What is a good way to summarize Mussolini's role in World War 2?

Of course, he was a dictator and aggressor, but Mussolini wasn't evil. As far as I know, Mussolini didn't sent Jews to gas chambers or concentration camps. I can share history from my late grandmother who lived in present day Croatia.

She described encounter with Italian forces in World War 2, who were plundering furniture from her home. When she angrily confronted them asking why they were plundering her house, they excused their action through a translator saying that they believed that house was abandoned and promptly returned the furniture back, with an apology from the commander of the unit. Imagine that sort of argument with Hitler's forces elsewhere or local collaboration unit?

Mussolini was basically someone Hitler bribed to stay on his side. Italy was probably a net burden to the Axis; its main contribution as an ally was as a buffer. Mussolini himself has been survived as grandiose and egocentric, and his rule eventually destroyed Italy. There's your paragraph.

Germany sent at least a quarter of its oil production to Italy just to keep Mussolini afloat. Germany also sent some token forces to Africa to delay the British from taking over the African colonies, even though British blockades made this difficult.

Eventually Mussolini was overthrown and the new government switched sides. After this point he had little impact on the war and was eventually captured and shot by partisans. The aftermath of his rule was that Italy was totally wrecked and defeated.

The only brilliant part is before the war, when he achieved power with his political goalpost shifting and charisma.

Some more reading -

https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini

Mussolini I believe was a World War I vet and a strong believer in the "stab in the back" hypothesis when it came to France and Britain and very much an inspiration to Hitler personally. "Fascismo" was an Italian creation although when "translated" in first Austrian and then German it took on a whole new meaning. Italy entered World War 1 and suffered terrible losses...but not under any false pretense. They expected advantages for so siding with the Allies at the expense of Austria. Germany naturally sided with Austria in World War I but was also pre-emptively attacked by the Russians...so the Germans really did have a grudge coming out of World War I unlike Italy. So did Austria of course which wasn't a threat to anyone going into the outbreak of World War I.

So to keep it brief in my view Mussolini was the "idea factory" for a lot of really angry people...angry people who could in fact implement those ideas to truly awesome and terrifying effect.

That included a formal invasion of Italy and making that country a battlefield in World War 2.

Italy did achieve some territorial gains at the expense of Austria due to their involvement in World War 2. That still meant of course that Austria has a grudge against Italy...true even today.

Austria has a kind of "super grudge" against Western Europe even today actually.

One way to characterize Mussolini is as "Hitler's alter ego."

Early on, Hitler admired Mussolini for his (1922) "March on Rome,"which Hitler's abortive 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. Later, Hitler referred approvingly in "Mein Kampf" to Italy as a "youthful national state." Italy's 1935 invasion of Abysinnia gained Hitler's further approval, because it foreshadowed what Hitler wanted to do to Germany's neighbors.

But things started to go sour for Italy. It unsuccessfully invaded Greece and British Egypt in 1940, forcing Hitler to bail out Mussolini both times. Finally, the Allies invaded Italy in 1943,( during which Hitler had to send paratroopers to free Mussolini from imprisonment), which presaged the Allied invasion of Germany in 1945.

Hitler and Mussolini died days apart in late April, 1945; Hitler by his own hand, Mussolini at the hands of pro-Allied Italian partisans.

Mussolini developed the political model that Hitler Implemented

Direct WWII involvement by Mussolini was less dramatically important than his development of the Fascist methods of gaining and maintaining power. Hitler and the Nazi's patterned the SS and their means of obtaining power on Mussolini's methods.

For example, the blackshirts were a volunteer paramilitary arm of the Italian National Fascist Party (PNF). Blackshirts swore allegiance to follow Mussolini, the leader of the PNF, and they regularly engaged in violence against any and all of Mussolini's domestic political opponents. It is notable that Mussolini founded the PNF, and was its leader.

Hitler and the Nazis copied this with their Brown Shirts that eventually grew into the SS.

