Benito Mussolini was an Italian journalist, teacher, statesman and dictator. He is best known for his role in the Second World War alongside Adolf Hitler. He is considered the father of Fascism.
Mussolini was initially respected by all the world's great leaders, and even by Pope Pius XI and Gandhi. They all saw him as a great man and the savior of peace. In 1921, he founded the National Fascist Party (PNF), which promoted nationalist, authoritarian and anti-union ideas. A year later, the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III, was intimidated by the Duce's meteoric rise to power, and appointed him President of the Council of Ministers.
Mussolini then informally took over the leadership of the country. Mussolini was not racist or anti-Semitic at first. In 1932, he even declared that racism was stupid and that he didn't believe in the purity of a race, claiming that all nations had mixed over time. During the '30s, this thinking changed and, in 1938, anti-Jewish laws were introduced in Italy. The following year, Mussolini signed the Pact of Steel with Adolf Hitler, formalizing their alliance in 1939. The Italians fought alongside Hitler in the Second World War. However, they suffered many defeats. At the end of the war, Italian resistance fighters arrested Benito Mussolini and the people accompanying him. They murdered them and hanged them in a public square.
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1883: Benito Mussolini is born in Italy on July 29.
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1917: During World War I, Mussolini is wounded when a mortar explodes during an exercise. On his return, he is paid by the British secret service to, among other things, spread militarist propaganda.
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1922: Forty thousand "blackshirts" (the attire of fascist militants) parade through the streets of Naples and Rome to demand the right for fascists to govern Italy. Intimidated, King Victor Emmanuel III then offers Mussolini the position of the new Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy.
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1924: Socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti denounced the fascists' abuse of power. A month later, he was kidnapped by the Fascists, then murdered. Socialist deputies leave their positions in protest, leaving the way clear for Mussolini. In early 1925, Mussolini made a speech in which he took full responsibility for the assassination. From then on, he was considered a dictator.
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1925: A law passed by Mussolini's government establishes new hygiene standards in the workplace. Women and children were forbidden to carry excessive loads. The use of noxious substances was also regulated.
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1934: Mussolini passed a law granting women maternity leave. Women were also allowed to keep their jobs, despite being off work.
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1935: Mussolini declares war on Ethiopia. Italy is expelled from the League of Nations (forerunner of the UN). Hitler draws closer to Mussolini.
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1938: Mussolini publishes The Manifesto of the Race, in which he declares that Jews do not belong to the Italian race.
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1939: On May 6, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini sign the Pact of Steel, uniting the two countries in the context of the Second World War.
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1940: Mussolini declares war on France and Great Britain on June 10.
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1943: Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III arrests Mussolini and imprisons him on July 25. Hitler has Mussolini released in September. In return, he asks Mussolini to create an Italian Social Republic (RSI) and assume the presidency. In practice, the RSI is run by Hitler.
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1945: He is arrested and shot in Italy on April 28. His body is then transported to Milan, where it is hanged in a public square.