Word: il
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...give fullest scope to the energy and talents of II Duce, who has always acted with the greatest respect for Vittorio Emanuele III. Not long ago a Fascist official told of having suggested on a certain point that the Premier simply ring up the King by telephone, told of Il Duce's reproving reply: "Such lack of respect is not to be shown His Majesty! Audience must always be sought in advance." Last week Italy's reigning King-Emperor and her ruling Dictator joined in visibly correcting what has become outside Italy a pretty general misconception...
...King by the Grace of God and the Will of the People" is what astute, courageous, popular Vittorio Emanuele III was long before Il Duce added the title of "Emperor." Last week His Majesty surprised casual foreign observers-not Italians-by making Adolf Hitler's visit to Italy the occasion for visibly demonstrating that Benito Mussolini is not the whole cheese in Italy-although he is of course The Big Cheese, as Neville Chamberlain is in England...
Mussolini can stay friendly with Britain and France even though he agrees to the Rome-Berlin axis, an apparently contradictory set-up, but only if Il Duce refrains from farther territorial expansion. But, Dr. Salvemini declared, since Hitler has gained enormous prestige by his Austrian adventures, Mussolini must keep the Italian masses contented by more victories, and these, for geographical reasons, must be in the Mediterranean region--in direct conflict with British and French away...
Among the most startling aspects of the book is the author's treatment of Mussolini and Hitler. The absolute authority of Il Duce in Italy is emphatically denied. The power of the royalist elements, the Vatican, and the army under Badoglio are so strongly emphasized that poor Benito appears to be merely a rather weak prime minister. Here, it seems, Mr. Young has jumped overboard trying to prove his case. As for Hitler, it is claimed that he was deified by the German people when Hindenburg was no longer adequate as a god. Unity in the Reich is a myth...
...First he is shown awarding the Victor Emmanuel Fertility Cup and other similar awards to a group of buxom mass-production mothers, after which public enemy number one comes forward to bewail the fact in a variety of ingenious ways that she can produce only one at a time. Il Duce appears again, as one of the "Four Little Angels of Peace," the others being Hitler, Chamberlain, and an anonymous Jap. They all demonstrate their benevolence by treacherously and amusingly destroying one another. There is a denunciation of war, carried out by rather obscure ballet, and jibes are distributed...