The Blackshirts (, or squadristi) were fascist paramilitary armed squads in Italy during the period immediately following World War I and until the end of World War II. Blackshirts were officially known as the Voluntary Militia for National Security (Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, or MVSN). The term was later applied to a similar group serving the British Union of Fascists before World War II, to the SS in Nazi Germany, and to members of a quasi-political organization in India.