Adolf Hitler on Benito Mussolini
← Back to Benito Mussolini ProfileReportedly uttered during private conversations and recorded in *Hitler's Table Talk*, this passage reveals Hitler's admiration for Mussolini and the significant influence of Italian fascism on the Nazi movement.
“The Brown shirt would probably not have existed without the Black shirt. The march on Rome in 1922 was one of the turning points of history. The mere fact that anything of the sort could be attempted and could succeed, gave us impetus... If Mussolini had been outdistanced by Marxism, I don’t know whether we could have succeeded in holding out. At that time National Socialism was a very fragile growth. As I walked with him in the gardens of the Villa Borghese, I could easily compare his profile with that of the Roman busts, and I realized he was one of the Caesars. There's no doubt at all that Mussolini is the heir of the great men of that period.”
Reportedly taken from Hitler's transcribed conversations, this passage praises Mussolini's achievements, highlighting the Duce's supposed defeat of Bolshevism through intellect rather than force.
“I have myself seen in a dozen different episodes in Italy how very popular the Duce is with the majority of the people; and there is no denying the unparalleled achievements of this man and of Fascism—the innumerable new factories, the construction of new houses and schools and hospitals, the great colonial enterprise and many more; when one recalls the deplorable state of Italy at the time of the Duce’s assumption of power, one realises the magnitude of his achievements. Over and above all this he overcame Bolshevism, not by military force, but by superior intellect, and it is him we have to thank for showing for the first time, by his decisive defeat of the inner power of Bolshevism, that even in this twentieth century it is possible to recall a people to a sense of purely national pride.”
“We include all those who today stand as our allies, above all the state that has suffered the same misery, indeed, in part even greater misery than Germany itself: Italy. The Duce-and I know this-sees this battle no differently than we do. His is a poor land, overpopulated, always disadvantaged, never knowing where its daily bread will come from. He and I have sworn an oath, and no power on earth can break that bond! There were two revolutions at different times, and in different forms, but with a common goal. They will reach their common goals together.”