Fascism In Germany And Italy During World War II

However, the German’s ideals of expansion were drastically more global than that of the Italians. While both believed that territorial expansion was a necessity for superiority, fascist Italy’s main focus of expansion was based upon that of the once powerful Roman Empire. This began with The Abyssinia Crisis of 1935, in which Italy invaded Ethiopia. The Abyssinia Crisis not only showed the pursuit from Italy towards becoming according to Overy what would be considered an empire, but also showed the lack of enforcement from the League of Nations as it pertains to collective security. British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain stated, “The circumstances in which the dispute between Italy and Abyssinian began appeared to offer an opportunity for the exercise of that policy which could hardly be more favorable for its success. The aggression was patent and flagrant, and there was hardly any country to which it appeared that a policy of sanctions could be exercised with a greater chance of success than upon Italy.” The foreign policy of Italy were explicit and began to be followed through with, due to the lack of influence from the League. So, while the Italian movement focused around becoming a “have” power and regaining their superiority though the Roman Empire, the German foreign policy revolved around the Lebensraum, or the land to

Along with the Fascist Party, came the idea of a "perfect" race of man, and persecution. Hitler’s idea of a non-Jewish race appealed to Mussolini. Before the war began, Benito Mussolini and his army started their persecution of the Jews in Italy. This did not last long, however, because Mussolini’s popularity began to fall. As his popularity among his people began to decline, so did his relations with many European nations. Much of Italy’s foreign relations depended solely on treaties and pacts. (5) As Germany and Italy moved together towards a uniform society, the strength and honor of the treaties were in jeopardy.

Dating back to oldest of human history there was always a hatred for the Jews by others, this hate that was passed down from generation to generation that built up slowly til someone took it too far; Anti-Semitism is what it is now known as, resentment to the Jews that started from lies and passed on through rumours. Adolf Hitler was a man of resentment, he was leader of the Nazi’s; a German extreme political party who held a strong hatred for the Jewish race. Hitler had loathed the Jews all his life and when it came to the great depression where everyone was so very upset he used this as an opportunity to throw shade on the Jews and blame them for all their wrongs of their lives and people were desperate enough to accept this reasoning in hope for a better life. Hitler gained massive acceptance with the nation and his political party grew threw the course of two years and by 1933 the Nazi’s had taken over without even having won an election all thanks to Hitler’s persuasiveness that granted him the chance of becoming Chancellor. Hitler used all of his power to

The Common Factors that Led to the Establishment of Totalitarian Regimes in Italy and Germany in the Inter-War Period

“Hitler used the Jews as a scapegoat, blaming them for Germany's economic and social problems,” (“Background: Life Before”). Germany during Hitler’s rise was desperate for change and hope. When Hitler brought the German people up from economic troubles that came from World War 1 they were more than willing to agree and do nearly anything Hitler said. Hitler took his antisemitism to the extreme with the help of his people were able to conduct one of the worst mass killings known to man. Anti Semitism may have existed beforehand but it was never on the scale of what the Holocaust

The second of many occurrences’ which brought about World War II was the rise of fascism. This began when Hitler rose to power and was elected chancellor (Führer) on 30 January 1933, when the previous president (Paul Hindenburg) stepped down from power and handed him the position. Once in power Hitler began rehabilitating German forces and fixing the current economic system, he made polices and rules revolving mainly around ‘synchronisation’ and order. He forced the populace to attend mass gatherings of worship and expression of power at which he planned speeches to further his grasp and control over society. He implemented compulsory military service, denounced Jewish citizenship, made strict and harsh polices for all German Citizens and punished

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

But when WWII came around, none of his troops were prepared. They did not have enough weapons or people. No one was trained and they had no aircrafts. Needless to say, Italy was destroyed in WWII because of Mussolini. After this he was taken out of office and executed.

Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan all shared a global concept of fascism where the willingness to create a collective conscious of nationhood was justified through imperialism. Indeed, the importance of nationalism within Fascist culture would greatly affect the foreign policies of Italy, Germany, and Japan during the 1930s and 1940s. World War one had brought about revolutionary changes in the nature of war, society, and technology, where the advent of total war and mass mobilization showed the potential of a unified community run by the state. Fascists saw World War One as symbolizing the beginning of a new era where totalitarian governments sought to unify their nations by mobilizing the national community. In Italy, Benito Mussolini and his Fascist regime created one national community by eliminating the boundaries between the public and private sphere where the Nation would come before the Individual. In Germany, Hitler used nationalism to call for the unification of all German speaking peoples into a single empire known as the Volk. In Japan, the success of imperialism and the emphasis on collective belonging and shared past led to a nationalistic movement known as Pan Asianism where the Japanese aimed to unify all Asians. The respect of the state, a devotion to a strong leader, and the emphasis on militarism were all common features of the totalitarian states of Italy, Japan, and Germany but nationalism served as a pivotal feature in creating a

After World War I Germany felt like the Treaty of Versailles was being too harsh on them, so they created groups that praised nationalism and anti-semitism. Adolf Hitler joined these kind of groups that lead him to the hatred of Jews. After getting experience from

It was here that the term fascism took its ideological term (Heywood 2012: 199). In 1922 Mussolini managed to assume the post of Prime Minister, mostly by a show of force by his armed men the ‘Black Shirts’. The government in Italy was paralyzed and fear of a civil war by the King Victor Emmanuel III opened to the door for Mussolini and his National Fascist Party to assume complete control in Italy. He used his paramilitary soldiers to crush all opposition to his authority, something all the rest of the fascist states in Europe would follow. Around the same time another fascist movement began to emerge in Germany – it was called ‘The National Socialist German Workers Party’; it was led by Adolf Hitler. Fascists in Germany followed the same concepts as Italian ones. In less than 15 years he had become the supreme leader of Germany – creating a totalitarian state, to what we know today as Nazi Germany. Both of these fascist movements had most of their support from the middle class, the industrialists and the respective militaries. It was not until 1935 with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the Spanish fascists struggle for power and Hitler’s constant aggressions in Europe – that we today inherit military aggression with fascism. Nazi Germany and Italy would eventually lose

Mussolini made the decision of allowing his country to enter World War II and hurt his country. When Mussolini decided his country would enter World War II, they entered to fight along side with Nazi Germany. Because of the weakness of the Italian army, Italy was in a tight situation fighting a losing battle. In June 1943, the King of Italy showed how he did not appreciate Mussolini’s beliefs and actions by arresting Mussolini, which resulted in the country capitulating in September 1943. “Italy entered the war in June 1940 when France was almost defeated. Mussolini hoped for a quick victory but Italy suffered from the very beginning from the poor training of its army and the lack of experience of its generals.” (“Italy”). Many citizens of

These factors were all highly important to the Fascists’ control of Italy up to 1939 but it could be argued some of these were of more value to the Fascist domination than others.

Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister in 1922 due to the depriving affects that world war one had on Italian society. The war destroyed Italy economically leading to a rise in socialism. This in turn lead to highlighting the weaknesses of the liberals as the country was torn apart in the red years. This strengthened the appeal of fascism as it was the cure that Italy needed to get rid of the socialists. The fascists needed only to organise their party and take advantage of the open opportunity to seize power in Rome.

Fundamentally, both Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler had the same burning desire to each make their nation a respected and economically impregnable Great Power. Mussolini wanted to return Italy to its glory days of the ancient Roman Empire, a domestic policy amongst others which was used as propaganda and to ultimately consolidate his power. A strong economy and a united state were vital for both countries in case of the outbreak of yet another catastrophic war. "Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state", stated Mussolini in need of desperate backup at home. Post WWI left both Germany and Italy with grave problems economically, which further repelled into social problems such as high unemployment and