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Benito Mussolini: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini • Il Duce
Born July 29, 1883 • Italy
Died April 28, 1945 (aged 61) • Italy
Title / Office prime minister (1922-1943), Italy
Political Affiliation Fascist Party
Role In Italo-Ethiopian War • Lateran Treaty • March on Rome • Munich Agreement • World War II

Did You Know?

  • Mussolini wanted to recreate Italy as the Roman Empire with himself as Caesar.
  • Mussolini led Italy to military victories in Libya, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Albania.
  • Mussolini took the title "Il Duce," meaning "The Leader." It comes from the same Latin root that "duke" is from.

Photos and Videos

Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini walks past rows of uniformed schoolboys standing with bicycles in Rome, as a crowd of adults and children, some holding flags, looks on.
Large crowd of uniformed soldiers and civilians fills Piazza Venezia in Rome, Italy, raising hats and rifles while listening to a speech, with the Vittoriano monument in the background.
Benito Mussolini stands between his sons Vittorio and Bruno, all in uniform, with Mussolini's arms around their shoulders in front of a building.
Two bodies with ropes tied to their feet lie on a littered street in Addis Ababa, with damaged buildings in the background, after the Italian capture in May 1936.
Italian soldiers in the Italo-Ethiopian War
Soldiers in uniform march in formation with high steps during a parade in Rome, Italy, commemorating the 15th anniversary of the Voluntary Fascist Militia for National Security.
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini
Large crowd gathered in Piazzale Loreto, Milan, watching the bodies of Benito Mussolini, Claretta Petacci, and other Fascists hung upside down from a metal structure after execution in 1945.
Large crowd of joyful demonstrators in Rome cheer and wave, some holding pictures of the Italian royal family, after the fall of the Mussolini government at the end of World War two.
The rise and fall of Benito Mussolini
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