1. Benito Mussolini By Maggie Stohler and Danni Schwartz

2. Objective  Our objective is to discover Benito Mussolini’s journey to dictatorship throughout the era of World War II.

3. Benito’s Background  Benito Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883 in Varnano dei Costa near the village of Predappio.  His parents Rosa Maltoni and Alessandro Mussolini influenced his beliefs, creating the foundation of his socialist views.  As an avid writer, he became an editor for Avanti, a Milan socialist paper, and proclaimed his views against Germany at the start of World War I.

4. Mussolini’s Socialist Views  While working at the Avanti he grew to be “ the most forceful of all labor leaders of Italian socialism”.  At the start of WWI, Mussolini supported Italian involvement in the war, but the socialist didn’t support his ideas.  This fallout lead to Mussolini’s change in beliefs and he left the Socialist Party and the Avanti.

5. The Origin of Fascism  After leaving the Avanti, he developed a new Italian newspaper called I l Popolo d’Italia along with the pro-war group Fasci d’Azione Rivoluzionaria in November, 1914.