Benito Mussolini 16

 Rather than allow the Germans to occupy and govern Italy entirely in their own interests, Mussolini agreed to Hitler’s suggestion that he establish a new fascist government in the north and execute those members of the Grand Council, including his son-in-law, Ciano, who had dared to vote against him. But the Repubblica Sociale Italiana thus established at Sal was, as Mussolini himself grimly admitted to visitors, no more than a puppet government at the mercy of the German command. And there, living in dreams and "thinking only of history and how he would appear in it," as one of his ministers said, Mussolini awaited the inevitable end. Meanwhile, Italian fascists maintained their alliance with the Germans and participated in deportations, the torture of suspected partisans, and the war against the Allies.