192]
— Adolf Hitler addressing the German Reichstag, 30 January 1939
A main Nazi concept was the notion of racial hygiene. On 15 September 1935, Hitler presented two laws—known as the Nuremberg Laws—to the Reichstag. The laws banned marriage between non-Jewish and Jewish Germans, and forbade the employment of non-Jewish women under the age of 45 in Jewish households. The laws deprived so-called "non-Aryans" of the benefits of German citizenship.[193] Hitler's early eugenic policies targeted children with physical and developmental disabilities in a programme dubbed Action Brandt, and later authorized a euthanasia programme for adults with serious mental and physical handicaps, now usually referred to as Action T4.[194]
Hitler's idea of Lebensraum, espoused briefly in Mein Kampf, focused on acquiring new territory for German settlement in Eastern Europe.[195] The Generalplan Ost ("General Plan for the East") called for the population of occupied Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to be deported to West Siberia, used as slave labour, or murdered;[196] the conquered territories were to be colonised by German or "Germanised" settlers.[197] The original plan called for this process to begin after the conquest of the Soviet Union, but when that failed to happen, Hitler moved the plans forward.[196][198] By January 1942 the decision had been taken to kill the Jews and other deportees considered undesirable.[199]
The Holocaust (the "Endlösung der jüdischen Frage" or "Final Solution of the Jewish Question") was organised and executed by Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich. The records of the Wannsee Conference—held on 20 January 1942 and led by Heydrich, with fifteen senior Nazi officials participating—provide the clearest evidence of systematic planning for the Holocaust. On 22 February Hitler was recorded saying to his associates, "we shall regain our health only by eliminating the Jews".[200] Approximately thirty Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps were used for this purpose.[201] By summer 1942 Auschwitz concentration camp was rapidly expanded to accept large numbers of deportees for killing or enslavement.[202]
Although no specific order from Hitler authorising the mass killings has surfaced,[203] he approved the Einsatzgruppen—killing squads that followed the German army through Poland, the Baltic, and the Soviet Union[204]—and he was well informed about their activities.[205] During interrogations by Soviet intelligence officers, the records of which were declassified over fifty years later, Hitler's valet, Heinz Linge, and his adjutant, Otto Günsche, stated that Hitler had a direct interest in the development of gas chambers.[206]
Between 1939 and 1945, the SS, assisted by collaborationist governments and recruits from occupied countries, were responsible for the deaths of eleven to fourteen million people, including about six million Jews, representing two-thirds of the Jewish population in Europe,[207][208] and between 500,000 and 1,500,000 Roma.[209] Deaths took place in concentration and extermination camps, ghettos, and through mass executions. Many victims of the Holocaust were gassed to death, whereas others died of starvation or disease while working as slave labourers.[210]
Hitler's policies also resulted in the killings of Poles[211] and Soviet prisoners of war, communists and other political opponents, homosexuals, the physically and mentally disabled,[212][213] Jehovah's Witnesses, Adventists, and trade unionists. Hitler never appeared to have visited the concentration camps and did not speak publicly about the killings.[214]
World War II[link]
Early diplomatic successes[link]
Alliance with Japan[link]
Main article: Germany–Japan relations
In February 1938, on the advice of his newly appointed Foreign Minister, the strongly pro-Japanese Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler ended the Sino-German alliance with the Republic of China to instead enter into an alliance with the more modern and powerful Japan. Hitler announced German recognition of Manchukuo, the Japanese-occupied state in Manchuria, and renounced German claims to their former colonies in the Pacific held by Japan.[215] Hitler ordered an end to arms shipments to China and recalled all German officers working with the Chinese Army.[215] In retaliation, Chinese General Chiang Kai-shek cancelled all Sino-German economic agreements, depriving the Germans of many Chinese raw materials, though they did continue to ship tungsten, a key metal in armaments production, through to 1939.[216]
Austria and Czechoslovakia[link]
On 12 March 1938 Hitler declared unification of Austria with Nazi Germany in the Anschluss.[217][218] Hitler then turned his attention to the ethnic German population of the Sudetenland district of Czechoslovakia.[219]
On 28–29 March 1938 Hitler held a series of secret meetings in Berlin with Konrad Henlein of the Sudeten Heimfront (Home Front), the largest of the ethnic German parties of the Sudetenland. The men agreed that Henlein would demand increased autonomy for Sudeten Germans from the Czechoslovakian government, thus providing a pretext for German military action against Czechoslovakia. In April 1938 Henlein told the foreign minister of Hungary that "whatever the Czech government might offer, he would always raise still higher demands ... he wanted to sabotage an understanding by all means because this was the only method to blow up Czechoslovakia quickly".[220] In private, Hitler considered the Sudeten issue unimportant; his real intention was a war of conquest against Czechoslovakia.[221]
In April 1938 Hitler ordered the OKW to prepare for Fall Grün ("Case Green"), the code name for an invasion of Czechoslovakia.[222] As a result of intense French and British diplomatic pressure, on 5 September 1938 Czechoslovakian President Edvard Beneš unveiled the "Fourth Plan" for constitutional reorganisation of his country, which agreed to most of Henlein's demands for Sudeten autonomy.[223] Henlein's Heimfront responded to Beneš' offer with a series of violent clashes with the Czechoslovakian police that led to the declaration of martial law in certain Sudeten districts.[224][225]
Germany was dependent on imported oil; a confrontation with Britain over the Czechoslovakian dispute could curtail Germany's oil supplies. Hitler called off Fall Grün, originally planned for 1 October 1938.[226] On 29 September 1938 Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, and Benito Mussolini attended a one-day conference in Munich that led to the Munich Agreement, which handed over the Sudetenland districts to Germany.[227][228]
Chamberlain was satisfied with the Munich conference, calling the outcome "peace for our time", while Hitler was angered about the missed opportunity for war in 1938;[229][230] he expressed his disappointment in a speech on 9 October 1938 in Saarbrücken.[231] In Hitler's view, the British-brokered peace, although favourable to the ostensible German demands, was a diplomatic defeat which spurred his intent of limiting British power to pave the way for the eastern expansion of Germany.[232][233] As a result of the summit, Hitler was selected Time magazine's Man of the Year for 1938.[234]
In late 1938 and early 1939, the continuing economic crisis caused by rearmament forced Hitler to make major defence cuts.[235] In his "Export or die" speech of 30 January 1939, he called for an economic offensive to increase German foreign exchange holdings to pay for raw materials such as high-grade iron needed for military weapons.[235]
On 15 March 1939, in violation of the Munich accord and possibly as a result of the deepening economic crisis requiring additional assets,[236] Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht to invade Prague, and from Prague Castle proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.[237]
Start of World War II[link]
In private discussions in 1939, Hitler described Britain as the main enemy to be defeated. In his view, Poland's obliteration as a sovereign nation was a necessary prelude to that goal. The eastern flank would be secured and land would be added to Germany's Lebensraum.[238] Hitler wanted Poland to become either a German satellite state or be otherwise neutralised to secure the Reich's eastern flank, and to prevent a possible British blockade.[239] Initially, Hitler favoured the idea of a satellite state; this was rejected by the Polish government. Therefore, Hitler decided to invade Poland; he made this the main German foreign policy goal of 1939.[240] Hitler was offended by the British "guarantee" of Polish independence issued on 31 March 1939, and told his associates that "I shall brew them a devil's drink".[241] In a speech in Wilhelmshaven for the launch of the battleship Tirpitz on 1 April 1939, Hitler threatened to denounce the Anglo-German Naval Agreement if the British persisted with their guarantee of Polish independence, which he perceived as an "encirclement" policy.[241] On 3 April 1939 Hitler ordered the military to prepare for Fall Weiss ("Case White"), the plan for an invasion of Poland on 25 August 1939.[240] In a speech before the Reichstag on 28 April he renounced both the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact. In August Hitler told his generals that his original plan for 1939 was to "... establish an acceptable relationship with Poland in order to fight against the West". Since Poland refused to become a German satellite, Hitler stated his only option was the invasion of Poland.[242] Historians such as William Carr, Gerhard Weinberg, and Ian Kershaw have argued that one reason for Hitler's rush to war was his morbid and obsessive fear of an early death, and hence his feeling that he did not have long to accomplish his work.[243][244][245]
