"Vain, boastful and blundering, his ambition far exceeded his ability to realise them." Is this judgement of Mussolini realistic or too harsh?

The aftermath of the First Wold War saw the foundation of the fascio di Combattimento on March 23rd 1919 in Italy. This party, headed by Benito Mussolini was not particularly popular in its early years. No seats were won in the 1919 elections and Mussolini only held 2% of the vote in Milan. Yet in 1922, Mussolini became Prime minister of Italy following the "March on Rome". What followed was two decades of unilateral rule by Mussolini, who despite having come to power "democratically", exerted an iron grip rule over Italy. AJP Taylor once described him as "a vain blundering boaster without…