Unexpected

Mussolini Worked for British Intelligence

On MI5's payroll during WWI.

Benito Mussolini's doomed alliance with Nazi Germany during WWII is well documented—but new archival materials suggest that Mussolini worked for British intelligence during WWI, serving as an agent for a nation that he would later lead a war against. Cambridge historian Peter Martland explained his discovery to The Guardian: "Britain's least-reliable ally in the war at the time was Italy after revolutionary Russia's pullout from the conflict. Mussolini was paid £100 a week from the autumn of 1917 for at least a year to keep up the pro-war campaigning—equivalent to about £6,000 a week today." As a 34-year-old newspaper man, Mussolini's job was likely related to propaganda efforts. "The last thing Britain wanted were pro-peace strikes bringing the factories in Milan to a halt." After the armistice, Mussolini began his rise to power.