Benito Mussolini

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician, journalist, and dictator who led the Kingdom of Italy as a fascist dictatorship from 1922 until his overthrow in 1943. Known under his rule as Il Duce, he founded fascism in 1919 with the creation of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which became the National Fascist Party (PNF) in 1921. Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister of Italy after the March on Rome in 1922, establishing a totalitarian fascist dictatorship. He oversaw Italy's participation in World War II as a prominent member of the Axis Powers, and was executed by the Italian resistance near the end of the war in 1945. Mussolini was originally a radical socialist journalist at Avanti!. In 1912, he became a member of the National Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), but was expelled for advocating military intervention in World War I. In 1914, Mussolini founded a newspaper, Il Popolo d'Italia, and served in the Royal Italian Army until he was wounded and discharged in 1917. He eventually denounced the PSI, his views pivoting to focus on Italian nationalism, and founded the fascist movement, which opposed egalitarianism, and class conflict, and instead advocated "revolutionary nationalism" transcending class lines. In 1922, following the March on Rome, he was appointed prime minister by King Victor Emmanuel III. After removing opposition through his secret police and outlawing labour strikes, Mussolini consolidated power through laws, and illegal means, that transformed the nation into a one-party dictatorship. He ordered the Pacification of Libya, which is often considered a genocide. In 1929, he signed the Lateran Treaty to establish the Vatican City. Mussolini, especially after the Great Depression, espoused policies of autarky and corporatism. Mussolini's foreign policy shifted from cautious pragmatism to aggressive expansion and close alignment...