Original subtitles

his speeches leave Italy wish there was

something almost magical that would suck

people into his thinking he in effect

kind of hypnotized but behind on Benito

Mussolini's bluster and posturing lies a

dark heart of violence and brutality

adult Hitler looks at Mussolini as

someone who is providing a blueprint as

to how to destroy the old order this is

the story of ill duche the boss and how

his love of Italy inspires an epic rise

to power but whose devotion to

inflicting fear ultimately he brings his

country to its knees

[Music]

by the end of April 1945 Allied forces

have liberated almost all of Italy from

Nazi occupation

an occupation no Italian ever wanted by

Lake Como close to the Swiss border a

large German SS convoy is heading rules

[Music]

when a small patrol of Italian partisans

stop them at a makeshift road bank the

Nazis in the lead Jeep demand to be less

[Music]

but just as they're about to let the

Germans pass one of the men notices

something strange at the back of the

vehicle a man in Nazi uniform

is trying not to be noticed

on closer inspection they realize

booties

[Music]

he stopped at a roadblock and although

he's doing his best wearing a uniform to

actually disguise himself he's of course

instantly recognized and so is his lover

at the time Clara Petacci ldg Benito

Mussolini Italy's fascist dictator is

arrested immediately

it's the final fall from grace for a man

who held his country under an evil spell

for over two decades

Mussolini's evolution begins in 1883 in

the village of Prada Pia in the Romagna

region of northeastern Italy where he is

born into a family falling on hard times

the grandfather had to sell the family

land and I think somewhere in muslin his

souls the desire to reclaim family

success

[Music]

like so many in Romania he is raised in

a family of radical socialists who are

often jailed for their political beliefs

Mussolini's father is a blacksmith who

spends more time womanizing and drinking

than working of the anvil leaving the

family little money to survive

Mussolini grew up with a really strong

resentment of people who had more than

he had he knew he was much smarter than

anyone else that he met and yet he

wasn't the beneficiary of privileges

[Music]

fueled by his family's sense of

injustice young Benito is arrogant

volatile and a bully the Mussolini as a

child was very wild as ankle unruly and

anarchic ragazzo Mussolini era as a boy

Mussolini was a rebel he was intolerant

and very close relationships with his

peers of the violent

in games with friends he hates to lose

and often fights dirty to resolve

disputes

[Music]

durante una lotta Coonan ravali in a

fight with a rival he used a knife and

injured the other boy very seriously

very mortal cerium and Mussolini is

holed before the fathers of his Catholic

school who he hates they expel him

telling his parents he is beyond their

control

but there is also a warm loyal side to

these will be key

rise to power

his brother and sister adore him he's a

dreamer who recites poetry and

literature

Mussolini was a great stage director of

his own life he had a lot of charisma

and charm a young age through horses

making speeches

he practiced early on for posing and and

and can't believe I think his own

theatrical image by the age of 18 the

future dictator of Italy is a flamboyant

attractive young man and like his father

a passionate socialist

[Music]

women are drawn to him like a magnet

but his volatile side keeps erupting

between the impassive Apple who's crazy

for women he had the highly sexual

personality so any woman young or old to

him was just an object to be preyed upon

a ship and we you know jet to the Rana

[Music]

throughout his life mussolini beds

hundreds of women often violently most

many I think tended to engage in the

sort of sex that is best described as

nasty brutish and short rather than be

ashamed of beating and raping women in

later writings he boasts about it

Mussolini

he was an egotist as a result some of

his behavior was strange this

strangeness got him known as the madman

of production and the madman of Romania

mato del Romana in 1903 he avoids

national service by escaping to

Switzerland where he's arrested for

advocating a violent revolution his

mother dies shortly afterwards and he

goes completely off the rails oh boy

Grantham orders of the greatest love of

his life was his mother in true Italian

style she died when he was only 22 and

for him

this was an extremely dark day which he

would remember for the rest of his life

the ladies with high

[Music]

