Mussolini?

[Fartsniffage]

I hear he made the trains run on time,

That's thyme.

He saved a fortune on steel for railway tracks.

Unfortunately he then squandered these savings by using the steel to make shoddy tanks and invade Abyssinia.

[Yootopia]

What do you think of him?

Good up to about 1935/6. Then started getting chummy with Hitler instead of mocking him. Was a bad call.

[Tezdrian]

What do you think of him?

Good up to about 1935/6. Then started getting chummy with Hitler instead of mocking him. Was a bad call.

My thoughts exactly.

[Call to power]

I really don't look too fondly on his whole policy of working with the rich landlords in Italy (I forget the name) and such not to mention how bloody hard it must of been to keep those black-shirts clean

eh I could go into fascism and his creation of a military state being a tad silly but tbh OP prolly doesn't want that and its more a product of the times than anything

[Call to power]

What do you think of him?

Good up to about 1935/6. Then started getting chummy with Hitler instead of mocking him. Was a bad call.

course he became chummy with Hitler because the western powers wouldn't be his friend anymore (I bet their clubhouse sucked anyway) so you can't really blame it all on him

[Prusland]

He was a great leader. he hated nazism but supported them cause they were too fascists. He brought hundreds of jobs to venice

[Tagmatium]

He was a great leader. he hated nazism but supported them cause they were too fascists. He brought hundreds of jobs to venice

If he hated them so much, why the hell join forces? It's not like there wasn't enough nations around to chummy-up with.

[Vedun The Great]

Fascists everywhere.

So no-one worth listening to, then.

Leftist Lies.

Fascists are leftists...

[Tagmatium]

Fascists everywhere.

So no-one worth listening to, then.

Leftist Lies.

Fascists are leftists...

*facepalm*

[Call to power]

He brought hundreds of jobs to venice

but then made it all go a bit tits up with the whole Italian empire thing

If he hated them so much, why the hell join forces?

oddly enough he didn't actually join Germany in the war till it was certain France would fall and he'd have to deal with a Nazi Europe

It's not like there wasn't enough nations around to chummy-up with.

nah he kinda messed that up

[Vedun The Great]

Fascists everywhere.

So no-one worth listening to, then.

Leftist Lies.

Fascists are leftists...

*facepalm*

I even have a book to prove it. *points at Liberal Fascism*

[Maurepas]

Fascists everywhere.

So no-one worth listening to, then.

Leftist Lies.

Fascists are leftists...

*facepalm*

He meant by American Standards,

[Tagmatium]

I even have a book to prove it. *points at Liberal Fascism*

I suspect you're pulling my leg, to be honest. Just because something's written down, doesn't mean it's true. Especially not books with the name "Liberal Fascism", because that's really not going to be the most even-handed piece of literature ever.

[Czardas]

Fascists everywhere.

So no-one worth listening to, then.

Leftist Lies.

Fascists are leftists...

Fascism is economically centrist, being closest in line with Keynesian economics. It's sort of like the authoritarian counterpart to social democracy. (Which makes sense, since fascism was what ensued in Germany as a result of the end of democracy in the social-democratic Weimar Republic.)

[Lackadaisical2]

Could have been lost to history as a semi-benevolent dictator...

Except for the whole Neo-Colonialism thing he had going there in Africa.

I love how so many in this thread keep pointing out the atrocity that was the invasion of Ethiopia, as though democracies didn't have 90% of the world under their thumb at the time. The only reason there was outrage at the time, was because it wasn't one of them doing it.

[Maurepas]

Could have been lost to history as a semi-benevolent dictator...

Except for the whole Neo-Colonialism thing he had going there in Africa.

I love how so many in this thread keep pointing out the atrocity that was the invasion of Ethiopia, as though democracies didn't have 90% of the world under their thumb at the time. The only reason there was outrage at the time, was because it wasn't one of them doing it.

Welcome to World Politics, my friend,

[Vedun The Great]

I even have a book to prove it. *points at Liberal Fascism*

I suspect you're pulling my leg, to be honest. Just because something's written down, doesn't mean it's true. Especially not books with the name "Liberal Fascism", because that's really not going to be the most even-handed piece of literature ever.

Yes. I was trying to be funny. But the book is interesting and makes a great fire.

[Unchecked Expansion]

Could have been lost to history as a semi-benevolent dictator...

Except for the whole Neo-Colonialism thing he had going there in Africa.

I love how so many in this thread keep pointing out the atrocity that was the invasion of Ethiopia, as though democracies didn't have 90% of the world under their thumb at the time. The only reason there was outrage at the time, was because it wasn't one of them doing it.

Well, Facist states seem to uniformly get involved in dirty invasions, while a large number of democracies didn't. Modern democracy is also significantly changed since then, while facism is largely outdated

[Douchebaggerry]

What do you think of him?

Better than Hitler, Stalin and Tojo. But a broken leg is better than AIDS, cancer and paralysis.

[Tagmatium]

What do you think of him?

Better than Hitler, Stalin and Tojo. But a broken leg is better than AIDS, cancer and paralysis.

Succinct.

[Hairless Kitten II]

Mussolini was a great hero:

• He ordered the assassination of the socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti in 1924, Mussolini said in a parliament speech that he was responsible for the murder
• He destroyed several historical parts of Rome, have a look around the Colosseum
• He was a dictator, repressed the people and the freedom of speech
• Created a legal base for anti-Semitism in the late 30ties.
• Invaded Ethiopia (3 years before Hitler invaded Poland) and he used poison gas in that invasion
• Invaded Albania in 1939, a country with no army (what a hero!)
• Supported Franco, that other Spanish fascist
• His own fascist friends wanted to replace him already in 1940, which effectively happened in 1943
• His military adventures were disastrous. He only booked some cheap successes against very weak contenders (the mighty Ethiopia & the prodigious Albania), but the French and the Greek by instance kicked his ass nicely.
• He had probably a mental disorder, he certainly suffered from megalomania.
• …

Source:
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=9932&p=333953&hilit=mussolini#p333953

[Douchebaggerry]

(the mighty Ethiopia & the prodigious Albania)

Don't forget some of the Ethiopians were still using spears at this point as well.

[Risottia]

What do you think of him?

A criminal (crimes against the Italian population for deportations and killing of oppositors; crimes against the State for turning it into a dictatorship, and creating a puppet republic against the then-rightful Kingdom of Italy; partecipation in the Nazifascist extermination plans)
A war criminal (ordered the use of poison gases against Lybian insurgents and non-combatants, Ethiopian army and non-combatants, massacres of civilians in occupied countries)
A coward (tried to escape to Switzerland disguised as a German soldier, abandoning the stupid youngsters who had believed him and fought to the last in the Blackshirt units).

[Hairless Kitten II]

What do you think of him?

A criminal (crimes against the Italian population for deportations and killing of oppositors; crimes against the State for turning it into a dictatorship, and creating a puppet republic against the then-rightful Kingdom of Italy; partecipation in the Nazifascist extermination plans)
A war criminal (ordered the use of poison gases against Lybian insurgents and non-combatants, Ethiopian army and non-combatants, massacres of civilians in occupied countries)
A coward (tried to escape to Switzerland disguised as a German soldier, abandoning the stupid youngsters who had believed him and fought to the last in the Blackshirt units).

Finish them, Risottia

[Algorith]

The way I see it, Mussolini was preferable to Hitler in the same way that testicular cancer is preferable to being set on fire.

QFT