Benito Mussolini Mussolini was rescued from captivity in the Gran Sasso raid by German paratroopers and "Waffen-SS" commandos led by Major Otto-Harald Mors. Adolf Hitler, after meeting with the rescued former dictator, then put Mussolini in charge of a puppet regime in northern Italy, the Italian Social Republic (, RSI), informally known as the "Salò Republic". In late April 1945, in the wake of near total defeat, Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci attempted to flee to Switzerland, but both were captured by Italian communist partisans and summarily executed by firing squad on 28 April 1945 near Lake Como. His body was
Dictator perpetuo Dictator perpetuo Dictator perpetuo (English: "dictator in perpetuity"), also called dictator in perpetuum, was the office held by Julius Caesar from 26 January or 15 February of the year 44 BCE until his death on 15 March. By abandoning the time restrictions usually applied in the case of the Roman "dictatura", it elevated Caesar's dictatorship into the monarchical sphere. Julius Caesar held the dictator position for only eleven days in 49 BCE (holding elections either as "dictator Comit. habend." or as "dictator rei gerundae causa") and again for the year 48/47 BCE. In 46 BCE, he was elected dictator for