It's Beginnings: Fascism In Europe

England and France, fearing another war established a policy of appeasement to by time and rearm its forces. The European countries believed that Hitler would only retake the Sudetenland; this land was historically Germany's homeland(6). This was another mistake by France and England because with the Sudetenland he gained the famous Skoda armament factories and was ultimately a more dangerous military opponent(6). Until the remainder of Czechoslovakia was swallowed in 1939 all Hitler had done seemed reasonable(6). Until then he had only tried to obtain lands where ethnic Germans lived(6). The disregard of the Treaty of Versailles would be the main factor that allowed Germany to regain their power and ultimately bring the world into another war.

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.

The war created many social and political problems throughout the country and by the election of 1919 things changed dramatically. The socialists and popular Catholic parties took over the Parliament, which lead to the ideas of a revolution among the people (Defusco). One leader of this revolution was Benito Mussolini, who founded a movement called Fascism. After four years of revolution, Mussolini took over as the dictator of Italy and eliminated civil liberties, political parties, and encouraged a totalitarian regime (Defusco). Mussolini soon joined forces with Hitler and World War II came into affect. The Fascists later turned on Mussolini and Italy joined the Allies to fight Germany. This reaction lead to a strong anti-Fascist movement called the Committee of National Liberation (Defusco). By the year 1946 the idea for a republic was anonymous. Various parties were

Italy was the birthplace of fascism, as Benito Mussolini headed the Republican Fascist Party. Under Mussolini, Italian fascism was

Within Italy, The Great War caused many problems and a great amount of distress. As a result of this, hundreds of new fascist groups started to emerge. In October 1922, Benito Mussolini became the Prime Minister of Italy and contributed a lot to the nation. He developed his power by forming the Fascist National Party in 1923 and eliminating political opposition. Mussolini and his followers ruled Italy through an authoritarian dictatorship. He made it clear that the war was a turning point for Italy and the returning of combat soldiers would form a new elite and bring about a new type of state to transform Italian politics and society. Mussolini set many

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

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

France and Britain made Germany sign The Versailles Peace Treaty but once Hitler became the leader of Germany, he wanted to change everything in Germany and make it powerful like it was once before. The League of Nations came into being after the end of World War One. The League of Nation’s task was simple to ensure that war never broke out again but eventually the League of Nations failed. As the League of Nations crumbled, politicians turned to a new way to keep the peace appeasement. This was the policy of giving Hitler what he wanted to stop him from going to war. It was based on the idea that what Hitler wanted was reasonable and, when his reasonable demands had been satisfied, he would stop. There were many reasons why Chamberlin appeased Hitler. A few of them

Benito Mussolini and his creation of Fascism was the glue that held Italy together. Fascism promised national unity and condemned the Socialist party. To understand how Fascism became powerful within Italy, it is imperative to acknowledge the driving force behind this regime. To put it bluntly, violence played an essential role in the development of the Fascist party. Mussolini’s practice of fierceness was able to create a formidable system of government that did not tolerate weakness. In 1919, Benito Mussolini give an Afternoon speech, where he stressed the difference between Socialism and Fascism. Here, he states, “We declare war, against socialism, not because it is socialism, but because it opposes nationalism” (Stone 2013, 38).

Because fascism has been practiced in a variety of locations, at differing points in history, with no specific guidelines, every seemingly practical definition of fascism is simply too limiting to serve as a proper definition. Furthermore, to speak of fascism in generalizations prohibits one from truly understanding the completely confused concept. To avoid such generalizations, one must look at fascism as it was found in specific examples. Such examples include, Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany. Although these two instances are not all encompassing of the ideology, they exhibit fascism to the greatest proportions. Additionally, these instances allow one to get a vivid and practical notion to what fascism truly is.

Moreover, while Jews in Germany were being tormented and war was approaching, Great Britain did not want to take part. Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of the British from 1937-1940, decided to sign an appeasement “a peace treaty” with Hitler stating that the British only wanted peace (Neufeldt, 109). However, Hitler already had his plans, and the

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

It became the foundation of the fascist movement in Italy following World War I. Mussolini used the newspaper to spread his ideas of fascism. On June 6, 1919, an issue of Il Popolo d’Italia listed and described the goals of fascism. However, fascism did not begin to take off until October of 1922.

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.

government felt it had no choice in the matter; it had to go to war.