How Economic Disarray and a Lack of Governmental Faith Led to the Rise of Totalitarianism in the 1930s and 1940s

The chaos that followed in the wake of World War I allowed and encouraged the establishment of totalitarian regimes. Totalitarianism is a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and required complete subservience to the state. It took place in Germany, Italy,and Japan. This type of militarism went on in many different countries and for many different reasons.

In Italy, the “Northern states for example such as Milan and Lombardy were relatively wealthy, while large parts of Southern Italy still relied on heavily agricultural economies and were relatively poor” (Sailus, 2016). This shows that Italy was a self-sufficient country and used modern ways to succeed as a country. Before world war 1 Italy declared itself neutral in the conflict, despite its membership in the “Triple Alliance” alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary since 1882. But in 1915, Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary, entering the war on the side of the Allies Britain, France and Russia. They carefully considered how to gain the greatest benefit from participation in the war. The decision to join the fight on the side of the Allies was based mostly on the promises Italy received in the Treaty of London, signed in April 1915. The war ended in 1918 and “600,000 Italians were dead, 950,000 were wounded and 250,000 were crippled

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.

War is inevitable, as it is simply the manifestation of the strength and vigour of the Italian people that wishes to expand itself, never looking back. Peace was considered as merely a “mask to surrender and cowardice.” Mussolini stressed that Italians required “forces, duty, and sacrifice” in order to rise again to their former greatness, that of the Roman Empire. This is also Mussolini’s rationale for harsh and severe actions against any who would resist or try and undermine fascism.

Economically, Mussolini and Hitler had the same goals, for their countries to be self-sufficient, and to eliminate the unemployment. These two dictators used their country’s failing

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

In the late 1930’s, totalitarian dictators in Europe and Asia were running rampant. Adolf Hitler took over Germany and proceeded to take over Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. In Italy, Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia. Emperor Hirohito and General Hideki Tojo of Japan invaded Korea, Manchuria, and the rest of China. In the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin used his Secret Police to kill anyone who opposed him and then helped Germany take over Poland. The League of Nations watched on, powerless to do anything as Europe began to fall. They tried to appease Germany by ignoring the capture of Austria, but Germany took advantage of it and took over other countries. The United States had not joined the League of Nations because they wanted to remain isolated. They had once again

Italy was a poor nation. Although Italy was one of the victorious Allies in World War I, Italians believed that their country had been betrayed by the peace settlement of 1919 by being denied the territory and status it deserved. A recently created electoral system based on universal manhood suffrage had produced parliamentary chaos and ministerial instability. The lack of coherent political programs only heightened the general disapproval with government that accompanied the peace negotiations. People were beginning to doubt the parliamentary regime’s hold on the future. It was under those circumstances that the Fascist party, led by Benito Mussolini (1883–1945), entered politics in 1920 by attacking the large Socialist and Popular (Catholic) parties.

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.

The Great Depression played a big role in helping the Nazi Party capture power. Many nations were suffering from the Great Depression in 1930, including Germany who had to pay for the war reparations. During this period of economic and politic crisis, the country had been easily influenced by the politics parties. They wanted someone who is capable and had what it takes to be their leader to lead them through the huge crisis that they were facing. Most Germans who are in desperate state as they wanted Germany to be like once, able to be proud of and not in such a state where they had to struggle to fulfill the almost impossible terms of the Treaty of Versailles. They considered that period as a disgraceful decade in their history. Due to

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

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

'I want to make Italy great, respected and feared' said Mussolini in 1925. Mussolini's foreign policy included a number of positive and negative factors which all contributed to the rise, and the ultimately to the downfall, of both Mussolini and the Italian empire. Mussolini was intent on revising the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles and was very keen to show off Italy's power. He felt that Italy had been hard done by at the end of world war one and sought to claim what he felt Italy deserved. Mussolini's foreign policy clearly reflected his ambition to reinstate the Italian empire.

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

As a result of how Italy was created but not fully unified, the new Italian state suffered from a variety of weaknesses which the new liberal state was unable to tackle these. This made Italy susceptible to the appeal of fascism, and therefore aided Mussolini’s rise to power.