Mussolini's rise to power depended largely on his ability to

give powerful and persuasive speeches

make quick and strategic alliances with other dictators

create industry and employment where none existed

control the threat of ongoing civil unrest and war

Like Hitler, Lenin maintained his dictatorial control by

limiting the population's ability to oppose him

restricting the movement of all military personnel

encouraging factions that continued creating conflict

lashing out at minorities, immigrants, and Jews

First question: he started making alliances after coming to power and a war did happen, so we have to choose amog the two other options:

give powerful and persuasive speeches

create industry and employment where none existed

I find that they're both true and that an even better answer would be that he gave people huge promises of making Italy great again.

If I can choose only one option, then "speeches" is better, since the other one required him to be in power already to do

second question: while the last option did happen, as minorities were persecuted, the major mechanism of keeping the population in control was controlling resistance, so the correct answer is the first one.