Mussolini, Benito

Mussolini, Benito (1883-1945), dictator of Italy.

Benito Mussolini rose to power in Italy after the First World War (1914-18).

He became Prime Minister in 1922 and gradually made himself dictator.

In 1935, Italy conquered Abyssinia and in 1939 took over Albania.

Italy entered the Second World War (1939-45) in 1940, after the fall of France.

In 1943, the Allies invaded Sicily and Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned. But German parachutists rescued him and took him to Milan.

In 1945, the Allied forces reached Northern Italy and Mussolini set out for Switzerland. But he was captured by Italians supporting the Allies and they shot him.

See Christopher Hibbert Mussolini: The Rise and Fall of Il Duce