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Benito Mussolini had a large impact on World War II. He wasn’t always a

powerful dictator though. At first he was a school teacher and a

socialist journalist. He later married Rachele Guide and had 5 children.

He was the editor of the Avanti, which was a socialist party newspaper

in Milan.

Benito Mussolini founded the Fasci di Combattimento on March of 1919.

“This was a nationalistic, anti liberal, and anti socialist movement.

This movement attracted mainly the lower middle class.”1 Fascism was

spreading across Europe. Mussolini was winning sympathy from King Victor

Emmanuel III. Mussolini then threatened to march on Rome. This persuaded

King Victor Emmanuel III to invite Mussolini to join a coalition, which

strongly helped him gain more power.

Benito Mussolini brought Austria on Germany's side by a formal

alliance. “In 1937, he accepted a German alliance. The name of this

alliance was the Anti Comntern Pact. On April 13, 1937 Benito Mussolini

annexed Albania. He then told the British ambassador that not even the

bribe of France and North Africa would keep him neutral.”2 The British

ambassador was appalled and dismayed.

On May 28, 1937, Mussolini strongly gave thought to declaring

war. He then attacked the Riviera across the Maritime. “On September 13,

1937 he opened an offensive into British-garrisoned Egypt from Libya.”3

On October 4, 1937, while the offensive still seemed to promise

success, Benito Mussolini met Adolf Hitler at the Brenner Pass, on

their joint frontier. “The two of them discussed how the war in the

Mediterranean, Britain’s principal foothold outside...