Racial Segregation And The War Industry

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 admitted strong totalitarian overtones until it became interested in wars of colonial conquest. It had come to power because of the decaying social, economic and political conditions of post-World War I Italy. It had brought order out of chaos. Indeed, order was its strong selling point when, after a series of crippling strikes sponsored by the socialists, it had managed when the liberal democratic state could not manage.

While both Italian and German fascism in the interwar years were very similar, they were ultimately more different due to their political ideologies, foreign policies and the structure of their respective parties. Fascism, while not having a concrete definition can be defined by multiple attributes. Fascism usually consist of a ultra right wing, oppressive and authoritarian government that places a heavy emphasis on national identity. As such, fascist governments promote violence and the expansion through wars with the intent of imperialism.

Following World War I and the Great Depression, many European countries began to turn to fascism to combat loss of influence over their people, among other problems. However, even though big players like Benito Mussolini of Italy and Adolf Hitler of Germany turned to fascism to lead their nations, some European countries stayed democratic. Why would some countries make the change to fascism while others stayed with their original form of government? Because fascism was pledged to be the most effective form of government, it would seem counterproductive for countries to still use another method to govern. There is no doubt that there is a trend between countries that resorted to fascism and those that stayed with democracy- and it all leads

Both of these political leaders took over and used the ideas of fascism as their type of government, the people gravitated towards them especially during times of need. To start, Benito Mussolini who was a newspaper editor and politician who pledged to rescue Italy during their time of desperate need. Fascism was on the rise in Italy, it was fueled by their disappointment and failure to win large territorial gains. People gravitated towards the new and vastly improving idea of Fascism. Italians wanted a leader who would take action and they found their answer in Benito Mussolini. Mussolini had vowed to provide strong leadership to the Italian people during this time. Mussolini had founded the Fascist Party in the year of 1919. When Italy’s economic problems continued to worsen, Mussolini’s power would considerably grow. Mussolini’s number one weapon during his rise to power was fear, he used the fear of people to take control over them. Soon thereafter, Mussolini and 30,000 of his Fascist supporters marched to Rome demanding the King step down and hand over his total power to Mussolini. The King gave in to their demands and gave Benito Mussolini full control over the Italian government. Mussolini became the Il Duce, or leader, and he made fascism the ruling political party in

As war spread across Europe in 1914-1918, black Americans saw a second opportunity in which they could use the war to their advantage, in securing the respect of their white neighbours. This contemporary conflict brought about great controversy within the black community, being asked to fight for a democracy on behalf of a country in which they did not receive equal treatment. Many activists did support the war effort, including DuBois announcing ‘while the war lasts [blacks] must forget [their] special grievances … fight shoulder to shoulder with white fellow citizens… For democracy’ (Heinze, 2003). Paradoxically, when it came to the drafting of the volunteers, blacks came under a total polarization of customary discriminatory practice. Blacks were instructed to tear corners of their registry cards, thus becoming easily identified, to be inducted separately to white volunteers. (Murray, 1971). Now, under usual circumstances, the Black citizens would be turned away, the war office began doing all they could within their power to bring them into service, and surprisingly, this was most common among the Southern boards, demonstrated by the Confederate army during the civil war. The army established a more progressive attitude toward race relations than mainland America, by the end of 1917, African Americans served in cavalry, infantry, medical and engineer positions. The war allowed for the black Americans to begin asserting their citizenship, protesting racial injustice on

The problems in Germany Japan and Italy during the 1920s led many different groups to try to gain political power.  At times there were riots in the streets among the supporters of different political parties.Both Adolf Hitler in Germany and Benito Mussolini in Italy believed in the political system called fascism.  In a fascist government system, total power is given to a dictator.  Individual rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press are denied.  The nation and its power are what counts, not the life of the individual.

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

Mussolini consolidation of fascist power in Italy in the years 1922-1929 could have been mainly due to the use of force and intimidation. However this was not a straightforward process, since fascism was a new thing. In the years 1922 to January 1925 marked the transition from the liberal parliamentary system to the fascist state. Like many political transitions, it was an untidy and complicated process. Although from the start Mussolini’s intentions were quite difficult to establish, however it could be that Mussolini wanted to set up from the beginning a totalitarian one party state.

Benito Mussolini took control of the Italian government in 1922, and ruled until 1943. Under Mussolini’s rule, democratic institutions were shut down. The shutdown of democratic institutions resulted in a Fascist dictatorship. One of Mussolini’s main goals for Italy was to build a

Fascism was around approximately forty years. From 1921-1943, Mussolini was the Fascist leader in Italy and Hitler was the Fascist leader in Germany. Many people thought Fascism could improve their countries because the leaders who stepped up to power, promised great improvements. They also convinced the citizens that they had nothing more to worry about. When Fascist leaders were brought to power, they promised the people their lives would be better and their country would be saved. Fascism was good for people who complied with the rules, but not for those who talked against their leaders. Fascism in the 1920’s lead Europe to support of the middle class and economic instability.

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,

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

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.

The economic issues in Italy lead to the rise of fascism. Mass unemployment meant that the socialists were rising in number. This meant that powerful industrialists turned to fascism as they would stop the trade unions from deciding workers’ rights. This leads to funding for the fascists helping them gain power. The economic crisis had brought about a huge rise in the support of socialism. The fascists became ever more appealing as their policies were anti socialist. They were not weak like the liberals in tackling socialism as they used