1
00:00:01,051 --> 00:00:03,302
(bombs exploding)
(plane whirring)

2
00:00:03,302 --> 00:00:05,909
(tense music)

3
00:00:08,828 --> 00:00:11,781
(people cheering)

4
00:00:14,168 --> 00:00:16,201
- [Narrator] Long considered a buffoon,

5
00:00:17,545 --> 00:00:21,834
a bumbling brute, an insignificant tyrant.

6
00:00:21,834 --> 00:00:24,701
(water babbling)

7
00:00:27,226 --> 00:00:30,701
(train wheels clanking)

8
00:00:33,465 --> 00:00:36,749
Very much overshadowed by Adolf Hitler,

9
00:00:36,749 --> 00:00:40,033
the man who dragged
Italy into World War II

10
00:00:40,033 --> 00:00:42,788
is one of history's most famous dictators.

11
00:00:46,914 --> 00:00:51,448
One of the most derided
as well, Mussolini.

12
00:00:51,448 --> 00:00:54,545
(people jeering)

13
00:00:54,545 --> 00:00:59,758
On April 29th, 1945, the
day before Hitler's suicide,

14
00:00:59,831 --> 00:01:03,305
his body was displayed in
public in a Milan square.

15
00:01:08,494 --> 00:01:12,122
He, his mistress, and
other leading fascists

16
00:01:12,122 --> 00:01:14,909
had been executed by Italian partisans.

17
00:01:18,002 --> 00:01:19,503
His corpse was mutilated,

18
00:01:19,503 --> 00:01:21,977
and strung up by its feet for all to see.

19
00:01:26,791 --> 00:01:30,731
And yet, several months
earlier, in this very spot,

20
00:01:30,731 --> 00:01:33,643
Mussolini had been
worshiped as a living god.

21
00:01:34,593 --> 00:01:37,460
(crowd cheering)

22
00:01:42,053 --> 00:01:44,433
They called him Il Duce, The Leader.

23
00:01:46,213 --> 00:01:50,936
100 years ago in 1922,
he seized power in Italy

24
00:01:50,936 --> 00:01:54,192
through violence and deception
and invented fascism.

25
00:01:55,161 --> 00:01:58,974
(crowd cheering)

26
00:01:58,974 --> 00:02:00,381
For more than 20 years,

27
00:02:00,381 --> 00:02:03,136
he imposed totalitarianism on his people,

28
00:02:04,885 --> 00:02:09,133
a strategy admired by
dictators around the world.

29
00:02:09,133 --> 00:02:13,048
(footsteps thudding)

30
00:02:13,048 --> 00:02:14,487
- [Interpreter 1] He was a genius.

31
00:02:14,487 --> 00:02:18,292
I still make the Roman Salute.
- Definitely.

32
00:02:18,292 --> 00:02:21,242
(tense music)
(crowd chanting)

33
00:02:21,242 --> 00:02:23,338
- [Interpreter ] It wasn't
like this, but like this,

34
00:02:23,338 --> 00:02:24,373
the Roman Salute.

35
00:02:26,778 --> 00:02:28,060
- [Interpreter 3] Those years were years

36
00:02:28,060 --> 00:02:30,189
of pain and suffering.

37
00:02:30,189 --> 00:02:32,421
(soldiers marching)
(soldiers chanting)

38
00:02:32,421 --> 00:02:33,909
(Piero speaking Italian)

39
00:02:33,909 --> 00:02:35,097
- [Interpreter 1] I'm always struck

40
00:02:35,097 --> 00:02:38,569
by how these charismatic figures managed

41
00:02:38,569 --> 00:02:42,497
to bewitch so many people.

42
00:02:42,497 --> 00:02:45,364
(crowd cheering)

43
00:02:47,264 --> 00:02:48,546
- [Narrator] This is the story

44
00:02:48,546 --> 00:02:51,549
of a power hungry megalomaniac

45
00:02:51,549 --> 00:02:54,551
who wanted to change the soul of Italy

46
00:02:54,551 --> 00:02:56,990
and led his people to disaster.

47
00:02:56,990 --> 00:03:00,204
(film reel rattling)

48
00:03:04,312 --> 00:03:06,797
(birds chirping)

49
00:03:06,797 --> 00:03:10,272
(tense dramatic music)

50
00:03:13,634 --> 00:03:16,501
(water babbling)

51
00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:26,484
(people chattering)

52
00:03:26,484 --> 00:03:31,697
This tragic story begins in
the 1920s in beautiful Italy,

53
00:03:31,738 --> 00:03:36,678
the land of Michelangelo,
Dante, and Verde.

54
00:03:36,678 --> 00:03:39,545
(waves crashing)

55
00:03:43,811 --> 00:03:47,454
A glorious past, a nation in crisis.

56
00:03:47,454 --> 00:03:49,691
(tense dramatic music)
(brakes screeching)

57
00:03:49,691 --> 00:03:51,880
The average income was three times lower

58
00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,455
than in France and Great Britain.

59
00:03:54,455 --> 00:03:56,572
(horse trotting)

60
00:03:56,572 --> 00:04:00,766
To escape poverty, millions of
Italians chose to immigrate.

61
00:04:02,389 --> 00:04:05,829
(car engine roaring)
(crowd chattering)

62
00:04:05,829 --> 00:04:09,773
Score settling, assassinations, riots.

63
00:04:13,461 --> 00:04:14,806
Since Italy's victory

64
00:04:14,806 --> 00:04:18,531
alongside France and
Great Britain in 1918,

65
00:04:19,528 --> 00:04:21,783
civil war had undermined democracy.

66
00:04:23,500 --> 00:04:27,160
Farmers everywhere
grabbed uncultivated land.

67
00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:30,541
Workers started strikes and
lashed out at their bosses.

68
00:04:32,128 --> 00:04:34,197
(crowd chattering)

69
00:04:34,197 --> 00:04:37,731
During the Great War, they had
been promised social reforms,

70
00:04:37,731 --> 00:04:40,140
which never materialized.

71
00:04:40,140 --> 00:04:42,547
(crowd chattering)

72
00:04:42,547 --> 00:04:45,300
In Italy, trade unions and leftist parties

73
00:04:45,300 --> 00:04:48,011
united against the bourgeoisie.

74
00:04:48,011 --> 00:04:50,792
(crowd jeering)

75
00:04:53,338 --> 00:04:58,092
Facing them, this dapper
man, Benito Mussolini,

76
00:04:58,092 --> 00:04:59,971
the striker's arch enemy.

77
00:05:02,001 --> 00:05:04,381
The man who wanted to transform Italy.

78
00:05:08,757 --> 00:05:10,321
The teacher turned journalist

79
00:05:10,321 --> 00:05:15,109
had recently created a movement, Fascism,

80
00:05:16,826 --> 00:05:20,676
in this Milanese piazza lent
to him by local industrialists.

81
00:05:22,768 --> 00:05:27,885
Fascism for fascists, a symbol
of power in ancient Rome.

82
00:05:27,885 --> 00:05:30,926
(crowd chattering)

83
00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:36,001
He adopted the Roman salute and
made his men wear a uniform.

84
00:05:36,999 --> 00:05:40,943
The black shirt, sometimes
with a skull on their helmets.

85
00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,131
(crowd chattering)

86
00:05:45,131 --> 00:05:49,259
Their weapons, these
clubs, were manganello

87
00:05:49,259 --> 00:05:51,327
that were used to terrorize the left.

88
00:05:54,138 --> 00:05:57,923
Their motto, mene frego,

89
00:05:57,923 --> 00:05:59,083
I don't give a damn.

90
00:06:02,458 --> 00:06:06,711
Mussolini had 300,000 men
and the streets were theirs.

91
00:06:06,711 --> 00:06:08,275
Replacing the strikers,

92
00:06:08,275 --> 00:06:11,124
they drove the trams and
kept the streets clean.

93
00:06:14,027 --> 00:06:16,814
(crowd chattering)

94
00:06:16,814 --> 00:06:21,039
Most were war veterans,
advocates of extreme violence.

95
00:06:23,350 --> 00:06:25,540
They dreamt of revolution,

96
00:06:25,540 --> 00:06:29,074
a revolution of the right
to put the country in order

97
00:06:29,074 --> 00:06:31,741
and make Italy a world power.

98
00:06:31,741 --> 00:06:34,782
(crowd chattering)

99
00:06:35,954 --> 00:06:38,519
All over the country
they terrorized the Reds

100
00:06:38,519 --> 00:06:41,478
during brutal, punitive expeditions.

101
00:06:41,478 --> 00:06:45,219
(people yelling)
(objects thudding)

102
00:06:45,219 --> 00:06:48,684
"I ask for one ferocious
man with the energy to break

103
00:06:48,684 --> 00:06:52,929
and attack without hesitating,"
declared Mussolini.

104
00:06:52,929 --> 00:06:55,158
(wood clanking)

105
00:06:55,158 --> 00:06:57,128
He was convinced he could achieve power

106
00:06:57,128 --> 00:06:59,447
by crushing the Marxists.

107
00:06:59,447 --> 00:07:01,601
(crowd chattering)

108
00:07:01,601 --> 00:07:06,261
His ambition was to rule Italy alone,

109
00:07:06,261 --> 00:07:07,859
no matter what the cost.

