The word "Fascist" is now a pejorative term ("pejorative" means "negative" or "derogatory") to describe leaders or states that have absolute control and are aggressively nationalistic. The terms "fascism" and "fascist", however, were first embraced by Benito Mussolini in Italy in the 1920s and 1930s to describe their party and policies (that were absolutist and aggressively nationalistic). This tutorial described Mussolini and the Fascists' rapid rise to power and the influence it had on the rest of the world (including providing a model for Hitler in Germany).