Mussolini

By Andrew Mitchell

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945).

It is often forgotten that the quintessential Fascist dictator - who loved to dress in uniform, launched expansionist wars and continually harked back to the days of Italian, and specifically Roman greatness and supremacy - claimed power not through revolt, coup or revolution, but by legal means. He was invited to become Prime Minister by the King, Victor Emmanuel. So perpetually he was underestimated by the Establishment, who thought him capable of removing the communist threat, that power was eventually seized almost without opposition. 

Andrew Mitchell has taught History at British universities for the past eighteen years.