Fascisms In Germany And Italy Essay, Research Paper

Oliver Bleich

Mrs. Howell

Modern European History

5/22/00

Fascism in Germany and Italy

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.