Hitler was concerned that a military attack against Poland could result in a premature war with Britain.[239][246] However, Hitler's foreign minister—and former Ambassador to London—Joachim von Ribbentrop assured him that neither Britain nor France would honour their commitments to Poland, and that a German–Polish war would only be a limited regional war.[247][248] Ribbentrop claimed that in December 1938 the French foreign minister, Georges Bonnet, had stated that France considered Eastern Europe as Germany's exclusive sphere of influence;[249] Ribbentrop showed Hitler diplomatic cables that supported his analysis.[250] The German Ambassador in London, Herbert von Dirksen, supported Ribbentrop's analysis with a dispatch in August 1939, reporting that Chamberlain knew "the social structure of Britain, even the conception of the British Empire, would not survive the chaos of even a victorious war", and so would back down.[248] Accordingly, on 21 August 1939 Hitler ordered a military mobilisation against Poland.[251]
Hitler's plans for a military campaign in Poland in late August or early September required tacit Soviet support.[252] The non-aggression pact (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) between Germany and the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin,[253] included secret protocols with an agreement to partition Poland between the two countries. In response to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact—and contrary to the prediction of Ribbentrop that the newly-formed pact would sever Anglo-Polish ties—Britain and Poland signed the Anglo-Polish alliance on 25 August 1939. This, along with news from Italy that Mussolini would not honour the Pact of Steel, caused Hitler to postpone the attack on Poland from 25 August to 1 September.[254] In the days before the start of the war, Hitler tried to manoeuvre the British into neutrality by offering a non-aggression guarantee to the British Empire on 25 August and by having Ribbentrop present a last-minute peace plan with an impossibly short time limit in an effort to then blame the war on British and Polish inaction.[255][256]
As a pretext for a military aggression against Poland, Hitler claimed the Free City of Danzig and the right to extraterritorial roads across the Polish Corridor, which Germany had ceded under the Versailles Treaty.[257] Despite his concerns over a possible British intervention, Hitler was ultimately not deterred from his aim of invading Poland,[258] and on 1 September 1939 Germany invaded western Poland. In response, Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. This surprised Hitler, prompting him to turn to Ribbentrop and angrily ask "Now what?"[259] France and Britain did not act on their declarations immediately, and on 17 September, Soviet forces invaded eastern Poland.[260]
Poland never will rise again in the form of the Versailles treaty. That is guaranteed not only by Germany, but also ... Russia.
The fall of Poland was followed by what contemporary journalists dubbed the "Phoney War" or Sitzkrieg ("sitting war"). Hitler instructed the two newly-appointed Gauleiters of north-western Poland, Albert Forster of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia and Arthur Greiser of Reichsgau Wartheland, to "Germanise" their areas, and promised them "There would be no questions asked" about how this was accomplished.[262] To Himmler's chagrin, Forster had local Poles sign forms stating that they had German blood, and required no further documentation.[263] On the other hand, Greiser carried out a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign on the Polish population in his purview.[262] Greiser complained to Hitler that Forster was allowing thousands of Poles to be accepted as "racial" Germans and thus, in Greiser's view, endangering German "racial purity". Hitler told Himmler and Greiser to take up their difficulties with Forster, and not to involve him.[262] Hitler's handling of the Forster–Greiser dispute has been advanced as an example of Kershaw's theory of "working towards the Führer": Hitler issued vague instructions and expected his subordinates to work out policies on their own.
Another dispute broke out between different factions. One side, represented by Himmler and Greiser, championed carrying out ethnic cleansing in Poland, and another side, represented by Göring and Hans Frank, Governor-General of the General Government territory of occupied Poland, called for turning Poland into the "granary" of the Reich.[264] At a conference held at Göring's Karinhall estate on 12 February 1940, the dispute was initially settled in favour of the Göring–Frank view of economic exploitation, which ended the economically disruptive mass expulsions.[264] On 15 May 1940, however, Himmler presented Hitler with a memo entitled "Some Thoughts on the Treatment of Alien Population in the East", which called for expulsion of the entire Jewish population of Europe into Africa and reducing the remainder of the Polish population to a "leaderless class of labourers".[264] Hitler called Himmler's memo "good and correct";[264] and, ignoring Göring and Frank, implemented the Himmler–Greiser policy in Poland.
File:Adolf Hitler in Paris 1940.jpg
Hitler visits Paris with architect Albert Speer (left) and sculptor Arno Breker (right), 23 June 1940
Hitler began a military build-up on Germany's western border, and in April 1940, German forces invaded Denmark and Norway. On 9 April Hitler proclaimed the birth of the "Greater Germanic Reich" to his associates; this was his vision of a united empire of the Germanic nations of Europe, where the Dutch, Flemish, Scandinavians, and other peoples would join into a single, racially-pure polity under German leadership.[265] In May 1940, Hitler's forces attacked France, and conquered Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium. These victories prompted Mussolini to have Italy join forces with Hitler on 10 June 1940. France surrendered on 22 June 1940.[266]
Britain, whose forces were forced to leave France by sea from Dunkirk,[267] continued to fight alongside other British dominions in the Battle of the Atlantic. Hitler made peace overtures to the British, now led by Winston Churchill, and when these were rejected he ordered bombing raids on the United Kingdom. Hitler's prelude to a planned invasion of the UK was a series of aerial attacks in the Battle of Britain on Royal Air Force airbases and radar stations in South-East England. However, the German Luftwaffe failed to defeat the Royal Air Force.[268]
On 27 September 1940 the Tripartite Pact was signed in Berlin by Saburō Kurusu of Imperial Japan, Hitler, and Italian foreign minister Ciano.[269] The agreement was later expanded to include Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. They were collectively known as the Axis powers. The purpose of the pact was to deter the United States from supporting the British. By the end of October 1940, air superiority for the invasion of Britain—Operation Sea Lion—could not be achieved, and Hitler ordered nightly air raids of British cities, including London, Plymouth, and Coventry.[270]
In the Spring of 1941, Hitler was distracted from his plans for the East by military activities in North Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East. In February, German forces arrived in Libya to bolster the Italian presence. In April, Hitler launched the invasion of Yugoslavia, quickly followed by the invasion of Greece.[271] In May, German forces were sent to support Iraqi rebel forces fighting against the British and to invade Crete. On 23 May, Hitler released Führer Directive No. 30.[272]
Path to defeat[link]
On 22 June 1941, contravening the Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact of 1939, three million German troops attacked the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.[273] The invasion seized a huge area, including the Baltic states, Belarus, and Ukraine. However, the German advance was stopped outside Moscow in December 1941 by the Russian Winter and fierce Soviet resistance.[274]
Soviet troop concentrations on Germany's eastern border in the spring of 1941 may have prompted Hitler to engage in a Flucht nach vorn ("flight forward") to get in front of an inevitable conflict.[275] Viktor Suvorov, Ernst Topitsch, Joachim Hoffmann, Ernst Nolte, and David Irving have argued that the official reason for Barbarossa given by the German military was the real reason—a preventive war to avert an impending Soviet attack scheduled for July 1941. This theory, however, has been faulted; American historian Gerhard Weinberg once compared the advocates of the preventive war theory to believers in "fairy tales".[276]
The Wehrmacht invasion of the Soviet Union reached its peak on 2 December 1941, when the 258th Infantry Division advanced to within 15 miles (24 km) of Moscow, close enough to see the spires of the Kremlin.[274] However, they were not prepared for the harsh conditions of the Russian winter, and Soviet forces drove back the German troops over 320 kilometres (200 mi).
