Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini, a former socialist journalist and schoolteacher, founded the Fascist movement in 1919 and became Italian Prime Minister in 1922 — the first fascist leader to seize power in Europe. His 'March on Rome' provided Hitler with the template for the Beer Hall Putsch. He consolidated personal dictatorship by 1926, invaded Abyssinia in 1935 in a colonial adventure that isolated Italy, intervened in Spain from 1936, and signed the Pact of Steel with Hitler in 1939. His decision to enter the Second World War in June 1940, expecting a short war beside a victorious Germany, proved catastrophic for Italy: military disasters in Greece, North Africa, and Russia, the Allied invasion of Sicily, and growing popular disillusionment led to his deposition by the Fascist Grand Council on 25 July 1943. Rescued by a German commando raid in September, he led the German-backed Italian Social Republic in northern Italy until his capture and execution by Italian partisans on 28 April 1945 — two days before Hitler's suicide.
- Lived: 1883 CE – 1945 CE
- Nationality: Italian
- Roles: dictator, head of government, founder of Fascism
