 In September 1919 D’Annunzio and his force of 2,000 armed followers consisting primarily of ex-soldiers marched into Fiume and occupied it for fifteen months.Mussolini went on the offensive and disparaged the "squadrismo", declaring that provincial Fascism was “no longer liberation, but tyranny; no longer protector of the nation, but defense of private interests and of the dullest, deafest, most miserable caste that exists in Italy.” In another terse response, Mussolini warned