On 7 December 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Four days later, Hitler's formal declaration of war against the United States engaged Germany in war against a coalition that included the world's largest empire (the British Empire), the world's greatest industrial and financial power (the United States), and the world's largest army (the Soviet Union).[277]
When Himmler met Hitler on 18 December 1941 and posed the question "What to do with the Jews of Russia?", Hitler replied "als Partisanen auszurotten" ("exterminate them as partisans").[278] Israeli historian Yehuda Bauer has commented that the remark is probably as close as historians will ever get to a definitive order from Hitler for the genocide carried out during the Holocaust.[278]
In late 1942 German forces were defeated in the second battle of El Alamein,[279] thwarting Hitler's plans to seize the Suez Canal and the Middle East. In February 1943 the Battle of Stalingrad ended with the destruction of the German Sixth Army. Thereafter came a decisive defeat at the Battle of Kursk.[280] Hitler's military judgment became increasingly erratic, and Germany's military and economic position deteriorated along with Hitler's health. Kershaw and others believe that Hitler may have suffered from Parkinson's disease.[281]
Following the allied invasion of Sicily in 1943, Mussolini was deposed by Pietro Badoglio,[282] who surrendered to the Allies. Throughout 1943 and 1944, the Soviet Union steadily forced Hitler's armies into retreat along the Eastern Front. On 6 June 1944 the Western Allied armies landed in northern France in what was one of the largest amphibious operations in history, Operation Overlord.[283] As a result of these significant setbacks for the German army, many of its officers concluded that defeat was inevitable and that Hitler's misjudgement or denial would drag out the war and result in the complete destruction of the country.[284] Several high-profile assassination attempts against Hitler occurred during this period.
Between 1939 and 1945 there were many plans to assassinate Hitler, some of which proceeded to significant degrees.[285] The most well-known came from within Germany and was at least partly driven by the increasing prospect of a German defeat in the war.[286] In July 1944, in the 20 July plot, part of Operation Valkyrie, Claus von Stauffenberg planted a bomb in one of Hitler's headquarters, the Wolf's Lair at Rastenburg. Hitler narrowly survived because someone had unknowingly pushed the briefcase that contained the bomb behind a leg of the heavy conference table. When the bomb exploded, the table deflected much of the blast away from Hitler. Later, Hitler ordered savage reprisals resulting in the execution of more than 4,900 people.[287]
Defeat and death[link]
Main article: Death of Adolf Hitler
By late 1944, the Red Army had driven the German army back into Western Europe, and the Western Allies were advancing into Germany. After being informed of the failure of his Ardennes Offensive, Hitler realised that Germany was going to lose the war. His hope, buoyed by the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on 12 April 1945, was to negotiate peace with America and Britain.[288] Acting on his view that Germany's military failures had forfeited its right to survive as a nation, Hitler ordered the destruction of all German industrial infrastructure before it could fall into Allied hands.[289] Execution of this scorched earth plan was entrusted to arms minister Albert Speer, who quietly disobeyed the order.[289]
On 20 April, his 56th birthday, Hitler made his last trip from the Führerbunker ("Führer's shelter") to the surface. In the ruined garden of the Reich Chancellery, he awarded Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.[290] By 21 April, Georgy Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front had broken through the last defences of German General Gotthard Heinrici's Army Group Vistula during the Battle of the Seelow Heights and advanced into the outskirts of Berlin.[291] In denial about the increasingly dire situation, Hitler placed his hopes on the units commanded by Waffen SS General Felix Steiner, the Armeeabteilung Steiner ("Army Detachment Steiner"). Hitler ordered Steiner to attack the northern flank of the salient and the German Ninth Army was ordered to attack northward in a pincer attack.[292]
During a military conference on 22 April, Hitler asked about Steiner's offensive. After a long silence, he was told that the attack had never been launched and that the Russians had broken through into Berlin. This news prompted Hitler to ask everyone except Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, Hans Krebs, and Wilhelm Burgdorf to leave the room.[293] Hitler then launched a tirade against the treachery and incompetence of his commanders, culminating in his declaration—for the first time—that the war was lost. Hitler announced that he would stay in Berlin until the end and then shoot himself.[294]
Goebbels made a proclamation on 23 April urging the citizens of Berlin to courageously defend the city.[293] That same day, Göring sent a telegram from Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, arguing that since Hitler was cut off in Berlin, he, Göring, should assume leadership of Germany. Göring set a time limit, after which he would consider Hitler incapacitated.[295] Hitler responded angrily by having Göring arrested, and when writing his will on 29 April, he removed Göring from all his positions in the government.[296][297]
Berlin became completely cut off from the rest of Germany.[298] On 28 April, Hitler discovered that Himmler was trying to discuss surrender terms with the Western Allies.[299] He ordered Himmler's arrest and had Hermann Fegelein (Himmler's SS representative at Hitler's HQ in Berlin) shot.[300]
After midnight on 29 April, Hitler married Eva Braun in a small civil ceremony in a map room within the Führerbunker. After a modest wedding breakfast with his new wife, he then took secretary Traudl Junge to another room and dictated his last will and testament.[301][b] The event was witnessed and documents signed by Hans Krebs, Wilhelm Burgdorf, Joseph Goebbels, and Martin Bormann.[302] Later that afternoon, Hitler was informed of the assassination of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, which presumably increased his determination to avoid capture.[303]
On 30 April 1945, after intense street-to-street combat, when Soviet troops were within a block or two of the Reich Chancellery, Hitler and Braun committed suicide; Braun bit into a cyanide capsule[304] and Hitler shot himself with his 7.65 mm (0.3 in) Walther PPK pistol.[305] The lifeless bodies of Hitler and Eva Braun were carried up the stairs and through the bunker's emergency exit to the bombed-out garden behind the Reich Chancellery, where they were placed in a bomb crater[306] and doused with petrol. The corpses were set on fire[307] and the Red Army shelling continued.[308]
Berlin surrendered on 2 May. Records in the Soviet archives—obtained after the fall of the Soviet Union—showed that the remains of Hitler, Braun, Joseph and Magda Goebbels, the six Goebbels children, General Hans Krebs, and Hitler's dogs, were repeatedly buried and exhumed.[309] On 4 April 1970 a Soviet KGB team with detailed burial charts secretly exhumed five wooden boxes which had been buried at the SMERSH facility in Magdeburg. The remains from the boxes were thoroughly burned and crushed, after which the ashes were thrown into the Biederitz river, a tributary of the nearby Elbe.[310]
Legacy[link]
Further information: Consequences of Nazism and Neo-Nazism
Hitler's suicide was likened by contemporaries to a "spell" being broken.[311][312] According to Toland, without its leader, National Socialism "burst like a bubble".[313]
Hitler's actions and Nazi ideology are almost universally regarded as gravely immoral.[314] His political programme had brought about a world war, leaving behind a devastated and impoverished Eastern and Central Europe. Germany itself suffered wholesale destruction, characterised as "Zero Hour".[315] Hitler's policies inflicted human suffering on an unprecedented scale;[316] the Nazi regime was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 21 million civilians and prisoners of war.[317] In addition, 29 million soldiers were killed in the European theater of World War II.[317] Historians, philosophers, and politicians often apply the word "evil" in describing the Nazi regime.[318] In Germany and Austria, Holocaust denial and the display of Nazi symbols such as the swastika are prohibited by law.
