Full Name = Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini; Profession=Italian politician, journalist, and fascist dictator; founder of Fascism and leader of the Kingdom of Italy as Prime Minister and Il Duce from 1922 until his overthrow in 1943; Nationality=Italian; Born=29 July 1883; Birthplace=Dovia di Predappio (later known simply as Predappio), Province of Forlì, Emilia-Romagna, Kingdom of Italy; Generation=Late 19th‑century birth cohort (born 1883) forming part of the early 20th‑century European political generation shaped by the upheavals of World War I and the interwar period; Chinese Zodiac=Goat (1883 began a Year of the Goat in the traditional Chinese zodiac cycle); Zodiac Sign=Leo (the Western zodiac sign for 29 July). Age in 2026 = 143 (would be 143 years old in 2026, calculated from his birth year, 1883); Marital Status= Married twice and widely known for numerous affairs: he first married Ida Dalser, with whom he had one son, later marrying Rachele Guidi (Rachele Mussolini) in 1915 and remaining legally married to her until his death, while maintaining long‑term relationships with mistresses including Clara (Claretta) Petacci. Children= Six known children in total, including one son with Ida Dalser and five children with Rachele Guidi—Edda, Vittorio, Bruno, Romano, and Anna Maria—who together formed a highly publicized fascist “first family” in Italy; Description=Benito Mussolini rose from a modest background as the son of a socialist blacksmith and a Catholic schoolteacher in Predappio to become one of the most consequential and controversial leaders of the 20th century, channeling his early experiences as a schoolteacher, laborer, and radical journalist into a militant political career that culminated in the founding of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento in 1919 and, subsequently, the National Fascist Party in 1921, through which he pioneered and codified fascist ideology as a mass movement in post–World War I Italy; he came to power with the March on Rome in 1922, was appointed Prime Minister, dismantled liberal democratic institutions, and established a one‑party totalitarian regime marked by aggressive nationalism, personality cult, censorship, and repression of opponents, earning the title Il Duce (“The Leader”) and turning Italy into the first fully fledged fascist state in Europe; under his rule, Italy pursued imperial expansion in Africa, including the brutal invasion of Ethiopia, and later aligned closely with Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany, entering World War II on the side of the Axis Powers, decisions that ultimately led to military disaster, domestic disillusionment, and his removal from power in 1943 as Allied forces advanced and the Italian monarchy sought to save the nation; after a dramatic rescue by German forces he headed the short‑lived Italian Social Republic (a Nazi‑backed puppet state in northern Italy), but his influence and territory steadily collapsed; attempting to flee toward Switzerland with Clara Petacci at the end of the war, he was captured by Italian partisans and became a symbol of fascism’s violent demise; Cause of Death= Executed by Italian partisans by gunshot on 28 April 1945 in the village of Giulino di Mezzegra near Lake Como after his capture during an attempted escape to Switzerland with Clara Petacci, his corpse and Petacci’s were subsequently taken to Milan, hung upside down in a public square, and displayed to jeering crowds, a highly symbolic and widely reported end to his dictatorship and to fascist rule in Italy.