In the opening scene of Mussolini: Son of the Century , a miniseries about the rise of Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator-to-be stands on a dimly lit stage. There, he announces the formation of the Fasci di Combattimento, the paramilitary heart and muscle of what would eventually become the National Fascist Party. Speaking to a hall full of veterans of the Great War, recounts the Italian version of the Dolchstosslegende —the Nazi myth that Germany’s defeat in World War I was the work of