Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) was the founder and “Il Duce” (the leader) of the Italian Fascist Party.  During the early 1920s, Mussolini took advantage of Italy's ongoing political and economic crises to seize power and establish a one-party dictatorship in Italy.  In the 1930s, Mussolini formed a military alliance with Germany, and Italy entered World War II on the Axis side.  Following the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943, Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned.  The Germans rescued him from prison and made him the leader of a puppet fascist government in northern Italy.  In 1945, he was captured by Italian partisans and shot.