July 25th, 1943: The Fall of Mussolini As Affective Experience

At 10:45 PM on July 25^th, 1943, Italian radio announced that Benito Mussolini had been removed from power. After over two decades in power, his regime appeared to have dissolved “like snow in the sun.” The shocking news unleashed a torrent of emotions and memories. Some celebrated wildly in the streets or sought retribution; others hid in their homes, paralyzed by fear and ambivalence; and still others – those who remained faithful to the Fascist idea – vacillated between resignation and defiance.

With hindsight, we now know that the Duce’s downfall did not in fact mark the end of Fascism. Within two months, the Italian state had collapsed, the peninsula was occupied by foreign armies, and Mussolini was installed as the head of a Nazi puppet state in northern Italy. July 25^th thus represents a false dawn, a liminal moment in which Italians struggled to come to terms with the closing of the “Fascist era” and the uncertain future that now confronted them. That their responses and assumptions were proved wrong does not mean that they are not worthy of closer examination. This paper explores popular reactions to the announcement of the Duce’s dismissal, both individual– as expressed in diaries, letters and reminiscences – and collective, like mass demonstrations and acts of iconoclasm. In this way, July 25^th provides a window into ordinary Italians’ attitudes toward the Fascist “experiment,” into their experiences during a moment of profound upheaval and, more broadly, into the affective dimensions of regime change.