Chapter five hundred and ninety-eight goes further
Compared with Churchill's predicament on the Anglo-German battlefield, Italian Prime Minister Mussolini, who was far away in the southern tip of the European continent, was not much better.
The Italian leader had been lying in the hospital until he heard that the Soviet Union had launched a surprise attack on Germany and achieved a breakthrough.
Because he felt that he was not alone in losing the war. Although he was an ally of Germany and Reinhardt, Mussolini did not want Reinhardt to continue to win the war.
Because this will cover up the glory of Italy. As an ally of Germany, Mussolini's pressure is too great. Whenever the Italian army encounters difficulties, there will always be German troops appearing, and the German troops will appear.
As soon as the team appears on the battlefield, the situation will undergo a huge reversal.
Before this, the Italian army was always losing battles, but the German army was almost invincible. The comparison between the two is really heartbreaking.
Mussolini had had enough, and it was because of this that he became sick from overwork and was finally sent to the hospital out of anger.
Now that Reinhardt had suffered a defeat in the battle against the Soviet Union, Mussolini's heartache was gone, and his illness naturally recovered.
After being discharged from the hospital, Mussolini immediately took back his power from Rossi and carried out drastic reforms in the government. He punished batch after batch of Italian generals who had failed in combat. Similarly, he also
A large number of officials who failed to act in the government were punished.
It was during this period that Mussolini made an unprecedented move, commending a food minister when Italy was punishing generals and government officials after defeat after defeat.
The reason for the award is said to be that at such a critical moment, the food minister put forward a proposal that Mussolini believed was very beneficial to Italy's current situation.
In fact, since Italy entered the war, Mussolini's life has become increasingly difficult.
Although he appeared to be calm on the surface and seemed to be full of confidence in Italy's future, in fact, he secretly acknowledged Italy's current predicament, and he also said that Italy has suffered three serious losses so far.
The first is that Italy's national military prestige has been severely hit. The second is that the German army's entry into the Italian colony (Libya) has had a serious impact on Italy's local dominance. The third is that Italy's defeats on various battlefields around the world have had a serious impact on the country.
The confidence of the soldiers was very adversely affected."
However, Mussolini still regarded himself as a "superman who can see everything".
He regarded the decision to invade Africa and Greece as his "political masterpiece", and attributed all the reasons for the failure to the unsatisfactory performance of his subordinates and had nothing to do with him.
"The Italians are immature, not tough, and cannot withstand such a severe test." These were Mussolini's original words when he evaluated his army.
But although Mussolini tried every means, even using violence to belittle the Italian army to indirectly maintain his "tall image", the ruthless reality is that in the minds of his disciples, his image of "leader" has begun to waver.
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And in the hearts of ordinary Italian people, the anger of resistance is getting stronger and stronger.
This is because Italy's successive years of aggression and expansion brought the already fragile economy to its knees. Then, the people's lives were not guaranteed, the food and clothing problem was not solved, and all the problems ensued.
Since 1930, Italy's economic budget had never been balanced. By 1940, the deficit had reached 6 billion lire, not counting the 20 billion lire in expenditures outside the regular budget.
In order to make up for the shortfall, the Italian government issued excessive amounts of currency, public debt, and levied taxes without any consideration.
Due to the war and the Allied blockade, the sources of all the rubber, 70% of the grains, and 40% of the wood that Italy needed were cut off. As a result, Italian domestic factories had no raw materials for production, which also caused the Italian civilian industry to be paralyzed.
What followed were the consequences of the butterfly effect one after another. Civilian industry was paralyzed, factories were shut down, workers were unemployed, family incomes were not guaranteed, people were hungry, domestic resistance surged, and the situation was in turmoil.
What is even more serious is the shortage of food. Italy is poor in land resources. After the war began, as young and middle-aged people went to the front lines to join the army, domestic arable land was basically eliminated, and most of the food was imported.
Most of the only imported food has been shipped to the Italian army on the front line, and eating for ordinary people has become a big problem.
At this moment, Italian Minister of Food Zizic proposed a unique and "exquisite" suggestion to Mussolini - grain rationing.
The system stipulates that each Italian's daily ration is 200 grams of bread, and those who work thousands of pounds can get an extra 300 grams or 400 grams. Through the distribution system, food can be effectively saved to cooperate with the frontline troops.
Although this system aroused strong resistance from the Italian people as soon as it was introduced, Mussolini still insisted on using this system and did not care about the complaints of the people.
At the same time, in order to suppress the people's resistance, he also delivered a speech in public. The general content of the speech was to ask the Italian people to understand what the government was doing and to work together to support Italy's expansion plan.
However, the effect of the speech did not seem to be very good, and some people even privately called Mussolini a "fool who cares about the life and death of the people."
However, Mussolini did not seem to take the people's words to heart. On the contrary, he threatened the people and said: "No one should think that rationing will be canceled after the war. I will keep it as long as I want."
Only then will those who have money eat as little as their employees. If anyone says 200 grams is less, let me tell you that by spring or so, the ration will be even less."
As soon as these remarks came out, they triggered private panic among many people.
Regarding this policy, Mussolini could be said to be trying to make a fool of himself. He said that it was his will to implement the food rationing system, but even his closest confidants did not trust him.
During this period, many Italians tightened the belts of their trousers to the limit, which was the last eyelet. And because Mussolini insisted on implementing the suggestion of Food Minister Zizic, they also called such an eyelet "Mussolini".
Lini Eyelet".
In Italy, the majesty of the prime minister is very different from when the war first started. The same predicament is that most Germans are still loyal to the leader, but Italians have gradually become disappointed with the leader.
Under this situation, Ciano, who had always regarded himself as Mussolini's son-in-law and Mussolini's most trusted confidant, suddenly found that he had an opportunity to go further...
