The Black Shirt Rule Over Italy

• The American Legion Weekly, 1923 •

An American Legion Weekly article about the earliest days of Mussolini and his Fascisti Black Shirts; their discomfort with neighboring Yugoslavia, their love of the Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863 – 1938) and their post-war struggle against the Italian Communists:

"When the Communists virtually ruled over Italy in 1920 and 1921, they set up a detestable tyranny. Railways could not carry troops. Officers were forbidden wear sidearms, and men with war medals were spat on and beaten."

and when Mussolini took power in 1922:

"The Fascisti today take Caesar's legions for their model...'Whatever was Roman before will be Italian' the officers used to remark modestly to their troops.'"

More on Fascist Italy can be read HERE...

You can read about his violent death here...