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From 1922 to 1925, Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) was the Prime Minister of Italy, followed by serving as the Head of State and Il Duce of Italy from 1925 to 1943, and Head of State and Il Duce of the Republic of Salò (a Nazi puppet state) from 1943 to 1945. From a young age, Mussolini was violent and opportunistic, but reported to have a way with words and a charisma that would prove beneficial to his political career. He initially worked with the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) before being fired for his support of Italy’s participation in World War I.
Afterward, he founded the Fascist newspaper Il Popolo d’Italia, the Fascist Combat Leagues in 1919, and the National Fascist Party (PNF) in 1921. The Fascist Combat Leagues were key to his rise to power, with their private militias contracted out to suppress labor strikes and doing so brutally. He was appointed Prime Minister in October 1922 by King Victor Emmanuel III, who hoped to avoid conflict with the fascists. Mussolini continued to extend his power, winning seats for Fascists in Parliament and achieving other reforms to their benefit, before declaring himself dictator under the name Il Duce in 1925.
As dictator, Mussolini used post-war instability in Italy to shape it as he pleased, promising to “cleanse” Italy from populations he deemed undesirable. This included political opponents, criminals, gay men, the mentally ill, alcoholics, and Jews. Those who did not flee were either imprisoned, killed, or forced to pay protection money. He promoted a cultural return to the greatness of the Roman Empire and traditional values, encouraging women in particular to return to their roles as homemakers and to procreate as much as possible to strengthen Italy’s racial purity.
In his private life, Mussolini was obsessed with sex and had a steady stream of women brought to him, willing or not, whom he would place under surveillance and control even when the relationship was over. This level of extreme control extended to all areas of his life and how he ran Italy, often micromanaging to a level of detail as minuscule as the font used in the national newspapers. He was voted out of power by his Grand Council in 1943 and imprisoned. He was subsequently freed by Hitler and placed in control of the Republic of Salò before being executed in 1945 by Communist partisans.
