Fascist Italy and Nazi German Fascism was among the forces that were produced during the 19th century. It emerged in Italy in the year 1919 and it catapulted Benito Mussolini who was the leader into premiership after three years and it lead to the creation of new political dictatorship which started in 1925. Fascism aimed at combining the strong nationalism with an aggressive style of activism characterized by anti-materialism, idealism and violence. According to the scholars, there was both left and right influences on fascism as a social movement. On the other hand, Nazism is a term referring to a political ideology and the regime of Adolf Hitler which was in power in Germany since 1933 to 1945.
* He believed Germans belonged to the master race. (Aryan race) * He called the men who signed the Versailles Treaty traitors – November criminals * Hitler wanted to build a Third Reich and to expand Germany’s territories eastward to create living space lebensraum. * He wanted all Germans to be united in one country. Hitler comes to power After the 1st world war, Germany had a democratic government (Weimar republic). But Germans blamed it for signing the Versailles treaty and for hunger and unemployment.
The rise of totalitarianism governments started before WWII, but after the Great Depression when fascism became an ideology of society. Socialist leaders told the people what they wanted to hear. These leaders not only took advantage of their powers, but became totalitarian dictators of communism and Nazism states. In 1933 Hitler became the dictator and ruler of Germany. Hitler was known for his totalitarian government, which referenced his act based on Darwism.
This provided an opportunity for the revolutionary nationalist movements that offered action-based means to rebuilding nations. This essay will address the Fascist ideology in comparison to the other popular political movements of the time. Focusing on Italy and Germany, it will identify and discuss the post-war crisis events that led European societies away from democracy and towards the one-party state. Fascism was a “response to the problems of national development and individual identity that appeared in the wake of military defeat, political frustration, demobilization, class struggle and economic depression”. The Fascist ideology, as first outlined by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, varied greatly from one Fascist party to another.
As Anthony L. Cardoza portrays him in his book, Benito Mussolini: The First Fascist, Mussolini forced his political ideas on the weak Italian society. Much like Stalin’s regime, the Italian government seemed to control all aspects of life putting censorship on almost everything, and any comparison of ideas was extremely limited. Cardoza describes Mussolini “as the charismatic
Nazism was a revolution, and revolutions tend to devour their own.” The words of Robert Smith Thompson (2003, 141) have just described the crisis that was facing the Weimar Republic in the years 1933-1939. Adolf Hitler had risen to power and the 14 year old democratic republic was about to be eradicated in favour of something more sinister. Totalitarianism can be described as relating to a form of government that permits no rival loyalties or parties, demanding entire subservience of the individual to the state (the Concise Oxford dictionary). A totalitarian state’s ideologies reject existing societies as corrupt, immoral and beyond reform. They demand total conformity of all the people and their ideas and information is displayed through effective use of propaganda (TV, radio, press and education.)
Since the Enlightenment liberalism had flourished. This resulted in the conservative right nurturing fascism as a literal antithesis to democracy. Fascism was more of an ethos than a political ideology and incorporated concepts from contemporary genius such as Charles Darwin and Friedrich Nietzsche to validate the expansionist mindset. (See Appendices 1 & 2) Imperial Russia under the Tsars had always been synonymous with oppression, and the rise of both Lenin and Stalin was less accountable to charisma than to ruthlessness, with one hard-liner simply replacing another. At the beginning of the 1900’s, Russian society was suffering while Western Europeans were seeing increasing civic powers.
At the beginning of 1922, Italy was in a state of permanent political instability. Fascist violence was increasing in intensity. Parliamentary government could only function through patched-up coalition government by political parties who were incapable of united action. The First World War was mostly fought in the North East against Austria. Italy was defeated at Caporetto in 1917 but rallied to win the battle of Vittorio Veneto in 1918.
Rome had once led an empire that dominated the world. But that was long ago and now other European powers had empires (Britain, France) or wanted them. Hitler came to power in 1933, begun to rearm Germany and looked to re-unite Germany with Austria. Mussolini looked for a way to show Italy’s strength to the rest of Europe. Italy had tried and failed to conquer Abyssinia in 1896.
Explain how Hitler established a dictatorship in Germany from 30th January 1933 to August 1934 On the 30th of January of 1933, Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany through the support of Hindenburg and Von Papen, two figures who had power but were lacking in popularity. With no one expecting him to succeed, he was severally underestimated and on the 24th of March 1933, the Enabling Act made Hitler a legal Dictator. Within the next year, opponents of Hitler were almost non-existent. By August 1934, Hitler had become the Supreme Leader (Fuhrer) of Germany. This essay will examine the main factors that enabled Hitler to create his empire and argue that all these factors accounted to the legality of his control over every aspect of Germany’s society, enabling Hitler to establish a dictatorship.