Dictator of fascist Italy

Italian journalist and politician Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) was a co-founder of the 1919 “Fascist Combat League,” which gave rise to the National Fascist Party (Ital.: Partito Nazionale Fascista/PNF). The PNF was supposed to bring Mussolini’s ideology closer to the Italian population and inspire them to support fascism. In 1922 Mussolini was appointed prime minister, systematically expanded his power and established a fascist dictatorship as “Duce” (leader). As of 1928, the PNF was Italy’s only authorized party. In 1940, Mussolini decided on Italy’s entry into the war alongside the Germans against opposition in the military (e.g., from Badoglio). In July 1943 Benito Mussolini was deprived of his power and arrested, and two months later he was liberated by German paratroopers. From 1943 to 1945 he was head of state of the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana/RSI). Mussolini was shot by Italian resistance fighters on April 28, 1945. The PNF was subsequently banned.