[dfwgator]

I do wonder, had Hitler not been in power in Germany, how different history would have treated Mussolini?

Would he have been much different than say, Franco in Spain?

[Corporate Democrat]

I think he would have been similar, domestically. However, Mussolini was also a expansionist who dreamed of becoming the man who restored the Roman Empire.

That kind of ambition led to him to unilaterally invade Ethiopia (gassing hundreds of thousands in the process), annex Albania and even invade Greece, all acts of unprovoked aggression that were made on his own initiative.