Facism

COMPARISON BETWEEN FASCIST ITALY and NAZI GERMANY The reasons for the rise of Fascism in both Germany and Italy had three common denominators:1. Frustrated nationalism 2. Fear of the spectre of communism 3. Distrust/disillusionment with democracy 1. Frustrated nationalism In Italy; Italy had entered WWI in return for promises of land but she only received S.Tyrol at Versailles (much resentment as poverty-stricken Italy had made great material sacrifices i.e. 600,000 dead, which she could ill-afford). In Germany; Treaty of Versailles was universally resented (.'Diktat") Germany lost 7 million people and 12% of her territory. National self-determination was denied to Germans in w. Prussia., (Sudetenland, A-Lorraine, Danzig and Austria) Widespread belief in Germany that the army had never been defeated in battle but had been 'stabbed in the back' in 1918 by cowards and pacifists at home. Fascist solution -Fascism was fanatically nationalist and aims at the establishment of national glory through Empire building and glorifying the use of naked force and strength. Hitler's Nazi party (established in 1920 and initially made up of right-wing ex-soldiers) aimed to get rid of 'the gang of November criminals' (i.e. the Government), tear up Versailles and establish a German Reich through 'Lebensraum'. Mussolini's Fascist Party (established in 1919 and made up of black-shirted exservicemen and youths enjoying violence) aimed to build a new Roman Empire in the Mediterranean (including land in Africa and influence in the Balkans). The cries of both movements found considerable resonance amongst humiliated populations seething with nationalist discontent. 2. Fear of Communism Fear of Communism as a factor in the rise of Fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany In Italy by 1919 two million men were unemployed owing to demobilisation and a closing down of war industries. Added to this were food shortages and inflation, which increased discontent amongst the working population. In...