110
00:07:08,769 --> 00:07:10,327
(Piero speaking Italian)

111
00:07:10,327 --> 00:07:12,579
- [Interpreter 1] He was hugely ambitious.

112
00:07:12,579 --> 00:07:15,146
He was capable of crushing
absolutely anyone.

113
00:07:17,176 --> 00:07:20,022
- [Interpreter 2] He
was an aggressive man.

114
00:07:20,022 --> 00:07:23,122
The aim of fascism is that
violence solves everything.

115
00:07:23,994 --> 00:07:25,839
That was the idea.

116
00:07:25,839 --> 00:07:27,654
(tense music)

117
00:07:27,654 --> 00:07:29,280
- [Narrator] Teresa Vergali,

118
00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,317
her family was persecuted
by the first fascists.

119
00:07:34,134 --> 00:07:36,411
(Teresa speaking Italian)

120
00:07:36,411 --> 00:07:38,632
- [Interpreter 3] My father
told me they lured him out

121
00:07:38,632 --> 00:07:42,538
of the cooperatives bar by
saying to him, "We need a word."

122
00:07:45,856 --> 00:07:47,452
There were three of them.

123
00:07:47,452 --> 00:07:51,424
Two men held him down,
and the third beat him up.

124
00:07:51,424 --> 00:07:53,397
They left him lying there.

125
00:07:55,583 --> 00:07:57,241
- [Narrator] Mussolini used castor oil

126
00:07:57,241 --> 00:07:59,587
as an instrument of torture,

127
00:07:59,587 --> 00:08:01,904
forcing it down his enemy's throats.

128
00:08:02,928 --> 00:08:06,405
(Teresa speaking Italian)

129
00:08:06,405 --> 00:08:08,438
- [Interpreter 3] After
swallowing castor oil,

130
00:08:08,438 --> 00:08:10,974
the poor victim couldn't
control his bowels.

131
00:08:12,754 --> 00:08:14,693
He would soil himself

132
00:08:14,693 --> 00:08:17,167
and have to walk across
the village square,

133
00:08:18,978 --> 00:08:20,357
and everyone would stare.

134
00:08:22,731 --> 00:08:24,920
Not everyone could stand it in fact.

135
00:08:27,059 --> 00:08:30,425
(crowd cheering)
(slow relaxing music)

136
00:08:30,425 --> 00:08:32,583
- [Narrator] The left Mussolini persecuted

137
00:08:32,583 --> 00:08:34,181
were no strangers to him.

138
00:08:35,398 --> 00:08:37,997
Before the Great War he
had been one of them.

139
00:08:39,389 --> 00:08:42,748
(birds chirping)

140
00:08:42,748 --> 00:08:44,343
He was born in this valley

141
00:08:44,343 --> 00:08:47,345
in the village of Predappio in Romagna,

142
00:08:47,345 --> 00:08:50,601
a socialist stronghold
two hours from Venice.

143
00:08:53,851 --> 00:08:56,290
He described his childhood as tough

144
00:08:56,290 --> 00:08:58,730
with his pious school teacher mother,

145
00:08:58,730 --> 00:09:01,232
and his anarchist blacksmith father,

146
00:09:01,232 --> 00:09:03,424
considered dangerous by the police.

147
00:09:04,371 --> 00:09:06,517
(clock ticking)

148
00:09:06,517 --> 00:09:09,895
Like his father, Benito
Mussolini spent several spells

149
00:09:09,895 --> 00:09:13,211
in prison for revolutionary agitation,

150
00:09:13,211 --> 00:09:16,870
including in 1911 when
Italy invaded Libya,

151
00:09:16,870 --> 00:09:19,782
and committed atrocities
against its people.

152
00:09:22,030 --> 00:09:23,844
An anti-colonialist,

153
00:09:23,844 --> 00:09:26,190
Mussolini led a riot to block the movement

154
00:09:26,190 --> 00:09:27,507
of troops to Libya.

155
00:09:29,778 --> 00:09:31,695
(slow dramatic music)

156
00:09:31,695 --> 00:09:34,916
His enemies at the time
were those of his father,

157
00:09:34,916 --> 00:09:38,985
the army, the bourgeoisie, and the church,

158
00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:43,708
all those who would later support him.

159
00:09:45,018 --> 00:09:48,615
A strange character, he read a lot,

160
00:09:48,615 --> 00:09:51,148
and played the violin
alone in the countryside

161
00:09:51,148 --> 00:09:53,275
for hours on end,

162
00:09:53,275 --> 00:09:56,406
an odd mixture of
strength and sensitivity.

163
00:09:57,685 --> 00:10:01,207
But he was unable to control his violence.

164
00:10:01,207 --> 00:10:04,074
(birds chirping)

165
00:10:05,035 --> 00:10:07,631
As a teenager, he raped
one of his neighbors,

166
00:10:07,631 --> 00:10:09,604
and later wrote about it in a book.

167
00:10:10,981 --> 00:10:13,354
(church bells ringing)

168
00:10:13,354 --> 00:10:16,516
Then he married a local
girl, Rachele Guidi.

169
00:10:18,390 --> 00:10:22,581
He proposed to her gun in hand,
and threatened to kill her,

170
00:10:22,581 --> 00:10:25,899
her parents, and himself
if he was turned down.

171
00:10:29,962 --> 00:10:35,175
Dramatic and impulsive, he was
wounded at the front in 1917,

172
00:10:35,248 --> 00:10:38,722
and the hell of the trenches
was a life changing experience.

173
00:10:41,378 --> 00:10:43,911
For him, Italy's sacrifices

174
00:10:43,911 --> 00:10:47,758
had not been sufficiently
rewarded by the Allies.

175
00:10:47,758 --> 00:10:52,971
600,000 dead, 1 million wounded,
and a mutilated victory,

176
00:10:53,544 --> 00:10:55,705
according to the expression of the time.

177
00:10:57,454 --> 00:11:00,928
Now a nationalist, he was
an advocate of violence.

178
00:11:01,864 --> 00:11:05,213
The fascists saw war as
the great test of nations.

179
00:11:07,931 --> 00:11:09,902
This is his desk.

180
00:11:09,902 --> 00:11:13,060
He ran the newspaper "Il Popolo d'Italia,"

181
00:11:13,060 --> 00:11:14,655
which he founded in Milan

182
00:11:14,655 --> 00:11:16,910
with the help of a
group of industrialists.

183
00:11:18,463 --> 00:11:21,130
(printing press whirring)

184
00:11:21,130 --> 00:11:24,695
Three years after the
Russian Revolution of 1917,

185
00:11:24,695 --> 00:11:27,354
Italy's business community now saw him

186
00:11:27,354 --> 00:11:30,293
as a bulwark against communism.

187
00:11:30,293 --> 00:11:32,639
In return Mussolini lent them his men

188
00:11:32,639 --> 00:11:35,332
to break strikes and
protect their property.

189
00:11:36,487 --> 00:11:39,927
(printing press whirring)

190
00:11:39,927 --> 00:11:42,929
Marta Badoni's father was an industrialist

191
00:11:42,929 --> 00:11:45,309
and member of the Italian Fascist Party.

192
00:11:46,873 --> 00:11:49,059
(Marta speaking Italian)

193
00:11:49,059 --> 00:11:51,926
- [Interpreter 4] This is my
father with his funny hat.

194
00:11:53,907 --> 00:11:56,909
We lived through
violence, that's for sure.

195
00:11:56,909 --> 00:11:59,884
He was kicked out of his
factory by the workers.

196
00:12:01,414 --> 00:12:04,979
We were extremely
frightened of the Russians.

197
00:12:04,979 --> 00:12:06,334
That was Italy (chuckles).

198
00:12:07,481 --> 00:12:10,267
We were afraid the Russians
would eat our children.

199
00:12:11,703 --> 00:12:14,393
- [Interpreter 1] I think
my father saw Mussolini

200
00:12:14,393 --> 00:12:17,604
as the man capable of restoring order

201
00:12:17,604 --> 00:12:20,058
in the chaos that was Italy.

202
00:12:20,058 --> 00:12:22,241
(Piero speaking Italian)

203
00:12:22,241 --> 00:12:24,847
(tense music)

204
00:12:27,060 --> 00:12:31,453
- [Narrator] In 1922, Italy
was ready to embrace fascism,

205
00:12:31,453 --> 00:12:33,940
(crowd cheering)
(horses trotting)

206
00:12:33,940 --> 00:12:36,946
and the parliamentary monarchy
did not stand in the way.

207
00:12:38,381 --> 00:12:40,636
In Rome, King Victor Emmanuel III,

208
00:12:41,603 --> 00:12:46,294
nicknamed Pipetto by the Italians
due to his small stature,

209
00:12:46,294 --> 00:12:48,267
feared for his crown.

210
00:12:48,267 --> 00:12:51,048
(people chattering)

211
00:12:51,048 --> 00:12:54,145
He was responsible for
appointing the prime minister,

212
00:12:54,145 --> 00:12:57,119
and was willing to negotiate
to save his position.

213
00:12:58,961 --> 00:13:02,808
Opposite him, a political
class alarmed by the fascists,

214
00:13:02,808 --> 00:13:05,501
but incapable of
presenting a united front.

215
00:13:07,437 --> 00:13:11,034
This man was the then prime
minister, Luigi Facta,

216
00:13:11,034 --> 00:13:12,959
a moderate reformer.