The German Liberal historian Friedrich Meinecke described Hitler as "one of the great examples of the singular and incalculable power of personality in historical life".[319] The English historian Hugh Trevor-Roper saw him as "among the 'terrible simplifiers' of history, the most systematic, the most historical, the most philosophical, and yet the coarsest, cruellest, least magnanimous conqueror the world has ever known."[320] For the historian John M. Roberts, Hitler's defeat marked the end of a phase of European history dominated by Germany.[321] In its place emerged the Cold War, a global confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States.[322]
Religious views[link]
Main article: Religious views of Adolf Hitler
Hitler saw the church as important politically, as a conservative influence on society. He felt that if the church were eliminated the faithful would turn to mysticism, which he thought would be a step backwards politically and culturally. Though he never officially left the Catholic church, he had no real attachment to it.[323] After leaving home he never attended Mass or received the sacraments.[324] He favoured aspects of Protestantism that suited his own views, and adopted some elements of the Catholic Church's hierarchical organisation, liturgy, and phraseology in his politics.[325][326] Historian Richard Steigmann-Gall concludes that he "can be classified as Catholic",[327] but that "nominal church membership is a very unreliable gauge of actual piety in this context."[328]
In public, Hitler often praised Christian heritage and German Christian culture, and professed a belief in an "Aryan" Jesus Christ—a Jesus who fought against the Jews.[329] He spoke of his interpretation of Christianity as a central motivation for his antisemitism, stating that "As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice."[330][331] In private, he was more critical of traditional Christianity, considering it a religion fit only for slaves; he admired the power of Rome but maintained a severe hostility towards its teaching.[332] Historian John S. Conway states that Hitler held a "fundamental antagonism" towards the Christian churches.[333]
In political relations with the church, Hitler adopted a strategy "that suited his immediate political purposes".[333] According to a US Office of Strategic Services report, Hitler had a general plan, even before his rise to power, to destroy the influence of Christian churches within the Reich.[334][335] The report titled "The Nazi Master Plan" stated that the destruction of the church was a goal of the movement right from the start, but that it was inexpedient to express this extreme position publicly.[336] His intention, according to Bullock, was to wait until the war was over to destroy the influence of Christianity.[332]
Hitler admired the Muslim military tradition, but considered Arabs as "racially inferior".[337] He believed that the racially-superior Germans, in conjunction with Islam, could have conquered much of the world during the Middle Ages.[338] During a meeting with a Japanese professor in 1931, Hitler praised the Shinto religion and Japanese culture.[339] Although Himmler was interested in the occult, the interpretation of runes, and tracing the prehistoric roots of the Germanic people, Hitler was more pragmatic, and his ideology centred on more practical concerns.[340][341]
Health[link]
Researchers have suggested that Hitler suffered from irritable bowel syndrome, skin lesions, irregular heartbeat, Parkinson's disease,[342][281] syphilis,[342] and tinnitus.[343] In a report prepared for the Office of Strategic Services in 1943, Walter C. Langer of Harvard University described Hitler as a "neurotic psychopath."[344] Theories about Hitler's medical condition are difficult to prove, and according them too much weight may have the effect of attributing many of the events and consequences of the Third Reich to the possibly impaired physical health of one individual.[345] Kershaw feels that it is better to take a broader view of German history by examining what social forces led to the Third Reich and its policies rather than to pursue narrow explanations for the Holocaust and World War II based on only one person.[346]
Hitler followed a vegetarian diet.[347] At social events he sometimes gave graphic accounts of the slaughter of animals in an effort to make his dinner guests shun meat.[348] A fear of cancer (from which his mother died)[349] is the most widely cited reason for Hitler's dietary habits. An antivivisectionist, Hitler may have followed his selective diet out of a profound concern for animals.[350] Bormann had a greenhouse constructed near the Berghof (near Berchtesgaden) to ensure a steady supply of fresh fruit and vegetables for Hitler throughout the war. Hitler despised alcohol[351] and was a non-smoker. He promoted aggressive anti-smoking campaigns throughout Germany.[352] Hitler began using amphetamine occasionally after 1937 and became addicted to the drug in the fall of 1942.[353] Albert Speer linked this use of amphetamines to Hitler's increasingly inflexible decision making (for example, never to allow military retreats).[354]
Prescribed ninety different medications during the war years, Hitler took many pills each day for chronic stomach problems and other ailments.[355] He suffered ruptured eardrums as a result of the 20 July plot bomb blast in 1944, and two hundred wood splinters had to be removed from his legs.[356] Newsreel footage of Hitler shows tremors of his hand and a shuffling walk, which began before the war and worsened towards the end of his life. Hitler's personal physician, Theodor Morell, treated Hitler with a drug that was commonly prescribed in 1945 for Parkinson's disease. Ernst-Günther Schenck and several other doctors who met Hitler in the last weeks of his life each formed a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.[355][357]
Family[link]
Main articles: Hitler family and Sexuality of Adolf Hitler
To the public, Hitler promoted his own image as that of a celibate man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his political mission and the nation.[135][358] He met his mistress, Eva Braun, in 1929,[359] and married her in April 1945.[360] In September 1931 his niece, Geli Raubal, committed suicide with Hitler's gun in his Munich apartment. It was rumoured among contemporaries that Geli was in a romantic relationship with him, and her death was a source of deep, lasting pain.[361] Paula Hitler, the last living member of the immediate family, died in 1960.[362]
Hitler in media[link]
File:Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden.ogg
Video of Hitler at Berchtesgaden (c. 1941)
Hitler used documentary films as a propaganda tool. He was involved and appeared in a series of films by the pioneering filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl via Universum Film AG (UFA):[363]
- Der Sieg des Glaubens (Victory of Faith, 1933)
- Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will, 1934), co-produced by Hitler
- Tag der Freiheit: Unsere Wehrmacht (Day of Freedom: Our Armed Forces, 1935)
- Olympia (1938)
See also[link]
- Führermuseum
- Hitler: A Film from Germany
- Julius Schaub – chief aide
- Karl Mayr – Hitler's superior in army Intelligence 1919–1920
- Karl Wilhelm Krause – personal valet
- List of books by or about Adolf Hitler
- Mein Kampf (online versions)
- Poison Kitchen
- Streets named after Adolf Hitler
- Vorbunker
 |
See more Wikipedia articles related to Adolf Hitler. |
Footnotes[link]
- ^ Hitler also won settlement from a libel suit against the socialist paper the Münchener Post, which had questioned his lifestyle and income. Kershaw 2008, p. 99.
