Victor Emmanuel III (Vittorio Emanuele Ferdinando Maria Gennaro di Savoia; 11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947) was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. He also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia (1936–1941) and King of the Albanians (1939–1943). During his reign of nearly 46 years, which began after the assassination of his father Umberto I, the Kingdom of Italy became involved in two world wars. His reign also encompassed the birth, rise, and fall of Italian fascism and its regime.

The first fourteen years of Victor Emmanuel's reign were dominated by prime minister Giovanni Giolitti who focused on industrialization and passed several democratic reforms such as the introduction of universal male suffrage; in foreign policy, Giolitti's Italy distanced herself from the fellow members of the Triple Alliance (Germany and Austria) and colonized Libya following the Italo-Turkish War. Giolitti was succeeded by Antonio Salandra, Paolo Boselli and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. The First World War brought about Italian victory over the Habsburg Empire and the annexation of the Italian-speaking provinces of Trento and Trieste. For this reason, Victor Emmanuel III was labelled the "King of Victory". However, the peace treaties failed to give Italy all the territories promised in the 1915 Treaty of London. Italian nationalists protested against what they defined as a "mutilated victory", demanded the annexation of territories in Dalmatia, and temporarily occupied the town of Fiume without royal assent.

During the early 1920s several short-serving prime ministers, including the well-respected Giovanni Giolitti, serving an unprecedented fifth term as prime minister, could not unify the country in the face of the growing Fascist movement. Strengthened by the economic downturn facing the country, the Fascists led the March on Rome, and the king appointed Benito Mussolini as prime minister. Victor Emmanuel remained silent on the domestic political abuses of the Fascist regime, though he accepted the additional crowns of the Emperor of Ethiopia in 1936 and the King of Albania in 1939 as a result of Mussolini's colonial exploits. When World War II broke out in 1939, Victor Emmanuel advised Mussolini against entering the war. In June 1940, however, the King relented and granted Mussolini sweeping powers to enter and conduct the war.

Amidst the Allied invasion of Italy in 1943, Victor Emmanuel deposed Mussolini and signed an armistice with the Allies in September 1943. In the face of the coming German reprisal (Operation Achse), he and the government fled to Brindisi while the Germans established a puppet state in Northern Italy. He switched sides and declared war on Germany in October, though he battled constantly with Allied command and, under pressure from the allies, he transferred most of his powers to his son Umberto in June 1944, effectively ending his involvement in the war and in the government of Italy. Victor Emmanuel officially abdicated his throne in 1946 in favour of his son, who became king Umberto II, hoping to strengthen support for the monarchy against an ultimately successful referendum to abolish it. He then went into exile to Alexandria, Egypt, where he died and was buried the following year in St. Catherine's Cathedral of Alexandria. In 2017, his remains were returned to rest in Italy, following an agreement between Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Victor Emmanuel was also called Sciaboletta ("little saber") by some Italians, due to his height of 1.53 m (5 ft 0 in),and il Re soldato (the Soldier King), for having led his country during both world wars.

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945) was an Italian dictator and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party (PNF). He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 1943, as well as "Duce" of Italian fascism from the establis