217
00:13:12,959 --> 00:13:15,193
(people chattering)

218
00:13:15,193 --> 00:13:18,606
After months of inaction, he
wanted to oppose Mussolini,

219
00:13:20,792 --> 00:13:22,390
but it was a vain wish,

220
00:13:25,327 --> 00:13:27,798
because in October, 1922,

221
00:13:27,798 --> 00:13:31,301
in one of those tragic moments
when history speeds up,

222
00:13:31,301 --> 00:13:33,962
Italy changed dramatically.

223
00:13:33,962 --> 00:13:37,462
(tense dramatic music)

224
00:13:37,462 --> 00:13:39,432
The March on Rome,

225
00:13:39,432 --> 00:13:42,654
a lesson in how to stage a
coup for budding dictators,

226
00:13:42,654 --> 00:13:44,749
and in particular,

227
00:13:44,749 --> 00:13:47,911
Hitler, who watched
attentively from Germany.

228
00:13:49,879 --> 00:13:52,600
In Naples, the great city of the south,

229
00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:55,008
40,000 fascist militants attended

230
00:13:55,008 --> 00:13:56,856
the party's national convention.

231
00:13:57,779 --> 00:14:00,700
(crowd cheering)

232
00:14:00,700 --> 00:14:02,201
Elected as a deputy,

233
00:14:02,201 --> 00:14:06,142
along with 30 or so black
shirts 18 months earlier,

234
00:14:06,142 --> 00:14:08,425
Mussolini decided to hasten history

235
00:14:08,425 --> 00:14:12,791
and launch an attack on Rome
to take control of the country.

236
00:14:12,791 --> 00:14:15,658
(crowd cheering)

237
00:14:17,433 --> 00:14:20,352
For months his supporters had
urged him to go for broke.

238
00:14:22,659 --> 00:14:27,603
(upbeat music)
(crowd cheering)

239
00:14:27,603 --> 00:14:29,537
At a mass rally in Naples,

240
00:14:29,537 --> 00:14:32,292
Mussolini launched an
ultimatum from the podium,

241
00:14:34,548 --> 00:14:37,324
"Either the government will be given to us

242
00:14:37,324 --> 00:14:39,041
or we will march on Rome."

243
00:14:40,202 --> 00:14:42,016
It was a risky gamble.

244
00:14:42,016 --> 00:14:44,017
If the government sent in the army,

245
00:14:44,017 --> 00:14:45,988
and decided to open fire,

246
00:14:45,988 --> 00:14:48,649
it would be the end for him and prison.

247
00:14:52,431 --> 00:14:56,340
That very evening, playing
the respectable politician,

248
00:14:56,340 --> 00:14:59,218
he left his raging supporters in Naples

249
00:14:59,218 --> 00:15:00,503
and returned to Milan.

250
00:15:01,535 --> 00:15:03,096
(people chattering)

251
00:15:03,096 --> 00:15:04,037
Then waited.

252
00:15:06,599 --> 00:15:10,260
The insurrection was
planned for October 27th.

253
00:15:10,260 --> 00:15:13,886
(tense dramatic music)

254
00:15:13,886 --> 00:15:15,641
Some made a head start.

255
00:15:18,984 --> 00:15:22,334
Without waiting for the
27th, cities rose up.

256
00:15:24,676 --> 00:15:27,213
Pisa, Cremona.

257
00:15:29,649 --> 00:15:34,341
While in Milan, carrying on as
if it was business as usual,

258
00:15:34,341 --> 00:15:36,940
Mussolini went to his newspaper offices,

259
00:15:37,875 --> 00:15:40,498
and attended the opera with his wife.

260
00:15:40,498 --> 00:15:44,412
(car engine roaring)

261
00:15:44,412 --> 00:15:46,976
In fact, he had already given the order

262
00:15:46,976 --> 00:15:48,324
to march on the capital.

263
00:15:49,916 --> 00:15:53,152
The situation could have
turned violent at any moment.

264
00:15:53,152 --> 00:15:56,454
(car engine roaring)

265
00:15:58,548 --> 00:16:01,019
Surprisingly, on reaching Rome,

266
00:16:01,019 --> 00:16:04,598
the fascists encountered no resistance.

267
00:16:04,598 --> 00:16:09,495
(car engine roaring)
(people chattering)

268
00:16:09,495 --> 00:16:13,470
After three years of civil
war, the state was in disarray.

269
00:16:21,661 --> 00:16:23,791
Everything depended on the king.

270
00:16:25,508 --> 00:16:27,854
Prime Minister Facta
had asked him to declare

271
00:16:27,854 --> 00:16:30,422
a state of siege and send in the army.

272
00:16:34,109 --> 00:16:37,987
But fearing he would be swept
from power and to avoid chaos,

273
00:16:37,987 --> 00:16:40,680
Victor Emmanuel refused to use force.

274
00:16:42,491 --> 00:16:44,649
Five days after the ultimatum,

275
00:16:44,649 --> 00:16:47,276
he offered ministerial posts to Mussolini

276
00:16:47,276 --> 00:16:49,318
and three of his deputies.

277
00:16:49,318 --> 00:16:51,749
(people chattering)

278
00:16:51,749 --> 00:16:54,345
In Milan, Mussolini turned his nose up

279
00:16:54,345 --> 00:16:57,820
at what he considered a
miserable plate of lentils.

280
00:16:58,723 --> 00:17:03,135
For him, it was either
complete power or chaos.

281
00:17:03,135 --> 00:17:06,002
(crowd cheering)

282
00:17:08,263 --> 00:17:10,330
Italy was on the brink of explosion.

283
00:17:11,703 --> 00:17:14,831
Business leaders voiced their
official support for Mussolini

284
00:17:16,832 --> 00:17:18,865
and the king yielded.

285
00:17:18,865 --> 00:17:21,308
He asked Mussolini to
form a new government.

286
00:17:22,673 --> 00:17:26,340
(crowd chattering)
(brakes screeching)

287
00:17:26,340 --> 00:17:28,999
Here is Mussolini arriving in Rome.

288
00:17:28,999 --> 00:17:30,878
He had waited years for this moment.

289
00:17:32,658 --> 00:17:34,222
Having marched from Naples,

290
00:17:34,222 --> 00:17:36,786
the militants turned out to welcome him.

291
00:17:36,786 --> 00:17:40,011
With Mussolini, their life
would soon change for good.

292
00:17:43,824 --> 00:17:47,108
In a top hat, the young
thug from Predappio,

293
00:17:47,108 --> 00:17:50,548
the street brawler, far more
subtle than he appeared,

294
00:17:50,548 --> 00:17:54,054
was received by the king and
appointed as prime minister.

295
00:17:59,438 --> 00:18:01,213
"If father could see me,"

296
00:18:01,213 --> 00:18:03,187
Mussolini whispered to his brother.

297
00:18:04,412 --> 00:18:06,968
(crowd cheering)

298
00:18:06,968 --> 00:18:10,752
His legal coup d'etat was a
stroke of political genius.

299
00:18:10,752 --> 00:18:14,227
(tense dramatic music)

300
00:18:15,225 --> 00:18:16,500
- [Interpreter 2] A miracle,

301
00:18:18,540 --> 00:18:23,234
a dream that could become
reality, and did become reality.

302
00:18:24,639 --> 00:18:26,964
We immediately saw that
things were changing

303
00:18:27,923 --> 00:18:29,990
and order was being restored in Italy.

304
00:18:35,304 --> 00:18:37,775
- [Narrator] With its whippings, beatings,

305
00:18:37,775 --> 00:18:40,527
screaming, and assassinations,

306
00:18:40,527 --> 00:18:43,282
the new Fascist Order was underway.

307
00:18:45,813 --> 00:18:48,881
And beautiful Italy would
not resist for long.

308
00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,728
In the heart of Rome at the Chigi Palace,

309
00:18:56,728 --> 00:19:00,763
Mussolini could now impose
totalitarian rule over Italy

310
00:19:00,763 --> 00:19:03,546
and realize his dream
of turning the country

311
00:19:03,546 --> 00:19:05,582
into a fascist society.

312
00:19:06,702 --> 00:19:09,916
(newspaper rustling)

313
00:19:11,803 --> 00:19:15,306
But to achieve this, he
needed complete power,

314
00:19:15,306 --> 00:19:16,873
which was not the case.

315
00:19:18,527 --> 00:19:21,220
The king and parliament still had power.

316
00:19:22,500 --> 00:19:25,064
The press was free to say what it liked

317
00:19:25,064 --> 00:19:27,225
and the trade unions to strike.

318
00:19:32,070 --> 00:19:34,427
He was only halfway there.

319
00:19:34,427 --> 00:19:38,701
(car engine roaring)
(people chattering)

320
00:19:38,701 --> 00:19:40,108
As head of government,

321
00:19:40,108 --> 00:19:41,609
Mussolini personally took over

322
00:19:41,609 --> 00:19:45,146
the ministries of the
interior and foreign affairs.

323
00:19:46,144 --> 00:19:49,678
Taking over the rest
would require stealth.

324
00:19:49,678 --> 00:19:53,583
Just this once, he went
on a charm offensive.

325
00:19:53,583 --> 00:19:57,372
(birds chirping)
(people chattering)

326
00:19:57,372 --> 00:20:00,813
He instantly won over two
of his main opponents,

327
00:20:00,813 --> 00:20:02,348
former prime ministers.

