Mussolini's march on Rome

October 28, 1922

Some thirty thousand black-shirted Fascists converged on the Italian capital demanding power. The king, frightened of civil war, refused to declare martial law and instead invited Mussolini to form a government. Il Duce arrived by overnight train in a sleeper car, wearing a bowler hat. A new political creature, the fascist strongman ruling a European democracy, had taken power.