Why did Benito Mussolini found Il Popolo d’Italia?

Benito Mussolini founded the newspaper Il Popolo d’Italia ("The People of Italy") after a significant shift in his political stance regarding World War I.

Initially, as the editor of the Socialist newspaper Avanti!, Mussolini was a staunch antimilitarist who opposed Italy's intervention in the war. However, he eventually changed his position, becoming convinced that social revolution would follow the conflict and that the defeat of France would be detrimental to liberty in Europe.

Following this change of heart, he resigned from Avanti! and was expelled from the Socialist Party. He then assumed the editorship of Il Popolo d’Italia, which was financed by the French government and Italian industrialists who supported the war against Austria. Through this publication, he articulated his new nationalist philosophy, marking what is often considered the birth cry of fascism.1