“"Fascism" was the ideology of the movement that, under the leadership of Benito Mussolini, seized power in Italy in 1922 and held power until the Allied invasion of Italy in World War II” 18. “An attempt to provide fascism with a fully articulated theory was made by an Italian neo-Hegelian philosopher of some distinction, Giovanni Gentile, who was converted to fascism after Mussolini's coup.” 19. “But fascism equally opposed socialism, which preached class war and trade unionism and thus served only to divide the nation” 20. “Revolutionized society in such a way that the socialist critique was no longer relevant” 21. “Fascism's debts to the more extreme and fanatic elements of the nineteenth-century left wing” 22.
Hitler and Mussolini were both responsible for the outbreak of war in 1939, though mainly due to both Nazi and fascist ideologies; two ideologies that both dictators allied together to spread the fascist ideologies internationally. Hitler is more responsible for the outbreak of war in 1939 as he demonstrates his aggressive behaviour and intelligence in the belief of building a Lebensraum (fixing the economic problem from WW1 and expanding to attain more land with a growing population), revising the Treaty of Versailles and creating an Aryan race in which he believed Jews and Slav’s were an inferior race; in which were considered as mere slaves. Throughout the 1930s, from Hitler’s first moment of being appointed chancellor the League of Nations is foreshadowed as very weak as it will not possess potential power to appease peace or intervention upon the actions of both dictators. The League of Nations had one purpose; to preserve world peace. But throughout the 1930s towards WW2, the League of Nations is shown to be very weak; hence it couldn’t prevent the Abyssinia Crisis.
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.
He organized his Fascio di Combattimento into anti-socialist 'police' that attacked socialists and burnt down socialist headquarters. Mussolini's use of the Il Popolo di Italia publicised the socialist threat and squad actions, this drew in more support and helped him to increase his power as he was a skilled journalist. Mussolini's change in policies and appearance was a tactic he used for larger growth in support. After the 1919 election, the fascists failed to win a single parliamentary seat, Mussolini began to steadily move to the right, he announced that the movement opposed the 'anti-Italian' PSI but not the working class, he endorsed employer-worker collaboration and called for better relations with the Vatican. The new fascist programme also abandoned earlier pledges to abolish the senate and confiscate 'excessive' war profits.
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.
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.
“A political movement of the right, characterized by the use of systematic violence against political opponents and by the presence of a dominant charismatic leader, that emerged after World War I in a number of European countries primarily Italy and Germany.” (The West and the World, page 476.) Before you can attempt to differentiate the fascist forms of government in Germany and Italy, it is important to recognize how they were similar. Both had similar viewpoints in the sense that they believed their respective countries were special and needed the global respect that they deserved. Germany felt isolated because they had to admit they were wrong in World War I and had to pay retributions for their actions. Italy felt that they wanted to regain the glory they possessed during ancient Rome and wished to create a 20th century Italian Empire in the Mediterranean.
Prior to his taking of Abyssinia, Mussolini’s foreign policy seemed to differ greatly from Hitler’s, for example in 1934 Mussolini sent troops to the Italian border with Austria in reaction to Hitler’s attempt to invade Austria. This move indicates that Mussolini was untrusting of Hitler and made a concentrated effort to ensure that Hitler’s position in the region remain largely unchanged. Moreover his joining of the Stresa Front in 1935 along with Britain and France in a bid to contain Germany would indicate once more that prior to Abyssinia, Mussolini’s position in regards to Germany was one of reluctance and hesitance. However, following Abyssinia, Italy’s international position shifted, with Britain and France condemning the move. Crucially however, Hitler supported Mussolini’s invasion and did not condemn it, and Hitler soon appeared to be Italy’s stronger option within Europe, and so Mussolini steadily synchronised his foreign policy with Hitler’s and it could be argued that it was at this point Mussolini’s foreign policy took the greatest shift.
How significant was Mazzini in the growth of opposition to autocratic and foreign rule in Italy in the years 1831–49? (30) Mazzini was a republican nationalist who had a significant effect in the growth of anti-autocratic feeling in Italy. He had radical aims for the future of Italy and he envisioned unification. He was the first leader to indoctrinate in the minds of Italians a vision of political unification. Mazzini created the Young Italy society after the 1831 revolutions.
However, Adolph Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy, and Stalin’s Soviet Union threatened American democracy. World War II brought on new challenges for the FBI. As Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, conquered Europe, the American Depression continued. The Depression provided the opportune time for radicalism in the United States as it did in Europe. European Fascists had their counterparts and supporters in the United States in the German-American Bund, Silver Shirts, and similar groups.