page_title: Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy
section_title: The night of the Grand Council
hierarchical_section_title: Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy / Events of 24–25 July 1943 / The night of the Grand Council
caption_attribution_description: English: Scanned from an original copy of National Fascist Party. It summarizes the outcome of a vote of Grand Council of Fascism: 19 votes in favor (Dino Grandi, Giuseppe Bottai, Luigi Federzoni, Galeazzo Ciano, Cesare Maria De Vecchi, Umberto Albini, Alfredo De Marsico, Giacomo Acerbo, Dino Alfieri, Giovanni Marinelli, Carluccio Pareschi, Emilio De Bono, Edmondo Rossoni, Giuseppe Bastianini, Annio Bignardi, Alberto De Stefani, Luciano Gottardi, Giovanni Balella and Tullio Cianetti 8 votes against (Carlo Scorza, Roberto Farinacci, Guido Buffarini-Guidi, Enzo Galbiati, Carlo Alberto Biggini, Gaetano Polverelli, Antonino Tringali Casanova, Ettore Frattari) one abstention (Giacomo Suardo) Italiano: Acquisita tramite scanner da copia originale del PNF. Raffigura l'esito della votazione nominativa e riassuntiva dell'Ordine del giorno Grandi. I voti sono così espressi: 19 voti a favore (Grandi, Bottai, Federzoni, Ciano, De Vecchi, De Marsico, Albini, Acerbo, Alfieri, Marinelli, Pareschi, De Bono, Rossoni, Bastianini, Bignardi, De Stefani, Gottardi, Balella e Cianetti che il giorno dopo scrisse a Mussolini ritrattando il suo voto); 8 voti contrari (Scorza, Farinacci, Buffarini-Guidi, Galbiati, Biggini, Polverelli, Tringali Casanova, Frattari); un astenuto (Suardo). Deutsch: Sitzung des Großen Faschistischen Rates am 24./25. Juli 1943. Abstimmungsverhalten bezüglich des Antrages von Dino Grandi über die Absetzung von Benito Mussolini und die Übergabe der Macht an den König. 19 Ja-Stimmen: Emilio De Bono (Quadrumvir), Cesare Maria De Vecchi (Quadrumvir), Dino Grandi (Präsident der Kammer der Bünde und der Körperschaften), Alfredo De Marsico (Minister für Gnade und Justiz), Giacomo Acerbo (Finanzminister), Carlo Pareschi (Minister für Landwirtschaft und Forsten), Tullio Canetti (Minister der Körperschaften), Luigi Federzoni (Präsident der Accademia d'Italia), Giovanni Balella (Präsident des Industriellenverbandes), Luciano Gottardi (Präsident des Industriearbeiterverbandes), , Annio Bignardi (Präsident des Landarbeiterverbandes), Alberto De Stefani, Edmondo Rossoni, Giuseppe Bottai, Giovanni Marinelli, Dino Alfieri, Galeazzo Ciano, Umberto Albini (Unterstaatssekretär im Innenministerium), Giuseppe Bastianini (Unterstaatssekretär im Außenministerium) 8 Nein-Stimmen: Carlo Scorza (Generalsekretär der Partito Nazionale Fascista), , Carlo Alberto Biggini (Minister für Nationale Erziehung), Gaetano Polverelli (Minister für Volkskultur), Antonio Tringali Casanova (Präsident des Sondergerichts für die Staatssicherheit), Ettore Frattari (Präsident des Bauernverbandes), Roberto Farinacci, Guido Buffarini, Enzo Galbiatti (Stabschef der Freiwilligen Miliz für die Sicherheit des Staates) 1 Enthaltung: Giacomo Suardo (Präsident des Italienischen Senats)
context_page_description: The fall of the Fascist regime in Italy, also known in Italy as 25 Luglio, came as a result of parallel plots led respectively by Count Dino Grandi and King Victor Emmanuel III during the spring and summer of 1943, culminating with a successful vote of no confidence against the Prime Minister Benito Mussolini at the meeting of the Grand Council of Fascism on 24–25 July 1943. As a result, a new government was established, putting an end to the 21 years of Fascist rule in the Kingdom of Italy, and Mussolini was placed under arrest.
context_section_description: At 17:00 on 24 July 1943, the 28 members of the Grand Council met in the parrot room (the anteroom of the globe saloon, the office of Mussolini) in Palazzo Venezia. For the first time in the history of the Grand Council, neither the bodyguard of Mussolini, known as the Duce's musketeers, nor a detachment of the "M" battalions were present in the Renaissance palace. Fully armed blackshirts occupied the yard, the escalade and the antechamber. Mussolini did not want a stenographer, so no minutes of the meeting were taken.
  Grandi brought two hidden Breda hand grenades with him, in addition to revising his will and going to confession before the meeting, because he was under the impression that he may not leave the palace alive. Mussolini began the meeting by summarizing the history of the supreme command, trying to show that the attribution to him had been sponsored by Badoglio. He summarized the war events in the previous months, saying that he was ready to move the government to the Po valley. He concluded by asking the participants to give their personal opinion about what he called "il dilemma": the choice between war or peace. The Duce knew that, except for the three or four men against him, the "swamp" was undecided. He hoped that he could convince them to vote for the OdG Scorza, which gave only the military powers back to the King. After the Duce's introduction, De Bono (one of the two remaining living quadrumvirs) spoke, followed by Farinacci and De Vecchi (the other quadrumvir).
  Grandi then read out and explained his document, concluding his speech with Mussolini's citation: "Let perish all the factions, so that the Nation can live". Next, Farinacci explained that his criticism ran opposite to Grandi's. While Grandi contended that Mussolini had betrayed the constitution, the real victim of betrayal was Fascism. Farinacci said that in order to win the war it was necessary to wipe out the democrats and liberals still nested in the Party, as well as the generals. He wanted to give the supreme command of the armed forces back to the King and unify the war direction with Germany, all of which would strengthen the Party. At the end of his speech he read his proposed OdG, which summarized all of these points. After some minor interventions, Bottai, the Fascist intellectual, made a purely political speech defending the OdG. This was followed by Ciano summarizing the history of the alliance with the Germans, and declaring that the Italians were not the traitors, but the betrayed. At 23:30, the Duce announced that, due to the length of the meeting, some comrades had asked for a postponement to the next day. At this point, Grandi called for a vote on his OdG, saying that it was shameful to go to sleep when Italian soldiers were dying for their fatherland. Never before in the 20-year history of the assembly had anyone asked for a vote. Since fascism was strongly anti-parliamentary, in all previous meetings only discussions summarized by the Duce had taken place. Mussolini unwillingly agreed, and at midnight the meeting was suspended for 10 minutes. In the meantime, Grandi collected the signatures to his OdG.
  After other interventions for and against the OdG, Mussolini told the participants to reflect on their decision since the approval of Grandi's OdG would imply the end of Fascism. He also cautioned against the illusion that the Anglo-Americans would be content with that, whereas what they really wanted was the end of Italy, which under his rule had become too strong. He said this was not about him, but he was sure that the war could be won. He had a "key" to accomplish that which he could not disclose, and he was not willing to let his throat be cut by the King. If the King would re-confirm his trust in him, the consequences for the supporters of Grandi's OdG would be dire. At the end of his speech, many of the gerarchi were visibly shaken.  Grandi said that the Duce was blackmailing all of them, and if one must choose between fidelity to him and loyalty to the homeland, the choice was clear. At this point, Scorza caught ev
caption: The official outcome of the vote of the Ordine del Giorno Grandi
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