Twentieth-Century Caesar: Benito Mussolini

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 Caesar. He became the founder of the Fascist movement and dictator of all of Italy.

The son of a poor blacksmith who was an ardent Socialist, Mussolini grew up in an atmosphere of political agitation. He taught s...