Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who led Italy as Il Duce from 1922 until his overthrow in 1943. He founded the fascist movement in 1919 with the creation of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which became the National Fascist Party (PNF) in 1921. Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister of Italy after the March on Rome in 1922, establishing a totalitarian dictatorship. He oversaw Italy's participation in World War II as an ally of Nazi Germany, and was summarily executed near the end of the war in 1945.
Mussolini was originally a socialist journalist at the Avanti! newspaper.