With his signature insight and compelling style, Christopher Hibbert explains the extraordinary complexities and contradictions that characterized Benito Mussolini.Mussolini was born on a Sunday afternoon in 1883 in a village in central Italy. On a Saturday afternoon in 1945 he was shot by Communist partisans on the shores of Lake Como. In the sixty-two years in between those two fateful afternoons Mussolini lived one of the most dramatic lives in modern history. Hibbert traces Mussolini's unstoppable rise to power and details the nuances of his facist ideology. This book examines Mussolini's legacy and reveals why he continues to be both revered and reviled by the Italian people.

Christopher Hibbert, "a pearl of biographers" (New Statesman), is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the author of many highly acclaimed books, including Disraeli, Edward VII, George VI, The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici, and Cavaliers and Roundheads. He lives in Henley-on-Thames, England.

Illustrations	p. vii
Family Tree showing Mussolini's Ancestry and Descendants	p. ix
Foreword	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
The Fight for Power
The Young Rebel 29 July 1883-December 1912	p. 2
The Interventionist October 1913-24 May 1915	p. 19
The Fascist in the Making August 1915-28 October 1922	p. 24
The head of the Government 28 October 1922-13 June 1924	p. 35
The Dictator 13 June 1924-10 June 1940	p. 47
Empire and Axis
The Diplomat 28 October 1922-10 June 1940	p. 66
The Commander-in-Chief 10 June 1940-23 October 1942	p. 127
The Fall of the Colossus
'The War is Going Badly' 23 October 1942-23 January 1943	p. 146
The Conspirators November 1942-24 July 1943	p. 160
The Grand Council Meeting 24-25 July 1943	p. 173
The Arrest at Villa Savoia 25 July 1943	p. 192
The Prisoner 25 July 1943-28 August 1943	p. 196
On the Gran Sasso 28 August 1943-12 September 1943	p. 217
The Rescue from Gran Sasso 12 September 1943	p. 223
The Meeting at the Fuhrer's Headquarters 15 September 1943	p. 236
The President at Gargnano-The First Year 27 September 1943-27 September 1944	p. 241
The Civil War November 1943-December 1944	p. 268
The President at Gargnano-The Final Months December 1944-April 1945	p. 274
The Germans Surrender February-April 1945	p. 282
The Move to Milan 19-25 April 1945	p. 286
The Flight from Milan 25-27 April 1945	p. 298
The Capture 27 April 1945	p. 310
'Colonel Valerio' 27-28 April 1945	p. 322
Death at Villa Belmonte 28 April 1945	p. 328
The Piazzale Loreto 29 April 1945	p. 333
Notes on Sources	p. 335
Bibliography	p. 346
Index	p. 356
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.