Description

Mussolini’s War Speeches

Benito Mussolini is generally remembered as an “operatic” dictator, whose power of persuasion used to lie more in his theatrical gestures than the essence of his speeches. Thus, most people tend to forget that, in fact, he was the first politician in prewar Europe to establish a fascist regime that, indeed, lasted much longer than the Third Reich (1922-1943). This volume offers English speaking readers the opportunity to look more closely at the Duce’s views, as expressed in seven of his speeches covering the period from September 1939 to December 1942 and issues such as Italy’s entrance of WW2; political arrangements made after the termination of the Balkan campaign (June 1941); and America’s entrance of the war (December 1941). The book also includes an interesting exposition of the doctrine of fascism co-written by Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile, in which the authors analyze their antidemocratic, anti-egalitarian and anti-liberal views and their preference for a corporate state.