- ^ MI5, Hitler's Last Days: "Hitler's will and marriage" on the website of MI5, using the sources available to Trevor Roper (a WWII MI5 agent and historian/author of The Last Days of Hitler), records the marriage as taking place after Hitler had dictated his last will and testament.
References[link]
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- ^ Kershaw 2008, pp. 170, 172.
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- ^ Kolb 2005, pp. 224–225.
- ^ Kolb 1988, p. 105.
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- ^ Hinrichs 2007.
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- ^ Weinberg 1980, p. 366.
- ^ Weinberg 1980, pp. 418–419.
- ^ Kee 1988, pp. 149–150.
- ^ Weinberg 1980, p. 419.
- ^ Murray 1984, pp. 256–260.
- ^ Bullock 1962, p. 469.
- ^ Overy, The Munich Crisis 1999, p. 207.
- ^ Kee 1988, pp. 202–203.
- ^ Weinberg 1980, pp. 462–463.
- ^ Messerschmidt 1990, p. 672.
- ^ Messerschmidt 1990, pp. 671, 682–683.
- ^ Rothwell 2001, pp. 90–91.
- ^ Time, January 1939.
- ^ a b Murray 1984, p. 268.
- ^ Murray 1984, pp. 268–269.
- ^ Shirer 1960, p. 448.
- ^ Weinberg 1980, pp. 579–581.
- ^ a b Messerschmidt 1990, pp. 688–690.
- ^ a b Weinberg 1980, pp. 537–539, 557–560.
- ^ a b Maiolo 1998, p. 178.
- ^ Weinberg 1980, p. 558.
- ^ Carr 1972, pp. 76–77.
- ^ Kershaw 2000b, pp. 36–37, 92.
- ^ Weinberg 1955.
- ^ Robertson 1985, p. 212.
- ^ Bloch 1992, p. 228.
- ^ a b Overy & Wheatcroft 1989, p. 56.
- ^ Bloch 1992, pp. 210, 228.
- ^ Craig 1983.
- ^ Overy, The Third Reich 1999.
- ^ Robertson 1963, pp. 181–187.
- ^ Beloff 1949.
- ^ Bloch 1992, pp. 252–253.
- ^ Weinberg 1995, pp. 85–94.
- ^ Bloch 1992, pp. 255–257.
- ^ Weinberg 1980, pp. 561–562, 583–584.
- ^ Messerschmidt 1990, p. 714.
- ^ Bloch 1992, p. 260.
- ^ Hakim 1995.
- ^ Time, October 1939.
- ^ a b c Rees 1997, pp. 141–145.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 527.
- ^ a b c d Rees 1997, pp. 148–149.
- ^ Winkler 2007, p. 74.
- ^ Shirer 1960, pp. 696–730.
- ^ Shirer 1960, pp. 731–737.
- ^ Shirer 1960, pp. 774–782.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 580.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 570.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 604–605.
- ^ Kurowski 2005, pp. 141–142.
- ^ Shirer 1960, p. 830.
- ^ a b Shirer 1960, p. 863.
- ^ Evans 1989, p. 43.
- ^ Weinberg et al. 1989.
- ^ Shirer 1960, p. 900–901.
- ^ a b Bauer 2000, p. 5.
- ^ Shirer 1960, p. 921.
- ^ Shirer 1960, p. 1006.
- ^ a b BBC News, 1999.
- ^ Shirer 1960, p. 997.
- ^ Shirer 1960, p. 1036.
- ^ Speer 1971, p. 513–514.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, pp. 544–547, 821–822, 827–828.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 816–818.
- ^ Shirer 1960, §29.
- ^ Bullock 1962, pp. 753, 763, 778, 780–781.
- ^ a b Bullock 1962, pp. 774–775.
- ^ Beevor 2002, p. 251.
- ^ Beevor 2002, pp. 255–256.
- ^ Le Tissier 2010, p. 45.
- ^ a b Dollinger 1995, p. 231.
- ^ Beevor 2002, p. 275.
- ^ Bullock 1962, p. 787.
- ^ Bullock 1962, pp. 787, 795.
- ^ Butler & Young 1989, pp. 227–228.
- ^ Beevor 2002, p. 323.
- ^ Bullock 1962, p. 791.
- ^ Bullock 1962, pp. 792, 795.
- ^ Beevor 2002, p. 343.
- ^ Bullock 1962, p. 795.
- ^ Bullock 1962, p. 798.
- ^ Linge 2009, p. 199.
- ^ Joachimsthaler 1999, pp. 160–180.
- ^ Joachimsthaler 1999, pp. 217–220.
- ^ Linge 2009, p. 200.
- ^ Bullock 1962, pp. 799–800.
- ^ Vinogradov 2005, pp. 111, 333.
- ^ Vinogradov 2005, pp. 333–336.
- ^ Fest 1974, p. 753.
- ^ Speer 1971, p. 617.
- ^ Toland 1977, p. 892.
- ^ Kershaw 2000a, pp. 1–6.
- ^ Fischer 1995, p. 569.
- ^ Del Testa, Lemoine & Strickland 2003, p. 83.
- ^ a b Rummel 1994, p. 112.
- ^ Welch 2001, p. 2.
- ^ Shirer 1960, p. 6.
- ^ Hitler & Trevor-Roper 1988, p. xxxv.
- ^ Roberts 1996, p. 501.
- ^ Lichtheim 1974, p. 366.
- ^ Speer 1971, pp. 141–142.
- ^ Rißmann 2001, pp. 94–96.
- ^ Rißmann 2001, p. 96.
- ^ Bullock 1962, p. 219.
- ^ Steigmann-Gall 2003, p. XV.
- ^ Steigmann-Gall 2007.
- ^ Steigmann-Gall 2003, pp. 27, 108.
- ^ Hitler 1942, p. 20.
- ^ Hitler 1973, p. 23.
- ^ a b Bullock 1962, pp. 219, 389.