Starting the Fascist movement was Mussolini's largest impact on WWII. Without these "innovations" it is doubtful that the Nazis would have gained and maintained power in Germany, thus precluding them - and Europe - from a ton of trouble.

Mussolini's view

Mussolini had a false belief that demography had something to do with nation's powers. Seeing declining birth rates in France and Britain having one quarter of his population above 50, Mussolini believed that these empires were doomed to fall. Mussolini saw international relations as a struggle between "virile" nations with high birth rates that were destined to destroy "effete" nations with low birth rates. By this logic he saw alignment with Germany would be far more beneficial compared to Britain or France.

Mussolini ideology was that of an imperial expansion of Italy. Initially skeptic of joining with Germany but as France fell quickly at German attack, Mussolini was convinced that war would be short and Germany would emerge as winner. Italian troops would be sent into battle - indeed, to their deaths - not in the hope of military gains, but entirely so that Mussolini could sit down next to Hitler at the peace table when the fate of a defeated France was being decided. Italian Army was not all enthusiastic about this policy and morale was low among the soldiers. Mussolini, on the other hand, believed - or professed to believe - that the Italian fighting forces were first rate.

Despite the morale being down, Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito) remained comparatively depleted and weak at the commencement of the war. Italian tanks were of poor quality and date back to World War I. To add to this disaster, there was equipment shortage. All this inadequacies were hidden from general public and Mussolini projected Italy as a great power along the ranks of Britain and Germany but it wasn't so.

Failed invasions

As Italy invaded France, the unprepared Italian forces, which outnumbered the French defenders by nearly 4-1, suffered over 1200 killed or missing in return for only 37 French soldiers killed. They managed to penetrate at most 4000 metres over the French border, before France surrendered to Germany. Feeling humiliated, Mussolini settled for a narrow demilitarised zone in France.

Next Mussolini eyed British controlled Egypt. He aimed to gain control over Suez Canal to dominate the Mediterranean. For invasion, Mussolini called in troops stationed in Libya, there were about 200,000 men. On the other hand, Britain had only 30,000 men including reinforcements from India and New Zealand. Despite having strength in numbers, Italian Army was defeated by British Forces. Main cause for the defeat was Italy old war strategies which they applied in World War II. But they forgot that this was modern warfare.

Next was the Italy invasion of Greece. This was a perfect example of Mussolini's arrogance and opportunism. The initial Italian offensive was quickly contained, and the invasion soon ended in an embarrassing stalemate. Greek were able to launch a counter-offensive that drove the Italians back into Albania.

Mussolini left the detailed planning of his offensives to his generals. However, he kept the supreme decision-making power to himself, and often interfered to overrule a military decision. Part of his policy had always been to ensure that the armed forces did not challenge Fascist rule of Italy, so he appointed his cronies and allies to senior rank and ensured that no independent power-bloc arose within the army that could rival him.

Mussolini's fall

Followed by these failed invasions, Mussolini ambitiously suggested Hitler to help them in Operation Barbarossa. Mussolini thought it might bring back Italy's luster. The heavy losses suffered by the Italians on the Eastern Front, where service was extremely unpopular owing to the widespread view that this was not Italy's fight, did much to damage Mussolini's prestige with the Italian people.

The Allied invasion of Sicily brought the war to the nation's very doorstep. The Italian home front was also in bad shape as the Allied bombings were taking their toll. Factories all over Italy were brought to a virtual standstill due to a lack of raw materials, as well as coal and oil. Additionally, there was a chronic shortage of food. Mussolini's false propaganda was also revealed and the public relied on international papers and radios to get their news.

Within a few days of the Allied landings on Sicily, Mussolini's army was on the brink of collapse. This led Hitler to summon Mussolini, by this time, Mussolini was so shaken from stress that he could no longer stand Hitler's boasting. Shortly after, King Victor Emmanuel III, ordered Mussolini's arrest.