The Origins Of Mussolini's Italy | Secrets Of War | Timeline

one of the great privileges of working at history here and making films together with our team at timeline is the access we get to extraordinary historical locations like this one stonehenge i'm right in the middle of the stone circle now it is an absolutely extraordinary place to visit if you want to watch the documentary like the one we're producing here go to history hit tv it's like netflix for history and if you use the code timeline when you check out you'll get a special introductory offer see you there [Music] in 1926 benito mussolini seized power as the unchallenged dictator of italy he had a grand vision of creating a second roman empire throughout the late 1920s and early 30s mussolini's charisma and his promise to establish italy as a world power led to his unprecedented popularity throughout the country but he would soon find that the hazards of international politics were far greater than the challenges he faced during his rise to power within italy mussolini felt that conquering ethiopia and adding it to his collection of african colonies could be a crowning achievement it would also send a strong message to the leading nations of the world one secret plan to achieve his dream began in 1933 an italian military attache in addis ababa was ordered to set up consulates throughout ethiopia [Music] the italians then began to smuggle chests full of silver coins into these consulates the coins were used to bribe local ethiopian tribal chiefs for their sworn allegiance to italy's dictator meanwhile across the border in the italian colony of eritrea italian soldiers were secretly building roads in preparation for italy's second war with ethiopia as a european power back at the turn of the century italy came late in the game of colonial rule in 1897 the italian army lost 8 000 soldiers during a humiliating defeat at adawa in their previous conflict with ethiopia it was the first major european army to be defeated by a colonial people more than 30 years later mussolini's henchmen used the debacle as an excuse for a new war some of the right-wing nationalists were still obsessed with the fact that the italian army had been defeated by the ethiopian army at the battle of adawa and in the 1930s the fascist propaganda machine deliberately stoked up this whole business about ethiopia and italy's former humiliation on october 3rd 1935 mussolini launched his attack two hundred thousand italian troops backed by hundreds of aircraft and tanks raced into ethiopia the italians believed the war would have a quick end thanks to their bribes the secret network of roads and overwhelming firepower instead the fighting went on for months mussolini knew that failure might end his reign as dictator the ethiopian war was a war that was supposed to be over in a few weeks but in fact it took more and more resources and the italians had to use more and more extreme measures including the use of poison gas to pacify the country and they never totally pacified it another hidden factor made a quick italian victory doubtful ethiopian emperor haile selassie's soldiers received thousands of rifles and machine guns from german secret agents the weapons were courtesy of germany's fuhrer adolf hitler nazi germany wanted to weaken italy so it would not stand in the way of hitler's dreams to an ex-neighboring austria after seven long months the italian military forces finally prevailed in may 1936 from the palazzo venezia in rome before a cheering crowd of four hundred thousand mussolini declared the beginning of his second roman empire [Music] the victory added the trophy of ethiopia to libya tunisia eritrea and italian somaliland in italy's african colonial empire mussolini was at the absolute height of his power and popularity with the italian people we felt that italy had much more prestige in the world finally we had colonies like england and france and and spain had and people felt very happy about and very very honored to be fascists and to have a leader as mussolini wars [Applause] [Music] italy's future had become personified in its charismatic ruler the man they called el duce meaning the leader his reign would become mystical mussolini saw himself as the person who could make italy into a great modern state leading a revolution unlike anything that the world had ever seen and that he would be a great world leader in in the 20th century this probably gave mussolini the confidence or the overconfidence to think that he could join hitler and maintain independence and maybe even to dominate hitler in reality the italian military weakened by the war in ethiopia was not ready to be considered a major force as germany prepared for war mussolini's intelligence units and advisors would also prove to be incapable of uncovering hitler's far-reaching ambitions until it was too late these failures would lead italy down a destructive path and put mussolini's carefully designed myth into jeopardy as his destiny became more intertwined with that of nazi germany as a young man mussolini was an advocate for violent change in 1909 at age 26 he became the editor of the newspaper el popolo italia or the people of italy the popular italian was a fundamental tool for mussolini to actually gain ascendancy in the movement which he had certainly participated in creating but