Thread by @FascioLiftorio

Time for a thread.

Mussolini's opposition to a War against Russia.

It is often unknown that the Italian leader opposed a War against the USSR. Not only for Geopolitical reasons, but also for Ideological reasons. Before 1935, Italy had been quite friendly with the Soviets, having Italy be the first country to recognize the eastern nation.

Most of the hostily torwards Russia would begin after 1935, this was due to the fact that the Germans were trying to bring Italy under its sphere. Mussolini's course of action in domestic and foreign policy would get highly affected by this.

Before 1935, however, the Fascist Regime would openly publish books praising and comparing itself with the USSR. Mussolini himself would draw similarities between both systems. He would go to the extent of asking his close ones if there was really any important difference.

At his view, Stalin had eliminated the bolshevik element, and what remained in Russia was a form of Slavic-Fascism. This would alert several Fascist Hierarchs, while at the same time making many others pleased. It wasnt rare for Italian Fascists to want an alliance with the USSR.

When Barbarossa was launched, Mussolini wasn't aware of it. Not only that, but he would instantly wish bad luck upon the Germans; wishing that they failed so hard to the point peace, and even an alliance could be made.

"I hope for only one thing...that in this war in the East the Germans lose many feathers. It’s a falsity to talk about an anti-Bolshevik struggle. Hitler knows that Bolshevism has not existed for some time."

Benito Mussolini, 1941

He would constantly push Hitler to make peace with the Russians. It got to the point that before his arrest in 1943, he was planning on sending the Germans an ultimatum; Peace with Russia or Italy leaves the conflict.

"The Germans have never grasped the importance of the Mediterranean, never... they mantained and still mantain that Russia is a deadly peril to Western and European civilization. I tried to convince Hitler that this was a meaningless phrase... Stalin has killed Bolshevism...

in contrast to Trotsky, he has completely renounced world revolution."

Benito Mussolini, 1943.

After his liberation, he would keep up the possibility of an alliance with Russia. He believed, that this was still possible, and that the most important struggle was against the Plutocratic West. By 1945, when everything was lost, he would finally say the following:

"Tomorrow, the Italians will have to choose a master. In certainty of this eventuality, I, as an Italian citizen, would not hesitate even for a moment to choose Stalin... Today, Stalin is in a position to do what Hitler was unable to do, but could have done with positive results"

The End