"Happy Days" was a very popular TV show in the 1970s and 80s in which one of the main characters, Fonzi, was so charismatic and charming that everyone followed him blindly. Young girls thought he was the greatest gift to women. In Fonzi's world, he, and only he, could make a coke machine give you a bottle free by just tapping on it, his magic touch. Such were the miracles that Fonzi could perform. In actuality, Fonzi was just a neighborhood hoodlum who could get all his friends to follow him off the cliff just by the power of his personality.
In Fascist Voices: An Intimate History of Mussolini's Italy, by Christopher Duggan, the fascist era of dictator Benito Mussolini, comes alive. The Fascists that emerged after WWI Italy were basically groups of organized thugs, squadrismo, who meted out justice to anyone who did not agree with them, including murder, beatings and the ruining of a person's business. The Fascists of the early period ruled their own territory by intimidation and murder. Each city had a Fascist boss, referred to as a ras, a word borrowed from Ethiopian tribal leaders. Each city's ras was judge, jury and executioner. The Italian police force was basically neutralized. The Fascists had managed to hijack the entire country, much as the terror group ISIS has done in Syria and Iraq today.
Mussolini wrestled the leadership of Fascist Italy by the sheer force of his personality, cult image and guile; he was the "Fonzi" of his day. He ruled the same way as the city ras did, eliminating opposition by murder as needed and intimidation. Mussolini saw himself as the ultimate in manliness; a gift to women. When he spoke he took on a stance that emanated strength, manliness and arrogance. Women, in turn, saw him the same way and were attracted to him. Mussolini envisioned a new Roman Empire. He always wore his military uniform and projected a masterful command of his audience. Click here for some pictures. Many Italians looked on him as having godly powers.
By 1926, many Italians had fallen for Mussolini too, regarding him as a savior with unusual powers that would bring Italy honor and prestige. A schizophrenic adulation of the man followed. Mussolini, could see that he could have his way with the entire country. He saw himself as the new Roman Emperor, a new Caesar, who would restore Rome to its former glory. Toward this goal, he embarked on many disastrous military adventures, Ethiopia, in those days the Italians called it Abyssinia, the Spanish Civil War, and finally the coup de grâce, World War II.
By the time he invaded Ethiopia in 1935, he had managed to cripple the Italian economy which was in ruin by his actions as well as the world wide depression. During his rein the Italian armed forces were fighting wars in Libya, Ethiopia and Spain. These disastrous adventures were then followed by World War II where his forces suffered disastrous defeats, such as in North Africa, Greece, the Balkans and Russia. These defeats were not at all the fault of the armed forces, for they were not only stretched to the breaking point but did not have the equipment, the training nor the capabilities to wage the wars that they were forced to wage. Very little planning was done for these military adventures. In many cases, the military leaders were not told of their coming wars until they were declared. This proved to be a calamity of monumental proportions.
Dictators such as Mussolini and Hitler share a common character: Both were extremely delusional. Both suffered from some form of mental dysfunction. Both thought they were invincible. Both were detached from reality. Both fought wars they could not possibly win. In the process they condemned an entire nation to death and destruction unparalleled in human history. All because a madman had taken control of their nation. The world still has such dictators who are responsible for the annihilation of their people: Syria, North Korea, Iraq of Saddam Hussein, and many African countries such as Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Somalia, just to name a few.
Suggested readings:
Fascist Voice, An Intimate History of Mussolini's Italy by Christopher Duggan, 2013, Oxford University Press.
Duce, by Richard Collier, 1971, Viking Press.
Mussolini by Denis Mack Smith, 1982, Alfred A. Knopf.
The Ciano Diaries, Edited by Hugh Gibson, 1945, 1946, Doubleday & Co.
