Benito Mussolini was a man of many contradictions but with one driving ambition—to rule Italy and restore it to the power and splendor of the ancient Roman Empire, with himself as the new Caeser. In time he became the founder of the Fascist movement and dictator of all Italy—but at what a price!

The son of a poor blacksmith who was an ardent Socialist, Mussolini grew up in an atmosphere of political agitation. He taught school for a brief time, then became a fiery journalist, attacking the government with a violence that caused him to be imprisoned eleven times before he was thirty. He was a genuine idealist, but he was also an opportunist and used his influence to get Italy into World War I by accepting a bribe from France, thus betraying his cause.

He was elected to parliament after the war and began his ascent to power by forming his own Fascist party and his own army of Blackshirts. As dictator of Italy, Il Duce ruled with an iron fist, at the same time deceiving many into believing he was their benefactor. Hitler, meantime, was gaining power in Germany with similar tactics, and when he invited Mussolini to form the Rome-Berlin axis, Il Duce saw the alliance as another step up in his own plans for personal glory, not realizing that Hitler was really using him as a puppet.

Mussolini's weaknesses were dramatically revealed by the fantastic blunders he committed in the war, and by the swift collapse of his Fascist party under pressure. As defeat followed defeat, he was arrested but escaped to northern Italy where he became head of a puppet government set up by Hitler. When the war ended, he was captured, court-martialed, then shot and strung up by his bootstraps. So did a people who once revered him show their disillusion and contempt.

The dramatic story of the rise and fall of a dictator.

From the dust jacket