Death of Adolf Hitler been executed by Italian partisans. The bodies of Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, had been strung up by their heels. The corpses were later cut down and thrown into the gutter, where they were mocked by Italian dissenters. These events may have strengthened Hitler's resolve not to allow himself or his wife to be made a "spectacle" of, as he had earlier recorded in his testament. Doubting the efficacy of the cyanide capsules distributed by SS physician Dr. Ludwig Stumpfegger, Hitler ordered Dr. Haase to test one on his dog Blondi, who died as a result. Hitler and Braun
Roman dictator there was already a dictator in the field. Like the dictator, the magister equitum was a curule magistrate, entitled to the "toga praetexta" and the "sella curulis". His "imperium" was equivalent to that of a praetor (in the later use of the term), in that he was accompanied by six lictors, half the number accorded to the consuls. But like the dictator, he could summon the Senate, and probably also the popular assemblies. His authority was not subject to recall, although if the dictator were compelled to resign due to a fault in the auspices, the magister equitum was also