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This period of economic turmoil and social unrest laid fertile ground for Benito Mussolini’s rise to power and the establishment of a fascist dictatorship in 1922. With ambitions to expand Italian territories, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935 and annexed Albania in 1939. Italy entered World War II on the side of the Axis powers but faced dramatic setbacks; Mussolini was deposed in 1943 after the Allied invasion of Sicily. Following his ousting, Germany occupied northern and central Italy, and Mussolini was reinstated briefly in a puppet regime.
The resistance against the Nazi regime spanned the subsequent years, culminating in Mussolini’s capture and execution in 1945, coinciding with Germany’s surrender and the closing chapters of World War II in Europe.