when his father remarries Mussolini

takes an unhealthy interest in his new

stepsister sixteen year old rock n lay

his father fears Benito will bring shame

to the family by starting a relationship

some might think insistence

however he will have her no matter what

Cellini Adisa Mussolini said that is

this girl cannot be mine I will shoot

myself and he made the gesture to do

just that

the whole thing though was just an art

and at that time he had no intention of

killing himself for Jesus in 1910 Benito

and Raquel II start to live together

but miscellaneous sex mad and soon

abandons his stepsister and marries

another woman

EDA dalsu

they have a son together Bennett II know

[Music]

it's not long before he grows tired of

his new family and leaves them too

at this stage there is no sign that ama

Cellini the violent womanizing socialist

can turn into one of history's most evil

dictators

[Music]

but cataclysmic world events are about

to change everything 1914 World War one

erupts across noon at first

Italy stays neutral but many argue they

should fight for a share of the Spoils

as an active socialist benito mussolini

initially supports his nations

neutrality

[Music]

by now he has moved to Milan and found a

flair for journalism stoked by his

childhood love of literature still in

his twenties he is made editor of

Italy's biggest selling socialist

newspaper Avanti

avanti gave him the platform from which

he could influence the political

direction of the party itself he was a

fierce supporter of revolution in Italy

but then he starts to think that the war

could be the spark to transform the

country even start a revolution

if so Italy must be part of it in April

1915 he's arrested for organizing

pro-war demonstrations but the

Socialists and Avanti don't share his

views he is expelled from the party and

resigns from the newspaper to get back

at them he starts a publication of his

own he wants a platform for his ideas

and so he gets together money from

various sources he sets up a newspaper

called Eva popularly Dahlia the people

of Italy on the 24th of May 1915

Mussolini gets his wish as Italy finally

joins the conflict

having argued so passionately for war

now he can fight in it when Italy

declares war in spring of 1915 he

volunteers he gets wounded in an

accident with a mortar in the

photographs in on crutches after that he

goes back to his job as a newspaper

editor while recovering he writes

editorials on his sickbed and an idea

starts to take form he began thinking

that perhaps the route to a revolution

in Italy might be to organize the

veterans of the war after they came home

Mussolini

referred to them as the aristocracy of

the trenches

sure enough when the war ends in 1918

Italy is in a miserable state and ripe

for change despite being on the winning

side the country has gained almost

nothing in the peace settlement

[Music]

Communists and socialists are causing

trouble on Italian streets calling for a

revolution like Russians by now

Mussolini has completely turned his back

on the left he wants to forge his own

path one based on the glory of Italy and

it's Roman past

Mussolini had become more and more in

love with his own country and dreaming

about running it and thinking about how

he could make it a great power he

decides to put his ideas into action he

calls for a radical new movement to be

formed one which he will lead by the

force of his personality even though he

seems to these kind of this warm guy and

and people saw him sometimes is almost

empathic it's a veneer it's a facade and

he knew that that warmth that he seemed

to give off was manipulating in itself

Mussolini appeals to disillusioned War

veterans who share both his anger with

the old liberal parliamentary system and

his fear of a communist takeover

they believe that extreme nationalism

and a one-party state are what will make

Italy great again and they adopted the

Roman Acts the fast show as their symbol

they call themselves fascists many of

them wear the black shirt of the Arditi

Italy's fearsome commando unit and

ignore the fascist black shirts the

street fighters believed that political

debates voting all of the trappings of

democracy were either foolish or weak or

a fraud if you wanted something you took

it and Mussolini's thugs are armed to

the teeth fascists were very often led

by demobilized junior officers and they

had accessed weapons often they kept

weapons themselves from the war they had

revolvers but they also had more exotic

weapons the Manganiello the heavy Club

was one of their characteristic weapons

but knuckle dusters sometimes even weird

instruments I mean there's one fascist

group for example that beat up its

enemies using sticks of dried Cod

Mussolini becomes their leader and they

call him El Duque the boss he organizes

his fascists into fighting units

instructing them to beat and humiliate

his opponents

[Music]

this patristic friend Ivanova copy

social history the units would attack

the socialist leaders capture them tie

fascist slogans around them make them

look ridiculous for Sentinel powerful

laxatives making them sewing themselves

to destroy their public image mental

alluro

imagine if a hero and the fascists

mocked them and took pictures which then

appeared in the newspapers

[Applause]

