Mussolini 2

Benito Mussolini Benito Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883 in Predappio. The son of a blacksmith he was largely self-educated. He became a schoolteacher and a socialist journalist in northern Italy. In 1910 he married Rachele Guidi who bore his five children. Mussolini was jailed in 1911 for his opposition to Italy’s war in Libya. Soon after his release in 1912 he became editor of the socialist newspaper in Milan, “Avanti!”. When WWI began in 1914 Mussolini advocated Italy’…

…the now sickly Mussolini and put him in control of northern Italy, still under German occupation, as a German puppet. In the last few days of the war Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, tried to escape to Switzerland. On April 28, 1945 Mussolini and his mistress were found by Italian partisans and shot at Giulino di Mezzegra near Lake Como. In light of Italy’s wartime disasters few Italians regretted the death of their demonic Duce.