in which he was not the leader until 1920 1921 when after the foundation of the fascist movement as a party mussolini assumed his leadership in the social economic and political chaos that followed italy after world war one mussolini's fascists slowly gained popularity with their anti-communist and patriotic philosophy on october 27 1922 mussolini was about to ignite his own myth as italy's savior [Music] as the country was being pushed to the brink of civil war members of italy's fascist party prepared to march on rome in a bid to take power the march on rome is really the triumph of myth the march of rome really never happened that's the odd part about it about 50 or 60 000 black shirts marched toward rome but they stopped about 50 miles outside of rome and they never forced their way into the city and never even tried to force their way into the city the government collapsed in the face of the presumed threat and the king's fear of civil war [Music] just two days later in an effort to avert a bloody outcome king vittorio emmanuel iii reluctantly appointed mussolini the prime minister of italy when the black shirts were allowed into the city the march on rome became a march of triumph mussolini's rise to power had been secured through intimidation and coercion it would be the first of many deceptions by italy's new leader secrets of war will continue in a moment here on the history channel together with the socialists benito mussolini governed italy under a constitutional monarchy after his rise to power in 1922 but in 1926 he declared an absolute dictatorship in part as a result of several assassination attempts [Music] all political parties except the fascists were banned and mussolini created a national secret police force known as ovra someone who was at a desk in an office whoever heard an anti-muslim comment or a joke about muslim would send in a report about it and form on someone over agents were all over and that was part of i think mussolini's intent to have the italian people feel that wherever they were looking over their shoulder was an agent who could inform on them the reports turned in by over agents were useless pieces of gossip while the undercover agency had thousands of agents in informants only 25 people were ever executed for treason in its 17-year history [Music] but oprah did detain over 10 000 political prisoners one was mussolini's biggest rival carlo rosselli rosselli was a socialist and one of mussolini's most vocal opponents rosselli was inciting the crowds against the dictator so he was exiled to the island of lipari in 1928 he was dramatically rescued whisked to france once he was in paris from 28 onwards he would more or less control his action party and their resistance against mussolini mussolini's intelligence agents continued to shadow roselli over the years but for the time being mussolini had little to fear within italy the people fell for his natural flair [Music] he had a tremendous personality when he talked he was electrifying people paying so much attention to what he said and believed intensely to his ward and were so proud of all the promises that he made to the italian people it was very good to the people i told me and said it to us all the kids let's put it this way it was the future [Music] mussolini launched a propaganda style that was geared to the masses his designs for fascism would cut across all boundaries of society appealing not only to the rich but also to the lowest of the working classes he was a man of the people he was a man who appeared in the fields with peasants with a shirt off imagine hitler doing something like that mussolini cultivated his own myth with legendary performances his famous gestures were secretly copied from italian cinema especially from one of the most popular film characters of italy machiste mussolini adopted some specific gesturality from machiste more specifically for example we can think about the famous posture of mussolini when he puts his chest up and he makes his face very rigid and he rolls his eyes now that was something very that came very specifically from the machiste movies one of mussolini's great inventions if you will at self-promotion was to create a kind of a myth of himself as a sexual figure and his propaganda machine and his official biographies all helped him to do that so when we see mussolini for example standing on the slopes of a ski resort bear chested in the snow that's sending a certain message that he wants to project to the italian people into the world at large married with five children mussolini's image was that of a devout husband and father but in truth el duce was a notorious womanizer [Music] despite his personal sins mussolini became a hero among this predominantly catholic nation he signed the lateran treaty in 1929 that formally recognized the vatican in exchange for acceptance of the italian state by the church it was a master stroke of compromise politically for mussolini he made peace with the church and the result is that there's a tremendous wave of support for muslim it's the first great step toward popular consensus behind mussolini because after all most italians were catholics across the atlantic mussolini's carefully developed image as a world leader was being recognized in the united states throughout the 1920s he was admired by many americans the