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1945: Mussolini hanged
On this day, Benito Mussolini--Il Duce of Fascist Italy--is executed in Milan. After coming to power, Mussolini spoke of building Italy into another Roman Empire, but his country soon became a puppet of its Axis partner, Nazi Germany. Crushing defeats in North Africa and Greece crumbled Mussolini's empire, and in 1943, he was forced to escape and seek German protection after his government revolted against him. On April 28, 1945, as the Allies and the Italian Resistance liberated the last occupied Italian territory, irate citizens in Milan shot Mussolini and his mistress, and hung them by their feet for the world to see.






