The nature of fascism itself was very aggressive and linked to the rise of dictatorships also increased the idea of revenge and violence. Germany and Italy also dealt with the economic crisis in 1929 in an aggressive way. And the fact that the League of Nations should ensure peace in the world and it was weak and failed facing Germany and Italy aggression let both countries became even more powerful and aggressive. One of the reasons for the German and Italian aggressive foreign policy was The Paris Peace Settlement, which was created to punish Germany. Nobody was happy with it and Italy and Germany wanted revenge.
Fascist ideology can be seen as a key feature to the outbreak of world war two at the end of the 1930s however fascist foreign policy was developed within Germany and Italy for other reasons. Germany and Italy were both defeated during world war one and were not invited into the league of nations also both countries suffered from the treaty of Versailles and wanted revenge and to re look the points of the treaty. Germany felt humiliated by the terms of the treaty her once great and powerful military was now minimum and she could not defend her borders if invaded. Italy felt betrayed by the allied forces who had promised her lands in the Adriatic for her support within the war. When Hitler came to power within Germany in the 1930s he aimed to bring all German speaking people under one great empire and that Germans were the master race who were superior to Jews and Slavs this showed the aggressive nature of Germans foreign policy because for Hitler to bring all German speaking people into one great empire it would mean having to invade territory she had lost from ww1.
To what extent does disappointment of the outcome of the First World War explain growing support for the Italian Fascist Party in the years 1919-22? After the First World War, Italy found itself in a series of crises. Economically and politically the war left the country weak, thus, giving way for a powerful figure to rise into power. However, it is important to note that Mussolini and the Italian Fascist Party did gain support in overwhelming floods and in fact, it was not until 1922, when King Emmanuel III offered the position of Prime Minister to Mussolini was their popularity secured. Long running weaknesses within the original political system aided in developing support for Mussolini, along with his ability to change the party’s policies to accommodate all members of society.
Growth of support for facism was a reason for Mussolinis appointment as Prime Minister,however there were many other reasons for Mussolinis appointment as PM, but growth of support was very important for him. The war and the mutilated victory, had an affect on Mussolinis appointment as PM. The main reason wad that the nationalists were bitterly disappointed that italy didn’t make any gains during the war. The nationalists claimed that Italy had been betrayed by the Liberal government, this shows that the nationalists might have wanted to overthrow the Liberal government and therefore supported Mussolini before he was appointed. This links into the title point that Mussolini had a wide support base and that it was growing.
Do you agree with the view that Henry VIII’s foreign policy in the years 1514-1525 failed because he lacked the resources to fulfil his aims? The failure of Henrys foreign policy in the years 1514-1525 could be blamed on a number of different reasons, with the countries lack of resources certainly playing a large part as he was unable to fund battles with other countries. Other factors contributing to this failure however were the unreliability of his allies and his indecisiveness in regards to allying with other countries. Sources 4 and 6 agree with the statement that the foreign policy failed due to a lack of resources but sources 4 and 5 also give other reasons as to why it failed, such as the unreliability of his allies and great changes in power that he could not control. Henry’s foreign policy was a failure due to England’s lack of resources.
But throughout the 1930s towards WW2, the League of Nations is shown to be very weak; hence it couldn’t prevent the Abyssinia Crisis. In 1934 Mussolini attempted a coup with Austrian Nazis to overthrow President Dollfuss, however the plan failed and Dollfuss was murdered. At this point France and Italy formed an alliance which would guarantee Austria’s sovereignty. Two months later Mussolini learned of Germany’s rearmament program and began to grow suspicion of Hitler. During April 1915, the “Stresa Front” took place, which consisted of Britain, France and Italy; in which all three nations Criticised Hitler’s gamble in Austria and was reminded that his aggressive actions had breached the spirit of the Locarno Conference.
What Evans means by this is that the desperation of the people led them to polarising their votes and seeing radical leaders like Hitler as a solution to the mess that Germany had become. Hitler took advantage of this, and from there was able to play a huge role in the collapse of the Weimar Republic. The economic strain that Germany was placed under was also a major impact of the Depression on the collapse of the Republic. Firstly, the Depression had the obvious impact of the debt rising and the banking crises however, there were a number other impacts. Germany relied heavily on international trade for resources; almost one third of their resources came from overseas.
In his message to Congress in January 1936 Roosevelt indicted nations that had the "fantastic conception that they, and they alone, are chosen to fulfill a mission and that all others... in the world must... be subject to them." at the same time he issued a proclamation of neutrality and invoked the mandatory arms embargo -this supposition in Washington was the embargo that would hurt Italy more than Ethiopia since Ethiopia lacked dollars and buy arms. -actually the arms embargo did little hard to airily since it had its own munitions industry. Where the restriction of American exports really could hurt the Italian war making capacity was in oil. -but the neutrality act covered only implements of war.
As described by Carl Friedrich, single party states are ‘crisis states.’ He believes this is so as single party states arise from periods of conflict, outcomes of wars, deep societal division or confusion. All of these factors leave a state vulnerable and allow for the population to be attracted to extreme measures or ideologies. One prominent reason for Mussolini’s successful bid for power is the attraction of the Fascist ideology. Founded by Mussolini in 1919, it was attractive to the Italian population who were tired of post-war unrest. Mussolini promised respite from their ‘feeble’ (AJP Taylor) government, as well as the return of law and order in Italy.
The degraded and weakened state of Germany after World War One was vital for Hitler to seize power. Only with rapid industrialization, a lost war, and an economic depression could the concept of Nazism thrive and grow. The people who suffered most from the disastrous post war Germany were especially vulnerable to Hitler’s accusations and socialist beliefs. This included a large percentage of the German population. The Nazi party appealed to all who suffered as a result of the war.