By default we ignore the crazy levels of all the other leaders. I don’t think he was markedly more irrational than Stalin or Churchill, though he may have cultivated such a image for both diplomatic and propaganda benefits.
I think its more accurate we ignore the crazy of the people on our side not leaders in general.
I wasn’t saying we ignore the crazy of leaders in general, I was talking about that specific set of leaders. Also note that while Mussolini and Tojo or Hirohito where not on “our side” but they are seldom singled out as being supremley crazy and irrational, though they did plenty of (at the very least seemingly) foolish things.
Note: I don’t really consider people like Stalin to be on “my side” in any meaningful sense of the word. In any case, generally I find it hard to think of say coalition forces (which includes a tiny number of my own countrymen under American command) in Afghanistan currently as “my side” and as a rule of thumb I never think of conflicts that started before I was born as having a “my side” and “not my side”, regardless of nationality, religion or ideology of the involved parties, it just seems an inappropriate sentiment to have when trying to figure out what actually happened or try and learn something from it. And I don’t think about history in almost any other context besides that one.
I think its more accurate we ignore the crazy of the people on our side not leaders in general.
I wasn’t saying we ignore the crazy of leaders in general, I was talking about that specific set of leaders. Also note that while Mussolini and Tojo or Hirohito where not on “our side” but they are seldom singled out as being supremley crazy and irrational, though they did plenty of (at the very least seemingly) foolish things.
Note: I don’t really consider people like Stalin to be on “my side” in any meaningful sense of the word. In any case, generally I find it hard to think of say coalition forces (which includes a tiny number of my own countrymen under American command) in Afghanistan currently as “my side” and as a rule of thumb I never think of conflicts that started before I was born as having a “my side” and “not my side”, regardless of nationality, religion or ideology of the involved parties, it just seems an inappropriate sentiment to have when trying to figure out what actually happened or try and learn something from it. And I don’t think about history in almost any other context besides that one.