Italy+&+France+7

=__ [|The Italian Invasion of Ethiopia.asf]media type="file" key="France prepares maginot line.wmv" width="300" height="300"media type="file" key="Appeasement made.wmv" width="300" height="300"media type="file" key="hitler humitites france.wmv" width="300" height="300"media type="file" key="Movie_0001.wmv" width="300" height="300"Amber Okin, Alisha Jamal, Jocelynmedia type="file" key="Italy_s_Invasion_and_Conquest_of_Ethiopia.asf" Hernandez __, //__Melissa Oliver__// = =__Italy/France__= -Italy: -The rise of Mussolini -Definition of Fascism -Invasion of Ethiopia and reaction of League of Nations -Pact with Nazis -U.S./British invasion of Italy and defeat -France: -Appeasement policy prior to war -The Maginot Line -Nazi Invasion and French Defeathttp: -French role in the defeat of the Nazis.

May 10, 1940 Germany begins invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands, and France May 13 French and British troops move into Belgium but are trapped between German armies May 14 Luftwaffe bombs central Rotterdam; Netherlands surrenders to Germany May 27 British troops begin mass evacuation from Dunkirk June 3 Luftwaffe initiates air raids on Paris June 12 German forces penetrate France’s final lines of defense June 22 France signs armistice with Germany June 23 Hitler visits Paris. The Fall of France- With the British out of the way, the Germans began their final push against France. By June 12, German tanks had broken through the main fronts along the **Somme River** and the fortified **Maginot Line**, moving ever closer to their goal, **Paris**. During this time, the British vigorously encouraged France to resist at all costs. The new British prime minister, **Winston Churchill**, even flew to Paris himself to offer his personal encouragement. At the same time, though, the British government denied French requests for military assistance, wanting to conserve strength for Britain’s own defense in the near future.By this time, the size of the French army had been reduced by roughly half, and French leaders became resigned to an inevitable surrender. On June 22, 1940 , France signed an **armistice** with Germany. Hitler insisted that it be done in the same railway car in which Germany had surrendered to France in 1918, at the end of World War I. On June 23 , Hitler flew to Paris for a brief sightseeing tour of the occupied city, during which a widely published photo was taken of Hitler standing against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower.

Reasons for France Defeat- Although many have attributed Germany’s rapid conquest of France to simple weakness of France’s armed forces, this conclusion is incorrect. France’s military at the time was actually larger and more technologically advanced than Germany’s. In fact, before the invasion, a number of senior German military leaders felt strongly that Germany was unprepared to take on France militarily. During the invasion, Hitler himself was highly apprehensive and expressed disbelief at his own victories. Rather, France fell primarily due to mistaken assumptions about how the attack would be carried out. Germany’s advance through the Ardennes Forest was not anticipated, and even when French intelligence received word of it, they took little action because they did not believe that German tanks could make their way through a dense forest. Thus, the core of the French forces, reinforced by the British, was sent into Belgium, where the main attack was incorrectly expected to take place.

Life in France under Nazis- Shortage in money food, money and transportation

 Appeasement

 [|Neville Chamberlain] became Prime Minister of Britain on 28th May, 1937. Over the next two years Chamberlain's Conservative government became associated with the foreign policy that later became known as appeasement. Chamberlain believed that Germany had been badly treated by the Allies after it was defeated in the [|First World War]. He therefore thought that the German government had genuine grievances and that these needed to be addressed. He also thought that by agreeing to some of the demands being made by [|Adolf Hitler] of Germany and [|Benito Mussolini] of Italy, he could avoid a European war. [|Anthony Eden], Chamberlain's foreign secretary, did not agree with the policy of appeasement and resigned in February, 1938. Eden was replaced by [|Lord Halifax] who fully supported this policy. Halifax had already developed a good relationship with the German government. After his first visit to [|Nazi Germany] he told his friend, [|Henry (Chips) Channon] : "He (Halifax) told me he liked all the Nazi leaders, even Goebbels, and he was much impressed, interested and amused by the visit. He thinks the regime absolutely fantastic." In November, 1937, [|Neville Chamberlain] sent Lord Halifax to meet [|Adolf Hitler], [|Joseph Goebbels] and [|Hermann Goering] in Germany. In his diary, Lord Halifax records how he told Hitler: "Although there was much in the Nazi system that profoundly offended British opinion, I was not blind to what he (Hitler) had done for Germany, and to the achievement from his point of view of keeping Communism out of his country." This was a reference to the fact that Hitler had banned the [|Communist Party (KPD)] in Germany and placed its leaders in [|Concentration Camps].

