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Benito Mussolini
Person page: Benito Mussolini →
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(53)
1921
November
09
The founding of the National Fascist Party
On 9 November 1921 a congress at Rome's Teatro Augusteo turned the Fasci di combattimento into the National Fascist Party, with Mussolini as its leader.
1922
October
29
Key event
Mussolini becomes prime minister
On 29 October 1922, after the March on Rome and his own refusal to declare a state of siege, King Victor Emmanuel III summoned Mussolini to form a government.
1923
August
31
The Corfu incident
On 31 August 1923 the Italian fleet shelled Corfu and landed troops. Mussolini avenged the killing of General Tellini and defied the League of Nations.
September
27
The end of the Corfu incident
On 27 September 1923 the Italians left Corfu. A day earlier the Conference of Ambassadors awarded them 50 million lire from Greece, its guilt unproven.
1924
March
16
Italy annexes Fiume
On 16 March 1924 King Victor Emmanuel III formally proclaimed Fiume's union with Italy in the city. Mussolini had forced Yugoslavia to partition the Free State.
April
06
The Italian general election of 1924
On 6 April 1924 Mussolini's list won about 65% of the vote and 374 of 535 seats. The election under the Acerbo Law was marred by violence and fraud.
June
10
The murder of Giacomo Matteotti
On 10 June 1924 a Fascist squad abducted and killed the Socialist Giacomo Matteotti in Rome. Mussolini ended the ensuing crisis by setting up a dictatorship.
1928
August
02
The Italo-Ethiopian treaty
On 2 August 1928 Italy and Ethiopia signed a 20-year treaty of friendship and arbitration in Addis Ababa. Seven years later Mussolini invaded Ethiopia.
1929
February
11
The Lateran Treaty
On 11 February 1929 Mussolini and Cardinal Gasparri signed the Lateran Treaty, ending Italy's quarrel with the papacy and creating the Vatican City State.
1933
September
02
The Italo-Soviet pact of friendship
On 2 September 1933 Fascist Italy and the USSR concluded a pact of friendship, non-aggression and neutrality in Rome. Both feared Hitler’s Germany.
1934
July
25
The July Putsch in Austria
On 25 July 1934 Austrian SS men stormed the Chancellery in Vienna and shot Dollfuss. The putsch failed, and Mussolini sent troops to the Brenner.
1935
October
03
Key event
Italy attacks Ethiopia
On 3 October 1935 Mussolini's troops crossed into Ethiopia without a declaration of war. The League of Nations imposed sanctions but left out oil.
1936
December
23
Italian troops land at Cádiz
On 23 December 1936 about 3,000 Italian Blackshirts came ashore at Cádiz, the first wave of a corps soon named the Corpo Truppe Volontarie.
1937
November
06
Italy joins the Anti-Comintern Pact
On 6 November 1937 in Rome, Ciano, Ribbentrop and Japan's ambassador signed Italy's accession to the pact, creating the Berlin–Rome–Tokyo triangle.
December
11
Italy leaves the League of Nations
On 11 December 1937 the Fascist Grand Council decided Italy would leave the League of Nations; Mussolini announced it from a balcony. The cause was Ethiopia.
1939
March
25
The Italian ultimatum to Albania
On 25 March 1939 Rome sent Tirana a draft treaty that would strip Albania of its independence. King Zog I played for time while Mussolini prepared a landing.
April
07
Italy invades Albania
On Good Friday, 7 April 1939, Italian troops landed in four Albanian ports. Zog I fled to Greece and the crown was given to Victor Emmanuel III.
14
Roosevelt's appeal to Hitler and Mussolini
On 14 April 1939 Roosevelt asked Hitler and Mussolini to pledge not to attack 31 named states. Hitler ridiculed the appeal in the Reichstag.
May
22
The Pact of Steel
On 22 May 1939 in Berlin Ciano and Ribbentrop signed the alliance of Italy and Germany. Even its public text bound each to armed assistance in any war.
September
01
Italy and the neutral states
On 1 September 1939 Italy announced it would not take up arms. The Nordic states, Estonia, Latvia and Portugal, England’s ally, also declared neutrality.
02
Mobilisation in France
On 2 September 1939 general mobilisation began in France and parliament voted war credits without debate. Foreign Minister Bonnet still sought peace via Rome.
1940
March
18
Hitler and Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass
On 18 March 1940 Hitler and Mussolini met in a train at the Brenner Pass. The Duce pledged that Italy would enter the war, but at a moment of his choosing.
June
10
Key event
Italy declares war on France and Britain
On 10 June 1940 Mussolini declared war on France and Britain as the French army was already collapsing. Roosevelt called it a stab in the back.
24
The Franco-Italian armistice
On 24 June 1940 Huntziger and Badoglio signed the Franco-Italian armistice near Rome. Italy, halted in the Alps, got only Menton and scraps of border land.
28
The death of Italo Balbo
On 28 June 1940 Italian anti-aircraft guns over Tobruk mistakenly shot down the aircraft of Marshal Italo Balbo, Governor of Libya. Nine people were killed.
July
01
Graziani takes command in Libya
On 1 July 1940 Marshal Rodolfo Graziani arrived in Tripoli as Balbo's successor. Mussolini demanded a swift attack on Egypt; Graziani held back.