growing italian american community which reached nearly 10 million by 1930 had become strongly pro-fascist [Music] when mussolini declared war on ethiopia in 1935 over 1 000 italians living in the united states volunteered to serve in il ducey's fascist army after the invasion of ethiopia the united states placed embargoes on raw materials including oil and copper the italians here in the united states responded by sending 400 tons of copper postcards to italy to supplement the lack but by the late 1930s mussolini's international popularity would drastically change germany had risen from the ashes of world war one with a different kind of dictator adolf hitler and his national socialists were going to give fascism a new face one more violent and more destructive than anything the world had ever seen hitler's germany was not only going to transform europe but it would determine the fate of the man called el duce [Music] secrets of war will continue in a moment here on the history channel on june 14 1934 two of europe's most notorious dictators met for the first time in venice [Music] while adolf hitler admired his italian mentor his reverence did not stop the fuhrer from pursuing his own military agenda benito mussolini's intelligence agents learned that the nazis were plotting to overthrow the chancellor of neighboring austria the big barrier was austria mussolini did not want austria to be part of germany and in fact in 1934 when the nazis in austria murdered the prime minister mussolini threatened military intervention to prevent the germany from annexing austria and that was successful hitler backed away from that because hitler did not want to alienate mussolini and he wasn't ready in 1934 for a major military commitment anyway [Music] despite their differences there was a strong desire from both leaders to form an alliance one of the most vocal proponents for italy's affiliation with hitler came from within mussolini's inner circle his name was roberto ferenacci a member of the fascist party's grand council ferenachi led a growing group of italian fascists who believed hitler and mussolini were natural allies but the italian public was far more skeptical nevertheless two years later in 1936 emboldened with the italian conquest of ethiopia mussolini considered an alliance with germany he had appointed his son-in-law count gulliat sociano his foreign minister and dispatched him to germany so he goes off to berlin and the result is the treaty which mussolini dubs the rome berlin axis while the world watched the signing of a treaty uniting germany with italy the actual axis was neither a military nor a diplomatic agreement secretly it was an exercise in fascist propaganda hitler and mussolini had only signed a pact for an ambiguous collaboration for their common fight against communism [Music] a true test of the new german-italian fascist alliance came early in 1937. in spain a civil war against the soviet-backed republican government was being led by the fascist general francisco franco less than a year since his troops had fought in ethiopia mussolini joined hitler in committing his soldiers and equipment to spreading the fascist cause in spain yet mussolini's greatest challenge came not from spain but from france political rival carlo rosselli living in exile in paris was responsible for publications and espionage designed to undermine the mussolini regime in 1936 rosselli mobilized and commanded italian resistance fighters that would challenge mussolini's soldiers in spain almost 3 500 italians calling themselves the communist garibaldi brigade joined the fight against mussolini's army roselli led a stunning victory over mussolini's forces in the battle of guadalajara the presence of the italian brigades was highly publicized they were outnumbered by mussolini's forces so this was a kind of internecine battle it was battalions against italians and fascists lost pharrell ducey his defeat by roscelli's rebel group of anti-fascist italians was the ultimate humiliation one that he would not forget in june 1937 agents working for mussolini's intelligence agency prepared to ambush rosalie on a country road in southern france and one day he went for a drive in his car with his younger brother nelo in the country side and a car had broken down in the street in front of him so he offered to help the the man put his car together four men came out of the woods and the first one with one knife got rosselli definitively the brother was handled by the other three and received multiple wounds they both died there were massive protests in france against the killings for mussolini it was an international embarrassment much of the world had no doubt that he was behind the murders in september 1937 mussolini made his first visit to germany hitler did his best to impress mussolini with germany's growing military might the following year in 1938 hitler returned to italy where mussolini put on a show of his own for the fuhrer mussolini was so ill-equipped militarily that he had uh his formations whether they were airplanes or ground troops go in circles so that hitler thought he had five six seven hundred airplanes in his uh air force whereas he only had a hundred the troops were so well equipped and and there was so much corruption in italy that they had cardboard shoes it was raining and a big puddle formed