= = = = =How did the policy of appeasement affect World War 2?=

Here are opinions:
 * Appeasement allowed the British and French to ignore an imminent threat and produced a fake peace which led to many deaths.
 * Appeasement bought Britain the precious time it needed to prepare for an inevitable war.
 * Appeasement led Hitler to believe that no one would oppose his expansionist policies. In short, if Europe had abandoned its appeasement policy by 1935 WWII probably could have been averted.
 * Britain, already economicaly damaged and knowing that a war was impossible to avoid, tried to buy vital time. She had stepped up production ao arms but was still unable to realistically fight another great war in a quater of a century. What Chamberlain brought back from his talks was time and it proved the balance between winning an unprovoked war.
 * England under the premiership of Chamberlain, I believe, made the correct deision to appease Germany, a weakend, abused country deeply buried in debt after its ill-treatment in a post treaty of Versailles europe. Slowly climbing out of debt, England had not the economy, or gun power to rsk and survive an all-out war with any country. Chamberlain also upheld beliefs about peace and felt that diplomacy, not mindless slaughter, was the answer in dealing with a responsible leader, as Hitler was to his German people. (Jews and other minorities were not threatened at the time.) Hitler was not the epitomy of evil, and should not have been treated as such, at that time.
 * The policy of appeasement used by Neville Chamberlain, while intended to preserve the peace, hindered the Allies and help Germany when WWII broke out. Letting Germany increase its navy, army, and air force, reoccupy the Rhineland, and give it the Czech Sudatenland all helped to strengthen the German postition in Europe. It would lead to Germany taking over most of Europe with relative ease in a matter of months.
 * Appeasement refers to the foreign policy of England and France toward Germany in the years prior to WWII. They let Hitler rebuild the German army and navy, occupy the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia. If they had put up a fight at the beginning, perhaps Hitler would not have kept pushing until the situation turned into a World War. Or maybe not.
 * Originally Appeasement was a positive concept, it had started in 1919 after the Treaty of Versailles. During the 1920's Britain had control however by 1930's Hitler had seized the intiative. Appeasement was apopulare concept especially among British policy, there were several reasons as to why Neville Chamberlain favoured this policy- people in Britain during the early 1930's had voted against war and favoured collective security, this could also be down the economic problems that had arised after the Great Depression such as high unemployment which the treasury had wanted to improve rather than muntions armament. Due to the econonmic problems this led to military weakness as the country virtually had no airforce and the navy was insufficient as was the army. In light of all these problems Neville Chamberlain had seen the effects of Hitler and the Nazis however he had believed that by getting Hitler to sign compromise documents that this would successfully bind Hitler into keeping his promises. Was Chamberlain naive? Chamberlain persisted with appeasement well after it had been crushed i.e. the Czech Crisis. However in doing so he had stepped up rearmament to give him more time. So did Hitler take advantage of Chamberlain's naivity? Subject to evidence it can be almost certain to say the answer is yes, the evidence is seen clearly right from the remilitiarization of the Rhineland up to the Munich Conference. Historians say that Chamberlain appeased Hitler in order to avoid war, others say that he was propelling Europe into war by basically allowing Hitler to do as he pleased. As Hitler prepared fo invasion of Poland, Chamberlain had no choice but to issue an ultimatum to Hitler over Poland- invade poland and risk war with Britain or step back from Poland and reintroduce peace? Hitler did not think that Britain would go through with its 'ultimatum' so invaded Poland sept 1939. Had Britain and France resisted German aggression world war II might not have broken out.

1. The policy of appeasement predates Chamberlain's premiership. Already in the early 1920s many British politicians believed that the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh and were, in principle, willing to make adjustments in favour of Germany. 2. In 1933, when Hitler came to power, the official British policy was multilateral disarmament and talks were in progress to try to achieve this. Britain and France were caught out at the time. 3. It's not clear how well informed Baldwin and Chamberlain really were about the intentions of the Nazi regime. 4. The ultimate irony is that in many respects the policy of appeasement continued well into WWII. Britain and an even more reluctant France declared war on Germany supposedly in order to uphold Polish sovereignty - but did absolutely nothing to give any practical assistance to Poland. Viewed coldly, the declaration of war in 1939 bears the hallmarks of grandstanding, of an empty gesture. In many ways it was a barely rational act ... Among some British grandees there was talk of making peace - until the Nazis bombed civilian areas of London in September 1940. 5. Britain never had much influence in Eastern Central Europe. It was an area where Britain could only have acted by proxy. 6. There's a widespread belief that all Britain needed was to "do something", but very few are realistic about what that something should have been. A thunderous roar of condemnation (for example, in 1935 or 1936) might well have strengthened, not weakened Hitler, as Germans would have rallied round. A few minutes with a good atlas of Europe should make it clear that Britain would have had to act *through France*. In the mid and late 1930s France was bitterly divided into Left and Right and not well placed to take decisive action, as the events of 1940 made very clear. 7. Although Britain had a vast empire at the time it was rather weak in Europe. 8. As for Chamberlain being 'naive', people seem to think that politicians operate in a vacuum, which is not the case. Chamberlain had become Prime Minister in May 1937 and inherited a very difficult situation. Moreover, Britain was (and is) a democracy, and fighting a major war without broad support is very foolish.


