Benito Mussolini, What is Fascism?
Italy faced serious postwar economic problems which became known as "The Two Red Years". It faced inflation problems due to government printing money to pay for weapons, workers on strike, arms and shipbuilders became bankrupt due to lack of government order, and unemployment rose to two million as returning soldiers searched for work. Benito Mussolini, upon being removed from the Socialist Party for advocating Italy 's participation in battle, organized the Fascist Party following the war. He gained followers among war veterans and the middle class by exploiting their fears of unemployment, chaos, communism, and a political domination by lower classes. The Russian Revolution, the collapse of
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Mussolini also states that "happiness is a myth", an unobtainable goal. Fascism is for the purpose of observing and developing humanity and "believes neither in the possibility nor in the utility of perpetual peace." Fascism is the philosophy of government that glorifies the state and nation and assigns control to the state. Mussolini believes that "the foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, and its aim." While the state is responsible for organizing the nation, there is a sufficient amount of liberty for the individual. Under Fascism, an Empire is able to lead other nations without conquering them. It resembles Social Darwinism closely. The idea of the survival of the fittest means that the strong nation comes out ahead, and Mussolini promises to become the strongest. With a strong dictatorial leader, wants can be achieved through obtaining strong military and brute force alone. It promoted masculine heroism, militarism, and discipline. Enormous amounts of money were dedicated to military, and to serve in the military was an honor. It proved successful in the
Overall, the fascist experiment in Italy was a failure. Benito Mussolini aimed to make the world safe for the middle class, small business owners, property owners, and people in the agricultural area. Through this, Mussolini gained support of the majority of the population. There is no doubt that most of the support was actually the work of propaganda and rhetoric rather than the real thing'. The government made desperate attempts to significantly increase the birthrate in Italy. In 1927, Mussolini launched the "Battle for births". The task of young women was to get married quickly and have a lot of children. And the more children they get, the more benefits they get from the government. Mussolini's population policy failed to produce
During the Second World War, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was the leader of the Italian Nationalist Fascist government. He was head of the Italian government from 1922 till 1943. The significance of Mussolini is that he played a key role acting as the Italian Prime Minister and established a totalitarian regime, during this time, as the unchallenged supreme leader, known as ‘Il Duce’. Fascism consisted of many contributors of which Mussolini with all his quirks was the key to most of its failures and successes, making him the most significant player that is worthy of being investigated. This topic is worthy of being investigated as Mussolini made a lot of decisions that lead to the death of many, but the question as to
Mussolini was a fascist dictator who was a follower of Social Darwinism, the belief of natural selection that is applied to humans. He believed there should only be one power ruling over the people: “They pledged loyalty to an authoritarian leader (dictator) who guided and brought order to the state.” (Hyperdoc Doc. 1) and “Some men are greater than others, and these men should rule. ”(Fascism Hyperdoc Doc. 2).
With the fascist party on the decline, theologian Giovanni Gentile asserted the last form of the Italian fascist theory that served as the fourth phase of Italian fascism. In this new theory the state is once again the supreme body. “The state is the culmination of all human endeavors. It is the final resting place of all that man has created. The state knows, sees, participates in, profits by all that man does. Man is because the state is. Man lives because he has the state wherein to live. Without the state man is nothing, can become nothing” (Whisker). However, by the time Gentile had published his form of fascism, the ideology itself was obsolete. The fascist party ultimately crumbled around Mussolini as he spent his short return to power pursuing his opposition.
Millions of people were extremely frustrated with the fallout of World War I, they wanted change and a strong leader to guide them through their times of trouble. The answer to the people's’ prayers had been given to them with the new political idea of fascism. Not only did fascism rise, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler also rose to power during these times of crisis. Fascism, Mussolini, and Hitler were all able to rise to power because the people had called for change, and they found themselves gravitating towards the ideas of these two intelligent men. Both men were able to persuade many people over to their side. Millions of people quickly adopted the new ideas of fascism, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler, the people saw them as the light at the end of their long dark tunnels they seemed to be lost
Now, with the Italian fascist state crumbling around him, and without a direct charge from Mussolini, Gentile, who had been among those competing for Mussolini's favor in earlier periods of fascism, created the last Italian fascist theory. And that was more philosophical than the earlier attempts at creating an ideology were. Gentile's theory had its descriptive moments, but, in the large, he offered a wholly philosophical oversight into pure fascism. It had little in the way of a call to arms.
