The Fall of Mussolini

The fall of Mussolini on July 25 resulted from two successive events, both of which originated within the regime: the no-confidence vote of the Fascist Grand Council, the party's highest organ, and the decision of King Victor Emmanuel III to request Mussolini's resignation. Mussolini had probably agreed to summon the Grand Council on July 24 (the Council had not met since 1939) in order to face the internal opposition and reduce it to minority status. However, after a heated discussion lasting for several hours, the motion presented by Dino Grandi requesting that the king resume his constitutional powers was put to a vote and approved 19 to 7. The following day, July 25, the king finally took the initiative, not only of replacing Mussolini with Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio, but also of having him arrested. This took the Duce completely by surprise, as he had been convinced he could count on the king's support. In a few hours a regime that had lasted twenty years was brought to an end. The anti-Fascist opposition had nothing to do with Mussolini's overthrow. In the preceding weeks, the king had limited himself to receiving a few pre-Fascist figures, such as Ivanoe Bonomi and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, who had asked him to take the initiative.

Some anti-Fascist parties, such as the Communist Party, the Action Party and the Christian Democratic Party (the new name assumed by the old Catholic party, the Partito Popolare Italiano), had begun to reorganize and proselytize in 1942, but Mussolini's resignation caught them by surprise as well.