and when the german troops went with their goose steps they just went in a straight line and when italians came after them the the troops bulged in the middle to avoid the the puddle because italians didn't want to get their boots wet in retrospect it's clear that mussolini was not equipped as a strong ally nevertheless hitler still pushed for a military alliance with his country's resources almost completely drained by the ethiopian and spanish campaigns mussolini was not ready for war but when the germans convinced him that plans for war were years away mussolini saw no harm in an alliance in may 1939 he sent his son-in-law chiano to germany to sign the pact of steel with hitler each country vowed to come to the defense of the other in times of war three months later channel learned that the germans were secretly planning to invade poland in a matter of weeks britain and france would most certainly declare war on germany and with impact of steel italy too mussolini was trapped by his defense treaty with hitler on september 1st 1939 the germans crossed into poland world war ii had begun it catches mussolini off guard and it's the first major example of an undertaking by hitler which mussolini is kept in the dark about until the very last moment and mussolini resents that deeply especially because the two men had agreed just months earlier that there would be no great outbreak of a general european war for at least five years in time in other words for mussolini to get his italian armed forces in shape while mussolini watched the powerful german war machine was unleashed on europe the italian leader was forced to take sides in a war he neither wanted nor was prepared to fight to mussolini hitler's invasion of poland was nothing less than an act of betrayal and for the italian people their love affair with el ducci was about to come to an end secrets of war will continue in a moment here on we now return to secrets of war [Music] as war in europe erupted in 1939 canciano devised his own secret plan to keep italy out of the fighting and save face for his father-in-law benito mussolini if italy was obligated to fight with germany its army would need supplies ciano instructed the chiefs of the army navy and air force to make exaggerated lists of equipment and materials that would be necessary mussolini happily presented the outrageous lists to hitler realizing they could never accommodate the italian military the germans temporarily suspended their defense pact publicly mussolini declared italy to be neutral he chose to interpret the pact of steel differently saying that it meant i'll support you when i'm ready but i'm not going to declare war and historians say that he was seeing which side to go with in may 1940 while hitler attacked and occupied norway denmark holland belgium and a large part of france mussolini's inner circle argued whether to side with germany there is a great debate within the regime among muslims henchmen among his advisers and his ministers there's a meeting of the fascist grand council and the sentiment seems to be to stay out it's muslin's decision in the end he's the dictator he makes the fateful decision apparently the proud mussolini could not let himself be upstaged by hitler he also feared germany's domination over all of europe in june 1940 he declared war on britain and france almost immediately the war began to go poorly for italy their technology was mostly obsolete italian navy ships were slow and lacked radar italian bombers had no intercoms for communicating between crew members often attacking their own ships by accident [Music] when soldiers in the ill-equipped italian infantry crossed the alps to invade southern france thousands were overcome by frostbite and exposure the italian people were saddened shocked and very frightened for the first time in his political life mussolini's popular support began to crack at home and abroad italian americans who once celebrated mussolini began to shun him italian consulates in the united states were closed while american army intelligence units compiled lists of foreign nationals living in the u.s who might be considered dangerous military bases were converted into internment camps when america entered the war the government authorized the internment not only of japanese americans but of italian citizens as well my own stepfather dr giovanni falaska was taken the night of december 7th he along with other italian nationals living in the united states found themselves on a train and taken in the custody to missoula montana where they were to spend several years [Music] despite his sinking popularity mussolini still grabbed world attention he seemed determined not to let hitler have center stage alone in their meeting on october 4th 1940 hitler did not reveal his plans to occupy romania when the german army did so hitler was surprised to learn that mussolini had suddenly invaded greece he would fight his own war alongside hitler and so it was mussolini who tried to get even in a sense with hitler mussolini's venture into greece quickly became the latest in a series of miscalculations by trying to keep up with hitler he was sacrificing his army's military proficiency for his own vanity the italian army invaded from albania into greece and the greek army trapped them in the mountains the italians were not ready for