Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 By summer 1943, it was clear that the war was not going the way Hitler had predicted. The Allied landings on Sicily brought the threat of invasion closer to home. Mussolini needed to persuade Hitler that his power was tenuous, so he could receive reinforcements. #2 Mussolini's call for a meeting of the Grand Council on July 24 to discuss the progress of the war was astonishing. He was supremely confident of his grip on power, and he knew that the Grand Council knew it. The Grand Council knew what had happened to Mussolini's other opponents. #3 The Grand Council meeting was held on July 24, 1943, a Saturday. Galeazzo Ciano was one of the 28 members of the Fascist party's Grand Council. He had been a supporter of fascism for most of his life, but he had been purged from Mussolini's inner cabinet in February for suggesting that Italy had made a mistake in joining the Nazi war effort. #4 Dino Grandi, the Italian prime minister, called for a coup against Mussolini. He was met with hours of debate, but in the end, he stood firm and voted against his party leader.v