Személyiség és történelem. Benito Mussolini és Gömbös Gyula némely pályafordulójának példáján
Personality and History: On the Example of Some Career Turns of Benito Mussolini and Gyula Gömbös

Summary/Abstract: The study contests the traditional approach, in which the weight of personality assumes a place unwarranted by reality. For, in point of fact, the historical weight of even the most important players is dwarfed by the force of historical structures. The common features of the lives of Gömbös and Mussolini are in fact much more vague than one finds in the traditional narratives. The great differences are rooted in the divergences between Hungarian and Italian social development. The Great War was a key experience for both men. Yet their combative personality was put to the test on different grounds, and with different perspectives. Unequal development affected both Italy and Hungary severely, while, on the whole, Hungary remained more underdeveloped. Mussolini’s life features more radical turns than that of Gömbös. In 1932 it was a meeting between leaders who strongly sympathised with each other. Yet even then, as in later years, what determined merit was not personal feeling but the constriction of personal will on both sides. Finally, the paper offers a realistic interpretation of the famous anecdote written down by Ciano, proving on the basis of German material that it was in fact a wandering motif.

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