[moo
s-uh-lee-nee, moo-suh-; It. moos-saw-lee-nee] 
| Be⋅ni⋅to [buh-nee-toh; It. be-nee-taw] , (“Il Duce”), 1883–1945, Italian Fascist leader: premier of Italy 1922–43. |
An Italian dictator (see dictatorship) of the twentieth century. Mussolini formed a fascist (see fascism) government in Italy in the 1920s and allied Italy with Germany as one of the Axis powers of World War II. Mussolini, known as il Duce (“the leader”), was shot by his Italian opponents near the end of the war.