Mussolini Ousted: Italy's Fascist Regime Crumbles
Italy's Grand Fascist Council voted 19 to 7 to strip Mussolini of his military command on July 25, 1943, after the Allied invasion of Sicily had exposed the regime's military impotence. King Victor Emmanuel III summoned Mussolini the following afternoon and told him he was being replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio. Mussolini was arrested as he left the palace and imprisoned on the island of Ponza. The coup dismantled Fascist rule without public violence, but Germany responded immediately: within weeks, Wehrmacht divisions poured into Italy, disarmed Italian forces, and occupied the peninsula. German commandos later rescued Mussolini from captivity on Gran Sasso, installing him as head of a puppet state in northern Italy.
July 25, 1943
83 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Italy
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World War II
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Benito Mussolini
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Pietro Badoglio
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is forced out of office
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World War II
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Benito Mussolini
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Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy
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Grand Council of Fascism
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Pietro Badoglio
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Operación Cobra
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130. Panzer-Lehr-Division
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Allies of World War II
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Sicily
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Carabinieri
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