Benito Mussolini
(1883–1945) Italian Fascist statesman, Prime Minister (1922–43); known as Il Duce ('the leader'). He founded the Italian Fascist Party in 1919. He annexed Abyssinia in 1936 and entered World War ...
Count Galeazzo Ciano
(b. 18 Mar. 1903, d. 11 Jan. 1944).Italian Fascist leader Born in Livorno, he obtained a degree in law from Rome in 1925, and entered the diplomatic service. Not surprisingly, his career was ...
Earl of Avon Anthony Eden
(1897–1977)British statesman and Conservative prime minister, whose brief premiership (1955–57) ended with his resignation following the Suez crisis. He received an earldom in 1961.Decorated with the ...
Ethiopia
Was a name usually applied by the Greeks to any region in the far south. Early Greek interest in Ethiopia was largely concerned with the source of the Nile. From Herodotus onwards ‘Ethiopia’ ...
Foreign Legion
A military formation of the French army established in 1831 to fight France's colonial wars. Composed, except for the higher ranks, of non-Frenchmen, the Legion was famed for its audacity ...
George Lansbury
(b. 22 Feb. 1859, d. 7 May 1940).British Labour leader 1931–5 Born near Lowestoft, Suffolk, Lansbury emigrated to Australia in 1884, but had an unsuccessful time there, and returned a year later. He ...
Italo-Turkish war
(1911–12),one of the several small wars sparked by the crumbling of the Ottoman empire that immediately preceded WW I. Italy coveted the Turkish possessions of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania (modern ...
Neutrality Acts
(USA) A series of Acts passed at the height of isolationism, amidst fears that the desire for profits from the arms industry might fuel direct or indirect participation in war. They followed a Senate ...
Orde Charles Wingate
(1903–1944)British major-general who pioneered techniques of guerrilla warfare used by his Chindit columns, which operated behind Japanese lines in Burma during World War II.Wingate, the son of an ...
Pierre Laval
(b. 26 June 1883, d. 15 Oct. 1945).Prime Minister of France 1931–2, 1935–6; French dictator 1940, 1942–5 A student of law, he became an advocate of the working classes and joined the Socialist Party ...
Pietro Badoglio
(b. 28 Sept. 1871, d. 1 Nov. 1956).Italian general A professional soldier, he fought at Adowa (1896) and in Libya (1911). He led the successful assault on the Austrian stronghold of Monte Sabotino in ...
Samuel John Gurney Hoare
(b. London, 24 Feb. 1880; d. London, 7 May 1959)British; Foreign Secretary 1935, Home Secretary 1937–9; Bt. 1915, Viscount Templewood 1944 The son of a baronet and member of an old Norfolk farming ...
William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount
(b. 6 Aug. 1891, d. 14 Dec. 1970).British field marshal Born in Bristol, and educated at King Edward's School (Birmingham). He worked for an engineering company before enlisting in the Royal ...