328
00:20:05,223 --> 00:20:07,881
He was seen everywhere smiling,

329
00:20:07,881 --> 00:20:10,977
embracing these conservatives he despised,

330
00:20:10,977 --> 00:20:14,421
but whose support he needed
to dominate parliament.

331
00:20:18,327 --> 00:20:21,771
His argument, the fear of communist chaos,

332
00:20:23,425 --> 00:20:24,367
and it worked.

333
00:20:26,928 --> 00:20:28,304
The moderates in parliament

334
00:20:28,304 --> 00:20:30,591
granted him full powers for one year.

335
00:20:32,534 --> 00:20:35,579
"Time enough to quash
the left," they thought.

336
00:20:35,579 --> 00:20:39,439
(tense dramatic music)

337
00:20:39,439 --> 00:20:42,538
Mussolini used his power to
suppress civil liberties.

338
00:20:44,544 --> 00:20:46,573
"He'll calm down," they said.

339
00:20:47,859 --> 00:20:50,987
(soldiers marching)

340
00:20:52,418 --> 00:20:56,265
In 1923 he had a new electoral law passed

341
00:20:56,265 --> 00:20:58,895
and won the general
election the following year.

342
00:21:01,707 --> 00:21:04,284
Mussolini had become respectable.

343
00:21:04,284 --> 00:21:07,759
(tense dramatic music)

344
00:21:09,245 --> 00:21:11,465
But he reverted to type,

345
00:21:11,465 --> 00:21:14,659
taking more of a stick
than a carrot approach.

346
00:21:20,723 --> 00:21:24,570
Now, the regime's official
militia, his gang of thugs,

347
00:21:24,570 --> 00:21:27,541
led an assault on the
strongholds of the left

348
00:21:27,541 --> 00:21:30,731
and publicly humiliated politicians.

349
00:21:30,731 --> 00:21:34,081
Such as this deputy, during
the conquest of power.

350
00:21:35,673 --> 00:21:38,113
Trade unionists were hunted down.

351
00:21:38,113 --> 00:21:41,087
Some were dragged, their
feet tied behind trucks.

352
00:21:43,273 --> 00:21:46,466
The Black Terror reached its
height during the elections.

353
00:21:48,246 --> 00:21:50,904
In 1924 several of his cronies

354
00:21:50,904 --> 00:21:53,062
kidnapped the leader of the opposition,

355
00:21:53,062 --> 00:21:56,096
Socialist Deputy, Giacomo Matteotti,

356
00:21:56,096 --> 00:21:58,195
and stabbed him to death in a car.

357
00:21:59,412 --> 00:22:03,352
His corpse was found two months
later in the countryside.

358
00:22:03,352 --> 00:22:06,702
A huge scandal, Italy was in shock.

359
00:22:08,607 --> 00:22:10,862
Mussolini almost lost everything.

360
00:22:14,312 --> 00:22:16,679
But he was much wilier
than people supposed.

361
00:22:19,366 --> 00:22:22,149
He survived several
assassination attempts,

362
00:22:22,149 --> 00:22:25,038
a fact he exploited to the fullest.

363
00:22:25,038 --> 00:22:29,937
(gunshots booming)
(crowd screaming)

364
00:22:29,937 --> 00:22:31,785
The bullet nicked his nose.

365
00:22:32,908 --> 00:22:34,287
See how he used this?

366
00:22:35,824 --> 00:22:38,430
"Italy is more threatened
than ever," he declared.

367
00:22:40,234 --> 00:22:43,730
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

368
00:22:43,730 --> 00:22:45,919
Under the pretext of defending the state,

369
00:22:45,919 --> 00:22:48,390
he pushed the Leggi Fascistissime,

370
00:22:48,390 --> 00:22:51,955
or fascist legislation,
through Parliament.

371
00:22:51,955 --> 00:22:54,301
Drafted earlier and
pulled out of the drawer

372
00:22:54,301 --> 00:22:55,771
at the right moment,

373
00:22:55,771 --> 00:22:58,307
they abolished all civil liberties.

374
00:23:02,026 --> 00:23:03,559
All trade unions were banned,

375
00:23:03,559 --> 00:23:06,033
except the official fascist trade union.

376
00:23:07,124 --> 00:23:11,190
No more newspapers except for
those friendly to Mussolini.

377
00:23:11,190 --> 00:23:13,257
A single party, his.

378
00:23:14,599 --> 00:23:17,633
A parliament that passed
any law it was asked to

379
00:23:17,633 --> 00:23:19,697
and served no purpose.

380
00:23:19,697 --> 00:23:23,851
As for the king, he was
reduced to a mere symbol.

381
00:23:23,851 --> 00:23:27,413
(upbeat accordion music)

382
00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:32,711
By the mid-1920s, democracy
was dead in Italy.

383
00:23:34,897 --> 00:23:36,120
Long live Il Duce!

384
00:23:38,913 --> 00:23:42,823
- [Crowd] Duce, Duce,
Duce, Duce, Duce, Duce!

385
00:23:47,531 --> 00:23:50,757
- [Crowd] Duce, Duce,
Duce, Duce, Duce, Duce!

386
00:23:50,757 --> 00:23:54,667
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

387
00:23:59,384 --> 00:24:02,685
(crowd cheering)

388
00:24:02,685 --> 00:24:04,015
(train wheels clanking)

389
00:24:04,015 --> 00:24:05,579
- [Narrator] To sweeten the pill,

390
00:24:05,579 --> 00:24:09,682
Mussolini used an old
recipe, national pride,

391
00:24:09,682 --> 00:24:12,635
(crowd cheering)

392
00:24:13,961 --> 00:24:17,151
to put an end to the old Italian hangups

393
00:24:17,151 --> 00:24:19,486
and propose a dream.

394
00:24:19,486 --> 00:24:23,395
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

395
00:24:26,106 --> 00:24:29,059
(crowd cheering)

396
00:24:38,631 --> 00:24:40,967
(crowd cheering)

397
00:24:40,967 --> 00:24:42,860
(uptempo cheery music)

398
00:24:42,860 --> 00:24:44,424
- [Narrator] To flatter his people,

399
00:24:44,424 --> 00:24:46,989
Mussolini reminded them
they were the heirs

400
00:24:46,989 --> 00:24:50,812
of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance.

401
00:24:50,812 --> 00:24:53,631
"Immigration abroad is over," he said.

402
00:24:53,631 --> 00:24:55,840
(children singing in Italian)
(soldiers marching)

403
00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:58,877
No more stereotypical images of Italians,

404
00:24:59,937 --> 00:25:05,038
macaroni, mandolin players, late trains.

405
00:25:08,212 --> 00:25:11,603
For 20 years, to make
up for lost liberties,

406
00:25:11,603 --> 00:25:14,890
Il Duce offered them
symbolic compensation.

407
00:25:16,882 --> 00:25:18,228
(scooter whirring)

408
00:25:18,228 --> 00:25:19,453
(Marta speaking Italian)

409
00:25:19,453 --> 00:25:21,080
- [Interpreter 4] I think
the fact there was someone

410
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:25,865
who said, "Hey guys, we're
good, strong, numerous.

411
00:25:25,865 --> 00:25:28,182
We're the best," suited us.

412
00:25:29,211 --> 00:25:32,811
We who had always felt like
we were the class dancers.

413
00:25:36,096 --> 00:25:40,006
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

414
00:25:51,551 --> 00:25:54,204
(crowd cheering)

415
00:25:54,204 --> 00:25:56,265
- [Interpreter 1] Yes, I
see myself as a descendant

416
00:25:56,265 --> 00:25:59,268
of the Roman Empire because
they loved their country

417
00:25:59,268 --> 00:26:00,717
as much as I do.

418
00:26:00,717 --> 00:26:02,747
(Aldo speaking Italian)

419
00:26:02,747 --> 00:26:06,656
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

420
00:26:07,679 --> 00:26:11,214
(crowd cheering)

421
00:26:11,214 --> 00:26:14,530
- [Interpreter 1] For me
he was the Italian soldier

422
00:26:14,530 --> 00:26:17,286
because he wanted to
expand Italy's territory.

423
00:26:18,471 --> 00:26:20,004
You're too young to remember,

424
00:26:20,004 --> 00:26:22,162
but we were a very poor country.

425
00:26:22,162 --> 00:26:24,542
In some parts people only ate polenta.

426
00:26:25,643 --> 00:26:28,917
(crowd applauding)
(people laughing)

427
00:26:28,917 --> 00:26:32,076
- [Narrator] Mussolini, the new Caesar,

428
00:26:32,076 --> 00:26:34,703
one of the world's first populists,

429
00:26:34,703 --> 00:26:36,833
although the term was yet to be coined.

430
00:26:38,550 --> 00:26:40,552
Before his people's astonished eyes,

431
00:26:40,552 --> 00:26:42,901
he promised to make Italy great again.

432
00:26:46,713 --> 00:26:50,529
He launched a series of
battles, the battle for grain,

433
00:26:50,529 --> 00:26:53,500
to make Italy self-sufficient in food.

434
00:26:53,500 --> 00:26:56,443
The battle of the lira
for national sovereignty.

435
00:26:58,223 --> 00:27:00,916
The battle of race would soon follow.