- ^ a b Conway 1968, p. 3.
- ^ Sharkey 2002.
- ^ Bonney 2001.
- ^ Office of Strategic Services, 1945.
- ^ Speer 1971, p. 142–143.
- ^ Payne 2008, p. 171.
- ^ Hanfstaengl 1994, p. 174.
- ^ Speer 1971, pp. 171, 174.
- ^ Bullock 1999, p. 729.
- ^ a b Bullock 1962, p. 717.
- ^ Redlich 2000, pp. 129–190.
- ^ Langer 1972, p. 126.
- ^ Kershaw 2000a, p. 72.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, pp. xxxv–xxxvi.
- ^ Bullock 1999, p. 388.
- ^ Wilson 1998.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 380.
- ^ Dietrich 2010, p. 172.
- ^ Dietrich 2010, p. 171.
- ^ Toland 1992, p. 741.
- ^ Heston & Heston 1980, pp. 125–142.
- ^ Heston & Heston 1980, pp. 11–20.
- ^ a b Kershaw 2008, p. 782.
- ^ Linge 2009, p. 156.
- ^ O'Donnell 2001, p. 37.
- ^ Bullock 1999, p. 563.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 378.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 947–948.
- ^ Bullock 1962, pp. 393–394.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 4.
- ^ The Daily Telegraph, 2003.
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- "Introduction to the Holocaust". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005143. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
- "Eingabe der Industriellen an Hindenburg vom November 1932 [Letter of the industrialists to Hindenburg, November 1932]". Glasnost–Archiv. http://www.glasnost.de/hist/ns/eingabe.html. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- "[The Hitler Trial Before the People's Court in Munich]" (in German) Der Hitler-Prozeß vor dem Volksgericht in München. 1924.
- Office of Strategic Services (1945). "The Nazi Master Plan: The Persecution of the Christian Churches". Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion (Ithaca, NY: Cornell Law Library): 6–7. OCLC 320083040. http://org.law.rutgers.edu/publications/law-religion/nurinst1.shtml.
- "Hitler ersucht um Entlassung aus der österreichischen Staatsangehörigkeit [Hitler's official application to end his Austrian citizenship]" (in German). NS-Archiv. 7 April 1925. http://www.ns-archiv.de/personen/hitler/oesterreich/staatsbuergerschaft.php. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
- Sharkey, Joe (13 January 2002). "Word for Word/The Case Against the Nazis; How Hitler's Forces Planned To Destroy German Christianity". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/13/weekinreview/word-for-word-case-against-nazis-hitler-s-forces-planned-destroy-german.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
- "Leni Riefenstahl". The Daily Telegraph (London: TMG). 10 September 2003. ISSN 0307-1235. OCLC 49632006. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1440991/Leni-Riefenstahl.html?pageNum=3. Retrieved 14 December 2011-12-14.
- "Man of the Year". Time Magazine (Time). 2 January 1939. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,760539-1,00.html. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
- "Seven Years War?". Time Magazine (Time). 2 October 1939. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,789000,00.html. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
- "Germany: Second Revolution?". Time Magazine (Time). 2 July 1934. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,754321,00.html. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
- "Poles: Victims of the Nazi Era: The Invasion and Occupation of Poland". ushmm.org. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. http://www.ushmm.org/education/resource/poles/poles.php. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
- Wilson, Bee (9 October 1998). "Mein Diat – Adolf Hitler's diet". New Statesman. UK: FindArticles. Archived from the original on 21 March 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050321091219/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FQP/is_n4406_v127/ai_21238666. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
- Yad Vashem Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority (2006). Yad Vashem Studies. 34. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem. OCLC 610688434.
- "How many Jews were murdered in the Holocaust? How do we know? Do we have their names?". Yad Vashem. Archived from the original on 19 May 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080519014604/http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/faqs/answers/faq_3.html. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
External links[link]
| Find more about Adolf Hitler on Wikipedia's sister projects: | |
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Definitions and translations from Wiktionary |
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Images and media from Commons |
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Learning resources from Wikiversity |
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News stories from Wikinews |
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Quotations from Wikiquote |
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Source texts from Wikisource |
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Textbooks from Wikibooks |
- Works by or about Adolf Hitler in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Adolf Hitler at the Internet Movie Database – real life footage in documentaries
- Adolf Hitler (Character) at the Internet Movie Database – as portrayed in film and TV
- "Adolf Hitler". The Vault. FBI Records. http://vault.fbi.gov/adolf-hitler.
- "Hitler and his officers". World War II Movies in Color. WW2inColor. http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/movies/hitler_color.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Office created |
Reichsstatthalter of Prussia 1933–1935 |
Succeeded by Office abolished |
| Preceded by Kurt von Schleicher |
Chancellor of Germany(1) 1933–1945 |
Succeeded by Joseph Goebbels |
| Preceded by Paul von Hindenburg As President |
Führer of Germany(1) 1934–1945 |
Succeeded by Karl Dönitz As President |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Anton Drexler |
Leader of the NSDAP 1921–1945 |
|
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by Franz Pfeffer von Salomon |
Leader of the SA 1930–1945 |
|
| Preceded by Walther von Brauchitsch |
Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (Army Commander) 1941–1945 |
Succeeded by Ferdinand Schörner |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by Chiang Kai-shek and Soong May-ling |
Time Person of the Year 1938 |
Succeeded by Joseph Stalin |
| Notes and references | ||
| 1. The positions of Head of State and Government were combined 1934–1945 in the office of Führer and Chancellor of Germany | ||
|
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.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hitler, Adolf |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Führer of the National Socialist German Workers Party; Reichskanzler of Germany |
| Date of birth | 20 April 1889 |
| Place of birth | Braunau am Inn, Austria |
| Date of death | 30 April 1945 |
| Place of death | Berlin, Germany |
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Related pages:
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http://ru.wn.com/Гитлер, Адольф
http://cs.wn.com/Adolf Hitler
http://pt.wn.com/Adolf Hitler
http://pl.wn.com/Adolf Hitler
http://hi.wn.com/एडोल्फ हिटलर
http://it.wn.com/Adolf Hitler
http://id.wn.com/Adolf Hitler
http://nl.wn.com/Adolf Hitler
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Alexei Sayle | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Alexei David Sayle |
| Born | (1952-08-07) 7 August 1952 (age 59) Anfield, Liverpool, England |
| Medium | Stand up, Television, Film |
| Nationality | British |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Genres | Black comedy, Physical comedy, Surreal humour, Parody, Alternative comedy, Character comedy |
| Influences | Bertolt Brecht, Lenny Bruce, Spike Milligan, Robin Williams, Keith Allen, Jerry Sadowitz[1] |
| Influenced | Lenny Henry, David Walliams, Matt Lucas, Steve Coogan |
| Spouse | Linda Rawsthorn (m. 1974) |
| Notable works and roles | Alexei Sayle's Stuff, The Comic Strip Presents..., The Young Ones, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Gorky Park |
| Website | www.alexeisayle.me |
Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007. In the updated 2010 poll he came 72nd.
