Comparing The Factors of the Rise of Mussolini to Those of Hitler

Both Hitler and Mussolini stressed on one-party dictatorship in order to secure their leading positions. The second similarity is that the two state leaders both took advantage of spies and the police force to monitor the behaviour of their citizens. In Germany, the SS (Schutzstaffel), SA (Sturmabteilung), SD (Sicherheitsdienst) and Gestapo (Secret Police State) together formed the political police force. They were allowed to enter and search private

Hitler and Mussolini both came in to power in the early days when their countries, Germany and Italy were facing problems after the Great War. Even then, both Hitler and Mussolini successfully gain and maintain power and control the country.

The rulings of these two leaders had many similarities yet still had some differences. Their beliefs in running the country came to be very alike. Hitler and Mussolini both had negation of parliamentary and democratic political order, the use of violence and of physical strength, and the “revolutionary project” of a new society. Hitler and Mussolini feared any kind of strong and permanent power other than their own. This system of government where many institutions clashed with one another was extremely chaotic, and only the one leader could keep it working.

The rulings of these two leaders had many similarities yet still had some differences. Their beliefs in running the country came to be very alike. Hitler and Mussolini both had negation of parliamentary and democratic political order, the use of violence and of physical strength, and the "revolutionary project" of a new society. Hitler and Mussolini feared any kind of strong and permanent power other than their own. This system of government where many institutions clashed with one another was extremely chaotic, and only the one leader could keep it working.

During the hardship of the 1920s and1930s, political incompetence was highlighted, the Weimar Government proved its incompetence time and time again. .The instability of the Weimar Republic was so great that the average life-span of Reich cabinets was from 6-7 months. Their incapability of providing justice to outbreaks of violence, such as political assassinations is one example of the incompetence of the Weimar Republic. When Germany found its self in undesirable economical situations due to the Treaty of Versalles, they printed money to pay off reparations, which resulted in super-inflation. During the period of super-inflation people’s life savings became worthless which contributed to the downward circle of a reduction in standard of living. As unemployment rose and people began to afford less and less with their money, people commenced searching for a better alternative to the Weimar Government. Hitler’s ability to build upon these feelings whilst offering security, prosperity and full employment, convinced Germany, in a state of disillusionment, to support the nazi party. The Weimar’s instability contributed to the collapse of the Weimar republic provided perfect conditions for the nazi party to rise to power.

The rise of Fascism in Italy contributed to World War II because of it’s militaristic and nationalistic

Government and politics- The rancor in the Germans, the fragility of the Weimar system, fear brought by soldiers in violent Nazi military groups, and Hitler’s intellectual speeches; is what encouraged Hitler’s rise to power. During the Great Depression in Germany, people wanted someone to fault, and searched for a way out- Hitler provided them with what they wanted. Germany and Italy were angry at the results of the Treaty of Versailles. Fascism gave them control, in all characteristics, of the state. Benito Mussolini was the first leader to establish Fascism. During the Great Depression the growth of population required tremendous food imports. The high tariffs and racism of other countries against Japan restricted the exporting of goods. Consequently, Japanese surmised that that broadening through armed acquisition would resolve Japans financial complications. This time of despair affected the US as well. Americans feared entering another war and therefore turned into isolationism.

At the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Italy was excluded and treated as though it were a second rate country. After WWI the Italian people were left enraged and humiliated; Benito Mussolini promised to return them to their former glory, and the Italian people succumbed to the fascist ideology. The Italian people looked to resolve the anger over Versailles, the government chaos, and the communist issue. Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was born into a poor Italian family on July 29th, 1883. His father was a blacksmith with socialist political views, so consequently, Benito was named after multiple famous socialists.