Mussolini's fascist movement takes off

going from 20,000 to almost 200,000

members in just a few minutes while his

thugs battled communists in the streets

Mussolini tries to broaden his power

base the fascist movement becomes the

fascist party and in 1921 he is elected

to Parliament

campaigning reveals his supreme skill

throughout his career with one masterful

speech the duche can turn crowds into

screaming adornments

[Applause]

he had the ability to move people to

control their emotions to get them to

listen to him that he was eloquent and

he was persuasive there was something

almost magical that would suck people

into his thinking

you have these gigantic crowds shouting

boo boo boo bullshit because he in

effect kind of hypnotized them in 1922

as Italy descends further into chaos

mussolini seizes the moment through the

power of his oratory he's going to

mobilize enough fascists onto the

streets to try to force the state to

hand him power he urges his supporters

to march on Rome but their leader isn't

amongst them behind the scenes the

master of propaganda is working away he

thought as a kind of an act he was

staging what looked like a revolution

but at the same time secretly assuring

the army leadership and the monarchy

that this was only play-acting Mussolini

later claims hundreds of thousands

joined the march in reality only 16,000

bedraggled mainly unarmed marchers show

up

the police and army turned a blind eye

it was a nun typically wet October they

drowned while sway ting they didn't know

what to do no orders were coming

Mussolini was not to be seen

he's actually in Milan he's really

sitting beside the telephone waiting for

other politicians to ream up and say you

want to be minister of this or would you

like to be perhaps Prime Minister

terrified of a revolution Italy's head

of state King Victor Emmanuel the third

calls on Mussolini to lead a new

coalition government through his ability

to stir up the mob the boss has bluffed

and bullied his way to power it's the

beginning of Italy's descent into hell

[Music]

while Mussolini attempts to be statesman

like his black shirts are still on the

streets causing mayhem violence has been

his way of life and now with power in

his grasp he has the means to inflict it

on anyone who stands in his way

socialist politician Giacomo Matteotti

is making threats to expose the fascists

violent tactics so he needs to be

silenced

a unit of Blackshirts assaults Matt ERT

who suffers a heart attack

and is buried in a shallow grave just

outside Rome when he realized that his

own personal bodyguards had murdered

this socialist Member of Parliament he

tried to cover it up

when Matt yachties body is recovered

mussolini denies any involvement and the

murder does its job political opponents

are terrorized into silence

[Music]

with Italy cowed into submission he can

fulfill his dream of a second Roman

Empire spanning the globe with himself

as the new emperor just like somebody

else a few hundred miles away

he receives a request asking for a

signed photograph from an admirer in

Germany mussolini refuses he doesn't

consider the letter writer important

that will soon change because the letter

is from the man who will devastate both

his life and that of his country

Adolf Hitler

in 1925 the duche declares Italy a

dictatorship all political parties are

closed down except for fascists ma

Fellini was completely anti-democratic

in his political model there was not all

for any kind of opposition with Italy

under his complete command Mussolini can

indulge his greatest passion showmanship

fascism was characterized by the cult of

the leader and was then played up to

this in a very big way and was always

posing for the cameras

he had remarkable staring eyes

everything was done to present him as a

kind of Nietzsche type Superman a man

who was there I'll who was athletic was

great sportsmen who had a great torso

and you have no qualms about stripping

to the waist and and showing off his as

he would see it is his manly torso

it really is impossible to mention and

of Hitler taking off his shirt and

exhibiting himself whereas Massa Lanie

does get photographed bringing in the

harvest

he's a mess age politician Mussolini

becomes a role model for every would-be

dictator of the 20th century and beyond

[Music]

