(July 29,1883 - April 28, 1945)

Benito Mussolini was born in the northern part of central Italy, in between Bologna and Florence to a blacksmith and school teacher.  Mussolinli was a bright child, but was known to have a temper and stabbed two of his peers in school. He followed in his mother’s footsteps and became a school master, but found the job not to be a good suit for him.  Instead, he became the editor in a newspaper and later started his own newspaper, La Lotta di Classe (The Class Struggle), where he would share his extreme philosophies and views.  He served in the military during the First World War, but had medical issues and returned home, back to newspapers.  Unhappy with the current Italian politics, Mussolini mobilized the Facist party to march on Rome and put such pressure on King Victor Emmanuel that he offered Mussolini to take over and form a new government in 1922, making him the youngest ever Prime Minister of Italy.  By 1938, Mussolini had aligned with Hitler, the “Pact of Steel”, and began to enforce anti-semetic laws and values.

When Hitler invaded Poland and the Second World War began, Mussolini remained neutral, until 1940 when France was near collapse.  When Japan bombed the United States at Pearl Harbor, bringing them into the Second World War, Italy, Germany, and Japan formed the Axis alliance.  Unfortunately for Mussolini, the Italian military was quite weak compared to the other countries in the conflict, and he was met with many military losses. By 1943 he was no longer a viable leader and was imprisoned.  In 1945 when he tried to escape the Allied forces sweeping through Italy, he was captured and killed.