Speculation on Hitler's Suicide
Speculation on Hitler's Suicide
Adolf Hitler is known throughout the world for the terror he caused from 1933 to 1945. Virtually every country that offers history to its students covers this man and his path of destruction. There are thousands of books and articles on the Hitler and the Nazi party. Therefore, it is redundant to try and restate what is already well known about Hitler. However, one of the few aspects about Hitler that is not well known is his relationship with Benito Mussolini and how that friendship caused Hitler to take his own life.
Adolf Hitler was a man who greatly admired Benito Mussolini. The Italian dictator, who was named after the Mexican president Benito Juarez, rose to power in 1922. Mussolini used fear to take control of his country. Mussolini used the facist squads that wore black shirts to symbolize their identity. These young men, who had shaved heads would roam the streets and beat people at ramdom. The "Black Shirts" used 19 inch billy-clubs to beat their victims. By 1922, Mussolini, who had been a brick layer, teacher, newspaper journalists, and a soldier in WWI, had been given power from King Victor-Emmanuel III. Musssolini didn't know it, but a young man by the name of Adolf Hitler was inspired by his actions.
In 1923, Hitler was already the leader of the German Nationalist Socialist Party (Nazi Party). That year, with Mussolini's actions on his mind, Hitler tried to take Germany much in the same manner as Mussolini and his "Black Shirts" had. Hitler was going to storm the German legislature with his Putsch. Instead of using billie-clubs, Hitler had bought guns for his Nazi members. However, the guns had no firing pins which didn't allow them to fire at all. After two days of rioting, the Nazi's were disbanned and Hitler was jailed for a year.
Thus, it is easy to see how Mussolini had an influence on Hitler during the early years of their rise to power. However, Mussolini's influence would follow Hitler to his own grave as well.
By 1943, Mussolini had lost power in most of Italy. Victor-Emmanuel III had taken back control from the Fascist leader. However, because of the Germans, Mussolini was given a puppet government to control. When this government began to crumble in April of 1945, Mussolini tried to make his escape for Switzerland.
Mussolini tried to make his escape by car. However, Italian...