Benito Mussolini

With brutal charisma and pounding fists, Benito Mussolini called upon the myth of a new roman empire. He made himself its Caesar. Mussolini became the Father of Fascism and seized power by a combination of terror and persuasion. He held Italy firmly in his grasp by crushing his enemies while still promising glory.

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born in Predappio on July 29, 1883. Son of a socialist blacksmith, he grew up to be a self-proclaimed "anti-patriot" like his father. He hadn't taken to school and rebelled against most things. He had gotten expelled from his first school, which was a catholic school ran my monks, though he did better in his second. He went on to become a qualified school teacher, even though he wasn't interested in teaching. Benito Mussolini had a passion for politics.

In June 1902, Mussolini went to Switzerland and got involved with some Italian socialists and got a job as a brick layer and joined the trade union. When he had suggested the very revolutionary idea for a general strike, he got expelled from Switzerland in 1903. He then went to an area called Trentino, which was ruled by the Austrians. The authorities soon labeled him as a trouble-maker; he encouraged the trade unions and attacked the Catholic Church. He was then expelled from Trentino in 1909.

Throughout Mussolini's life, he had made his rise to power, many accomplishments, and in the end he had made a huge effect on his country.

After being wounded in the trenches during World War I, he was sent home because of an injury only to become editor of his own newspaper. It was called Il Popolo d'Italia or The People of Italy. This represented his changing of his pacifist views, he used his paper to spread his new ideas and gain support. Mussolini also organized a pro-war group called Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria. After the war he joined a different group called the Arditi Association, which was a military assembly composed of WWI veterans. Both of the associations contributed to the beginning of fascism. In 1919, Mussolini founded the Fasci de Combattimento, which was the skeletal structure for what was to become the political movement of Fascism. This attracted the attention of the lower-middle class with its nationalistic, anti-liberal ideas.

During the 1920's the Black Shirt Militia was formed by Mussolini due to his disgust with the corruption of the liberal and later socialist Italian government. Originally, they were reformers but then their methods became harsher and they used violence, intimidation, and murder. One of their typical techniques was to force-feed they're opponents castor oil, which was often laced with petrol. Another method was to force them to swallow live frogs! Mussolini slowly began to back away from the Arditi Association as his Fascist movement became more powerful. In 1921 he was elected to parliament and the National Fascist party was organized. When his Fascists were sent to march on Rome they were permitted to enter the city and King Victor Emmanuel III called on him to form a cabinet. This helped him gradually transform the government into a dictatorship. He soon got the official title of head of the government. His ambition to restore greatness found expression in pretentious slogans and speeches in the creation of monumental buildings which helped his encouragement of extreme nationalist groups.

Mussolini accomplished many things during WW II on the Axis side. He started taking over Italy when he was dubbed Dictator. This was when he first was addressed as Il Duce, which means "the leader." Since he had all the power of Italy, he began to take over and make all of the decisions. Mussolini started building roads, kept rivers from over-flowing, increased over production and ran the trains on time. He also extended his control over other countries. He invaded Ethiopia in 1935 and took over Albania in 1939. Not only was Benito Mussolini the leader of Italy, he was also the youngest dictator of Italy.

Mussolini's main role during WW II was being the leader of Italy. As earlier stated, he had tried taking over Ethiopia and seized Albania. Later on, the axis powers took over countries such as: Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Poland, Romania, and many more. Mussolini soon became known as Hitler's right hand man, and this helped him become very popular. Through his accomplishments, he pushed Hitler to make his own Fascist party. They became known as the Nazis. The axis power created a Rome-Berlin alliance of totalitarianism. As the axis power had every say in what people did, German, Italy, and Japan felt as though they could do anything. Mussolini had been a huge part with the axis powers during WW II.

Once the Allies had occupied the southern part of Italy in 1943, the King had ordered Mussolini to be arrested in order to sign the peace agreement. He had then been imprisoned and then liberated by the Germans, Mussolini lived in northern