The resistance and the establishment of the Republic, 1944–7

After dismissing Mussolini, and having him arrested, Victor Emmanuel appointed a Fascist general, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, prime minister. Regarded as a hero during the Ethiopian war, Badoglio had previously been governor of Libya, but had never been close to Mussolini. On becoming prime minister he declared that the war would continue. For his long delay in coming to terms with the Allies he was to bear a heavy responsibility. Only on 13 October 1943 – eleven weeks after his appointment – did he declare war on Germany. Italy then became a ‘co-belligerent’, since the Western powers were not ready to consider her a full ally. By then Hitler had poured his armies into Italy, occupying Rome on September 11. The Italian army had found itself in an ambiguous position, with some generals being reluctant to resist the Germans, and none prepared to do so without clear orders from Badoglio's government, or reliable promises of help from Allied headquarters. For the muddle and delay Italy was to pay a terrible price in human suffering, and the world war was almost certainly prolonged.

Mussolini had been kept in detention in a hotel in the Abruzzi mountains. On 12 September a German air-force unit carried out a dramatic rescue – or kidnapping – of the dismissed Duce. The wretchedly sick man had earlier said that he wished only to be left in peace, but he was now to be provided with a small Italian state by Hitler.