Why did Mussolini align Italy with Germany?

Answer 1

Hitler long admired Mussolini, and even tried to model his rise to power on Mussolini's. However, Mussolini did not return the admiration- in fact, Mussolini at first disliked Hitler quite a bit. In 1934, Nazis in neighboring Austria murdered their dictator, Engelbert Dollfuss; Italy nearly went to war with Germany over it (Mussolini and Dollfuss had been friends; also Mussolini didn't want Germany to gain Austria's territory, resources, etc). In 1935, when Germany began rebuilding its military in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Mussolini met with British and French leaders at Stresa, Italy, to try to form an anti-German alliance. The attempt failed, as France and especially Britain had no desire to fight another war with Germany. Britain also made a deal with Germany behind Mussolini's back, allowing Germany to build a navy again.

All of this changed a few months after the Stresa negotiations. Italy went to war with Ethiopia after a skirmish on the border between Italian-controlled Somalia and Ethiopia; this led to a full-blown Italian invasion and occupation of Ethiopia. France and England wavered over whether to accept or condemn the invasion; this, along with Britain's naval treaty with Germany, shattered Mussolini's view of them. Only one leader really made any effort to support Italy's war- Hitler (although he also quietly gave supplies to the Ethiopians...).

Mussolini quickly warmed up to Hitler. He gave his consent to Germany's sending troops to the Rhineland region- an act also forbidden by the Versailles treaty (the Rhineland is a region of western Germany that borders France and Belgium). Around that same time, he also consented to Germany taking control of Austria, changing his stance since the Dollfuss assassination. Things moved fairly quickly from that point, as the two dictators shared a lot of common goals and ideas. An important point was that both strongly opposed Communism.

At the end of October 1936, Germany and Japan signed the "Anti-Comintern Pact", which was an alliance to help each other if Communists attacked one of them (at that time, the Soviet Union was the world's only Communist country). Two weeks later, Mussolini signed the pact as well. The Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis was formed; Hitler and Mussolini were officially allies.

Answer 2

Mussolini was very much like Hitler and had the same government philosophy toward running a government. He was a dictator and took away any rights that the people of Italy had.