I have been told by several people (including my history teacher) that Il Duce means The Leader. However after browsing the internet, one site was convinced it meant 'Commander in chief' is this true? Also: What military authority did Mussolini have, did his presence affect Italy's performance in the war?
Il Duce does mean 'The Leader' (not sure what is the exact, literal translation, but it is close enough!). However, I am quite sure that Musso made himself commander in chief. Well, he controlled it all. And he got Italy into the war, when it was not ready. Thanks to Musso, Italy re-armed in the mid-1930s. This meant that in 1936, they possessed far better fighter aircraft, for example, than Britain. However, when everone else re-armed in the late 1930s, Italy had to either replace her entire stock of military equipment to keep up, or just make do. Being as her opponants to date were Abbysinians (now Ethiopians) armed with spears, Albanians who were essentially an Italian protectorate before the conflict started, and the Republicans in Spain, they may well have thought they were ok. Musso dragged Italy into the war as France had all but fallen, and Britain looked like it would take no extra work. Ooops.
The Duke, I think... I'm not sure, it might have been some other expression for leader or enlightened despot of some kind.
Thank you for enlightening me! Il duce does mean 'the leader' then. But Mussolini was also the commander in chief. I have also heard that he did many good things for Italy, any more on that? Thanks, Will
I can't speak Italian, but in polish there is the word "Wódz", which means BOTH "the leader" and "the commander-in-chief". I suppose it's the same in Italian, and what's more the word "Il Duce" might also mean "a prince".
If duce does mean Leader and Commander-in-chief. Then that would explain alot, Busdriver. So now we have a possible list of: The leader Commander in chief The Duke The Prince Does anybody out there speak Italian and English? (By the way, if Il Duce does mean the leader, then does that mean that Hitler (der fuhrer) simply copied Mussolini's name?)
The leader, ruler, prince in Italian is "Il Principe" as far as I know, like the famous book by Machiavelli. The correct translation of the title is still a major discussion among those who have to do it...
I could really have caused alot of heated upset with this post... But we need to settle what Il Duce means, so I will keep on going asking people until everybody agrees (which will proberly be years from now)
He made people who did not vote for him swallow frogs, if that helps? About the only good thing he did to was to drain the Pontine marshes. He tried to do lots of things (get the birth rate up, improve agriculture, develop southern Italy - which was very poor) but they all failed. Oh, and he tried to re-create the Roman Empire! Apparently, he did eradicate the Mafia, which is good. However, it was then kick-started by the Americans as a useful 'resistance' movement. Talk about short-termism...
Well, he built ridiculously large buildings and arenas in which the (hired) masses could worship him... I don't know if you would see this as a good thing. Mostly what he did is force fascism upon the Italian people, meaning that he indoctrinated them from birth that they should love him, respect him and do whatever he says.
I think I read that he settled the long dispute between the Government and The Pope, by giving the Catholic leader land? Or is this just me going loopy? Will
OK, I now finally have found a book on his achievements. It said that he also doubled the wheat harvest. (Is that four things now?) Also, anybody got any more ideas about Il Duce?
According to all Italian-to-English dictionaries I can find on the web, the word doesn't have a translation in English and was a title specifically adopted by Mussolini alone. Most of them simply give a translation to "Il Duce" (the same thing; no meaning except Mussolini in person); one of them yielded "commander".
Yet another twist in the Mussolini plot. Maybe it is un translatable, and we must assume it is something like Leader or Commander
I once read that Winston Churchill could be directely responsible for Mussolinis execution. Apparently british secret agents were among the partisans that arrested him,and Churchill ordered he should be killed immediately, without any trial. The author suggested Mussolini could have knomw a lot things that Churchill didn't want to be revealed. What do you think?