Trivia

In the early years of his rule he was sympathetic to the Zionist movement and even hosted a cordial meeting with Chaim Weizmann. Having read "Mein Kampf", he knew that Adolf Hitler despised Italians along with other non-Germanic groups. In 1938, under intense pressure from Hitler, Mussolini enacted relatively minor discriminatory anti-Jewish laws, and even those went largely unenforced. Only in late 1943, after the Germans had invaded northern and central Italy and reduced Mussolini to a puppet, did deportations of Jews begin. The Germans did not inform or consult Mussolini when they began deporting Jews. Some historians have argued the introduction of the Manifesto of Race in 1938 was a deliberate attempt by Mussolini to revive his regime, since it had lost popularity after being in power for 15 years.

In April 1945, just before the Allied armies reached Milan, Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were caught by Italian Communist partisans. It is unclear whether his objective was to attempt to cross the Swiss border or to go to the Valtellina; if it were the latter, he left the city without the thousands of supporters gathered in Milan intended to be his escort to the last stand in the Alps. Both Mussolini and Petacci were summarily executed. Later their corpses were hung upside down in a petrol station at Loreto Square in Milan.

Joined Adolf Hitler in declaring war on the United States on 11 December 1941.

Many German commanders bitterly resented having to prop up Mussolini during World War II. A German study before the war had suggested it would be better for Italy to remain neutral.

He sought to delay a major war in Europe until at least the end of 1942, and for this reason the Pact of Steel determined that neither Germany nor Italy should go to war without the other's support until 1943.

Laid the first stone of Rome's Cinecittà Studio (29th January 1936).

When World War II began in September 1939 he was humiliatingly obliged to remain neutral, despite having signed the Pact of Steel, due to Italy being militarily unprepared. He entered the war on the side of the Axis on 10 June 1940, and sent forces to join the invasion of France. He invaded Greece in the autumn.

Sent the Italian Air Corps to Belgium in September 1940. It participated in the Blitz against the UK from 24 October 1940 until April 1941.

Had been a heavy smoker until he was about 40, after which he became a militant anti-smoker.

While Adolf Hitler had no interest in overseas colonies, Mussolini intended to build an Italian empire in North Africa and the Mediterranean.

Sent an Italian force to join the invasion of the Soviet Union in July 1941, even though this had not been requested by Adolf Hitler.

Annexed Albania in April 1939.

Entered World War II primarily because he was anxious to hit back at France. After Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, Soviet propaganda was able to portray Nazism and fascism as the same ideology.

Encouraged by Adolf Hitler, he provided considerable military support for Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War.

His fascist state would provide a model for Adolf Hitler's later economic and political policies in Germany.

Formed the Rome-Berlin Axis in 1936, joined the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1937 and signed the Pact of Steel in 1939.

Originally he was not close to Adolf Hitler. He publicly ridiculed Hitler's view of a Germanic people, and even threatened to go to war with Germany in 1934 if it invaded Austria.

Italian harbors were used to import materials for the German war effort from 1939-40. The UK and France were certain that Mussolini would enter World War II on Germany's side, and considered launching a pre-emptive strike on Italian forces in Libya to force Italy into the war before it was ready.

In December 1943 he told a journalist he regretted adopting the Manifesto of Race in 1938.

The Italian entry into World War II immediately began the North African Campaign, the Battle of the Mediterranean and the Siege of Malta.

On 11 June 1940 he sent the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) to attack French bases in Tunisia, North Africa, and on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, as well as British installations on the strategically located fortress island of Malta.

During the Munich Conference he pretended to be impartial, but in reality worked closely behind the scenes to ensure the Sudetenland was conceded to Germany.

Although he had opposed attempts to unite Austria with Germany in 1934, he later publicly supported the Anschluss in March 1938.

After Italy entered the war, pressure from Nazi Germany led to the internment in the Campagna concentration camp of some of Italy's Jewish refugees. However Mussolini was not consulted when the Germans began deporting Jews from occupied Rome in the autumn of 1943.

During the 1930s he was praised by both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, the latter even going so far as to refer to him as "the greatest living legislator.".

He did not want to lead the Italian Social Republic, telling Hitler he was ill and wanted to retire from public life. Mussolini objected to Hitler's idea of creating a new state and continuing the war, citing the exhaustion of Italian people and the huge casualties among the civilian population. However Hitler threatened to completely destroy several Italian cities if Mussolini did not agree.

Met Adolf Hitler for the first time on 14 June 1934, when the German Chancellor made his first state visit to Italy.

The dictator Napaloni (Jack Oakie) in The Great Dictator (1940) is based on Mussolini, and Nehemiah Persoff as the mobster Little Bonaparte in Some Like It Hot (1959) does an impression of him, as does Vittorio Caprioli in the climax to Zazie in the Metro (1960).