 * //__The Pact of Steel__//**

After the rebuff Italy experienced after her invasion of [|Abyssinia], the only choice of allies left for [|Mussolini] was Germany and Franco's Spain. In July 1936, a civil war broke out in Spain between the Republicans and the Nationalists lead by the army General Franco. The Republicans got support from various groups throughout Europe. [|Stalin] of [|Russia] sent aid and troops though they were referred as "volunteers" so not to offend the [|League of] [|Nations]. This in itself tended to condemn the Republicans in the eyes of many in Europe as Stalin and the communist regime in Russia still terrified many. Mussolini and Hitler sent support and "volunteers" to Franco. Franco did not believe in parliamentary government. He did not lead a dictatorship in 1936 – in the sense that he did not yet have power in Spain but this was to come. Mussolini saw Italian involvement in Spain as yet another opportunity to expand his power and influence. Not all Italians were pro-Franco. Some Italians who had moved abroad during Mussolini’s time in power, formed the Garibaldi Brigade. They fought on the Republicans side. At the Battle of Guadalajara, Italians fought Italians – something people in Italy had dreaded. In this battle the Republicans won. Mussolini was furious that his ‘volunteers’ had been beaten but blamed the Garibaldi Brigade. Three months after the defeat at Guadalajara, the leader of the Garibaldi Brigade, Carlos Roselli, was found murdered. Mussolini’s secret agents had done this. The Spanish Civil War was deeply unpopular in Italy, as many people there could not see what it had to do with them. Also, the Italian involvement was hardly a success. This apparent alienation in Europe drove Mussolini even further to [|Hitler]. Mussolini referred to Italy and Germany being the most influential countries in Europe and that all the rest of Europe would revolve around this "axis". In September 1937, Mussolini visited Germany. Hitler put on a major display of military power for Mussolini and by the end of the visit, Mussolini became convinced that Germany was the power he should ally with. He was sure that an alliance with Germany would lead to Italy becoming more powerful throughout Europe. As Germany had left the League of Nations in 1933, so Mussolini left the League in 1937 after the League had imposed economic sanctions on Italy for the invasion of [|Abyssinia]. In 1938, Germany occupied Austria in the Anschluss (forbidden by [|Versailles]). Hitler did not forewarn Mussolini about what he was going to do and this upset Mussolini’s belief that he was an equal partner. However, there was nothing Mussolini could do about the Nazi occupation of Austria and it was clear from 1938 on that Mussolini was definitely the minor partner in the relationship. However, Mussolini achieved real fame for the part he played in the Munich agreement of September 1938. War seemed a real possibility in the autumn of 1938. The major powers took the opportunity to meet in Munich – an idea suggested by Mussolini. The outcome was the "Piece of Paper" which at the time seemed to everyone to guarantee European peace. Mussolini got the credit for this. After Munich, Mussolini’s reputation was at its peak. To many he seemed to be Europe’s saviour – a reputation that he assumed made him Europe’s premier statesman. Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 angered Mussolini because it was clear that Germany was carving out its own empire and Italy was not. To compensate for this, Mussolini took over Albania on Good Friday 1939. To him, this was a sign of Italy’s expanding power in Europe. King Victor Emmanuel was offered the title of King of Albania. Italian propaganda made a great deal out of this but in reality Albania had been under the influence of Italy for years and this was barely an Italian military success. Mussolini made it clear to Hitler that he expected Italy to have the Adriatic Sea as a sphere of influence. In May 1939, the Germans and Italians cemented their friendship with the **Pact of Steel**. This pact committed both countries to support the other if one of them became involved in a war. The Italian Foreign Minister, Galleazo Ciano, Mussolini’s son-in-law, realised that this pact was potentially very damaging for Italy but [|Mussolini] was more concerned with the prestige of allying with Europe’s most potent power rather than the politics of it. media type="file" key="Clip 2.wmv" width="300" height="300" media type="file" key="Clip 1.wmv" width="300" height="300" media type="file" key="clip 3.wmv" width="300" height="300" THE MAGINOT LINE The Maginot Line dominated French military thinking in the inter-war years. The Maginot Line was a vast fortification that spread along the French/German border but became a military liability when the Germans attacked France in the spring of [|1940] using [|blitzkrieg] – a tactic that completely emasculated the Maginot Line’s purpose. France had suffered appalling damage to both men and buildings in [|World War One]. After [|Versailles] in 1919, there was a clear intention on the part of the French that France should never have to suffer such a catastrophe again. After 1920, those men in both political positions and the military favoured adopting a military strategy that would simply stop any form of German invasion again. Senior figures in the French military, such as Marshall Foch, believed that the German anger over Versailles all but guaranteed that Germany would seek revenge. The main thrust of French military policy, as a result, was to embrace the power of the defence. As head of the armed forces, Marshall Petain commissioned a number of teams to come up with a solution to the French dilemma. Three schools of thought developed: 1) That France should adopt a policy of offence as opposed to defence. One of the main supporters of this was [|Charles de Gaulle]. He wanted France to develop an army based on speed, mobility and mechanised vehicles. There were few who supported his ideas as many in the military saw them as aggressive and likely to provoke a response as opposed to guard against a German one. 2) France should base its military in a line of small heavily defended areas