The Great War and Mussolini’s diary

2015-2016 saw the reissue of many editions of Mussolini’s war diary, a publication which originally came out in instalments in his own «Il Popolo d’Italia» in 1915-1917, and then as a single volume in 1923. The explanation for these republications lies in the fact that the author’s copyright had expired 70 years after his death, and also coincided with the 100th anniversary of Italy’s entry into the WW1. Turi analyses the different approaches of the various editors and how the text reveals both the public and private face of Mussolini, and indeed Mussolini the «heretic», the man who in 1923, as the head of government, had eliminated all of the antireligious references in the text. Furthermore, Turi argues that the diary did not intend to represent the reality of life on the front, nor could it in some way anticipate the future choices of the author. Instead, the text was designed to respond to Mussolini’s political objectives when he wrote and published it: his strong commitment to intervention and his intense propaganda activities advocating Italy’s participation in the war, a choice he had made in 1914-15.

Keywords: Fascism, Mussolini, First World War, Interventionism

Gabriele Turi, La Grande guerra e il diario di Mussolini in "PASSATO E PRESENTE" 100/2017, pp 157-165, DOI: 10.3280/PASS2017-100009