This downfall wounded Italy’s national pride, it led to depression and high unemployment rates; as well as a social unrest and an increase in street violence. As a result, Mussolini knew Italy needed a new doctrine in order to redeem itself. When world war one ended in 1919, Mussolini stated that “Socialism, as a doctrine, was already dead”, this influenced him to use national unity and order to create a new political movement known as fascism. Mussolini explained, “Fascism was not the nursling of a doctrine previously drafted at a desk, it was born of the need of action, and was an action … an anti-party and a movement.” Mussolini began with the creation of a band of young men, called the black shirts, who fought for national unity. These men would “fight both technical and spiritual rear-guirdism” and would not be “fainthearted”. As a response, Italy began giving Mussolini and his men financial support. On October 1922, his men mobilized through the parliamentary government, leading the king to declare Marshall law and making Mussolini the new leader of Italy. Now holding all the power in his hands, Mussolini marginalized the parliament. There was a destruction of organized labor and an elimination of all political parties except fascism. Fascism promoted the leader principle, which meant one leader would smooth over everyone, in this case Mussolini. He wanted dictatorship and violence was his way of achieving it. It enforced the ideology of action, it was ready to deal with all the problems by its own policies. Fascism was born from violent struggle and not politics, in this case violence was a good thing to Mussolini and he was all for it. Fascism did not believe in possibility nor utility of peace, any doctrine that promoted peace was contradicting fascist beliefs. It also opposed all doctrines of liberalism, which was the idea of

The stock market crash in 1929, a catastrophe that inflicted pain not only in the United States but around the world, further aggravated the situation. Unemployment skyrocketed throughout the Western nations. The Treaty of Versailles also condemned Germany for instigating WWI, and required Germany to pay a large sum of gold marks in reparations. These events spurred the rise of Hitler, and increased the numbers of habitual criminals in Germany. The rise of the economic crisis affected the poor class more than any other groups, which forced them to become habitual criminals.

This cause the beginning of Mussolini's rise in power, which also led to the agreement of peace between Italy and Germany.

Benito Mussolini returned to Italy claiming to “bring back Italy’s pride and make Italy a well-respected state again” (“Fascism,” n.d.). Mussolini wanted to solve Italy’s economic issues as well and pushed for a strong, national leader that could unite the people. Mussolini’s ideas appealed to Italian citizens because Mussolini wanted to solve, or at least claimed to, all the problems they were facing at the time. Mussolini began “delivering emotional speeches” in attempt to increase supporters, and in 1919, Mussolini established the first fascist regime in Italy (Martz, 2010). The Fascist Party gained a lot of attention and support because they blamed the unfair outcome of the war on the current, weak Italian democracy (Pollard, 2004, p. 29). Citizens easily put the blame on the liberal politicians and sought refuge from the opposing right wing political groups. Italy was very susceptible to Mussolini’s Fascist rule and ideologies because Italy was desperate for a change and solution to their instability. Martz (2010) states that Benito Mussolini’s charisma was a major contributor in establishing his support base and “a powerful fascist state.” Mussolini began to promote the idea that the “common will” of the people came before the will of the individual. Mussolini ensured that the citizens’ sacrifice and devotion to Italy was the only way to achieve true stability and unity (Martz, 2010). Mussolini’s charisma allowed him to easily

President Hindenburg had appointed Adolf as Chancellor with the intent to control him, and was planning to remove him from the position when Germany regained its economic and social status. Benito, on the other hand, had been given the role as Prime Minister because King Victor Emmanuel was fearful of a civil war, and didn’t want the be dethroned. Another contrasting point is that Hitler tried to appeal to all levels of the social ladder, while Mussolini had focused on destroying the lower class and socialist-organised land to appease his main source of funds, also known as the bosses and landowners that dominated Italy’s economy. Instead of promising to demolish the less wealthy, Hitler gave Germany a common enemy; Jewish citizens were portrayed as a threat to society and were to be removed. Also, the final step into declaring their dictatorships were different for the two men.

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

The Rise of Fascism Due More to the Personality of Mussolini than the Failures of Liberal Italy