Italy's use of daredevil elite shock troops, known as the "Arditi", beginning in 1917, was an important influence on Fascism. The "Arditi" were soldiers who were specifically trained for a life of violence and wore unique blackshirt uniforms and fezzes. The "Arditi" formed a national organization in November 1918, the "Associazione fra gli Arditi d'Italia", which by mid-1919 had about twenty thousand young men within it. Mussolini appealed to the "Arditi" and the Fascists' "squadristi", developed after the war, were based upon the "Arditi".