436
00:27:01,839 --> 00:27:05,198
(tense dramatic music)
(car engine roaring)

437
00:27:05,198 --> 00:27:09,232
To win support, he undertook
large scale public works,

438
00:27:09,232 --> 00:27:12,422
such as the reclamation
of the Pontine Marshes.

439
00:27:12,422 --> 00:27:16,645
A legendary area south of
Rome flooded since antiquity

440
00:27:16,645 --> 00:27:18,368
and unsuitable for farming.

441
00:27:22,650 --> 00:27:25,246
By draining the swamp, distributing land,

442
00:27:25,246 --> 00:27:26,997
and building new towns,

443
00:27:26,997 --> 00:27:29,593
Mussolini promised an end to immigration

444
00:27:29,593 --> 00:27:31,723
and a new Italian renaissance.

445
00:27:33,312 --> 00:27:36,036
(crowd applauding)

446
00:27:36,036 --> 00:27:37,600
Even though previous governments

447
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:39,914
had undertaken similar projects,

448
00:27:39,914 --> 00:27:42,263
everyone applauded the new Superman.

449
00:27:47,533 --> 00:27:48,671
(bells ringing)

450
00:27:48,671 --> 00:27:52,487
Mussolini, the strategist
tackled unresolved issues

451
00:27:52,487 --> 00:27:54,739
such as the dispute with the Vatican

452
00:27:54,739 --> 00:27:57,616
that dated back to the
unification of Italy,

453
00:27:57,616 --> 00:28:00,403
when the Pope was
dispossessed of his states.

454
00:28:05,435 --> 00:28:07,875
Mussolini, the anti-clerical leader,

455
00:28:07,875 --> 00:28:11,315
agreed to reintroduce
the crucifix in schools,

456
00:28:11,315 --> 00:28:14,380
establish Catholicism
as the state religion,

457
00:28:14,380 --> 00:28:17,261
and recognize the
sovereignty of the Vatican.

458
00:28:20,635 --> 00:28:24,170
The Lateran Accords, a
miracle for Catholics,

459
00:28:24,170 --> 00:28:26,393
that is a great many people.

460
00:28:30,981 --> 00:28:32,176
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

461
00:28:32,176 --> 00:28:36,058
Well before anyone else, he
understood the power of images.

462
00:28:36,962 --> 00:28:39,123
Cameras now followed his every step.

463
00:28:42,341 --> 00:28:45,938
In 1924, as he was toppling democracy,

464
00:28:45,938 --> 00:28:48,377
Mussolini entrusted the Luce Institute

465
00:28:48,377 --> 00:28:51,943
with the task of projecting a
positive image of the state,

466
00:28:51,943 --> 00:28:53,604
or rather himself.

467
00:28:55,858 --> 00:28:57,041
(plane engine roaring)

468
00:28:57,041 --> 00:28:58,792
Movie theaters all over the country

469
00:28:58,792 --> 00:29:03,310
screened news reels about Il
Duce, which he signed off.

470
00:29:03,310 --> 00:29:07,088
(people chattering)

471
00:29:07,088 --> 00:29:10,837
"Cinematography is the
strongest weapon," he declared.

472
00:29:14,086 --> 00:29:15,775
The opportunity as well

473
00:29:15,775 --> 00:29:18,121
to promote the social policies of a regime

474
00:29:18,121 --> 00:29:21,592
that simply dressed up old
things as something new

475
00:29:21,592 --> 00:29:24,899
by reorganizing existing systems.

476
00:29:24,899 --> 00:29:27,504
(people chattering)

477
00:29:27,504 --> 00:29:31,444
In reality only industrial
workers, or almost,

478
00:29:31,444 --> 00:29:33,449
benefited from its policies.

479
00:29:35,350 --> 00:29:37,449
(Santino speaking Italian)

480
00:29:37,449 --> 00:29:39,847
- [Interpreter 2] I
consider him a clever man.

481
00:29:41,766 --> 00:29:44,174
Il Duce had no scruples.

482
00:29:44,174 --> 00:29:46,207
He knew how to talk to the people.

483
00:29:46,207 --> 00:29:47,649
He wasn't an aristocrat.

484
00:29:49,445 --> 00:29:52,087
(uptempo dramatic music)

485
00:29:52,087 --> 00:29:53,838
- [Narrator] And to get the party going,

486
00:29:53,838 --> 00:29:56,437
he created the Ministry
of Popular Culture.

487
00:30:02,470 --> 00:30:03,756
The Mussolini trap.

488
00:30:12,298 --> 00:30:16,513
(actor speaking Italian)

489
00:30:16,513 --> 00:30:20,423
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

490
00:30:26,365 --> 00:30:29,840
(train wheels clanking)

491
00:30:34,059 --> 00:30:35,685
- [Narrator] Italian
workers were no longer

492
00:30:35,685 --> 00:30:37,155
allowed to strike,

493
00:30:37,155 --> 00:30:40,752
but they were granted a
70% discount on train fares

494
00:30:40,752 --> 00:30:43,633
for weekends in the
country, and at the seaside.

495
00:30:46,820 --> 00:30:49,259
- [Interpreter 1] Our first
friends to go to the coast

496
00:30:49,259 --> 00:30:53,297
and see the sea saw it,
thanks to the summer camps.

497
00:30:54,201 --> 00:30:57,582
Fascism took children to the
sea and to the mountains.

498
00:31:00,268 --> 00:31:01,520
What can I say (laughs)?

499
00:31:04,467 --> 00:31:06,586
- [Narrator] "The multitude, like a woman,

500
00:31:06,586 --> 00:31:10,217
is made to be violated,"
declared Mussolini in private.

501
00:31:11,825 --> 00:31:15,734
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

502
00:31:26,112 --> 00:31:28,979
(crowd shouting)

503
00:31:34,135 --> 00:31:38,045
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

504
00:31:39,665 --> 00:31:42,532
(crowd cheering)

505
00:31:44,305 --> 00:31:46,150
- [Narrator] In the early 1930s,

506
00:31:46,150 --> 00:31:48,934
he won over a large
part of the population,

507
00:31:48,934 --> 00:31:51,408
including some of his future victims.

508
00:31:52,285 --> 00:31:55,064
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

509
00:31:55,064 --> 00:31:57,191
- [Narrator] Before
Mussolini turned on them,

510
00:31:57,191 --> 00:31:59,383
Jews too admired him.

511
00:32:02,351 --> 00:32:05,513
Such as young Silvana Ajo-Cagli in Rome.

512
00:32:11,552 --> 00:32:15,461
(Silvana singing in Italian)

513
00:32:20,304 --> 00:32:21,607
- [Interpreter 3] I sang it too,

514
00:32:21,607 --> 00:32:23,869
it was amusing actually.

515
00:32:23,869 --> 00:32:25,590
What else would you like to know?

516
00:32:27,940 --> 00:32:31,188
It seems incredible after 82 years,

517
00:32:31,188 --> 00:32:33,940
but I was caught up in the enthusiasm too.

518
00:32:33,940 --> 00:32:35,859
We were all happy.

519
00:32:35,859 --> 00:32:37,850
(Silvana speaking Italian)

520
00:32:37,850 --> 00:32:39,935
I didn't know what he was talking about.

521
00:32:42,385 --> 00:32:44,887
Of course, he was fascinating.

522
00:32:44,887 --> 00:32:46,329
He had a real talent.

523
00:32:47,858 --> 00:32:50,770
Like all dictators he was a great talker.

524
00:32:51,955 --> 00:32:54,554
He was talented, that's the way it was.

525
00:32:55,885 --> 00:32:59,794
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

526
00:33:05,036 --> 00:33:07,903
(crowd cheering)

527
00:33:14,180 --> 00:33:18,090
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

528
00:33:26,276 --> 00:33:29,549
(crowd cheering)

529
00:33:29,549 --> 00:33:31,613
- [Interpreter 1] When we all woke up

530
00:33:31,613 --> 00:33:34,303
I wondered how I had managed not to laugh

531
00:33:34,303 --> 00:33:37,314
when Mussolini made his speeches.

532
00:33:37,314 --> 00:33:41,516
(Piero speaking Italian)

533
00:33:41,516 --> 00:33:45,858
He had this fierce look,
which was totally ridiculous.

534
00:33:51,223 --> 00:33:52,975
But at the time,

535
00:33:52,975 --> 00:33:57,390
we all looked at him and
thought, "what strength!"

536
00:33:57,390 --> 00:34:00,865
(tense dramatic music)

537
00:34:01,982 --> 00:34:05,360
- [Narrator] Mussolini, the
mirror in which many Italians

538
00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:07,650
saw their own reflection.

539
00:34:07,650 --> 00:34:11,038
(slow relaxing music)

540
00:34:12,335 --> 00:34:16,279
If Il Duce had succeeded,
the whole country could too.

541
00:34:19,747 --> 00:34:22,440
He lived in one of Rome's grandest houses,

542
00:34:23,344 --> 00:34:25,203
the Villa Torlonia.

543
00:34:25,203 --> 00:34:29,161
(film reel rattling)

544
00:34:29,161 --> 00:34:31,570
He hosted the greats of the world there.

545
00:34:31,570 --> 00:34:33,571
Men such as Gandhi.

