The Mass Murderer Who Inspired Hitler: How Mussolini Manipulated a Nation

Thank you for doing a story about this. My Nonna's family fled Sicily to avoid what was happening but, before they could get out, her uncle and grandfather were shot in the back of the head side by side, execution style in the streets. As she is approaching her 90s she is finally opening up more about it. The things he put my family through were unimaginable. Thank you for telling this story. No one ever talks about it.

I wish people would understand the parallels that we're seeing today. It's amazing how others complain about socialism but close their eyes to the fascism that they're opening choosing and not comprehending what either actually mean

Speaking of dictators, Fidel Castro would be an interesting deep dive. He avoided assassination attempts 638 times. That must literally be a world record. Some of the attempts were pretty creative too...like infecting his wetsuit with FLESH EATING BACTERIA.

I love having a little smoke and sit in Miss Bailey's history class. The only history class I've ever liked and I actually learn something

nobody: Bailey: *laughes* "that's not funny"

I was a senior caregiver for a few years and for part of that time I worked with this sweet Italian woman who had severe dementia. I would spend twice a week with her, and her husband was on and out of the home during that time. Every day when I was there around noon he would make me a proper Italian espresso. It was such a treat! One day he revealed to me that as a younger boy (he would have been around 11) he was THERE with his family while Mussolini’s body was being dragged through the streets and then hung up. He witnessed it himself. I still think about it to this day and how absolutely mind-blowing that is.

As a lady with an American Studies degree and a love of history in general, I just want to say that I enjoy Dark History so much. You talk about history in a very fun and engaging way, and the topics you choose often tie into a lot of current events without explicitly calling it out, which I love. We can learn a lot from the past, and making connections to the present is especially important these days. My dog Meatball and I always look forward to Thursdays because of your show.

“Mussy, eat my 🐱” had me💀💀💀

Fun tact, Mussolini’s granddaughter, Alessandra Mussolini, is a public figure in Italy, she was a member of the Italian (Berlusconi’s) right wing party and was also a member of European Parliament at some point. She actively defends her grandfather and even once threatened to sue whoever insults him online…. Oh and she recorded a pop album called “amore” in the 80s that was released only in Japan

How many of us legit forgot she was talking about a dictator from 100 years ago, because it sounded EXACTLY like a certain orange clown in power right now??