Even after the passage of the Manifesto of Race in July 1938, Mussolini continued to make contradictory public statements about race.

From the time of the March on Rome in 1922 to the beginning of the Ethiopian War in 1935, Mussolini was a highly esteemed figure around the world, especially in the United States. The American attitude toward Mussolini cooled considerably during Italy's military subjugation of Ethiopia from 1935 to 1936. At the same time, though, some Americans pointed out the hypocrisy of condemning Italy for its imperial ambitions, while withholding criticism of Britain and France for their vastly greater colonial empires.

Reluctantly agreed to lead the Italian Social Republic in the hope of limiting German atrocities against the civilian population.

Imperfectly fluent in English, French and German, and spoke these languages with a very heavy accent.

Under intense German pressure he had his son-in-law, Italian diplomat Galeazzo Ciano, executed in January 1944. Mussolini admitted he greatly regretted allowing the execution.

On 31 October 1922, at age 39, he became the youngest Prime Minister in the history of Italy, until Matteo Renzi in 2014.

Qualified as an elementary schoolmaster. His mother, Rosa, was a school teacher. (1901)

Coined the term "fascism" from the fasci carried by magistrates in ancient Rome. The fasci were bundles of branches which, when bound together, were stronger than when they were apart--reflecting the intellectual debt that fascism owed to socialism. Mussolini broke with the Socialists over the issue of Italy's entry into World War I.

Grandfather of Alessandra Mussolini.

Fascist dictator of Italy from 1922-43. He governed constitutionally as Prime Minister until dropping all pretense of democracy early in 1925.

In 1937 Muslim leaders in Libya presented him with the "Sword of Islam", while Fascist propaganda pronounced him as the "Protector of Islam.".

Had to be bailed out by the Germans in France in June 1940, in North Africa in February 1941 and in the Balkans in April 1941. Adolf Hitler was also forced to divert German forces training in France when the invasion of Sicily began in July 1943, rather than use them as a strategic reserve for the Eastern Front. Hitler had to withdraw more forces from the Eastern Front when the invasion of Italy began in September 1943. Hitler later blamed to delay of Operation Barbarossa on Mussolini, although in reality the invasion of the Soviet Union could not begin until June 1941 due to the late thaw which had left rivers and canals too flooded for armored units. In any case Hitler had to intervene in Greece in order to prevent the British Royal Air Force (RAF) from bombing the oil refineries in Romania.

There was considerable support in Italy for Mussolini's decision to enter the war in June 1940. However support for the war waned considerably by the summer of 1942 as the tide turned against the Axis Powers.

The still-neutral Mussolini offered to broker a negotiated end to the war on 26 May 1940, at the beginning of the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force from France. The British government rejected the offer on 29 May.

When Hitler learned that Mussolini had formally declared war rather than launch a surprise strike on the British fleet at Alexandria or an invasion of Malta he said, "This must be the last declaration of war in history!". Germany and Italy formally declared war on the United States on 11 December 1941, although technically they had already been in a state of war since Franklin D. Roosevelt publicly confirmed shoot on sight on 11 September 1941. Admiral Ernest J. King had said in December 1940 that the US was already at war.

Unlike Hitler in modern Germany, Mussolini is still widely celebrated in Italy today and there are many fascist monuments.

When Hitler finally ascended into power, he was publicly praised by Mussolini, who hailed it as a victory for his own fascist ideology and he began giving Hitler advice on tactics. This was just for the cameras, though, because in private Mussolini criticized Hitler and his party. He described the Nazis as "boring" because of their "unrefined" and "simplistic" ideas.

Mussolini was critical of Hitler's belief in eugenics and Aryan supremacy. He took a swipe at the Nazis in one of his speeches, describing it as a "pity" how the Nazis expressed their racial views since the Germans were "the descendants of those who were illiterate when Rome had Caesar, Virgil, and Augustus".

At their meeting on 18 June 1940 Hitler denied Mussolini's request that Italian troops be allowed to occupy the Rhone Valley, and that Corsica, Tunisia and Djibouti (adjacent to Italian-occupied Ethiopia) be disarmed.

Winston Churchill remained a loyal supporter of Mussolini throughout the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. He told the Anti-Socialist Union that Mussolini was "the greatest lawgiver among living men". He also wrote in The Sunday Chronicle that Mussolini was "a really great man". In response to a highly favorable description of Mussolini in a letter Churchill wrote, "The description of Mussolini is [very] vivid. No doubt he is one of the most wonderful men of our time.".

As leader of the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945 he reverted to his original anti-monarchist and anti-capitalist stance.

He was frequently ill and depressed in the first half of 1943, causing even some of his most loyal supporters to lose faith in him. When it became known the western Allies would not negotiate with Mussolini some of his followers decided the only way the fascist regime could be preserved would be under new leadership.