Mussolini - Shot by an Irishwoman - History Documentary

The Irishwoman Who Shot Mussolini - Violet Gibson
Four attempts were made to assassinate Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, one of them almost succeeded - Violent Gibson - a bedraggled 50 old Irishwoman came so close that she grazed Il Duce’s nose with her first bullet. But what was she doing in Rome?
Born to a wealthy and privileged family in Dublin in 1876 and presented to Queen Victoria as a debutante at 18, she became obsessed with religion and gradually distanced herself from her family. After attacking a servant and spending months in an asylum she went to Italy… with a mission.
Why did she select Mussolini? Was she an antifascist freedom fighter to be celebrated or was she ill?
Finding Out More:
There is really only one book that describes Violet Gibson’s tragic (or heroic) life: Frances Stonor Saunders: The Woman Who Shot Mussolini. I don’t agree with everything she says about Violet’s mental illness, but she has certainly shed light on someone who might otherwise have been forgotten. It is available through my Amazon store page: amzn.to/3KlzKNU
Copyright Disclaimer:
The primary purpose of this video is educational. I have tried to use material in the public domain or with Creative Commons Non-attribution licences wherever possible. Where attribution is required, I have listed this below. I believe that any copyright material used falls under the remit of Fair Use, but if any content owners would like to dispute this, I will not hesitate to immediately remove that content. It is not my intention to infringe on content ownership in any way. If you happen to find your art or images in the video, please let me know and I will be glad to credit you.
Images:
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Wellcome Collection
Video produced by Graeme Yorston and Tom Yorston.

[@chrish2277]

Another excellent video. I'd love to see your take on the family dynamics with the Mitford sisters.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Great suggestion! They were an interesting family.

[@DelphineCingal]

That would be fascinating

[@fizzao1342]

Seconded!

[@fikanera838]

Oh, yes please!

[@margiesoapyhairbillian4754]

Yes!!!! Please ❤

[@davidmolloy126]

Thank you Professor for another very informative and entertaining presentation. I love the line: 'she lived a modest life in Kensington.' Has that ever been possible? Take care, David.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

More modest than a castle!

[@lisatate1110]

As always, a most enjoyable video. Consider Camille Claudel. A French artist on par with Rodin who also ended up institutionalized by her family. It was never clear if she was mentally ill or exceptionally talented and troubled by her complicated relationship with Rodin. Or maybe both.

[@mikem3695]

That was a fascinating and well presented piece of history.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you.

[@user-fc7is6jo2e]

Thank you for making and sharing this!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

My pleasure!

[@ciaobella8963]

Very interesting. But I was looking forward to your general assessment of Violet's mental illness diagnosis.

[@susanross1651]

I agree she shouldn’t have a plaque, too many people today are trying to rewrite history & as you say, that is very dangerous. She was simply a poor sad woman with a severe mental illness. If she had come from the very lowliest of society she would have been trying to kill her neighbours or some local dignitary & would probably have either been hung or sent to a not so desirable asylum. Hopefully she is now finally at peace.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Very true, rewriting or misinterpreting history is a dangerous road to go down.

[@garyfrancis6193]

Hanged

[@Brickstudio13]

@@garyfrancis6193 she didnt have a mental illnes

[@cecemepls0]

You know you’re a bad guy if an elderly woman and a child try to assassinate you 😳

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Good point - I'm sure Mussolini didn't see it that way though.

[@AdrienneReneau-ky4sc]

TY PROF ENJOY ALL VIDEOS

[@professorgraemeyorston]

I'm glad you're enjoying them Adrienne.

[@What_I_Think_Happened]

Wow. Truth is truly odder than fiction, Professor!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

It is indeed a strange story.

[@lesliewells-ig5dl]

I really love your channel! I read a biography of Violet years ago.

[@Barnaby_bo]

Any chance you could re release a version of this video without the music please?

[@RobertRobinson-dy3rj]

Mussolini was more lenient on her than Ireland was

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Ireland seems to have adopted her as some kind of champion of democracy, nothing could be further from the truth.

[@garyfrancis6193]

I think a lot of the upper class were a bit dotty. Completely different now of course. King Charles III and his toilet seat collection is perfectly normal.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Treason!

[@lynnschaeferle-zh4go]

Completely different now? There are many who are still walking around with inbred genes and schizophrenia.

[@AdrienneReneau-ky4sc]

TY FOR SHOWING ST ANDREWS

[@inezy6329]

The background music is too loud n distracting.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you for the feedback!

[@annerigby4400]

