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How did King Victor Emmanuel III help Mussolini become prime minister?

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King Victor Emmanuel III played a decisive role in Benito Mussolini’s rise to power by refusing to authorize a state of siege against the Fascist Party during the March on Rome in October 1922.12

When Prime Minister Luigi Facta requested that the king declare martial law to stop the armed fascist squads gathering outside the capital, Victor Emmanuel III declined to sign the decree. His refusal prevented the army from opposing the fascists, effectively signaling the surrender of public authorities to fascist intimidation.134

While the king’s motivations have been debated—with suggestions that he feared losing his throne, wished to avoid civil war, or hoped to neutralize the fascists by bringing them into the government—his decision directly enabled Mussolini’s ascent. On October 29, 1922, the day after refusing the military intervention, the king formally asked Mussolini to form a government, allowing him to become prime minister within the framework of the constitution.132