from which a counter-attack could be launched if required. Marshall Joffre favoured this idea. 3) France should build a long line of fortifications along the whole French/German border which would be both long and deep into France. Marshall Petain favoured this idea. Petain had come out of [|World War One] with a degree of credit and with his backing the idea of a long and deep defensive barrier gained political support. In this, Petain was supported by Andre Maginot, the Minister of War. Maginot was Minister of War between 1922 and 1924. However, even after 1924, Maginot was involved in the project. In 1926, Maginot and his successor, Paul Painleve, got the funding for a body that was known as the Committee of Frontier Defence (CFD). The CFD was given the funding to build three sections of an experimental defence line – based on what Petain had recommended - which was to develop into the Maginot Line. In 1929, Maginot returned to government office. He gained more money from the government to build a full-scale defence barrier along the German border. He overcame any opposition to his plan very simply – the fortification, he argued, would end any chance there was that France would suffer the terrible bloodshed of 1914 -1918 should there ever be another war. Also, in 1930, French troops that had occupied the Rhineland as part of the [|Versailles Treaty], had to leave the area that bordered onto France – this at a time when the Nazi Party and Hitler were making real headway in Germany. Maginot had a number of sound military arguments on his side: Ø The Line would hinder any German attack for so long that the bulk of the large French army would be fully mobilised to counter the attack. Ø The troops stationed in the Line would also be used to fight against the invading Germans should they get through any one part of the Line and attack them from the rear. Ø All the fighting would take place near to the French/German border so that there would be minimal damage to property. Ø The Ardennes in the north would act as a natural continuation of the man-made Line as it was considered impenetrable, so the Line need not go all the way to the Channel. Work on the Maginot Line proper started in 1930 when the French government gave a grant of 3 billion francs for its building. The work continued until [|1940]. Maginot himself died in 1932, and the line was named after him in his honour. What exactly was the Maginot Line? It was not a continuous line of forts as some believe. In parts, especially in the south from Basle to Haguenau, it was nothing more than a series of outposts as the steep geography of the region and the River Rhine provided its own defence between France and Germany. The Line comprised of over 500 separate buildings but was dominated by large forts (known as ‘ouvrages’) which were built about nine miles from each other. Each ouvrage housed 1000 soldiers with artillery. Between each ouvrage were smaller forts which housed between 200 to 500 men depending on their size. There were 50 ouvrages in total along the German border. Each one had the necessary fire power to cover the two nearest ouvrages to the north and south. They were protected by reinforced steel that was inches deep and capable of taking a direct hit from most known artillery fire. The smaller forts were obviously not as well armed or protected as the ouvrages but they were still well built. They were further protected by minefields and anti-tank ditches. Forward defence lines were designed to give the defenders a good warning of an impending attack. In theory, the Maginot Line was capable of creating a massive continuous line of fire that should have devastated any attack. The Maginot Line was such an impressive piece of construction that dignitaries from around the world visited it. However, the Maginot Line had two major failings – it was obviously not mobile and it assumed that the Ardennes was impenetrable. Any attack that could get around it would leave it floundering like a beached whale. [|Blitzkrieg] was the means by which Germany simply went around the whole Line. By doing this, the Maginot Line was isolated and the plan that soldiers in the Line could assist the mobilised French troops was a non-starter. The speed with which Germany attacked France and [|Belgium] in May [|1940], completely isolated all the forts. The German attack was code-named “cut-of-the-sickle” (Sichlschnitt) – an appropriate name for the attack. German Army Group B attacked through the Ardennes – such an attack was believed to be impossible by the French. One million men and 1,500 [|tanks] crossed the seemingly impenetrable forests in the Ardennes. The Germans wanted to drive the Allies to the sea. Once the Maginot Line had been isolated it had little military importance and the Germans only turned their attention to it in early June 1940. Many of the ouvrages surrendered after the government signed its surrender with Germany – few had to be captured in battle, though some forts did fight the Germans. One in seven French divisions was a fortress division - so the Maginot Line took out 15% of the French Army. Though not a huge figure, these men may have had an impact on the advance of the Germans - or at least got evacuated at [|Dunkirk] to fight another time. After the war, parts of the Maginot Line were repaired and modernised to provide post-war France with more defence. Some of the forts were supposedly made nuclear war proof. However, many parts of the Maginot Line fell into disrepair and remain so. The Maginot Line had its critics and supporters. The critics had a vast amount of evidence to support their views. However, an argument was put forward that the Maginot Line was a success and that its failure was a failure of planning in that the Line ended at the Belgium border. If the Maginot Line had been built all along the French/Belgium border, the outcome in the spring of [|1940] may have been very different as the Germans would have had to go through a major fortification as opposed to going round it. It all senses, this is a superfluous argument as the Maginot Line did not go round Belgium’s border whereas the German military did go through the Ardennes therefore neutralising the Maginot Line

