My grandparents told me about these "Heil Hitlering ( is that a word?) automoton like people to what almost seems a joke but was bitter reality. Dit Italy have something similar with Mussolini which was the alleged birthplace of this hail (I would be surpised, but ask anyway).
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The “Nazi salute” was derived from the Roman legionary salute, as understood at the time. Mussolini’s Fascisti used it, Hitler copied it.
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From what I remember the crowds screamed “Duce, Duce”. Concerning the “Roman salute”. Apparently it did not come from the Romans either, it was a salute of the Fiume Legionaires lead by Gabriele D’Annunzio, who apparently invented it for the movie Cabiria of 1914, but probably inspired by a drawing of Jacques-Louis David in 1784.
So yeah, looks like it had nothing to do with the Roman legionaire salute, which seems to have been actually been a simple “Ave” or “Salve” and the name of the person or “et tu” (to you).
La salutatio militaris according to arms and armour of the Imperial Soldier from Marius to Commodus by Raffaele D’Amato is actually bringing the hand to the helmet, similar to the current military salute… His sources seem quite found and an interesting book.
Summary, looks like the Fascist and Nazis took their salute from a movie they saw.
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Great historical footage 
are you thee men or thee mice​:crazy_face:
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Thanks for telling me about this show… I haven’t laughed this hard in a while.
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