Interesting facts at the end of a book

A few days ago I finished reading a book by Allan Bullock entitled "Hitler: A study in tyranny". I decided to share some interesting and a bit funny facts I stumbled across in the book.

Did you know that:

A few years before the outbreak of WWII, Mussolini was invited to Berlin to participate in an NSDAP rally held at a stadium. During the rally a storm broke out of nowhere. Lashing rain and gale-force wind made everyone scoot off and ... totally forget about Duce, who - soaked to the skin - had to go back to his hotel on foot!

Shortly before Hitler's invasion of Poland, he met Duce and Galeazzo Ciaco, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, to discuss the prospect of France and Great Britain joining the war. It was then that Hitler made a bet with Ciano that the western powers would not join the war if he invaded Poland. The stake was a collection of Italian paintings in case of Hitler's winning, and the Führer's private collection of weapons in case of his losing. Five years later Ciano was executed for treason. He had never so much as laid a finger on his weapons.