at first italy prospers under fascism a

massive scheme of public works

dramatically reduces unemployment

Mussolini reaches an almost divine

status at home and abroad Church hails

him as a genius FDR says he is deeply

impressed by him

cual errol imagine a public at the

Mussolini for Adele Italia the public

image of him outside of Italy was

completely positive because from the

outside it was a country of rebels and

Mussolini had made it whole mess up

often a wave deactivated the Bolshevik

threat he had made the trains run on

time and had United a divided Italian a

vessel Italia in de visa but controlling

his own country isn't enough for the DJ

one of the turns that sums Italy up very

well I think is the idea that it was the

least of the great powers that it was

bottom of the first division and you can

find milena himself using that football

metaphor he is particularly jealous of

the great colonial empires

France Mussolini Aviva Lambeth Sione

the Mussolini at the ambition to restore

the Roman Empire we wanted to send his

fascist legions to where the Roman

legions had gone before including into

Libya and North Africa Italy had

controlled Libya since 1911 but after

the first world war Libyan tribesmen

rise up against their Imperial masters

mussolini orders a brutal policy of

pacification with high or denis he

orders his generals to exterminate any

opposition to lock them in concentration

camp or the continent remain to the

Italian policy in Libya was a story of

utter brutality up there with the worst

moments of European colonialism

100,000 Libyan tribesmen are rounded up

and forced to march across the desert

most died on the journey the majority

are women children and the elderly and

for political leaders there's an even

worse punishment

there was a saying among the libyan

arabs he went to rome but he never got

to rome he was thrown out of the plane a

couple of miles outside of the village

they eradicated these people and took

the leader Omar al Mokhtar

and hanged him in front of 20,000

Libyans in total around half of Libya's

population are wiped out by Mussolini's

crazed delusions of a new roman empire

but the rest of the world pays little

attention to what's happening in North

Africa

apart from the newly elected Chancellor

of Germany in 1934 Adolf Hitler finally

gets to meet the man he wrote to eight

years earlier mussolini remains

unimpressed and describes him as a silly

little clown

Adolf Hitler looks at Mussolini as

someone who is providing a blueprint as

to how to destroy the old order

Hitler learns from Mussolini and he has

a deep affection for him that goes

beyond just admiration it's idealization

of Mussolini at first it's Hitler who

Apes his great hero copying the fascist

salute and many of the Doge's ideas

Mussolini relishes his superiority at

the beginning of their relationship he

thinks he can bully Hitler to

in a move that will inspire the Nazis he

spends billions expanding the military

his plan is to widen his empire so he

sends his forces to a country that had

embarrassed Italy in a colonial defeat

40 years earlier in the autumn of 1935

over half a million Italian troops

invade Ethiopia in a savage act of

revenge

what's he turns to Ethiopia in part

because that has long been an object of

Italian puerile ambitions

it is the largest colonial army ever put

into the field when the war becomes one

of the 20th century's most one-sided

conflicts

mussolini wanted to create a kind of

copy of south africa in ethiopia in

other words to turn the ethiopian

population into what amounted to slaves

or serf and create a massive immigrant

population of italian who would practice

a kind of apartheid but they did so with

such violence such cruelty such

ruthlessness there was a massive revolt

in the center of the country this was

one of the most brutal campaigns ever

waged by colonial power

but Ethiopia had virtually no air force

and Italian planes could simply fly over

Ethiopian villages or Ethiopian Armed

Forces and do whatever they like to them

and the doochie instructs his bombers to

fight dirty

you wanted this campaign to be over

quickly and by the end of the year he

said we just simply got to use poison

gas on life style we just got to get

this war finished swiftly

in defiance of the League of Nations

Mussolini drops mustard gas on Ethiopia

something even Hitler refuses to deploy

emperor haile selassie desperately

appeals to the League of Nations to

intervene but they just look the other

way

Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia leaves

the Lion of Judah Zin poverty ssin

devastated the Ethiopian historians

think that the death toll during the war

is somewhere above 350,000 people so

it's a massive death toll

Ethiopian war was really beginning of

the Second World War most senior knew

full well that invading Ethiopia he was

breaking the League of Nations it was

going to give a green light to Hitler

Hitler could now see that you could act

in defiance the big nations and get away

with it

the bond between Mussolini and Hitler

grows tighter than ever

and in lead were the Nazis the duche

sends troops to aid Franco's fascists

fighting the Spanish Civil War both

countries got involved with the Spanish

Civil War from 3639 and the verdict was

completely different Germany for the

very very successful campaign Italy the

Italians were defeated in Guadalajara in

a very traumatic event again and the

comparison between the two was traumatic

for Mussolini the Spanish campaign is

the first sign the Nazi war machine is

better equipped for conflict than his

military but the duche ignores all

advice

[Music]

however Mussolini's philandering has

come back to haunt him

the first wife he abandoned EDA dalsu

and their son little Bonita have been

causing him problems

[Music]

