There are many factors attributed to contributing to the rise of fascism to power in Italy. 1918 saw Italy on the brink of economic collapse and social turmoil as a result of The Great War. By way of his charismatic and unique personality, Benito Mussolini’s individual leadership was able to gain some support from his county men, and was able to take and keep power through intimidation and the idea of political violence. The drastic economic and social effects in Italy from the First World War, along side with the personality of Mussolini, and the rise and glorification of political violence are very important factors that I believe contributed to the growth of Fascism and its eventual installation at the head of the Italian Government. Italy’s experience in World War I was disastrous, and ended in insult. By the end of the war in 1918, over 600,000 Italian soldiers were dead, 950,000 were wounded and 250,000 were crippled for life. The war cost more than the government had spent in the previous fifty years, and Italy had only been fighting for three. Italy had entered the war in 1915 after signing the Treaty of London. This new secret alliance with the Triple Entente agreed to give Italy large sections of territory in the Adriatic Sea region including, Tyrol, Dalmatia, and Istria, along with parts of German colonies in Africa, Asia, and other territories, in exchange for Italy’s help and beneficial location. “The years immediately after the war did not produce the triumphant and unified Italy promised by wartime patriots but rather a major political and social crisis, compounded by short-term economic depression.” (Payne, 87) Much to the Italy’s surprise, the end of the war yielded little to no benefits for their efforts. “Though the peace settlement awarded Italy all the Trentino-Alto Adige district up to the Brenner Pass (territory that included two hundred thousand German-speaking Austrians), as well as the city of Trieste and a border with the newly created state of Yugoslavia that left half a million Slovenes on Italian land, it denied all further Italian claims in the east Adriatic, Turkey, and Africa. It also excluded any right to the largely Italian-inhabited city of Fiume on the Adria