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Benito
Mussolini |
1883
- 1945 |
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Fascist
Dictator of Italy since 1924. Entered Italy into
the war in 1940 even though his military power
was not sufficient at the time. His armies met
with humiliating defeats in North Africa and Greece.
The African conflict against the British Army
resulted in the loss of a large part of his total
army. Mussolini then became the subservient partner
in the Rome-Berlin Axis. Following the Allied
invasion of Sicily, Mussolini was deposed by the
Fascist Grand Council in July 1943 and imprisoned.
Two months later he was freed from prison by a
German commando raid and installed as the head
of a puppet government in Northern Italy. As this
part of Italy began to fall to the Allies in April
1945, he was captured by partisans and executed.
Despite being a partner to Hitler in the Axis,
Mussolini never stooped to the evil ways of the
Nazis, for example, whilst he was dictator of
Italy he never allowed the deportation of Jews
to Hitler's extermination camps. |
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Field
Marshal Pietro Badoglio |
1871
- 1956 |
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Chief
of Staff of the Italian Army from the beginning
of the war until December 1940, when he resigned
after the failure to conquer Greece. Subsequently
he plotted against Mussolini and after the dictator's
downfall in July 1943, became the first Prime
Minister of the new non-Fascist government. |
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Count
Galeazzo Ciano |
1903
- 1944 |
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Italian
Foreign Minister and son-in-law of Mussolini.
Ciano had been Foreign Minister since 1936 but
during the war he lost respect for Mussolini and
resigned from his post in February 1943. Ciano,
however, remained a member of the Fascist Grand
Council and voted to remove Mussolini in July
1943. In August of the same year he was tricked
into being captured by the Germans and executed
with the approval of his father-in-law. |
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Marshal
Ugo Cavallero |
1880
- 1943 |
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Cavallero
succeeded Badoglio as Chief of Staff of the Italian
Army in December 1940. Considered to have been
pro-German, Cavallero attempted to modernize the
Army along the lines of the German Army. However,
he was dismissed after the fall of Tripoli in
January 1943. |
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General
Vittorio Ambrosio |
1879
- 1950 |
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Ambrosio
became Chief of Staff to Mussolini in January
1943 following the dismissal of Cavallero. He
attempted to persuade Mussolini to sign an armistice
with the Allies and subsequently assisted in the
overthrow of the dictator and negotiations with
the Allies. Cavallero, however was not trusted
by the Allies and was not appointed as Chief of
Staff in the new non-Fascist government. |
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British
| Soviets
| Germans
| Japanese
| USA |
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