[]

Campaign would be over in a matter of weeks. || In September 1943 Allied hopes were high. The Italians separated into two camps, pro-Allied and pro-German factions. The Allies landed Americans at Salerno and British at Taranto on September 9, and by September 26 had built a force of 189,000 men and 30,000 vehicles. Blown bridges and blocked roads hampered the initial assault, but the Allies moved quickly and gained 300 miles in seventeen days. The UK Fifth Army took Naples on October 1, 1943. The port was repaired to land supplies and airfields were taken at Foggia to give the Allies command of the air. But the Germans were also making preparations. A series of prepared fortifications in mountainous country called the Gustav Line, which incorporated the Rapido, Garigliano, and Sangro Rivers as natural defenses. Studded with pillboxes, the Gustav Line hinged on the town of Cassino. The Allies were stopped cold by a combination of German artillery, Italian winter, and mountainous terrain. Little advance could be made, even employing mules to carry troops and supplies over the rocky battlefields. By January 1944, it was clear the Allies were not going to break the line. The answer was to leapfrog around the Gustav Line with an amphibious landing. Choosing to land at Anzio, US Army General Mark Clark put ashore one and 2/3 divisions. A major concern was the lack of landing craft, especially Landing Ship Tank (LSTs) that were the backbone of most American amphibious landings in all theatres. Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring poured fire down on the Americans, depressing antiaircraft batteries elevation to zero to cut down infantry as they came off the ships. The fire was subdued with heavy casualties and the Americans were ashore to stay. After the violent landing, Clark’s subordinates waited to build up forces, allowing chances to break through the fragmented German lines to slip away. || Dozens of nations’ armies were poured into the area around Monte Cassino, a 15th Century abbey overlooking the town. Allied bombers, in a controversial move, reduced the ancient landmark to rubble in an attempt to wipe out the supposed German defenders, who actually had guaranteed the abbey’s safety. The Germans, crack paratroopers heavily armed with automatic weapons and backed by artillery, occupied the remains of the abbey and laid waste to whole units of Americans, New Zealanders, British, South Africans, French, Ghurkas, Brazilians, Australians, and many other national units. Meanwhile fighting at Anzio had lasted for months. In May 1944 the war of attrition, affected by the Germans’ growing problem of supply and manpower needs everywhere, allowed the Allies to break out of the Anzio beachhead. Polish soldiers, taking heavy casualties, conquered Monte Cassino. The Germans retreated and the Americans drove eastward from Anzio. Clark had an opportunity to cut off and destroy the German forces retreating north, but he decided to head for Rome. Entering Rome on June 4, 1944, he had no way of knowing that the Allied landing in France two days later would knock the liberation of the ancient capital from the public eye. Instead of a quick campaign, the Italian Campaign took 275 day and cost 124,917 Allied dead. And they were not close to the end of the fighting. German soldiers took up defensive positions behind the Gothic Line on August 4. The Allies opened an offensive under very different circumstances than the attack on the Gustav Line. First, Allied soldiers landed in Southern France on August 15, threatening the Germans’ west flank. Then, Greece was evacuated in October, allowing the Allies to menace the Germans from both sides of the Italian command. British forces began the attack on the Gothic Line on September 10, 1944. Again the Italian mountains helped the Germans. The British Eighth Army, the American 10th Mountain Division, and many other units, fought a hard battle through Ravenna and up the Po Valley through April 1945. On April 27, roving bands of Italian guerillas captured Mussolini and executed him the next day. German forces surrendered on April 29. Bitter feelings over the generalship of Mark Clark would lead to congressional reviews, lagging questions, and decades of controversy. While Clark gets the lion’s share of the blame, he was charged with an almost impossible task in unfamiliar terrain, under pressure from Churchill to give Stalin a second front. Clearly the Italian campaign could have been better fought, but at a time when an invasion of France was not possible, the Western Allies attacked what they perceived as an easy target. The thousands of soldiers who never returned form the mud of Italy’s battlefields are as much a testament to Allied ignorance as to their own courage and bravery.
 * September 9, 1943 - May 8, 1945**
 * The Allies were flushed with excitement over the possibility of the [|italians surrendering]. The 82nd Airborne Division prepared for a drop on Rome and Allied planners thought the Italian
 * They were wrong. Italy would represent frustration and death for thousands of Allied soldiers in a bitter stagnated fight. It would be a year before Allied troops entered Rome, and the [|Invasion of France] would overshadow that victory.
 * They were wrong. Italy would represent frustration and death for thousands of Allied soldiers in a bitter stagnated fight. It would be a year before Allied troops entered Rome, and the [|Invasion of France] would overshadow that victory.
 * When the Americans were finally ready to break out of Anzio, they ran into Kesselring’s superior generalship and were hung up. Clark had tried to move the Anzio beachhead forward while breaking through the Gustav Line, a move Kesselring had anticipated and was able to counter. A disastrous crossing of the Rapido cost the lives thousands of Texas National Guardsmen of the 36th Division. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an all-Japanese’American unit, extricated them from their tenuous beachhead across the river.
 * When the Americans were finally ready to break out of Anzio, they ran into Kesselring’s superior generalship and were hung up. Clark had tried to move the Anzio beachhead forward while breaking through the Gustav Line, a move Kesselring had anticipated and was able to counter. A disastrous crossing of the Rapido cost the lives thousands of Texas National Guardsmen of the 36th Division. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an all-Japanese’American unit, extricated them from their tenuous beachhead across the river.



The Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of Valour, Loyalty and Merit is a Portuguese order of knighthood and the pinnacle of the Portuguese honours system, and it was created by King Afonso V in 1459....
 * Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini **, KSMOM [|GCTE]
 * Order of the Tower and Sword **

(29 July 1883 - 28 April 1945) was an [|Italian] <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Italy, officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
 * <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Italy **

<span style="color: #605e53; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|politician] <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">A politician or political leader is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d'état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest,...
 * <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Politician **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">who led the [|National Fascist Party] <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">The National Fascist Party was an Italian party, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of fascism...
 * <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">National Fascist Party **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of [|Fascism] <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Fascism,, comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
 * <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Fascism **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">. He became the [|Prime Minister of Italy] <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">The Prime Minister of Italy is Italy's head of government...
 * <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Prime minister of Italy **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">in 1922 and began using the title // [|Il Duce] // <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Duce is an Italian word meaning leader or the second, derived from Latin word dux in singular accusative case "ducem" which means to lead, of which Duke is a derivation...
 * <span style="background: white; border-bottom: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-left: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-right: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; border-top: #dbdbdb 1.5pt solid; display: none; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;">Duce **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">by 1925. After 1936, his official title was "//His Excellency Benito Mussolini, Head of Government, Duce of Fascism, and Founder of the Empire//".
 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt;">Discussion **

All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

Every anarchist is a baffled dictator. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

Fascism is a religion. The twentieth century will be known in history as the century of Fascism. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

Fascism is a religious concept. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

Fascism is not an article for export. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity, quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

Inactivity is death. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

It is humiliating to remain with our hands folded while others write history. It matters little who wins. To make a people great it is necessary to send them to battle even if you have to kick them in the pants. That is what I shall do. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

It is the State which educates its citizens in civic virtue, gives them a consciousness of their mission and welds them into unity. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

It's good to trust others but, not to do so is much better. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

Let us have a dagger between our teeth, a bomb in our hands, and an infinite scorn in our hearts. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

Socialism is a fraud, a comedy, a phantom, a blackmail. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

The best blood will at some time get into a fool or a mosquito. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

The fate of nations is intimately bound up with their powers of reproduction. All nations and all empires first felt decadence gnawing at them when their birth rate fell off. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

The function of a citizen and a soldier are inseparable. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

The history of saints is mainly the history of insane people. [|**Benito Mussolini**]

