In 1922 the Fascist party, led by Benito Mussolini, gained political power in Italy and gradually changed the government into a one-party dictatorship under Mussolini's control. From that time until his death Mussolini's only interest was in holding on to power. He was willing to do whatever he had to do to keep power. He did not operate on the basis of any principles or beliefs that could not be adapted when it suited his purpose. Mussolini remained in power until he was thrown out after a number of Italian military disasters in World War II. The Nazis set him up as the head of a puppet state in Northern Italy, but when Mussolini tried to flee from the Allies he was captured by the Italian underground and executed. The attitude he expressed to the very end was that a better choice would have kept him in power longer. As the end grew near in 1944 Mussolini admitted he had made a mistake in entering the War, "When I allied myself with Hitler I took a leap in the dark; but after all the Germans were Fascists" (quoted by Leeds 118).
Throughout his career Mussolini claimed to represent the ideals of fascism. But history shows that he never stuck to any principles very long and was willing to make any kind of compromise that was necessary to stay in power. Mussolini himself said in 1921 that the Fascists were not interested in any particular programs. "We allow ourselves the luxury of being aristocratic and democratic, reactionary and revolutionary, legalistic and illegalistic, according to the circumstances of place, time and environment in which we are compelled to live and act" (quoted by Leeds 35).
Benito Mussolini was born in the small village of Predappio in Italy in 1883. His father was a blacksmith with revolutionary socialist ideas who taught his son that socialism was "an open and violent rebellion against our inhuman state of things" (Leeds 10). Mussolini grew up believing that only violent force could change...