BENITO MUSSOLINI

If de Valera was something of a petty Devil in relation to Stalin, then it could be claimed that Mussolini's status was that of a minor God in relation to Hitler, who, through force of will and breadth of vision, towered over the fascist partnership. But Mussolini was accustomed to being dominated, and the fact that he had less political freedom in which to manoeuvre than the Führer only contributed, I suspect, to his subservience before the latter, who was comparatively free of both papal and monarchic constraints.

Probably, family man that he was, Mussolini felt morally inferior beside the ascetic German leader, whose relationship with Eva Braun, his only mistress, was always less than passionate. There also quickly arose before Mussolini's conscience or vanity a succession of military defeats and blunders which could only be atoned for, in some degree, through deference towards Hitler, who was somewhat inconvenienced by them and obliged, as far as possible, to intervene on behalf of fascist prestige, his own not excepted.

What emerges from our record of the Duce's behaviour is a weak, vain, pretentious man who lacked in practice what he advocated in theory, always something of an actor and poseur. Yet, for all his bluster and pretence, his on-stage pomposity and Latin snobbery, Mussolini was basically a more intelligent man than Hitler and certainly cleverer, being well-versed in three languages (in addition to his native Italian) and no stranger to the arts, particularly literature, of which he was a minor practitioner.

But his rational intelligence and foresight were no compensation for his overweening vanity and arrogance, and what he made up for over Hitler in cleverness he lacked in daring. Paradoxically, it was Hitler who was the demonic genius, with Mussolini as the clever-clever hanger-on and second-fiddle, unable to either stem or approach the Führer's vision, with its fanatical ardour for world conquest.

In the end both men contributed to each other's downfall and were, alike, broken by fate. Yet, unlike Hitler, Mussolini's downfall and utter humiliation engendered a penitential awakening accompanied by remorse. By contrast, no-one could have been less penitential or remorseful than Hitler at the final hour, and, although he married for the sake of Eva Braun, he went to his death as an unrepentant god, not as a defeated man!