Fascism In Germany And Italy Essay, Research Paper

Germany and Italy rose up under new leaders

with a new type of governing policy. However, the same policies that caused

growth lead to eventual collapse of these nations. Fascism grew because

of extreme nationalism, fear, and governmental control. It failed due to

absolute power by one man, its own aggressive nature, and lack of organization.

Hitler?s rise to power can be credited

for many reasons. Firstly, the Nazi?s gave the German middle class a reason

why they were having problems, and came up with a solution. As Hitler explained

it by using pseudo science, the Jews were the problem and there was only

one solution. Along with this he instituted mass propaganda against the

Jews and for the Aryan race. This went a long way to create the kind of

nationalism that Hitler was looking for. Soon most of Germany felt like

a strong and united people, willing to do anything for their state and

their leader. Those who were not, lived in constant fear of the Nazi?s.

The SS and the SA policed the streets and used excessive violence whenever

they felt it necessary. People were either happy to be with Hitler or afraid

to oppose him. Hitler had control. With this control Hitler made policies

that were actually very beneficial to the middle class. By eliminating

large corporations, creating a strong military and increasing industry

to equip the military Germany began to grow.

There were a lot of problems in Italy.

Mussolini used fascism in a very similar manner to Hitler. The way he saw

it, Italy was divided into two sections: the north and the south. The northern

part of Italy was industrialized while southern almost completely agricultural.

Thus, Mussolini wanted to unify the people to create one strong nation.

He went about this by using his own charisma and propaganda. He spoke of

the history of Rome and the strength of Italians. He created a military

and a police force to keep the people under control. Most, however, followed

him because they believed in what he said. In conquering Ethiopia Mussolini

was able to prove his own strength and the weakness of the League of Nations.

When he combined forces with Hitler, Italy took the final step in its own

progression.

Fascism had its faults as well. Through

its own aggressive nature both Italy and Germany followed the ideals of

fascism directly into war. It is hard to say if these countries might have

continued to grow if they had not tried to conquer. Another major problem

with Fascism was its reliance on one man. Hitler and Mussolini became the

only men who had the authority to make and decision. This caused great

problems within the sate. Problems were slowly dealt with during a time

were decisive quick reactions were needed. On top of this poor decisions

were made without any sort of counsel. There were no advisers to help these

two leaders. It seems that the fear that helped create the power contributed

to its downfall because no one would question the solutions the men came

up with. From this also spawned poor organization. For example Hitler,

who controlled all of the army, left no power to his generals. Therefore,

no one knew exactly what they could and couldn?t do. All of these thing

contributed to the fall of Fascism.