Much of Sayle's humour is in the tradition of Spike Milligan and Monty Python, with riffs based on absurd and surreal premises. His act is noted for its cynicism and political awareness, as well as physical comedy.
Contents |
Personal life[link]
Sayle was born and raised in Anfield, Liverpool, the son of Molly (Malka) Sayle (née Mendelson), a pools clerk, and Joseph Henry Sayle, a railway worker,[2] both of whom were members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Sayle's mother was of Lithuanian Jewish descent,[3] and some members of his immediate family were very devout Jews, as he mentioned on the BBC Radio 4 programme Great Lives when he nominated the Palestinian rights advocate, Edward Said on the programme. In the aftermath of the May 1968 French uprising, he joined the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist). In later years he has said that, while no longer active in left politics, ‘I still would adhere to those philosophical and economic ideas of Marxism that I got when I was sixteen...it’s seemed to me as true now as it did then...’.[4] From 1964-1969 he attended Alsop High School in Walton, and was expelled half way through sixth form.[5] After that, Sayle took a foundation course in art at Southport, before attending Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. He attended Garnett College, Roehampton, a training college for teachers in Further Education.[6] He has been married to Linda Rawsthorn since 1974.
Career[link]
Stand-up comedy and theatre[link]
When The Comedy Store opened in London in 1979, Sayle responded to an advert for would-be comedians and became its first master of ceremonies. In 1980, comedy producer Martin Lewis saw Sayle perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and became his manager.
Sayle became the leading performer at The Comic Strip. He appeared on The Comic Strip Album (1981) and recorded Cak! (1982). He also appeared in the stage show, film and comedy album of The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1981–82). Sayle's material covered a broad range of topics, but one of his favourite subjects remained politics. His angry persona, coupled with his vociferous delivery, gave immense bite to his material. A typical example of Sayle's humour was his attack on American phrases: "If you travel to the States... they have a lot of different words than like what we use. For instance: they say 'elevator', we say 'lift'; they say 'drapes', we say 'curtains'; they say 'president', we say 'seriously deranged git!'
In 1988, Sayle played the role of Trinculo in Shakespeare's The Tempest, directed by Jonathan Miller at The Old Vic theatre in London.
Sixteen years on from his last stand-up comedy tour, Sayle returned in 2011 as an MC, compering the middle section of At Last! The 1981 Show, curated by Stewart Lee at the Royal Festival Hall. Although this was mainly a nostalgia night with comedians including Nigel Planer and Norman Lovett revisiting their material from the 1980s, Sayle premiered some new material with a calmer style of delivery than he was previously known for. More recently, in January and February 2012, he compered four nights of stand-up comedy at the Soho Theatre.
Radio[link]
Sayle's early work included several performances for Capital London. In 1981 he wrote and performed the radio series, Alexei Sayle And The Fish People, for which he won a Sony Radio Award. Sayle later released an album based on the show – The Fish People Tapes. He has since contributed to many other radio shows, including writing the five part series, Sorry About Last Night (1999), in which he also played the leading role. On 3 November 2006 he presented Chopwell Soviet, a 30-minute programme on BBC Radio 4 that reviewed the Chopwell miners 80 years after the village of Chopwell became known as Little Moscow.[7]
Television[link]
Sayle's first high profile television appearances were on Central Independent Television's late-night alternative cabaret show O.T.T. (1982). He left nine weeks into the show's run to tour Australia with The Comic Strip. He played various roles in the situation comedy The Young Ones (1982–1984), along with Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer and Christopher Ryan. In the programme Sayle portrayed several members of an Eastern European family; the Balowskis. In 1985, he appeared in the Doctor Who serial Revelation of the Daleks. In a column for a British tabloid newspaper around the same time, he indicated that he wanted to become the "first Socialist Doctor."[8] He also appeared in several episodes of The Comic Strip Presents...,between 1985 and 1993, most notably playing the two leading roles in "Didn't You Kill My Brother?" which he co-wrote with David Stafford and Pauline Melville. Sayle has co-written and starred in many other programmes, including three series of Alexei Sayle's Stuff (1988–91), two series of The All New Alexei Sayle Show (1994–95) and one series of Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round (1998).
In 1989, Sayle was awarded an International Emmy for Stuff. In conversation with Mark Thomas on BBC Radio 4's informal chat-show Chain Reaction, Sayle revealed that the first he knew of the award was when he watched Channel 4 News and saw, to his amazement, Benny Hill collecting the award on his behalf. In 1990, Sayle had a fatwa taken out against him by an Muslim cleric from Syria after a mild joke on his BBC comedy show Stuff. This fatwa has never been withdrawn.[9][10]
He has also provided the voice-over for animations including the character Rubbish the Cat in the children's TV series Rubbish, King of the Jumble (1992–94).[11] In 1994 he presented the miniseries Drive, which gave advice for safe driving through Sayle's signature form of humour interspersed with serious pieces. In 2008, he wrote and presented Alexei Sayle's Liverpool, a three-part television series in which he reconnected with his hometown. He stated in the programmes that on first hearing that Liverpool was to be awarded the European Capital of Culture, he received much criticism for describing the city as "philistine". He now feels that he does not know whether or not his original statement was true, but as a result of making the series he does now consider Liverpool to be his home, and he has vowed to go back there more often in the future.[12]
Film[link]
Sayle alternates his comedic work with performances as a character actor ranging from serious (Gorky Park, 1983) to humorous (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989). He appeared in the 1992 Carry On film, Carry On Columbus along with various modern comedians including Comic Strip founder Peter Richardson, as well as members of the original Carry On team.
Music[link]
Sayle has released five comedy singles with full musical backing. The most successful of these was "'Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?" which achieved Top 20 chart success in the UK upon re-release in 1984. Produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley (who also produced for Madness and Elvis Costello), the record in its 12-inch version achieved notoriety owing to its extensive use of profane language. The two follow up singles, "Didn't You Kill My Brother?", and "Meanwhile", were taken from the album Panic, the cover of which parodies the cover of the Michael Jackson album Off The Wall.
Writing[link]
Sayle has written two short story collections and five novels, including a graphic novel, as well as columns for various publications. His book Great Bus Journeys Of The World, co-written with David Stafford, is mostly a collection of his columns for Time Out and the Sunday Mirror. He was one of eight contributory authors to the BBC Three competition End Of Story, in which members of the public completed the second half of stories written by established authors. The winning entry to Sayle's story, Imitating Katherine Walker, was written by freelance writer Arthur Allan. Sayle's autobiography, focusing on his early life, which he describes as a 'satirical memoir', was published in 2010.
