How did Mussolini maintain to be a powerful dictator yet remain to be a puppet of Hitler?

Answer 1

by using techniques that other dictarors used before him. You are correct---he can't be both at the same time. The reason is Mussolini came to power in 1922 and served for several years, even before Hitler came to power. Germany and Italy signed a Pact to be allies and equal. However, during their face-to-face meetings, Hitler always seemed to dominate the conversation. The Italians started colonial war in North Africa in 1935. By 1941, the Italian citizens and the army was tired of war. As the war continued in the Mediterranean and Italy began to suffer from naval and air attacks, Mussolini grew weaker. When the Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943, the supporters of the King of Italy began to secretly meet to discuss surrender. Finally, in August, the government simply voted Mussolini out of office. That is when the Germans sent in more troops to take control of Italy and began fighting the Allies on the Italian mainland. They rescued Mussolini from his "prison" and set him up as head of state of what was Fascist Italy---which was really only the land north of Rome. It wasn't long before Mussolini had no army and no power under his command.