mountain warfare or winter warfare and hitler had to bail them out something that made hitler very angry because it probably delayed his own timetable for the invasion of russia by several months the delay of hitler's russian invasion meant that german troops had to fight through the cruel russian winter and were stopped short of taking moscow it ended in a disastrous defeat from which germany never recovered a turning point in the war how the outcome of world war ii might have been altered if mussolini had not invaded greece and if the german army had reached the russian capital before winter is a matter of historical speculation by early 1943 while italy was being attacked from the air by british and american bombers the assault in the ground was about to begin allied troops planned to invade italy through the island of sicily the american government and especially naval intelligence thought that it might be useful to make contact with sicilians partly to have help when they arrive partly to provide them with information intelligence information and so on and they came upon this rather bizarre plan which was to go to a man named lucky luciano charles lucky luciano was one of the best-known italian-american gangsters of the 1920s and 30s with strong ties to the sicilian mafia in 1943 while luciano was serving time in the great meadow prison in upstate new york navy intelligence agents secretly met with him and struck a deal luciano would get in touch with friends in sicily and in return luciano's sentence would eventually be enlightened and then he would be deported back to italy after the war [Music] by june 1943 the american army landed its forces on the southern italian island with the support of the mafia the first allied invasion of europe had begun sicilian mafia told the americans exactly where the germans were what the amount of munitions were how to get around their front lines everything of a strategic order the allies took the island in just 20 days the next target the italian mainland in rome not only was mussolini's fascist dictatorship crumbling his very life was in jeopardy the man who was mussolini's biggest rival would be the only one who could save him secrets of war will continue in a moment here on the history channel while the allies moved up the boot of italy mussolini became even more dependent on his troubled alliance with hitler for the defense of his beleaguered country during a meeting between the two dictators in italy on july 19 1943 the americans bombed rome for the first time it was a massive raid using 500 planes rome suffered many casualties both the italian monarch king emanuel and pope pius xii went out to comfort citizens as he toured the devastation the influential king who had given mussolini his quiet support all these years was finally convinced that the fascist leader had to go at this point it was clear that rome was going to fall allied forces had reached the middle of italy and it looked very bad from the 19th of july forward the royal house in consultation with the resistance groups and dissidents within the fascist leadership decided to have mussolini arrested one month after the allies successfully invaded sicily the 28-member grand council of fascists met in rome to decide mussolini's fate during their 90-minute meeting el duce was powerless to stop a majority of his longtime supporters from voting to remove him even kanchano chose to dismiss his father-in-law mussolini was tremendously bitter at what he saw as a betrayal of all of these men who had for years been his henchmen if you will his his advisors the men who had risen to power with him uh he saw that as betrayal but the one act of betrayal that struck most deeply of course was his daughter's husband who voted against him on the morning of july 26 mussolini went to see the king in a desperate attempt to retain his power as dictator the allies managed to keep track of the unfolding drama through a network of spies planted in the vatican and the king's palace it was a secret operation called the molina project operated by the oss the u.s wartime intelligence agency they recruited sympathetic italians for their missions one agent worked the switchboard at the royal palace they had an informer in the royal palace where mussolini was arrested giving a minute-by-minute account of the events that led up to the arrest of mussolini that the americans were following step by step the king is supposed to have said to muslim of shaking his head sadly i'm sorry duche i'm sorry ducey but it's all over mussolini was arrested and taken away to a secret location when the news broke most italians felt the tremendous weight had been lifted [Music] there was widespread relief uncertainty fear that the man who had been at the helm of course for 20 some odd years was suddenly gone but yet relief because most italians assumed that with mussolini gone the war for italy would come to an end but instead of peace hitler occupied the rest of italy with his own troops he was determined to protect germany's southern flank against the advancing allies two months later in september 1943 the italian army formally surrendered to the allies the allies wanted mussolini but hitler was determined to find him first despite their rivalry the fuhrer did not want his old mentor to fall into the hands of the enemy from the moment