FREE ESSAY ON FASCISMS IN GERMANY AND ITALY

FASCISMS IN GERMANY AND ITALY

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.