BENITO MUSSOLINI
(1883-1945)

Italian dictator. Born in Romagna, the son of a blacksmith, he worked
firstly as a teacher & a journalist. In 1919 he founded the Fascist party
which was anti-communist and pro-Italian nationalist. The fascists grew
quickly in strength and in October 1922 he became Italian PM. In 1925, he
assumed dictatorial powers. He died at the hands of a lynch mob in Milan in
April 1945 after his fall from grace.