After WW II, Fascism, “Instituted in Germany by Hitler” (America a Concise History 695) created an authoritative government. Hitler was controlling the government and making people do what he said and wanted. They believed that they were the superior race. Fascism came about in Italy in the years of 1920, but developed in the countries Germany, Spain, and France (America a Concise History 695). WW I caused the rise of fascism because Italy was destroyed and took an economic downfall so Mussolini decided to take it upon himself along with Adolf Hitler to get their countries back again. As stated in Chapter 24, “fascists leaders worldwide disparaged parliamentary
Finally, there remains perhaps the most basic and yet most profound idea present in the entire doctrine; being the notion that life is a struggle. The entire doctrine constantly discusses this concept, and in fact Mussolini uses it to justify the entire doctrine. Mussolini states that, “fascism wants a man to be active and absorbed in action with all his energies,” a desire which he considers synonymous with fascism’s own desire to be constantly progressing. Italians were not only encouraged to frequently be taking action, but it was considered their “duty to conquer out of life what was really worthy to them.” Mussolini is essentially stating that he believes that a virtuous Italian should be constantly struggling with his life, never becoming complacent and always fighting to better himself. Fascism, being an extension of the human spirit, naturally mirrored these qualities.
• Mussolini came to power with misguided benevolence and tried to transform the country's economy along the fascist ideology, at least on paper. However, his main interest was to use economic power to control the people to politically reshape the Italian state to fit his ideological outlook. Mussolini believed his fascist ideology was for the benefit of the people, however, this does not make his dictatorship benevolent. Based on Plato’s idea of philosopher-king a benevolent leader rules with care and guides the nation on a wise path.
The Fascists’ social and economic policies up to 1939 significantly aided their control over Italy yet may not be cited as the sole cause. The Fascist party’s social and economic policies along with other factors attributed to the overall control of Italy. Through such policies it was a certainty that the Fascist party would hold complete power over the population of Italy in each aspect of an individual’s life whether it was their leisure time through the Dopolavoro or at work under the corporate state system which was formally introduced in 1934. This complete domination of the Italian peoples’ lives could be argued to have been the instrumental factor behind the Fascists’ control over Italy up to 1939. Other factors which assisted the
The economic instability of Europe developed totalitarian goverments that began rising during the depression in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. Germany, Italy, and Japan all became countries subjected to the rule of dictated military rule leaving no room for opposition. Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922 (Calvocoressi, Wint, p 777, 1999). Mussolini had his own philosophy that his destiny was to rule over Italy as Caesar in a more modern version while re-creating the Roman Empire. In his attempts in
Fascism was a totalitarian political movement that developed after 1919 as a reaction against the political and social changes brought about by World War 1 and the spread of socialism and communism. It flourished between 1919 and 1945 in several countries, mainly Germany, Spain, Italy, and Japan. Fascism is a form of totalitarian dictatorship that had ideals such as extreme nationalism, economic self sufficiency and military strength. The dictators abolished all opposition against them and basically took complete control of the lives of everyone in their country.
Fascism was first detected after World War I in Italy. After the war, the people of Italy were ready for a new political aspect. Benito Mussolini was the man who brought this fascist ideology to Italy. Mussolini has been looking for the perfect opportunity to take complete control of a country and now was the time to do so. “In 1919 Mussolini and his followers, mostly war veterans, were organized along paramilitary lines and wore black shirts and uniforms.”(Halsall pg.2) After defeats at the polls Mussolini used his new financial backing to clothe a gang of thugs who
Fascism is a type of extremist, right-wing, totalitarian and nationalist ideology which first emerged during the beginning of the 20th century in Europe. The growth of fascism in Europe after the end of the First World War was caused by a combination of the socio-economic and political conditions which enabled Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler to come to power over the period prior to the Second World War. Indeed, Blinkhorn comments that "European fascism is, and always will be, inextricably associated with the years between the end of the First World War and the end of the Second" (Blinkhorn 7). These conditions saw the development of nationalist ideologies and the emergence of the fascist party in Italy and the National Socialist Party in Germany.
The state of Mussolini’s Fascist Italy and Hitler’s Nazi Germany, can be highly comparable in their policies and ideologies. Fascism is a political ideology, in which the country is to be racially and culturally pure. Mussolini said himself that “Fascism desires the state to be strong and organic and to always be prepared for conflict”. Fascism includes things such as nationalism, hostility to democracy, racism, the love of symbols such as uniforms, parades and army discipline. It is a totalitarian philosophy which worships the state and nation. Fascism is an extreme right-wing that celebrates the nation or race as a pure community which exceeds all other loyalties and expectations (Downing, 2001). Most of the time it celebrates masculinity and male supremacy, rarely it will promote female solidarity (De Grand, 1995). Fascist aims are to prepare for conflict and violence and to prepare and educate the youth. Both were able to gain support from military associations,