546
00:34:33,571 --> 00:34:35,862
Churchill praised him to the skies,

547
00:34:35,862 --> 00:34:37,481
"If I had been Italian,

548
00:34:37,481 --> 00:34:39,357
I am sure I would've been with Mussolini

549
00:34:39,357 --> 00:34:40,449
from the beginning."

550
00:34:46,676 --> 00:34:48,271
In this dream setting,

551
00:34:48,271 --> 00:34:51,223
Il Duce continued to play to the cameras.

552
00:34:51,223 --> 00:34:54,213
(children shouting)

553
00:34:54,213 --> 00:34:58,157
Before any other world leader,
he put his family on show,

554
00:34:59,749 --> 00:35:01,814
especially his daughter, Edda.

555
00:35:01,814 --> 00:35:04,100
his "Wild filly," as he called her,

556
00:35:04,972 --> 00:35:07,693
one of the first women
in Italy to drive a car

557
00:35:07,693 --> 00:35:09,323
and wear short skirts.

558
00:35:11,165 --> 00:35:13,618
She later married a count.

559
00:35:13,618 --> 00:35:16,572
(camera whirring)

560
00:35:18,296 --> 00:35:20,829
He and his wife, Rachele,
had five children,

561
00:35:20,829 --> 00:35:25,274
including Vittorio and Bruno,
who became bomber pilots.

562
00:35:27,616 --> 00:35:29,559
The stereotypical Latin man.

563
00:35:31,338 --> 00:35:33,347
His daughter, Edda once said,

564
00:35:33,347 --> 00:35:35,811
"My father thinks women
should stay at home,

565
00:35:35,811 --> 00:35:37,840
have children, and wear horns."

566
00:35:41,621 --> 00:35:44,443
(footsteps thudding)

567
00:35:44,443 --> 00:35:47,289
He made little attempt to hide his lovers,

568
00:35:47,289 --> 00:35:51,105
such as the Venetian
socialite, Margherita Sarfatti,

569
00:35:51,105 --> 00:35:53,297
with whom he spent 15 years.

570
00:35:56,171 --> 00:36:00,300
An intellectual, she taught
him how to behave in society,

571
00:36:00,300 --> 00:36:03,678
introduced him to businessmen and artists,

572
00:36:03,678 --> 00:36:06,899
and wrote his biography, "DVX,"

573
00:36:06,899 --> 00:36:10,124
a bestseller in Europe
and the United States.

574
00:36:13,342 --> 00:36:14,624
She was Jewish.

575
00:36:14,624 --> 00:36:16,817
Initially, this was not a problem.

576
00:36:19,409 --> 00:36:21,946
Sooner or later, it would become one.

577
00:36:31,826 --> 00:36:33,890
10 years after seizing power,

578
00:36:33,890 --> 00:36:36,364
Mussolini became increasingly radical.

579
00:36:37,299 --> 00:36:39,739
(car engine roaring)

580
00:36:39,739 --> 00:36:42,522
Fooled by the regime's charm offensive,

581
00:36:42,522 --> 00:36:45,431
many failed to realize he
was not the sort of tyrant

582
00:36:45,431 --> 00:36:48,124
Italy had seen so often in the past.

583
00:36:49,216 --> 00:36:53,313
But rather, a modern totalitarian dictator

584
00:36:53,313 --> 00:36:56,674
who would not stop at exercising power.

585
00:36:56,674 --> 00:36:59,801
(soldiers marching)

586
00:37:03,571 --> 00:37:06,198
Il Duce wanted to change his people,

587
00:37:06,198 --> 00:37:08,172
to transform them from within.

588
00:37:15,229 --> 00:37:18,177
Here is the new man he dreamed of.

589
00:37:18,177 --> 00:37:22,027
The jack booted, strutting,
knife wielding fascist.

590
00:37:22,978 --> 00:37:27,028
(soldiers shout in Italian)

591
00:37:27,028 --> 00:37:29,762
The new model for the Italians.

592
00:37:29,762 --> 00:37:33,758
(soldiers singing in Italian)

593
00:37:35,129 --> 00:37:39,570
With these ruthless, fanatic,
obedient citizen soldiers,

594
00:37:39,570 --> 00:37:41,134
Mussolini thought he would be able

595
00:37:41,134 --> 00:37:43,639
to hold onto power for decades.

596
00:38:06,383 --> 00:38:09,511
(soldiers shouting)

597
00:38:10,940 --> 00:38:14,630
- [Interpreter 3] He said,
"Believe, obey, fight.

598
00:38:14,630 --> 00:38:18,258
Believe in what I say
and what the party says.

599
00:38:18,258 --> 00:38:21,355
Obey without question
when I give you orders.

600
00:38:21,355 --> 00:38:24,889
And fight, because I'm
sending you into battle."

601
00:38:24,889 --> 00:38:26,505
He could not have been clearer.

602
00:38:27,763 --> 00:38:30,079
(crowd cheering)

603
00:38:30,079 --> 00:38:33,988
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

604
00:38:37,785 --> 00:38:40,418
(crowd speaking Italian)

605
00:38:40,418 --> 00:38:43,868
(Mussolini speaking Italian)
(crowd speaking Italian)

606
00:38:43,868 --> 00:38:48,050
(Mussolini speaking Italian)
(crowd speaking Italian)

607
00:38:48,050 --> 00:38:52,845
(Mussolini speaking Italian)
(crowd speaking Italian)

608
00:38:52,845 --> 00:38:55,321
- [Interpreter 1] There was real respect.

609
00:38:55,321 --> 00:38:59,699
I thought, "Careful, we
mustn't criticize Mussolini."

610
00:38:59,699 --> 00:39:03,233
(film reel rattling)

611
00:39:03,233 --> 00:39:05,016
- [Narrator] The young Piero Gandini,

612
00:39:05,016 --> 00:39:08,835
10 years old at the time,
the budding new man.

613
00:39:11,522 --> 00:39:13,085
Like all his generation,

614
00:39:13,085 --> 00:39:15,400
he was a member of the Balilla,

615
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:17,436
Mussolini's youth organization.

616
00:39:18,903 --> 00:39:22,062
The regime drummed military
values and mythology

617
00:39:22,062 --> 00:39:25,536
into these young warriors
from a very early age.

618
00:39:26,571 --> 00:39:29,785
(children murmuring)

619
00:39:31,038 --> 00:39:32,602
- [Interpreter 1] Hail Caesar,

620
00:39:33,821 --> 00:39:36,327
those who are about to die salute you.

621
00:39:38,294 --> 00:39:41,234
What I liked was the military aspect.

622
00:39:41,234 --> 00:39:43,367
Having a gun, playing.

623
00:39:43,367 --> 00:39:46,929
(Piero speaking Italian)

624
00:39:48,834 --> 00:39:50,860
- [Interpreter 2] I
thought I was somebody,

625
00:39:51,805 --> 00:39:53,685
it made me feel big and strong.

626
00:39:55,094 --> 00:39:59,004
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

627
00:40:12,019 --> 00:40:15,407
(slow relaxing music)

628
00:40:16,451 --> 00:40:17,796
- [Narrator] Unlike in the '20s,

629
00:40:17,796 --> 00:40:19,203
his enemies were no longer

630
00:40:19,203 --> 00:40:21,955
just the socialists and communists,

631
00:40:21,955 --> 00:40:24,207
but all those who did not conform,

632
00:40:24,207 --> 00:40:25,990
who thought for themselves,

633
00:40:25,990 --> 00:40:28,589
and refused to kowtow to the dictator.

634
00:40:31,300 --> 00:40:34,167
(crowd cheering)

635
00:40:37,937 --> 00:40:42,535
In this totalitarian society,
Il Duce was everywhere.

636
00:40:42,535 --> 00:40:44,321
He controlled everything.

637
00:40:45,755 --> 00:40:47,351
(Antonio speaking Italian)

638
00:40:47,351 --> 00:40:49,822
- [Interpreter 1] To get a
job in the public sector,

639
00:40:49,822 --> 00:40:51,334
you had to be a party member.

640
00:40:54,131 --> 00:40:56,203
(Teresa speaking Italian)

641
00:40:56,203 --> 00:40:57,704
- [Interpreter 3] When we went to vote,

642
00:40:57,704 --> 00:40:59,768
it was like voting in public.

643
00:40:59,768 --> 00:41:02,364
We were down below,
and they were above us,

644
00:41:02,364 --> 00:41:04,994
and so they could see what
we marked on the slip.

645
00:41:06,805 --> 00:41:08,244
- [Narrator] In every village,

646
00:41:08,244 --> 00:41:11,371
the party as well as the
local administration,

647
00:41:11,371 --> 00:41:13,157
was run by the black shirts.

648
00:41:16,094 --> 00:41:17,880
They watched every family.

649
00:41:21,630 --> 00:41:22,857
- [Interpreter 1] They would say,

650
00:41:22,857 --> 00:41:26,356
"the pharmacist in that
street is an opponent.

651
00:41:28,261 --> 00:41:29,598
- [Interpreter 2] A subversive.

652
00:41:31,395 --> 00:41:34,958
- [Interpreter 1] "Either
we convert him or scare him

653
00:41:34,958 --> 00:41:37,987
so much that he stops
spreading his propaganda,"

654
00:41:37,987 --> 00:41:39,805
even if it meant beating him up.

