Some Facts
Imperfectly fluent in English, French, and German, and spoke these languages with a very heavy accent.
Grandfather of Alessandra Mussolini.
Had his son-in-law, Italian diplomat Galeazzo Ciano, executed.
Is portrayed by George C. Scott in Mussolini: The Untold Story (1985), Rod Steiger in The Last 4 Days (1974), Antonio Banderas in Il giovane Mussolini (1993), Enzo G. Castellari in The Winds of War (1983) and Bob Hoskins in Mussolini and I (1985).
Coined the term "fascism" from the fasci carried by magistrates in ancient Rome. The fasci were bundles of branches which, when bound together, were stronger than when they were apart -- reflecting the intellectual debt that fascism owed to socialism. Mussolini broke with the Socialists over the issue of Italy's entry into World War I.