Filmography[link]
- Repeater (1980)
- The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1982)
- Gorky Park (1983)
- The Supergrass (1985)
- The Bride (1985)
- Whoops Apocalypse (1986)
- Solarbabies (1986)
- Siesta (1987)
- The Love Child (1987)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
- Carry On Columbus (1992)
- Reckless Kelly (1993)
- Rhinoceros Hunting in Budapest (1997)
- Swing (1999)
- Arabian Nights (2000)
- Don't Walk (2001)
- The Tale of Tarquin Slant (2004)
- Upstaged (2005)
- The Thief Lord (2006)
Television[link]
- Boom Boom, Out Go The Lights (1980–1981)
- Wolcott (1981)
- O.T.T. (1982)
- The Young Ones (1982–1984)
- Comic Roots (1982)
- The Private Life Of The Ford Cortina (1982)
- Whoops Apocalypse (1982)
- Revelation of the Daleks (Doctor Who) (1985)
- The Comic Strip Presents... (1985–1993)
- Up Line (1987)
- Alexei Sayle's Stuff (1988–1991)
- The Gravy Train (1990)
- Selling Hitler (1991)
- Rubbish, King of the Jumble (1992–1994)
- Sex, Drugs & Dinner (1993)
- Paris (1994)
- Drive (1994)
- The All New Alexei Sayle Show (1994–1995)
- Alexei Sayle's Comedy Hour (1997)
- Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round (1998)
- Tipping The Velvet (2002)
- Keen Eddie (2003)
- End Of Story (2004)
- Alexei Sayle's Liverpool (2008)
- Horrible Histories (2010)
Radio[link]
- Capital London (1979–1981) (various performances)
- Alexei Sayle And The Fish People (1981)
- Lenin of the Rovers (1988)
- Sorry About Last Night (1999)
- Chopwell Soviet (2006)
- Alexei Sayle's Alternative Take (2007)
- Where Did All The Money Go? (2008)
- Migrant Music (2008)
Videos[link]
- The Alexei Sayle Pirate Video (Springtime, 1983)
- Alexei Sayle's Stuff (Paradox, 1995)
DVDs[link]
- Alexei Sayle's Stuff Series One (BBC, 2005)
- Alexei Sayle's Stuff Series Two (BBC, 2006)
- Alexei Sayle's Stuff Series Three (BBC, 2006)
Discography[link]
- Pop-Up Toasters (7" single, Springtime/Island, 1981) (as "Alexei's Midnight Runners")
- Cak! (album – vinyl & cassette, Springtime/Island, 1982)
- Albania! Albania! (Albanixey! Albanixey!) (single, Albaniox, 1982, MOXA-1) (as "The Albanian World Cup Squad")
- 'Ullo John! Gotta New Motor? (single, Springtime/Island, 1982) (7" IS162, 12" 12IS162)
- The Fish People Tapes (album, Island, 1984)
- Panic (album, CBS, 1985)
- Didn't You Kill My Brother? (single, CBS, 1985) (7" A6553, 12" TA6553)
- Meanwhile (single, CBS, 1986)
Bibliography[link]
- Train To Hell (Methuen, 9 February 1984; hardcover ISBN 0-413-52460-4, paperback ISBN 0-413-52470-1) – novel co-written by David Stafford
- Geoffrey The Tube Train And The Fat Comedian (Methuen, 1987; paperback) – graphic novel
- Alexei Sayle's Great Bus Journeys Of The World (Methuen, October 1989; paperback ISBN 0-413-62670-9) – collected columns from Time Out and the Sunday Mirror
- Barcelona Plates (Sceptre, 17 February 2000; hardback ISBN 0-340-76752-9, paperback ISBN 0-340-76753-7) – short story collection
- The Dog Catcher (Sceptre, 19 July 2001; hardcover ISBN 0-340-81868-9, paperback ISBN 0-340-81944-8) – short story collection
- Overtaken (Sceptre, 1 September 2003; hardcover ISBN 0-340-76768-5) – despite Train To Hell, this was publicised as being Sayle's first novel
- The Weeping Women Hotel (Sceptre, 27 February 2006; hardcover ISBN 0-340-83121-9) – novel
- Mister Roberts (Sceptre, 16 October 2008; hardcover ISBN 0-340-96155-1, paperback ISBN 0-340-96156-2) – Sayle's latest novel
- Stalin Ate My Homework (Sceptre, 2 September 2010; hardcover ISBN 0-340-91957-6, paperback ISBN 0-340-91958-3) – autobiography
Screenplays[link]
- Night Voice (1990)
- 'Itch (1990)
- Sorry About Last Night (1995)
- Lose Weight... Ask Me How (2001)
References[link]
- ^ Sayle, Alexei. "Blog No. 29". Alexei Sayle's website. Alexei Sayle. http://www.alexeisayle.me/home/?currentPage=7. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
- ^ "Sayle, Alexei (1952–) Biography". screenonline. http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/476813/. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
- ^ Neilan, Catherine (22 July 2010). "'Ullo Alexei! Gotta new memoir?". theBookseller.com. http://www.thebookseller.com/books/author-profiles/124085-ullo-alexei-gotta-new-memoir.html. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
- ^ "Alexei Sayle, Personal Reminiscence". Imperial War Museum. 2009. http://whatliesbeneath.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.24262. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
- ^ Wilmut, Roger (1989). Didn't You Kill My Mother In Law?- the story of alternative comedy in Brtiain from the Comedy Store to Saturday Night Live. UK: Methuen. pp. 22–24. ISBN 0-413-17390-9. http://books.google.com/books/about/Didn_t_you_kill_my_mother_in_law.html?id=mrQqAAAAMAAJ.
- ^ Sayle, Alexei. "About Me". Alexei Sayle official website. Alexei Sayle. http://www.alexeisayle.me/about-me/. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
- ^ "Radio 4 – History – Chopwell Soviet". BBC. 3 November 2006. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/pip/48cfy. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
- ^ Published on Tue 4 Nov 09:41:09 GMT 2008. "'Old geezer' Alexei wants to be the next Doctor Who – News". lep.co.uk. http://www.lep.co.uk/entertainmentav/39Old-geezer39-Alexei-wants-to.4657149.jp. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
- ^ "FATWA ON ALEXEI; Comic facing death threat.". Free Online Library. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/FATWA+ON+ALEXEI%3B+Comic+facing+death+threat.-a061269670. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
- ^ "Dictionary - Definition of Alexei Sayle". Websters-dictionary-online.net. 1952-08-07. http://www.websters-dictionary-online.net/definitions/Alexei+Sayle?cx=partner-pub-0939450753529744%3Av0qd01-tdlq&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=Alexei+Sayle&sa=Search#874. Retrieved 2012-04-24.
- ^ "Alexei Sayle – About Me". Alexeisayle.me. 7 August 1952. http://www.alexeisayle.me/about-me/. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
- ^ "| What's Hot | Capital Of Culture | ALEXEI SAYLE'S LIVERPOOL". Liverpool.com. http://www.liverpool.com/capital-of-culture/alexi-sayle-s-liverpool.html. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
External links[link]
- Official website
- Alexei Sayle at the Internet Movie Database
- Alexei Sayle at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
- Alexei Sayle on BBC One's This Week
- Review of The Weeping Women Hotel by Spike Magazine
- Interview with Alexei Sayle by Aly Stoneman, LeftLion Magazine
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sayle, Alexei |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 7 August 1952 |
| Place of birth | Anfield, Liverpool, England |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Alexei_Sayle
Related pages:
http://fr.wn.com/Alexei Sayle
http://de.wn.com/Alexei Sayle
http://nl.wn.com/Alexei Sayle
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Sayle
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