August
15
The sinking of the cruiser Elli
On 15 August 1940 the Italian submarine Delfino sank the Greek cruiser Elli off Tinos. Athens knew the culprit but spoke of an “unknown” submarine.
September
10
The Corpo Aereo Italiano
On 10 September 1940 Italy formed the Corpo Aereo Italiano to fight Britain alongside the Luftwaffe. Mussolini sought prestige; the results were negligible.
13
The Italians invade Egypt
On 13 September 1940 the Italian 10th Army crossed into Egypt and took Sollum. The thin British screen fell back east, harrying it with fire and air raids.
October
04
The Brenner Pass meeting (October 1940)
On 4 October 1940 Hitler and Mussolini met again at the Brenner. They discussed Spain, France and a bloc against Britain, but not troops for Romania.
15
Mussolini decides to attack Greece
On 15 October 1940 at the Palazzo Venezia Mussolini agreed a plan to invade Greece with his commanders, setting 26 October as the date despite their fears.
24
The Corpo Aereo Italiano over England
On the night of 24–25 October 1940 Italian bombers attacked England for the first time. The raid on Harwich achieved nothing and cost several aircraft.
28
Key event
Italy attacks Greece
At 3 a.m. on 28 October 1940 Metaxas rejected the Italian ultimatum. At dawn Mussolini’s troops advanced from Albania into Greece.
November
08
The Battle of the Kalamas
From 2 to 8 November 1940 the Italians assaulted the Greek positions at Kalpaki and on the Kalamas. On 8 November they halted and went over to the defensive.
22
The Greeks take Korçë
On 22 November 1940 the Greek 9th Division entered Korçë in Albania – the first sizeable town taken from the Axis powers since the war began.
December
28
Italy asks Germany for help
By late December 1940 the Greeks held about a quarter of Albania, and the Italians, beaten in Egypt too, pressed Germany ever harder for military help.
1941
January
19
Hitler and Mussolini meet at the Berghof
In January 1941 Mussolini, beaten in Libya and Albania, met Hitler at the Berghof. He was promised troops for Libya but told nothing of plans against the USSR.
February
14
Key event
Rommel in Tripoli
Hitler sent General Erwin Rommel to Libya. He flew into Tripoli on 12 February 1941, and on 14 February the first combat units of the Afrika Korps landed there.
March
09
The Italian spring offensive in Albania
On 9 March 1941, with Mussolini watching, the Italians attacked the Greeks in Albania to retake Klisura. After two weeks and 12,000 casualties it collapsed.
July
10
The Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia
On 10 July 1941 Italy formed its Expeditionary Corps in Russia (CSIR), some 62,000 men in three divisions. The first transports set off east.
13
The uprising in Montenegro
On 13 July 1941, the day after Italy proclaimed a puppet Kingdom of Montenegro, an uprising broke out there. Within days it had engulfed most of the country.
1942
April
29
The Hitler–Mussolini meeting at Salzburg
On 29–30 April 1942 Hitler received Mussolini at Klessheim Palace near Salzburg. They discussed the Caucasus offensive, Malta and Italian troops for Russia.
September
23
Rommel leaves Africa
On 23 September 1942 a sick Field Marshal Rommel flew out of Africa for treatment. General Georg Stumme took over Panzer Army Africa at El Alamein.
October
22
The raid on Genoa
On the night of 22–23 October 1942, 112 RAF Lancasters bombed central Genoa, opening an autumn bombing offensive against the cities of northern Italy.
December
04
The first American raid on Naples
On 4 December 1942 twenty Liberators from Egypt bombed the port of Naples and sank a cruiser. It was the first US raid on mainland Italy.
1943
January
23
The capture of Tripoli
On 23 January 1943 British patrols entered Tripoli. The Eighth Army took the capital of Italian Libya exactly three months after El Alamein began.
April
07
The Hitler–Mussolini meeting at Klessheim
On 7–10 April 1943 Hitler hosted a sick and dispirited Mussolini at Klessheim Palace near Salzburg. The Duce failed to press through a peace with the USSR.
May
22
The raids on Sicily and Sardinia
After victory in Tunisia, Allied aircraft bombed the airfields and ports of Sicily, Sardinia and Pantelleria; at the end of May B-17s struck the Naples area.
July
25
Key event
The fall of Mussolini
On 25 July 1943, after a vote in the Grand Council of Fascism, King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini, had him arrested and handed power to Badoglio.
September
12
The rescue of Mussolini
On 12 September 1943 German paratroopers freed Mussolini from a hotel on the Gran Sasso. Skorzeny took the glory; Hitler made Mussolini head of the Salò state.
November
16
The attacks in Milan
In mid-November 1943 attacks by communist GAP groups on Germans and Salò Fascists mounted in Milan and other cities of northern Italy.
1944
January
11
The execution of Ciano
On 11 January 1944 Galeazzo Ciano, De Bono and three other Fascist leaders, sentenced by a Salò court for voting against Mussolini, were shot in Verona.
1945
April
28
The death of Mussolini
On 27 April 1945 partisans captured Mussolini at Dongo; on 28 April they shot him with Clara Petacci, and on 29 April the bodies were put on display in Milan.