Anti – democratic figures had seen the Nazi party as potential allies to provide popular support for an authoritarian regime. From this we can learn that the increase of support in which the Nazi party had gained, Hitler had also gained too. However the Nazi party were only ever capable of receiving 37% of the vote, this implicates that despite the increase in popularity, the level of support was not as significant as Hitler had hoped and therefore he could not had been elected by popular support alone. On the one hand, it must not be diminished that the Nazi party created a new outlook for most Germans. They were beginning to doubt that Germany had any pride left.
Mussolini wanted Italy to survive on self-sufficiency -which wasn’t surprising for a nationalist country. Mussolini wanted Italy to produce for itself all its major needs. Mussolini did this by increased control on currency, quotas on imports, increased tariff production, the search for new energy sources. However, the reality was not as good as Mussolini wanted. There were virtually no coal supplies, prices increased, some industries hit and the domestic production was only one fifth of what was needed.
Benito Mussolini became prime minister in Italy after marching on Rome in 1922. He then began to strengthen his new government between 1922 and 1930. He accomplished this to an extent by 1930 by; getting more fascists into government and into more key positions, lessening the political opposition he faced and could face in the future, gaining more power by taking it from the King, gaining popularity amongst the people and, using his new legal abilities to pave the way for his government in the future. Getting more fascists into the government was extremely important because; when he came to power in October there was only four fascists within the government, which meant Italy could not develop into a fascist state due to the limited number of fascists. Mussolini used changes in the law to strengthen his grip on Government in Italy.
Firstly, Italy was only partially politically united, namely due to a number of liberal policies. The voting reforms of 1912 allowed universal male suffrage, which thus widened the electorate and allowed more Italians to vote for a majority government, therefore increasing political stability and unity, as opposed to unstable coalitions. The election deals of 1912 somewhat united the liberals and Catholics, as it widened liberal support due to their adoption of Catholic policies (which appealed to the Catholic voter, a large majority of Italians), which somewhat increased stability due to a widened electorate. Finally, the liberals invited moderate socialists to form policies with the Catholics as part of trasformismo, which partially increased political unity for a short time due to the pretence of a unified coalition and the attempt at unifying two polarised political parties. Overall, all these policies somewhat increased political unity, albeit temporarily, as they widened the electorate and allowed the Italian masses the chance to vote in a majority government.
Mazzini gave tremendous support to Italian Nationalism and he spent most of his time convincing Italians to support the creation of a democratic, self-governing state of Italy. His complex ideas such as ‘The Brotherhood of people’ meant that he had limited appeal to upper classes, and his radical views also did not appeal to the middle classes and liberals who opposed violence. The revolutions in support for national unity in the years 1848-9 meant that for 18 months the Italian peninsula was in turmoil until the gains won by liberals were reversed and the revolutions that had taken place were suppressed. To a large extent I agree that Mazzini’s limited appeal contributed to slow progress, however I think that there are other over-riding factors such as the influence of the Church and lack of foreign support that would have also contributed. It could be argued that Mazzini’s ideas were the main reason for the slow progress of national unity in Italy in the years 1815-48.
Although, trade and financial advantages were often the most prominent, yet hidden cause of conflict in the Greek World. The Sicilian Expedition overwhelmingly demonstrates that the Economy was of major importance to Athens, which directly led to a large scale conflict. Athens sailed Thousands of miles to Sicily as they misbelieved the Island was full of treasures which the local towns possessed. Also, Sicily was in a advantageous position, being close to the African and Italian coast, which would help enhance Athens’s wealth. Although it can be argued that Alcibiades initiated the invasion, Athens’s would not have led a costly campaign to Sicily just because of one man.
How far do you agree that the main reason that Mussolini was able to gain dictatorial powers was the actions of the elites and the Catholics? I believe that the actions of the elites and the Catholic Church were an important factor in the process of Mussolini gaining dictatorial powers in Italy, yet it wasn’t the main reason. The elites contributed to Mussolini gaining power as they were influential as did the Catholic Church, who put their faith in the wrong man. I believe that the main reason Mussolini was able to gain dictatorial powers was the Matteoti crisis. The Matteoti crisis put Mussolini in a very powerful position with a great excuse to keep the opposition out of parliament.
Hitler never had more than 37 percent of the popular vote in the honest elections that occurred before he became Chancellor. And the opposition among the 63 percent against him was generally quite strong. Hitler therefore would have never seen the light of day had the German Republic been truly democratic. Unfortunately, its otherwise sound constitution contained a few fatal flaws. The German leaders also had a weak devotion to democracy, and some were actively plotting to overthrow it.
However on the other hand it is argued that the UK could not possibly be a two party system because the Conservatives wouldn’t have been able to come into power without the Liberal Democrats. During the 2010 election the Conservatives failed to gain an overall majority, in fact they only gained 36% of the votes meaning they were not going to be able to rule by themselves. This resulted in a hung parliament. This disagrees with the view that the UK has a two party system because no
Then on the 7th of April he created a new form of regional government run by Nazi officials. However, there is a counter argument as although his party got 43.1% of the votes, 56.9% didn’t like or vote for Hitler. This shows he didn’t have the backing many people thought he did. However, there are other strong arguments such as the