hitler heard of the coup against mussolini and his arrest uh probably two days later he began issuing orders for german intelligence to find mussolini the germans had an informant in the italian ministry of home affairs who revealed the secret location where mussolini was being kept prisoner on september 12 1943 75 german paratroopers and ss men in 12 gliders descended on a mountaintop in northern italy in a silent assault in the four-minute raid mussolini was quietly rescued from his imprisonment at a ski resort without a shot being fired [Music] he was taken to munich as a virtual prisoner of the germans hitler appointed mussolini to head the northern italian states still under german control 500 miles north of rome in the town of salo surrounded by ss guards mussolini led what was left of the loyal italian fascists it was called the republic of salo but in fact mussolini was a puppet of the germans germany controlled all of the communication and all of the transportation so mussolini could do nothing really without hitler's support hitler insisted that the members of italy's grand council of fascism who voted against mussolini be executed hitler wished to make an example of these people after all they were traitors to the state encouraged by mussolini's steadfast supporter roberto ferenacci five members of the council were arrested including canciano farinachi insisted with hitler that channel be tried and executed some say that without farinachi insistence mussolini would have never tried his own son-in-law as her father looked the other way mussolini's daughter edda pleaded for her husband's life three days after being found guilty of treason in a republic of solo court jono and four others were shot by a fascist firing squad mussolini ruled sallow for over a year during that time the first american forces entered rome by march 1945 with the allies closing in the germans were secretly negotiating the surrender of their forces in italy for mussolini time was running out by april 1945 mussolini met with italian partisans who demanded that he surrender and stand trial [Music] so mussolini asks for an hour to think it over and leaves the meeting and doesn't return he hears of a german convoy of soldiers fleeing the country and being given free passage to switzerland by the resistance fighters he gets aboard but the partisans have heard about it and there's a roadblock they begin to search the caravan and one of the partisans goes into the truck and sees this figure sitting in the back with a helmet on his head down and says arrest him mussolini and his mistress claret patachi were taken prisoner they spent their last night together in the house of a peasant farmer under armed guard [Music] the next day a communist execution squad took them to a remote location near lake como protesting hysterically claretta was shot through the heart mussolini ripped open his jacket and demanded to be shot not in the head but in the chest a request the firing squad immediately fulfilled their bodies and those of the other italians from the convoy were taken to milan by truck and dumped at pizzali loretto news of el ducci's death spread quickly i learned from the radio of mussolini's death and execution i heard it and it was a moment of exhilaration until i found out that they had hung them by by his feet and claretta also and then we saw the pictures in the paper that bothered me [Music] in his bunker in berlin as the soviet army closed in adolf hitler received with resignation the news of mussolini's execution determined not to have his body end up like his former fascist mentor hitler committed suicide along with his new bride eva brown their bodies were burned nine days later on may 8th the german army surrendered the war in europe was over [Music] mussolini led his people to triumph and tragedy despite the pain and suffering his reign ultimately inflicted many italians remained proud of their former leader he created the image of italy as a strong world power for some the death of mussolini not only brought about the end of fascism but a loss of italian pride as well [Music] we lost we lost him like you lose the father with the family because mussolini was men for the people and with the people i remember the good years of fascism and my admiration for the man mussolini was guilty of naivete when it comes to friendship with hitler he always thought hitler would some way somehow find a way of winning the war and compensating him for his alliance while he controlled his people with a mixture of intimidation and infectious charisma mussolini created his mythical role as the leader of the second roman empire it was a fantasy that italy could never sustain he led his country down a road to defeat and despair yet for one brief dramatic chapter in its unsettled history all of italy was embodied in the man they called ilducci

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 560,819

Rating: 4.8124475 out of 5

Keywords: History, Full Documentary, Documentaries, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2017 documentary, BBC documentary, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, documentary history, secrets of war, kew media, fascist italy, fascism in italy, benito, italy ww2

Id: tAqkl-hCW0U

Length: 44min 58sec (2698 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 10 2021