260 Mussolini, Benito Mussolini had toyed with the idea of reconquering the Mediterranean basin, and this explains his decision to bombard Corfu in 1923, to exterminate the seminomadic Libyan Bedouins who refused to surrender, and to invade Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935–36 and subdue it by means of mustard gas, phosgene, flamethrowers, the slaughter of civilians, forced labor camps, and scorchedearth tactics He also bombed Red Cross encampments in Ethiopia as a retaliation for their denunciations of the Fascist atrocities The ensuing international sanctions drove Mussolini out of the League of Nations and into a deadly alliance with Adolf Hitler, which was sealed by the Nazi-Fascist intervention in the 1936–39 Spanish civil war on the side of the future Spanish dictator, general Francisco Franco A pact of mutual defense, the Pact of Steel, which paved the way to World War II, was finally signed by Mussolini and Hitler in May 1939 After the proclamation of the empire (May 1936), he adopted segregationist and anti-Semitic legislation more extensive and stricter than that of Nazi Germany The German attack against Poland in September 1939 took Mussolini by surprise In spite of Mussolini’s militaristic rhetoric, the Italian army had demonstrated in Spain that it was not prepared for a full-scale conflict with the world’s major powers However, completely blinded by the prospect of a quick defeat of France, he declared war in June 1940, only to be bitterly disappointed when the United Kingdom refused to give up the fight and defeated the Italians in Egypt and Libya, and the Greeks not only halted the Italian invasion of northern Greece but also forced the Italian army into an inglorious retreat at the end of 1940 From then on Mussolini’s fate was in the hands of Germany Thus, the king ordered that Mussolini be placed under arrest The former Duce was rescued by German paratroops a few months later and proclaimed the Italian Social Republic, nothing but a puppet state in Germanoccupied northern Italy To prove his loyalty to Hitler, Mussolini had his son-in-law, Galeazzo Ciano, executed on the charge of treason By the end of 1944, approximately 16 free partisan republics had been formed in various valleys of northern Italy, and the Social Republic was quickly sliding into an all-out civil war and was being carpet bombed by the Allies In April 1945 the German army was retreating, thousands of partisans were streaming from the valleys into the cities, and Mussolini once again attempted to seek refuge in Switzerland He was recognized and arrested by the partisans and summarily executed along with his mistress Claretta Petacci in a village on Lake Como Further reading: Bosworth, Richard J B The Italian Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives in the Interpretation of Mussolini and Fascism London: Arnold, 1998; ——— Mussolini London and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002; Deakin, F William The Brutal Friendship: Mussolini, Hitler and the Fall of Italian Fascism New York: Harper and Row, 1962; Mack Smith, Denis Mussolini London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1981 Stefano Fait