The keystone of the Fascist doctrine is its conception of the State, of its essence, its functions, and its aims. For Fascism the State is absolute, individuals and groups relative. [|**Benito Mussolini**] []  || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">State || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Entry || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Exit || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Combat Forces || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Population || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Losses || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-36), an armed conflict that resulted in Ethiopia's subjection to Italian rule. Often seen as one of the episodes that prepared the way for World War II, the war demonstrated the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations when League decisions were not supported by the great powers. Ethiopia (Abyssinia), which Italy had unsuccessfully tried to conquer in the 1890s, was in 1934 one of the few independent states in a European-dominated Africa. A border incident between Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland that December gave Benito Mussolini an excuse to intervene. Rejecting all arbitration offers, the Italians invaded Ethiopia on Oct. 3, 1935. Under Generals Rodolfo Graziani and Pietro Badoglio, the invading forces steadily pushed back the ill-armed and poorly trained Ethiopian army, winning a major victory near Lake Ascianghi (Ashangi) on April 9, 1936, and taking the capital, Addis Ababa, on May 5. The nation's leader, Emperor Haile Selassie, went into exile. In Rome, Mussolini proclaimed Italy's king Victor Emmanuel III emperor of Ethiopia and appointed Badoglio to rule as viceroy. In response to Ethiopian appeals, the League of Nations had condemned the Italian invasion in 1935 and voted to impose economic sanctions on the aggressor. The sanctions remained ineffective because of general lack of support. Although Mussolini's aggression was viewed with disfavour by the British, who had a stake in East Africa, the other major powers had no real interest in opposing him. The war, by giving substance to Italian imperialist claims, contributed to international tensions between the fascist states and the Western democracies. []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Ethiopia || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">1935 || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">1936 || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">100000 || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">28000000 || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">16000 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Italy || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">1935 || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">1936 || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">330000 || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">39000000 || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">15000 ||

[] - picture of Mussolini

= <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">B <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt;">ENITO <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">M <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 13.5pt;">USSOLINI =

Predappio, Italy Died: April 28, 1945 Como, Italy **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> //Italian dictator// Benito Mussolini was head of the Italian government from 1922 to 1943. He was the founder of fascism, and as a dictator he held absolute power and severely mistreated his citizens and his country. He led Italy into three straight wars, the last of which led to his overthrow by his own people.
 * Born: July 29, 1883

//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Early life and career //
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Benito Mussolini was born at Dovia di Predappio, Italy, on July 29, 1883. The Mussolinis were a poor family who lived in a crowded two-bedroom apartment. His father was a blacksmith and a follower of socialism (a system providing for the sharing of land and goods equally among all people); his mother taught elementary school. Benito, although intelligent, was violent and had a large ego. He was a poor student at school and learned very little. As a student at a boarding school in Faenza, Italy, Mussolini stabbed another student, and as a result he was expelled. After receiving his diploma in 1901 he briefly taught secondary school. He went to Switzerland in 1902 to avoid military service, where he associated with other socialists. Mussolini returned to Italy in 1904, spent time in the military, and engaged in politics full time thereafter. Mussolini had become a member of the Socialist Party in 1900 and had begun to attract wide admiration. In speeches and articles he was extreme and violent, urging revolution at any cost, but he was also well spoken. Mussolini held several posts as editor and labor leader until he emerged in the 1912 Socialist Party Congress. He became editor of the party's daily paper, //Avanti,// at the age of twenty-nine. His powerful writing injected excitement into the Socialist ranks. In a party that had accomplished little in recent years, his youth and his intense nature was an advantage. He called for revolution at a time when revolutionary feelings were sweeping the country.

//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">From Socialist to Fascist //
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Mussolini deserted the Socialist Party in 1914 to cross over to the enemy camp, the Italian middle class. He knew that World War I (1914–18) would bury the old Europe, and he began to prepare for "the unknown." In late 1914 he founded an independent newspaper, //Popolo d'Italia,// and backed it up with his own movement, the Autonomous Fascists. He drew close to the new forces in Italian politics, the extreme middle-class youth, and he made himself their spokesman. The Italian working class now called Mussolini "Judas" and "traitor." Mussolini was wounded during army training in 1917, but he managed to return to politics that same year. His newspaper, which he now backed with a second political movement, Revolutionary Fascists, was his main strength. After the war, Mussolini's career declined. He organized his third movement, Constituent Fascists, in 1918, but it did not survive. Mussolini ran for office in the 1919 parliamentary elections but was defeated.

//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Benito Mussolini. //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';"> AP/Wide World Photos . In March 1919 Mussolini founded another movement, Fighting Fascists, won the favor of the Italian youth, and waited for events to favor him. The elections in 1921 sent him to Parliament at the head of thirty-five Fascist deputies; the third assembly of his movement gave birth to a national party, the National Fascist Party, with more than 250 thousand followers and Mussolini as its uncontested leader. In October 1922 Mussolini successfully marched into Rome, Italy. He now enjoyed the support of key groups (industry, farmers, military, and church), whose members accepted Mussolini's solution to their problems: organize middle-class youth, control workers harshly, and set up a tough central government to restore "law and order." Thereafter, Mussolini attacked the workers and spilled their blood over Italy. It was the complete opposite of his early views of socialism.
 * //Reproduced by permission of//**

//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Fascist state //
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Once in power, Mussolini took steps to remain there. He set general elections, but they were fixed to always provide him with an absolute majority in Parliament. The assassination of the Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti, a noted opponent, by Fascist followers reversed his fortunes and nearly brought him down. Mussolini, however, recovered. He suspended civil liberties, destroyed all opposition, and imposed open dictatorship (absolute rule). In 1929 his Concordat with the Vatican settled the historic differences between the Italian state and the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Pius XI (1857–1939) said that Mussolini had been sent "by Divine Providence." As the 1930s began, Mussolini was seated safely in power and enjoyed wide support. The strongest groups who had put Mussolini into power now profited from it. However, the living standard of the working majority fell; the average Italian worker's income amounted to one-half of that of a worker in France, one-third of that of a worker in England, and one-fourth of that of a worker in America. As national leader, Mussolini offered no solutions for Italy's problems. He surrounded himself with ambitious and greedy people and let them bleed Italy dry while his secret agents gathered information on opponents.

