Fascism+in+Europe

The three major Axis powers in World War Two were Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Benito Mussolini is one of the key founders of Fascism. Mussolini was the Prime Minister of Italy from 1922 to 1943 before King Victor Emmanuel III stripped him of the position and arrested him. The Germans freed him from jail and he was then the Head of the Italian Social Republic until he was assassinated in 1945. The ISR was a puppet state of Nazi Germany.

Fascism is defined as an authoritarian nationalist government ruled by a dictator. It is anti-communist and it believes that the government is more important than individual people. It was created because people were scared of communism but thought that democracy was too weak to defend them. The army is very important and fascism. If anyone speaks out against the ruler they will be put in jail or be killed. Propaganda is used a lot by fascist governments.

__**Timeline**__
 * March 23, 1919:** Mussolini reformed the Milan fascio as the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (Italian Combat Squad). It had 200 members at its creation.
 * October 27-29, 1922:** The National Fascist Party led by Mussolini came to power after the March on Rome. King Victor Emmanuel III made Mussolini the Prime Minister. Luigi Facta was forced to step down in place of Mussolini.
 * April 6, 1924:** The Acerbo Law came into effect during elections. It was a scheme that put a lot of fascists in Parliament.
 * June 10, 1924**: Italian Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti was assassinated. Mussolini said he ordered for him to be killed.
 * September 1926:** The Organisation for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism (OVRA) was created. It was a secret police force.
 * September 1928:** A new electoral law was created that said the Fascist Grand Council headed by Mussolini would determine the composition of parliament.
 * February 1929:** The Lateran Treaty is signed between the Italian state and the Holy See creating the Vatican City. The Vatican City is still a country to this day.
 * October 1935:** Italy invaded Ethiopia in what is called the Abyssinia Crisis. It was done to undermine the League of Nations and to strengthen ties with Germany. This began the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.
 * June 9, 1937:** Italian Socialist Carlo Rosselli is assassinated in France. Mussolini may have ordered the assassination.
 * July 1938:** The Manifesto of Race is passed. It stripped citizenship away from Italian Jews.
 * June 10, 1940:** Italy declares war on Great Britain and France and joins the war as an Axis power.
 * July 25, 1943:** King Victor Emmanuel III stripped Mussolini of the position of Prime Minister and arrested him.
 * September 1943:** Mussolini is freed from prison by German paratroopers. He was then appointed as the head of the Italian Social Republic which was a puppet state of Germany. The ISR was German occupied Northern Italy.
 * April 27, 1945:** Mussolini and is mistress are captured on their way to to Switzerland where they were going to board a plane to escape to Spain. Urbano Lazzaro led the partisan group that captured Mussolini.
 * April 28, 1945:** Mussolini was executed. Hitler killed himself two days later and the Allies won the war on September 2.