Blackshirts (redirected from Italian Blackshirts)

Blackshirts

 Italian Camicie Nere

Armed squads of Italian Fascists under Benito Mussolini who wore black shirts as part of their uniform. The squads, first organized in 1919, targeted socialists, communists, republicans, and others. Hundreds of people were killed as the squads grew in number. In 1922 Blackshirts from all over Italy participated in the March on Rome (see Rome, March on). In 1923 the private Blackshirts were officially transformed into a national militia. With Mussolini's fall in 1943, the Blackshirts fell into disgrace.