Et Tu, Brute?: The Assassination of Benito Mussolini

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From the July 23rd, 1936 morning edition of the Baltimore Sun:

HITLER REITERATES DEMAND FOR CONCESSIONS FROM BRITAIN ON SUDETEN QUESTION

SPAIN PETITIONS LEAGUE OF NATIONS FOR AID IN SUPPRESSING FALANGIST REBELLION

From the July 25th, 1936 afternoon edition of the Washington Post:

BRITISH NAVAL MANUEVERS OFF MALTA CONCLUDE AMID FEARS OF IMPENDING WAR IN EUROPE

From a BBC Radio news broadcast later that same day:

This is the BBC Home Service. Here is the news...A spokesman for War Secretary Duff Cooper today announced precautionary plans to activate certain elements of the Territorial Army reserves in the event war breaks out between England and Germany...

From the July 26th, 1936 edition of the Völkischer Beobachter:

BRITAIN WANTS WAR!

Chamberlain Menaces The Reich With Invasion Plot!

From Case Black:

For all of Goebbels’ accusations that the Chamberlain government in Great Britain was standing in the way of a peaceful resolution to the German-Italian crisis and the Sudeten question, it was in fact the Third Reich that was by far displaying the most aggressive intent. Two days after Chamberlain’s defense minister announced plans to activate part of the British army’s reserves as a precautionary measure, Luftwaffe aircraft based in Austria deliberately violated Czech airspace...

From the diary of a British diplomat’s wife living in Prague in early August of 1936:

Everybody in the house is dreadfully nervous-- me included. Just when we think things are starting to settle down, Mr. Hitler and his trained monkey Mr. Heinlein stir them up again. Just this morning the Sudeten Nazis started a riot in one of the little towns near the old Austrian border, and night before last we had the air raid sirens going off around midnight because some Luftwaffe planes had breached Czech airspace again. I don’t like to sound panicky, but I can’t help thinking that it might be time to get of this city while we still can....

From the August 3rd, 1936 morning edition of the Chicago Tribune:

LANDON, FDR PLEDGE “UNWAVERING” OPPOSITION TO NAZI AGGRESSION

In Rare Moment Of Accord, Dueling Presidential Candidates Denounce Latest Threats By Hitler Against Italy

From the August 4th, 1936 Guardian:

CHAMBERLAIN ORDERS FULL REVIEW OF AIR DEFENCE MEASURES FOR LONDON, LIVERPOOL

P.M. Says He Has Not Yet Abandoned Hopes For Continued Peace

From a British Pathé newsreel released August 5th, 1936:

The menace of the swastika continues to loom over the frightened people of Italy and Czechoslovakia as Hitler presses his territorial demands in the Sudetenland... Many in Whitehall fear it is just a question of time before the situation deteriorates into open warfare....

From the August 7th, 1936 Völkischer Beobachter:

GERMAN SOLDIERS MURDERED!

Gallant Border Troops Give Their Lives For The Reich In Unprovoked Italian Attack

From Invasion Italy:

The supposed “unprovoked attack” against which the Nazi propaganda machine railed was much more likely to have been a defensive response by Badoglio’s border troops to suspected SS and Wehrmacht incursions across the Austrian-Italian frontier. But Hitler wasn’t about to let inconvenient facts get in the way of his desire for conquest-- he had already made up his mind to settle accounts with the Italians and the Czechs at the first possible opportunity, and his new war minister Wilhelm Keitel was only too glad to obey the Führer’s orders to further ramp up preparations for war. In the meantime, secret units of Wehrmacht “volunteers” were gearing up for the coming invasions of Czechoslovakia and Italy by going off to Spain to fight in support of Francisco Franco’s insurgency against the Spanish Republican government...

From an extra edition of the August 10th, 1936 Chicago Tribune:

KONRAD HEINLEIN IN HOSPITAL AFTER BEING SHOT; PRAGUE UNDER MARTIAL LAW

Doctors Describe Sudeten Nazi Agitator’s Condition As “Serious”

From the August 11th, 1936 New York Times:

SLOVAKIAN FASCISTS RIOT IN BRATISLAVA

Sudeten Nazis Vow Vengeance On Czech Government If Heinlein Dies; German Troops Moved Up To Austrian Border

From Invasion Italy:

The lessons learned by the Wehrmacht “volunteers” during their time in Spain would pay vast dividends for Hitler when he finally gave the go-ahead for his armed forces to invade Italy. They not only gained valuable combat experience, but also established a number of important contacts with pro-Hitler elements among the Italian expatriates fighting in the service of the Falangist cause; these pro-Hitler factions loathed Badoglio almost as much as Hitler himself did and were eager to help the Nazis oust Badoglio’s regime....

From the August 17th, 1936 Völkischer Beobachter:

HEROIC ITALIANS RISE AGAINST TYRANT BADOGLIO!

Our Fûhrer Pledges Full Support To Their Sacred Cause

From the 2008 PBS documentary Black Cross, Red Blood: The Nazi Occupation Of Italy:

The pro-Hitler insurgents who launched the rebellion responsible for the ultimate fall of the Badoglio government may not have agreed with his position on the Jews, but in all other aspects of their political thinking they wholeheartedly shared his views....

From the August 18th, 1936 morning edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

ANTI-BADOGLIO UPRISINGS IN ROME, MILAN

State Department Orders Precautionary Evacuation Of U.S. Embassy

From the August 20th, 1936 Manchester Guardian:

PRIME MINISTER TO ADDRESS NATION TONIGHT ON ITALIAN REVOLT

From a CBS Radio news broadcast dated August 22nd, 1936:

Sources at the Italian war ministry have acknowledged this afternoon that German troops are crossing the Italian-Austrian border in substantial numbers....

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