Mussolini's subsequently married Raquel

a his stepsister but ADA keeps surfacing

tarnishing his image

lay low Oliver she wanted him all for

herself and so caused several scenes

with Raquel II Mussolini Putin duche

found the situation intolerable as it

risk putting him in a bad light

the fascist dictators ruthless side

reveals itself again as he declares

either to be mad and has her locked up

it winded that he decided that this

woman should be completely removed from

view another put in a psychiatric

hospital in Monaco Mia in 1937 Hadassah

is allegedly beaten and dies of a brain

hemorrhage in the asylum

a few years later he orders his own son

little Bonita to be murdered by lethal

injection

he is just 26

[Music]

the duche thinks his ruthlessness makes

him untouchable

September the 27th 1937 with his

personal affairs now in order Mussolini

is invited to Germany and Hitler was out

in the stops to impress his argument he

is absolutely astounded by the progress

that Germany has made during those few

years

he is a blown over by the show of

military might and order he realizes

that the balance of power has tipped

already decisively Edwards Hitler

as a man obsessed with showmanship and

military might

Hitler presses all of Mussolini's

buttons the duche becomes enthralled the

silly little clown is now the ringmaster

[Applause]

mostly comes back from his visit to

German with a sense that really you know

the future lies with Germany's really

impressed by by the Nazis it's not just

Hitler's armies that win Mussolini over

he is becoming captivated by his ideas

too

he sees the persecution of Jews in

Germany as a model for the introduction

of his own anti-jewish laws one of the

greatest blots on Mussolini's reputation

were the anti-semitic decrees of

November 1938

[Music]

until the 1930s Jews and Catholics had

lived relatively peaceably side-by-side

in Italy but are now just like Germany

Jews a stripped of citizenship and

barred from holding official jobs

[Music]

marriage between Italians and Jews is

declared illegal tan racism is defined

from 1938 onwards is increasingly in

terms of Italy being defined in

spiritual terms as a racial community at

the root of a Tallinn spiritual identity

is Catholicism and therefore the Jews

cannot be part of the Italian spiritual

community

maleeni certainly plays a major role in

the introduction of the anti-semitic

legislation and then in its continued

expansion italian anti-semitism remains

essentially discriminatory rather than

genocide all the Italians aren't then

until in imagining that they're going to

kill their Jews they are mentioning that

they're going to separate them from the

rest of the population fascist and Nazi

ideology converge a military alliance

the pact of Steel is signed between

Italy and Germany with it Mussolini's

and his people's fate are sealed

September the 1st 1939 Hitler invades

Poland two days later

Britain and France declare war on

Germany at first

Mussolini's unsure which way the war

will go and tries to play the long game

but when Hitler conquers France he is

convinced that can be only one winner On

June the 10th 1940 he throws in his lot

with the Nazis he's certain now Hitler

is unstoppable and by following him he

can fulfill his own Imperial dreams he

couldn't be more wrong he's been sucked

into a conflict Italy cannot find

Italy is decidedly unprepared for a

modern world war its economy remains the

weakest of the competing great powers

all the advice that ma Selena gets in

and in the spring anyway of 1940 is be

careful look we really can't do this as

Hitler's armies rampage through northern

Europe against all his generals advice

Mussolini instructs his forces to begin

their own separate invasions without

telling Hitler he decides to go for the

Balkans in a big way and plans are drawn

up for invasion of Greece which is

assumed will be fairly over fairly

quickly

[Music]

for almost any success in Ethiopia the

invasion of Greece is a disaster

the Italian Army is defeated and

immediately retreat

[Music]