I had never heard of Violet and I agree that there should not be a plaque claiming she was heroic in any way. She just happened to want to kill someone many people wanted to kill and so they agree with her and that makes her a hero. It just doesn't work that way. It was a good idea but for the wrong reasons, not that I agree with killing people. About psychiatric hospitals, my mother worked as a nurse's assistant in Calderstone's in Lancashire. She was french and got the job I don't know how, but she was not told that it was a psychiatric hospital or she was so excited to be going to England that she skipped over such 'details'. She had a shock on her first day when the new nurse assistants were given the tour and the instructions. She said patients, men and women, had what looked like shaved heads and were all dressed the same. The wards were organised based on severity, danger to themselves, danger to others. She said she met several women who had been there since the 1930's because they got pregnant and were not married. One patient suffered from sleeping sickness. My mother found the whole environment very upsetting - all of those poor people who were not right in their mind and suffering from perceived persecution and those who had been there for years although they were not mentally ill. My impression, from hearing my mother's stories was that Calderstone's was a terrible place, not because of the treatment, but because it was full of unhappy people. She mentioned lobotomies but I don't know if there were victims of that or if it was something she heard about with horror. Totally unrelated, but later, much later, my mother suffered from severe depression and underwent electro shock therapy. She didn't like it but she said it did help. I used to think it was barbaric, but my mother was better for it, so that changed my mind. I'm not fond of anything that requires a person to be strapped down for a procedure. I feel like a lot of people like to vilify psychiatry and psychiatric institutions and part of that, I think is because it is sensationalistic and part of it is because of procedures (lobotomies) and circumstances (people chained and neglected in past centuries), and part because of the shame that was associated with having a member of the family who 'wasn't right in the head'. I enjoy your videos because they are factual and interesting. I also like the fact that you don't dish out diagnoses willy-nilly when there isn't enough information. I always have my little theory, but I'm not a psychiatrist, so I can do that, hahahaha!

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you for taking the time to write such a long comment.

[@user-ep3ed5jd7q]

What was her actual clinical diagnosis? Paranoid Scizophrenia? Would love to learn about Lucia Joyce. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us💜✝☮💜

[@harrodsfan]

I had a good chuckle, what nutter if ever there was one and rich too to go about doing crazy deeds.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Not convinced she was a dedicated anti-fascist??

[@AdrienneReneau-ky4sc]

OH BOHEMIAN ART AND ROME

[@alessandrodorsi9800]

Che sfiga! Qualche centimetro più in là e l'Italia sarebbe stata libera moooolto prima

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Il destino ha molto di cui rispondere!

[@alessandrodorsi9800]

@@professorgraemeyorston ce l'ha con me ? Ho espresso democraticamente il mio parere ( art 21 della costituzione italiana)

[@garyfrancis6193]

Mi scusa Signore Mussolini . Let me take another shot.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

She wasn't far off.

[@Zubareffstream111]

Interesting. Although very little, everything else I'd read about her was portraying her as an anti facist heroine. I only heard about her after falling in love with the actress, Olwen Fouéré who plays her in, The Irish Woman Who Shot Mussolini. I'll be interested to see how much of her past they show. I only just discovered Olwen Fouéré by watching The Tourist.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

The book is more balanced and makes it clear she was ill and no kind of hero!

[@AdrienneReneau-ky4sc]

THE FAMILY MEMBERS WERE TERRIFIED SOME YOUNG MAN THOUGHT HIS MOTHER WAS SHOT AND SCENE OF SCREAMING WOMEN

[@PolferiferusII]

I agree, there isn't sufficient evidence for lionizing her as an anti-fascist or a hero. I agree even more that it's dangerous to do so, not because she doesn't deserve the accolades (though it's true, she doesn't), but more than anything because it's something that, in a way that I have difficulty putting properly into words, makes actual anti-fascist efforts less meaningful (and, I think to some people, sort of meaningless). If I spent a lot of time on my comment, I could probably end up making my reasons more solid (as well as better known to me) (and also make this comment inevitably much much longer; and thus less readable). As a suggestion, and if you're ambitious, _drapetomania,_ the supposed mental illness suffered by black slaves in America, of wanting to flee their enslavement, might be something you'd find interesting to cover in a video, as part of a dark chapter in history. Just an idea.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Thank you - yes that would make a fascinating topic.

[@here_we_go_again2571]

Sad, crazy woman! Pope Pius XI (in office 1922 --1939) Does anyone know what her complaint was against that particular Pope? (Dispatching Mussolini would have been a benefit to humanity -- jmho.) Given how far towards the Left most Irish politicians are; I can see why they would glorify someone (no matter how crazy) whom they view as opposing Fascism.

[@dalifeliciano5637]

Just the fact that she was a religious zealot is proof of her insanity😞

[@nledaig]

Could it be that the Irish had so few anti-fascists in that era that they have to commemorate poor souls like Violet! It's rather comic. It could quite as well have been any one that she killed. Up until she went off to Rome her life seemed to have been varied by oddities that were quite interesting.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

I agree.

[@user-sk7yr9zo1i]

Perhaps she was right in her own way...

[@AdrienneReneau-ky4sc]

OH NO MASTECTOMY IN 1920

[@barriedowdall]

Hello - you are using our footage to promote your argument. This is a breach of copyright.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Which footage are you referring to?

[@barriedowdall]

@@professorgraemeyorston 25 clips from the Violet Gibson trailer and several black & white stills with our rostrum moves.

[@professorgraemeyorston]

Perhaps you could email me on [e-mail] so that we can resolve the issues.

[@DefaultName-yf5sd]

Is this necessary?, I mean, really!!.

[@Elizabeth-yg2mg]

Leave him alone.

[@AdrienneReneau-ky4sc]

OH NO PENNANCE

[@AdrienneReneau-ky4sc]

HYSTERICAL OH NO CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST

[@matthewmead2374]

Despite her birthplace I would consider her English, not Irish. She was decended from people who entered Ireland illegally and committed genocide to ensure their place on the island.

[@samsum3738]

Be very careful when making a comment like that . In the age of advanced DNA testing many have regretted they put pen to paper .