//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Mussolini's three wars //
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">In 1930 economic depression (a decline in the production of goods because of a decline in demand, accompanied by rising unemployment) arrived in Italy. Mussolini reacted at first with a public works program but soon shifted to foreign adventure. The 1935 Ethiopian War was planned to direct attention away from internal problems. The "Italian Empire," Mussolini's creation, was announced in 1936. The 1936 Spanish intervention, in which Mussolini aided Francisco Franco (1892–1975) in Spain's civil war, followed but had no benefit for Italy. Mussolini then joined forces with German dictator Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) and in 1938 began to attack Jewish people within the country just as Germany was doing. As the 1930s ended, Mussolini was losing all his support within Italy. The outbreak of World War II (1939–45) left Mussolini an unimportant figure in world politics, and he worried that Hitler would redraw the map of Europe without him. He decided "to make war at any cost." The cost was clear: modern industry, modern armies, and popular support. Mussolini lacked all of these. Nonetheless, in 1940 he pushed Italy into war against the will of the people, ignoring the only meaningful lesson of World War I: the United States alone had decided that conflict, and therefore America, not Germany, was the most important power.

//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Disaster and death //
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">In 1940–41 Mussolini's armies, badly supplied and poorly led, suffered defeats from Europe across the Mediterranean to the African continent. Italy lost its war in 1942; Mussolini's power collapsed six months later. Restored as Hitler's puppet in northern Italy in 1943, he drove Italy deeper into invasion, occupation, and civil war during 1944 and 1945. The end approached, but Mussolini struggled to survive. He was finally executed by a firing squad on April 28, 1945, at Dongo in Como province.

//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">For More Information //
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Cassels, Alan. //Mussolini's Early Diplomacy.// Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1970. Kirkpatrick, Ivone. //Mussolini: A Study in Power.// New York, Hawthorn Books, 1964. Mack Smith, Denis. //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Mussolini. //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">New York: Knopf, 1982. Mussolini, Benito. //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">The Fall of Mussolini: His Own Story. //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif';">Edited by Max Ascoli. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1948. Reprint, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1975. Mussolini, Benito. //My Rise and Fall.// New York: Da Capo Press, 1998. Ridley, Jasper Godwin. //Mussolini.// New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt;">[]

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">, <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">[|KSMOM] [|GCTE] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">(29 July 1883, [|Predappio], [|Province of Forlì-Cesena] - 28 April 1945) was an Italian [|politician] who led the [|National Fascist Party] and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of [|Fascism]. He became the [|40th] [|Prime Minister of Italy] in 1922 and began using the title //[|Il Duce]// by 1925. After 1936, his official title was "//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 of Italy], 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]. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> Mussolini was among the founders of [|Italian Fascism], which included elements of [|nationalism] , [|corporatism] , [|national syndicalism] , [|expansionism] , [|social progress] and [|anti-communism] 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] programmes such as the taming of the [|Pontine Marshes], the improvement of job opportunities, and [|public transport]. Mussolini also solved the [|Roman Question] by concluding the [|Lateran Treaty] between the [|Kingdom of Italy] and the [|Holy See]. He is also credited with securing economic success in [|Italy's colonies and commercial dependencies] .[|[3]] Although he [|initially favoured siding with] France against Germany in the early 1930s, Mussolini became one of the main figures of the [|Axis powers] and, on 10 June 1940, Mussolini led Italy into [|World War II] on the side of Axis. Three years later, Mussolini was deposed at the [|Grand Council of Fascism], prompted by the [|Allied invasion]. Soon after his incarceration began, 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 to Switzerland, 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.[//[|citation needed]// ] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 16pt;">[]

media type="file" key="france 1940 1945.wmv" width="300" height="300" discoveery education global2010 bulldogs <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">[Italian fascismo, from fascio , group, from Late Latin fascium , from Latin fascis , bundle
 * 1) **__ Fascism __**
 * 2) A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
 * 3) A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
 * 4) Oppressive, dictatorial control.