the Nazis are forced to rescue their

weaker Ally and occupy Greece

On June the 22nd 1941 Hitler

independently attacks the Soviet Union

but Mussolini

insists Italian troops have to be

involved

Mussolini Gaddafi attack on America not

Mussolini looked at Hitler with

admiration but also hate hate because

Hitler had become the master and

Mussolini had become simply an ally and

moreover a secondary ally in the Russian

campaign Mussolini insisted on sending

Italian troops which Hitler didn't warn

men only believer

because of their leaders desperation to

please his master around 30,000 Italians

are killed on the Eastern Front and

another 50,000 died in captivity

in 1942 news filters through a further

defeats to the British in North Africa

the war is becoming a humiliation for

Italy Mussolini's unstable personality

emerges again with violent mood swings

and erratic behavior when Mussolini had

aligned himself with Hitler he developed

this kind of manic-depressive kind of

behavior going from one extreme to

another he takes refuge in his arrogance

and self obsession he believes that he

can do no wrong

he's great believe his own intuition he

says to his son Lord one stage I am the

most intelligent animal has ever existed

but his bluster seems absurd given the

tragedy about a engulf his people

in 1943 Italy is losing the war but

Mussolini becomes seriously ill with an

ulcer that's plagued him throughout his

life

his grip on the country is loosening and

the writing is on the wall for his

regime

the Allies are bombing the entire

Peninsula and have invaded Sicily air

raids on the Tannen cities take a huge

toll both in terms material damage bills

only

merav Italian people there are

increasing food shortages rationing

comes in in a major way and people are

getting increasingly desperate

despite the suffering of his people the

doochie is too proud to surrender his

character begins to change she has more

isolated he won't listen to anyone's

advice unable to accept any blame

Mussolini casts around for scapegoats

Cercado Sarila propaganda began to use

propaganda in an effort to blame the war

on the Jews he started to blame his

generals and when disaster really struck

if he accused the Italian people of not

being in control of their own dreams and

objectives it was always somebody else's

fault

Nicole Paris empanadas Italians who had

once been frightened into submission

even his own political allies now turn

on their leader

Mussolini's son-in-law count Jian leads

a vote on the Grand Council to remove

him from office and end the war

the king places him under house arrest

he is confined under armed guard

what we really thought that he was

finished he wanted to dedicate himself

to his family but if Mussolini thinks he

can spend the rest of his days in

relative peace Hitler has other plans

[Applause]

in one of the most daring rescues of the

war he dispatches gliders to where

Mussolini is being held in the mountains

without a shot being fired he is rescued

and installed as head of a new puppet

regime in the north of Italy the

Republic of salò under Nazi control

[Music]

the reversal of roles is now complete

Mussolini the once powerful leader who

wrote the book on leading by

intimidation is now utterly subservient

to Hitler

we now serve merely as a puppet in a way

just repeating the worldsheet nod

already late and Hitler places condition

and so on Mussolini's return he tells

him he must send what Jews remain in

Italy to Auschwitz

6,000 are sent to the gas chambers

making his regime complicit in the worst

crime in history

next Hitler orders Mussolini to execute

the members of his government who had

conspired to have him removed including

his only son-in-law can't Jam isolated

and hated by his people reviled by his

own family his love of the Nazis and a

new roman empire brings him close to the

end

a Mussolini privet Rossellini confessed

to being finished to being a walking

corpse the Italian population cursed the

war and cursed Mussolini in this period

he was a broken man responsible for an

Italian catastrophe even worse it's all

being from nothing little by little the

Nazis are driven out of Italy

the DJ tries to escape with one of his

many mistresses Clara top Itachi but the

game is other orders come through that

Muslims should be executed before the

Allies get their hands on him that it

should be Italian people who make

judgment over him

[Music]

[Music]

Mussolini and Clarett apart a cheese

bodies are driven to the Piazzolla

Loretta in Milan

[Music]

they're the Italian people shattered by

a war only their leader wanted display

their feelings

Mussolini's corpse was battered spat

upon his head was kicked in and the

bodies were tied around the ankles and

then hoisted up so that the corpses hung

upside down

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

today there is a small minority in Italy

who admire Mussolini and long for

another fascist age when the trains run

on time

second of all Italian on a fucking

chorus I think Italians have still not

come to terms with Mussolini he still

has a certain appeal to young people

they are looking for direction and

Seema's are all bottle with clear ideas

his ideas may have been clear but only

brought was a massacre

fascists choose to forget Mussolini led

his country into a senseless war they

were hopelessly unprepared for they

forget he had become a Hitler's lapdog

they forget he was personally

responsible for the deaths of around a

million people in Italy and Africa and

participated in the Holocaust a high

price to pay for trains that run on time

[Music]

you