Benito Mussolini

With brutal charisma and pounding fists, Benito Mussolini called upon the myth of a new roman empire. He made himself its Caesar. Mussolini became the Father of Fascism and seized power by a combination of terror and persuasion. He held Italy firmly in his grasp by crushing his enemies while still promising glory.

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born in Predappio on July 29, 1883. Son of a socialist blacksmith, he grew up to be a self-proclaimed "anti-patriot" like his father. He hadn't taken to school and rebelled against most things. He had gotten expelled from his first school, which was a catholic school ran my monks, though he did better in his second. He went on to become a qualified school teacher, even though he wasn't interested in teaching. Benito Mussolini had a passion for politics.

In June 1902, Mussolini went to Switzerland and got involved with some Italian socialists and got a job as a brick layer and joined the trade union. When he had suggested the very revolutionary idea for a general strike, he got expelled from Switzerland in 1903. He then went to an area called Trentino, which was ruled by the Austrians. The authorities soon labeled him as a trouble-maker; he encouraged the trade unions and attacked the Catholic Church. He was then expelled from Trentino in 1909.

Throughout Mussolini's life, he had made his rise to power, many accomplishments, and in the end he had made a huge effect on his country.

After being wounded in the trenches during World War I, he was sent home because of an injury only to become editor of his own newspaper. It was called Il Popolo d'Italia or The People of Italy. This represented his changing of his pacifist views, he used his paper to spread his new ideas and gain support. Mussolini also organized a pro-war group called Fasci d'Azione Rivoluzionaria. After the war he joined a different group called the Arditi Association, which was a military assembly composed of WWI veterans. Both of the associations contributed to the beginning of fascism. In 1919, Mussolini founded the Fasci de Combattimento, which was the skeletal structure for what was to become the political movement of Fascism. This attracted the attention of the lower-middle class with its nationalistic, anti-liberal ideas.

During the 1920's the Black Shirt Militia was formed by Mussolini due to his disgust with the corruption of the liberal and later socialist Italian government.