=Italy =

Introduction to the Italian Campaign
[|Allied] victory in [|Sicily] had resulted in the overthrow of Mussolini's government, and the capitulation of [|Italy] was only a matter of negotiation and time. An armistice was announced on September 8. The Italian surrender resulted in [|German] evacuation of the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, gave the Allies the Italian Navy, and, in effect, made Italy a co-belligerent with the Allies. Nevertheless, the Germans still had a firm hold on the Italian boot. The Italian Campaign (September 3, [|1943] - May 2, [|1945]) placed Allied troops on the European mainland for the first time, but it was never intended as a substitute for an attack aimed at Germany by way of the more open and more remunerative route through northern France. The invasion of Italy had a number of lesser objectives: to capitalize on the collapse of Italian resistance; to make immediate use of ready Allied strength; to engage German forces which might otherwise be used in Russia and northern France; to secure airfields from which to intensify the bombing of Germany and the Balkans; and to gain complete control of the Mediterranean. On September 3, 1943 elements of the British Eighth Army landed on the toe of the Italian boot. Six days later, on September 9, the U.S. Fifth Army, under Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark landed on beaches along the Gulf of Salerno, and a British fleet placed a division of troops at Taranto in the arch of the boot. Heavy fighting quickly developed at Salerno, where German armored counterattacks jeopardized the entire Allied position. It was six days before the Americans were able to surmount the crisis and secure the beachhead. On September 16, the British Eighth and the U.S. Fifth Armies united their fronts southeast of Salerno. On October 7, the British took Naples with its fine port. Meanwhile the British had captured the airfields of Foggia near the Adriatic coast on September 27, and by mid-October had moved north to a line extending from Larino west to Campobasso, where they were abreast of the Americans on their left. The Allies were in Italy to stay. Under strategic priorities decided upon by the CCS (Quebec Conference, August 1943) the forces now in the Mediterranean were not to be strengthened further; in fact, seven of the best Allied divisions (four [|U.S.] and three [|British]) were withdrawn to the United Kingdom for the cross-Channel operation. Shipping limitations, in any case, forbade any large-scale reinforcement of the Mediterranean except at the expense of the buildup of American forces in the United Kingdom. By October 1943 the U.S. Fifth and British Eighth Armies together had only 11 divisions, but this force was able to tie down some 20-odd German divisions throughout the long campaign. The mountainous terrain and the restrictions on maneuver imposed by the narrowness of the peninsula favored the German defenders, but the Allied force continued to press northward until the end of the war. Having paused a few days after taking Naples and Foggia, the Allied force in Italy renewed its offensive late in October 1943. This drive broke a strong German position at the Volturno River and carried the Allies as far as the so-called Winter Line (or Gustav Line), anchored on Cassino, which the Germans had been preparing about 75 miles south of Rome. Here the Allies were brought to a halt for the remainder of the winter. In December 1943 the Allied line was reinforced by a [|French] corps equipped with American arms. With this added strength at his disposal, General Clark used the U.S. VI Corps, with [|British] and [|American] troops, in an attempt to envelop the western flank of the German line, while he simultaneously tried to break through the Gustav Line. The VI Corps made an amphibious landing at Anzio, behind the German line about 30 miles south of Rome, on January 22, [|1944]. The landing was initially successful and additional forces came in while the landing force pushed inland against growing enemy resistance. After the first week, the Germans reacted with a strong counterattack that reached a peak of intensity on February 17 and threatened to wipe out the beachhead. But the VI Corps' magnificent defense of the perimeter, supported by artillery, tanks, planes, and naval gunfire, brought the last of the major counterattacks to a halt on 2 March. While the Anzio maneuver failed either to turn the German defenses in the south around Cassino or to open a breakthrough north to Rome, the Anzio beachhead remained a thorn in the German side, engaging its tactical reserves. In May 1944 the Allied forces made a carefully planned assault on the Winter Line, synchronizing their thrusts with an attack from the Anzio beachhead. The drive carried all the way to Rome, which fell to the Allies on 4 June 1944, two days before [|the cross-channel attack]. The Germans made their next stand along the so-called Gothic Line in the north Apennine Mountains. The Allied force, although reduced in strength by the necessity to relinquish some divisions for use in France, initiated a drive in September that broke the Gothic Line after a three-month campaign. In the spring of 1945 the Allies pushed across the Po Valley and, when German resistance began to crumble, made spectacular advances which ended with the surrender of the German forces in Italy on 2 May 1945. The Italian campaign involved some of the hardest fighting in the war and cost the United States forces some 114,000 casualties. But the campaign played an important part in determining the eventual outcome of the war, since the Allies, with a minimum of strength, engaged German forces that could possibly have upset the balance in [|France].

[]

//Mussolini was the founder of Fascism and leader of Italy from 1922 to 1943. He allied Italy with Nazi Germany and Japan in World War Two.// Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born on 29 July 1883 in Predappio in northern central Italy. His father was a blacksmith. Employment prospects in the area were poor so in 1902 Mussolini moved to Switzerland, where he became involved in socialist politics. He returned to Italy in 1904, and worked as a journalist in the socialist press, but his support for Italy's entry into World War One led to his break with socialism. He was drafted into the Italian army in September 1915. In March 1919, Mussolini formed the Fascist Party, galvanising the support of many unemployed war veterans. He organised them into armed squads known as Black Shirts, who terrorised their political opponents. In 1921, the Fascist Party was invited to join the coalition government. By October 1922, Italy seemed to be slipping into political chaos. The Black Shirts marched on Rome and Mussolini presented himself as the only man capable of restoring order. King Victor Emmanuel invited Mussolini to form a government. Mussolini gradually dismantled the institutions of democratic government and in 1925 made himself dictator, taking the title 'Il Duce'. He set about attempting to re-establish Italy as a great European power. The regime was held together by strong state control and Mussolini's cult of personality. In 1935, Mussolini invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) and incorporated it into his new Italian Empire. He provided military support to Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Increasing co-operation with Nazi Germany culminated in the 1939 Pact of Steel. Influenced by Hitler, Mussolini began to introduce anti-Jewish legislation in Italy. His declaration of war on Britain and France in June 1940 exposed Italian military weakness and was followed by a series of defeats in North and East Africa and the Balkans. In July 1943, Allied troops landed in Sicily. Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned by his former colleagues in the Fascist government. In September, Italy signed an armistice with the Allies. The German army began the occupation of Italy and Mussolini was rescued by German commandos. He was installed as the leader of a new government, but had little power. As the Allies advanced northwards through Italy, Mussolini fled towards Switzerland. He was captured by Italian partisans and shot on 28 April 1945. []