655
00:41:41,187 --> 00:41:43,211
(Teresa speaking Italian)

656
00:41:43,211 --> 00:41:44,462
- [Interpreter 3] Either you're with us

657
00:41:44,462 --> 00:41:46,870
and you do what we tell you to do,

658
00:41:46,870 --> 00:41:48,121
or you'll have problems.

659
00:41:49,997 --> 00:41:51,158
You'll lose your job.

660
00:41:52,593 --> 00:41:53,949
You'll lose your benefits.

661
00:41:56,616 --> 00:41:58,974
(Lidia speaking Italian)

662
00:41:58,974 --> 00:42:01,792
- [Interpreter 4] Mussolini
scared people, that's all.

663
00:42:03,915 --> 00:42:07,077
You could be thrown in
jail simply for saying,

664
00:42:08,395 --> 00:42:10,230
"Fascism is a disgrace."

665
00:42:12,602 --> 00:42:15,831
(tense dramatic music)

666
00:42:15,831 --> 00:42:18,806
- [Narrator] To criticize
Il Duce was to attack Italy.

667
00:42:22,306 --> 00:42:26,719
Deviant elements were denounced,
arrested, and imprisoned.

668
00:42:31,970 --> 00:42:34,253
Such as the philosopher, Gramsci,

669
00:42:34,253 --> 00:42:37,068
one of the founders of the
Italian Communist Party

670
00:42:37,068 --> 00:42:40,901
who became the icon of a
generation of anti-fascists.

671
00:42:40,901 --> 00:42:46,114
(Mussolini speaking Italian)
(crowd cheering)

672
00:42:54,426 --> 00:42:56,678
- [Narrator] To silence the antifascists,

673
00:42:56,678 --> 00:42:57,554
Mussolini set up

674
00:42:57,554 --> 00:43:00,963
the Special Tribunal for
the Defense of the State

675
00:43:00,963 --> 00:43:04,560
with the power to impose the
death penalty on dissidents

676
00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:06,533
or lock them up for years,

677
00:43:07,625 --> 00:43:10,255
such as here off the coast of Naples.

678
00:43:12,754 --> 00:43:15,405
- [Interpreter 2] The fascists
wanted them to stay there,

679
00:43:16,413 --> 00:43:17,292
to keep quiet.

680
00:43:18,603 --> 00:43:20,375
So people would forget about them.

681
00:43:22,700 --> 00:43:23,732
- [Interpreter 1] If they did something

682
00:43:23,732 --> 00:43:25,796
against the regime in power,

683
00:43:25,796 --> 00:43:27,738
it's normal they were sent to prison.

684
00:43:28,864 --> 00:43:31,370
(tense dramatic music)

685
00:43:31,370 --> 00:43:34,936
- [Narrator] "Violence is
not immoral," said Mussolini.

686
00:43:34,936 --> 00:43:38,213
"When it is effective in
a cancerous situation,

687
00:43:38,213 --> 00:43:41,556
it is moral, sacrosanct, and necessary."

688
00:43:45,031 --> 00:43:48,033
The fascist police sent 15,000 opponents

689
00:43:48,033 --> 00:43:50,567
without trial into confino.

690
00:43:50,567 --> 00:43:52,787
This new repressive system was a cross

691
00:43:52,787 --> 00:43:56,106
between a concentration
camp and house arrest.

692
00:43:58,323 --> 00:44:01,107
They were held in huts, or village houses,

693
00:44:01,107 --> 00:44:03,800
isolated, cut off from their families.

694
00:44:04,954 --> 00:44:06,580
They stayed there for years,

695
00:44:06,580 --> 00:44:09,196
some even died in captivity.

696
00:44:09,196 --> 00:44:11,741
(church bells ringing)
(seagulls squawking)

697
00:44:11,741 --> 00:44:15,150
A less harsh form of repression
than in Nazi Germany,

698
00:44:15,150 --> 00:44:16,779
but equally effective.

699
00:44:21,144 --> 00:44:22,312
(film reel rattling)

700
00:44:22,312 --> 00:44:26,221
To survive, Italians had to
play along with the regime,

701
00:44:26,221 --> 00:44:29,164
conceal their opinions, and hold tight.

702
00:44:33,295 --> 00:44:35,635
(Teresa speaking Italian)

703
00:44:35,635 --> 00:44:37,231
- [Interpreter 3] When my
father was sent to prison

704
00:44:37,231 --> 00:44:39,983
for all those months,
how did my mother cope

705
00:44:39,983 --> 00:44:42,863
with my newborn brother
and five-year-old me?

706
00:44:44,674 --> 00:44:47,458
What sacrifices did she make?

707
00:44:47,458 --> 00:44:51,008
The poor woman, she alone knows.

708
00:44:51,008 --> 00:44:52,274
(Lidia speaking Italian)

709
00:44:52,274 --> 00:44:53,838
- [Interpreter 4] We did what we could.

710
00:44:53,838 --> 00:44:59,051
Escaping the worst, avoiding
evil, hiding, fleeing,

711
00:44:59,405 --> 00:45:00,628
hiding other people.

712
00:45:04,856 --> 00:45:06,661
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

713
00:45:06,661 --> 00:45:07,853
I didn't agree.

714
00:45:11,228 --> 00:45:14,449
Even though though this
typically Italian habit

715
00:45:14,449 --> 00:45:15,919
of being two-faced

716
00:45:15,919 --> 00:45:19,829
and pretending to agree
with him, applauding,

717
00:45:19,829 --> 00:45:22,278
but then going home, and
laughing about it all.

718
00:45:25,802 --> 00:45:28,304
- [Narrator] Violent
repression few had imagined,

719
00:45:28,304 --> 00:45:31,722
and against which they were now powerless.

720
00:45:31,722 --> 00:45:34,763
(crowd chattering)

721
00:45:36,123 --> 00:45:40,002
In Italy, all political
opposition fell silent,

722
00:45:40,002 --> 00:45:41,662
both left and right.

723
00:45:42,785 --> 00:45:44,599
The only Italians to speak out

724
00:45:44,599 --> 00:45:47,633
were those who had chosen
self-imposed exile,

725
00:45:47,633 --> 00:45:49,510
mainly in France,

726
00:45:49,510 --> 00:45:52,731
which welcomed 30,000 political refugees

727
00:45:52,731 --> 00:45:55,299
for every 1 million Italian immigrants.

728
00:45:56,297 --> 00:45:59,518
(protestors singing)

729
00:45:59,518 --> 00:46:02,677
In Paris, the capital of anti-fascism,

730
00:46:02,677 --> 00:46:05,620
they made the public aware
of the regime's true nature.

731
00:46:08,244 --> 00:46:10,910
And some even met their deaths.

732
00:46:10,910 --> 00:46:13,748
(crowd chattering)

733
00:46:13,748 --> 00:46:16,469
Mussolini did not
hesitate to have opponents

734
00:46:16,469 --> 00:46:18,628
such as the Rosselli brothers,

735
00:46:18,628 --> 00:46:21,758
eliminated by the far right
militants of the Cagoule.

736
00:46:23,310 --> 00:46:26,947
(crowd jeering)

737
00:46:26,947 --> 00:46:32,160
The world was outraged, but
Il Duce did not give a damn.

738
00:46:32,165 --> 00:46:34,677
(people chattering)

739
00:46:34,677 --> 00:46:39,890
(slow relaxing music)
(person laughing)

740
00:46:41,167 --> 00:46:45,077
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

741
00:46:57,182 --> 00:46:59,881
(plane engine roaring)

742
00:46:59,881 --> 00:47:02,730
- [Narrator] His regime now
inspired other dictators.

743
00:47:05,236 --> 00:47:07,199
"Men like Mussolini are born

744
00:47:07,199 --> 00:47:10,358
only once every 1,000
years," raved Hitler,

745
00:47:10,358 --> 00:47:12,770
who had seized power in 1933.

746
00:47:17,864 --> 00:47:19,932
Mussolini was now over 50.

747
00:47:21,375 --> 00:47:22,368
(people chattering)

748
00:47:22,368 --> 00:47:25,339
He ruled from his office
at the Palazzo Venezia,

749
00:47:25,339 --> 00:47:27,125
surrounded by sycophants,

750
00:47:28,154 --> 00:47:30,531
such as the Grand Council of Fascism,

751
00:47:30,531 --> 00:47:32,564
whose members he selected
among his friends

752
00:47:32,564 --> 00:47:34,722
in the party and the government,

753
00:47:34,722 --> 00:47:37,884
and who never contradicted him.

754
00:47:42,103 --> 00:47:44,574
He still had the support
of the business community,

755
00:47:44,574 --> 00:47:46,485
the army, and the church.

756
00:47:49,266 --> 00:47:50,238
He had it all.

757
00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:56,212
But it was not enough.

758
00:47:57,460 --> 00:47:59,590
Mussolini was never satisfied.

759
00:48:00,806 --> 00:48:03,496
He played with his
associates more and more,

760
00:48:03,496 --> 00:48:04,625
humiliating them.

761
00:48:05,579 --> 00:48:10,792
(speaker speaking Italian)
(phone ringing)

762
00:48:11,597 --> 00:48:14,067
A man with a voracious sexual appetite,

763
00:48:14,067 --> 00:48:17,417
he converted the top floor of
the palace for his mistresses.

