How was Benito Mussolini killed?

Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator of Italy during World War II, was executed near the end of the war. On April 27, 1945, Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans while he was trying to flee Italy to Switzerland. The next day, on April 28, 1945, Mussolini was executed by a firing squad. The partisans shot him and his mistress, Clara Petacci, along with other fascist leaders captured with them. After the execution, their bodies were taken to Milan and hung upside down at a service station in the Piazzale Loreto for public display.

Benito Mussolini was the leader of the National Fascist Party and ruled Italy as Prime Minister from 1922 until 1943. He styled himself as Il Duce ("The Leader") and his regime became known for its totalitarian policities and alliance with Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler. The late stages of World War II saw Italy suffer multiple defeats and eventually an invasion by Allied forces. In July 1943, Mussolini was deposed and arrested. He was finally rescued by a German commando in a daring operation led by Otto Skorzeny, after which Mussolini was installed as the head of the puppet state, the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana), in northern Italy.

However, the tide of the war continued to turn against the Axis powers. As Allied forces advanced into northern Italy, Mussolini sought to escape to Switzerland but was caught by Italian resistance fighters. His capture and execution marked the end of fascist rule in Italy and are often seen as a symbolic act of retribution by the Italian people against the man who had led them into a catastrophic conflict and had repressed political freedoms for more than two decades.