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
Roman dictator the earliest period, the official title of the dictator throughout the history of the Republic was "magister populi", or "master of the infantry". His lieutenant, the "magister equitum", was the "master of the horse" (that is, of the cavalry). However, the use of "dictator" to refer to the "magister populi" seems to have been widespread from a very early period. The appointment of a dictator involved three steps: first, the Senate would issue a decree known as a "senatus consultum", authorizing one of the consuls to nominate a dictator. Technically, a "senatus consultum" was advisory, and did not have the