764
00:48:19,291 --> 00:48:21,449
According to his private secretary,

765
00:48:21,449 --> 00:48:24,514
he had on average one woman a day

766
00:48:24,514 --> 00:48:27,766
selected from letters he
received from all over Italy.

767
00:48:27,766 --> 00:48:31,394
Most female admirers had a
brief 15-minute encounter

768
00:48:31,394 --> 00:48:32,263
with Il Duce.

769
00:48:37,875 --> 00:48:39,776
(crowd cheering)

770
00:48:39,776 --> 00:48:41,966
He was obsessed with turning Italy

771
00:48:41,966 --> 00:48:43,814
into a nation of fascists.

772
00:48:50,535 --> 00:48:53,447
He communicated with the
multitude from his balcony.

773
00:48:55,548 --> 00:48:59,218
(event announcer speaking Italian)

774
00:48:59,218 --> 00:49:02,085
(crowd cheering)

775
00:49:03,640 --> 00:49:07,928
In 1935, he made one of his
most important speeches here,

776
00:49:09,082 --> 00:49:12,494
the Declaration of War against
the Empire of Ethiopia.

777
00:49:13,899 --> 00:49:16,713
He believed it would be
the start of a colonial war

778
00:49:16,713 --> 00:49:20,001
that would test the new man
and revitalize his regime.

779
00:49:21,156 --> 00:49:24,177
(crowd cheering)

780
00:49:24,177 --> 00:49:28,086
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

781
00:49:43,184 --> 00:49:45,348
(crowd cheering)

782
00:49:45,348 --> 00:49:47,833
(uptempo dramatic music)

783
00:49:47,833 --> 00:49:51,430
- [Narrator] Ethiopia, the
war many had been waiting for

784
00:49:51,430 --> 00:49:54,393
and Mussolini had dreamt of for years.

785
00:49:54,393 --> 00:49:57,541
(bomb whistling)

786
00:49:57,541 --> 00:49:59,655
(explosion booming)

787
00:49:59,655 --> 00:50:02,752
Before colonizing Libya in 1911,

788
00:50:02,752 --> 00:50:04,597
Italy had already tried to take over

789
00:50:04,597 --> 00:50:08,131
the Empire of Ethiopia
in the 19th century,

790
00:50:08,131 --> 00:50:10,511
attacking from Eritrea and Somalia,

791
00:50:11,415 --> 00:50:13,133
but it failed miserably.

792
00:50:13,133 --> 00:50:14,949
(plane engine roaring)

793
00:50:14,949 --> 00:50:17,108
For the former anti-colonialist,

794
00:50:17,108 --> 00:50:19,581
Italy too had a right
to a place in the sun.

795
00:50:20,892 --> 00:50:23,759
(crowd cheering)

796
00:50:26,191 --> 00:50:27,980
(Adriano speaking Italian)

797
00:50:27,980 --> 00:50:28,849
- [Interpreter 2] It was his dream

798
00:50:28,849 --> 00:50:30,497
to make Italy a colonial power.

799
00:50:32,871 --> 00:50:34,466
Just as Britain, France,

800
00:50:34,466 --> 00:50:36,658
and others were to a greater extent.

801
00:50:38,990 --> 00:50:40,658
(Antonio speaking Italian)

802
00:50:40,658 --> 00:50:43,067
- [Interpreter 1] Italy needed space

803
00:50:43,067 --> 00:50:46,322
where Italians could work
rather than immigrating abroad.

804
00:50:48,769 --> 00:50:51,636
(crowd cheering)

805
00:50:53,018 --> 00:50:55,202
(Teresa speaking Italian)

806
00:50:55,202 --> 00:50:57,860
- [Interpreter 3] They
believed what Mussolini said.

807
00:50:57,860 --> 00:51:00,206
That with the wars we would become rich,

808
00:51:00,206 --> 00:51:04,397
that we were the heirs of the
Romans, that we were superior,

809
00:51:04,397 --> 00:51:07,309
with this myth of the
superiority of the race.

810
00:51:10,125 --> 00:51:12,122
(speaking Italian)

811
00:51:12,122 --> 00:51:13,748
- [Interpreter 2] From the books I read,

812
00:51:13,748 --> 00:51:16,251
I thought it was a backward country

813
00:51:16,251 --> 00:51:19,692
because in the past,
they used witch doctors.

814
00:51:19,692 --> 00:51:24,905
(upbeat music)
(singer singing in Italian)

815
00:51:31,763 --> 00:51:33,484
- [Narrator] Waged in
the name of progress,

816
00:51:33,484 --> 00:51:35,360
but overtly racist,

817
00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:37,518
Mussolini's colonial war was condemned

818
00:51:37,518 --> 00:51:39,273
by the international community.

819
00:51:43,586 --> 00:51:45,345
- [Interpreter 4] There was this song,

820
00:51:45,345 --> 00:51:49,309
"little Black face, beautiful
Abyssinian, wait and hope,

821
00:51:49,309 --> 00:51:52,343
the hour is drawing near
when we should be near you,

822
00:51:52,343 --> 00:51:55,283
we will give you our Duce and our king,"

823
00:51:55,283 --> 00:51:57,845
and we all cried, "Poor thing!"

824
00:52:03,258 --> 00:52:04,666
- [Narrator] In Ethiopia,

825
00:52:04,666 --> 00:52:07,199
the fascist troops used poison gas,

826
00:52:07,199 --> 00:52:09,138
a weapon of mass destruction,

827
00:52:09,138 --> 00:52:12,425
banned by the treaties that
Mussolini himself had signed.

828
00:52:16,676 --> 00:52:18,667
All the characteristics of a genocide.

829
00:52:18,667 --> 00:52:21,178
(bomb whistling)

830
00:52:21,178 --> 00:52:24,305
(explosion booming)

831
00:52:25,464 --> 00:52:27,904
Il Duce gave free reign to his troops,

832
00:52:27,904 --> 00:52:30,125
which included his own children,

833
00:52:30,125 --> 00:52:33,506
19-year-old Vittorio
and 17-year-old Bruno.

834
00:52:35,786 --> 00:52:39,507
Bomber pilots presented as
prototypes of the new man,

835
00:52:39,507 --> 00:52:42,983
they showered incendiary
bombs on Ethiopia.

836
00:52:42,983 --> 00:52:45,926
(bombs whistling)

837
00:52:45,926 --> 00:52:48,796
"It was very enjoyable
work," wrote Vittorio

838
00:52:48,796 --> 00:52:51,020
in a book on his return.

839
00:52:51,020 --> 00:52:54,495
(plane engine roaring)

840
00:52:58,591 --> 00:53:02,501
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

841
00:53:15,757 --> 00:53:16,726
(film reel rattling)

842
00:53:16,726 --> 00:53:17,977
- [Narrator] At the same moment,

843
00:53:17,977 --> 00:53:21,765
young Piero Gandini accompanied
his parents to Ethiopia.

844
00:53:24,670 --> 00:53:27,923
Little did he know that one of
their friends, this soldier,

845
00:53:27,923 --> 00:53:31,085
a famous mountaineer,
would become a criminal.

846
00:53:34,423 --> 00:53:36,242
(Piero speaking Italian)

847
00:53:36,242 --> 00:53:39,495
- [Interpreter 1] He received
the order from Mussolini

848
00:53:39,495 --> 00:53:42,508
to throw poison gas into a cave

849
00:53:44,092 --> 00:53:47,408
where thousands of
Ethiopians were sheltering

850
00:53:47,408 --> 00:53:48,631
with their families.

851
00:53:51,816 --> 00:53:53,726
(explosion booming)

852
00:53:53,726 --> 00:53:57,138
Those who managed to escape
were shot on the spot.

853
00:54:00,875 --> 00:54:04,263
(slow relaxing music)

854
00:54:08,988 --> 00:54:12,064
- [Narrator] Mussolini was at
the height of his popularity.

855
00:54:14,941 --> 00:54:16,463
(people chattering)

856
00:54:16,463 --> 00:54:19,560
To show the world he had
the support of his people

857
00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:24,595
he launched a gold campaign,
The Day of The Wedding Rings,

858
00:54:24,595 --> 00:54:26,850
also known as the Day of Faith.

859
00:54:32,219 --> 00:54:34,072
100s of 1,000s of couples

860
00:54:34,072 --> 00:54:37,449
in communion with Il Duce
handed over their wedding rings

861
00:54:37,449 --> 00:54:38,704
to be melted down.

862
00:54:46,152 --> 00:54:49,209
"God and history today mean 'Mussolini'"

863
00:54:49,209 --> 00:54:51,295
wrote a student leader.

864
00:54:51,295 --> 00:54:54,249
(crowd cheering)

865
00:54:55,840 --> 00:54:59,562
Hungry for recognition,
sure of his destiny,

866
00:54:59,562 --> 00:55:01,785
Mussolini did not intend to stop there.

867
00:55:02,739 --> 00:55:05,606
(crowd cheering)

868
00:55:08,277 --> 00:55:12,187
(Mussolini speaking Italian)

869
00:55:13,363 --> 00:55:16,230
(crowd cheering)

870
00:55:25,802 --> 00:55:27,491
- [Narrator] His delusions of grander

871
00:55:27,491 --> 00:55:30,489
would soon lead to his downfall.

872
00:55:30,489 --> 00:55:33,878
(plane engine roaring)