- European fascism
- Introduction
- European fascism is believed to have developed between the periods after the end of the World War I and end of World War II. In relation to this, the emergence and development of the right wing and the movements also played a significant role in the development of the concept of European Fascism. In order to analyze the development of the European Fascism this essay first outlines the role of World War I and the emergence of the right wing movement. In addition, the assay also analyses the fascisms under the German and Italy regime. Moreover, the essay also outlines the similarities and the differences in the fascisms in Italy and German. Most importantly this essay also presents the reason as to why the fascism was unique only in Germany and Italy. Finally this essay also outlines some of the crucial roles that Hitler played in the development of the concept of fascism in Germany.
- Role of the World War 1 in the development the emergence and the development of the right wing movements.
- The political right wing is mainly used to describe the specific position that accepts the social hierarchy. In this case the people who are affiliated to the right view the social inequality as natural, normal and at the same desirable. The political terms of rights and left were mainly coined during the French revolution. In this case, the politicians who sat at the right of the chair supported the institution of the monarchist. On the other hand the term left was used to denote the politicians who advocated for the hierarchies form of leadership (Hogea 97). However, it is important to note that the term right wing as used in the reference to the communist indicates the liberals in the centre and the communists on the left. Studies indicate that the early Marxist movement mainly controlled the tradition monarchs, which ruled over the European continent. Most of the European countries adopted the communist view and the communist manifesto. However, the concept of the communisms was illegal in the Russian, Germany and in the Hungary Empire. In this case the struggle between the monarchist and the communist were often described as the struggle between the left and the left.
- After the end of the World War 1 most of the European monarchies had become discredited and in turn replaced by the liberal and the nationalist movements. In relation to this, most of the European monarch started to have elected government who held the real power. Out of the various political social and economic unrests a powerful right wing political force developed the nationals’ socialist, which was also referred to as Nazis. Following the defeat of the Nazi the Germany came under control of the four main victorious allies, which included the United Kingdom, France the United States and the Soviet Union. At this moment when these four allies passed control of the country back to the Germans two separate emerged the parliamentarian democracy which was also known as the Germany federal Republic and the other Germany democratic republic.
- The political climate of the various post wars years also had a strong impact on the extreme right in France and Italy. These two neighboring nation are believed to have shared a long history of exchange and various cross border influence which dated back before the napoleon. The extremist movement in these among these countries had been developing a wide cross-national network of extreme right connection and exchange (Toporowski 59). Studies indicates that the Italian party supported the idea of the recognizing the anticommunist perspectives. During the post 1945 the concept of fascism became more acceptable. This reason for adopting this new concept was to help in reshaping the territorial connection, expunging the notion of the aggressive military expansion and nationalism.
- The development of the concept of fascism
- The Italian fascism forms the origin of the fascist ideology (Aristotle 23). This ideology of the fascism was associated with the national fascist party. Benito Mussolin first coined the ideology after the end of the t world war 1. This concept of fascism was based on the concept of the Italian nationalism. According to Benitso the leader of the fascist, movement the fascist represent the will to power and the empire (Haugen, 9). In addition he claimed Italy greatest problem was the excessive regional underdevelopment. At that time the southern Italy was virtually separated from the northern Italy. In addition the northern Italy states were highly industrials. However, the northern workers and southern peasantry were also unhappy with the proceeding. The concept f the fascism was developed to help address the conflict between the workers and the employers. The concept was also to help ensure that the state guaranteed the employment. In addition they were also seeking to ensure that the state planner assumed the capitalist functions of the entrepreneur. During this time the agricultural workers were also discouraged from leaving Italy. Moreover, during this period Mussolini abolished all the criminals organizations that were that were interfering with authority. In this case the Neapolitans were the major target of the fascist. The fascist party also sought to replace the old chambers of deputies and the new chamber upper house was to represent the chamber corporation.
- Another major special feature of the Italian fascism was the fact that it attempted to try and eliminate the various social classes. In this case it sought on ensuring that the there was establishment of the corporate states. Mussolini who was the leader in Italy at that time therefore sought to organize the economy in such as a manner that the peasant and the industrial workers were to form approximately 22 corporations. This was to help improve the productivity and avoid the various industrial disputes. However it is important to note that the concept of the state corporation as outlined by Mussolini was never implemented.
- Fascisms in Germany was felt once Adolf Hitler came into power. His friends Mussolin from Italy who insisted on the one party state influenced him to adopt the system. Considering some of the aspects that Mussolini had adopted such as the emphasis on nationalism, hatred to communist, admiration of the military values and unquestionable obedience Hitler decided to adopt some of these policies. During this period the Germany economic system remained largely capitalist however the state managed the economy. In relation to this the government had the power to order the industrialist to produce certain type of good and sell them at a specific price. After taking power the Hitler government was able to control inflation and unemployment that were affecting the country.
- During the Hitler fascism various potential source of opposition were removed. In this case Hitler banned all the political parties including the various trade union movements. However, he was not able to control the army completely and therefore he had to consult the army when making certain decisions. People under the Hitler rule had no freedom to protest the any policy he adopted. In addition Hitler also abolished all the elections and referendums. In addition, Hitler organized the different information that people were to receive in manner that they were supposed to be in line with the fascist beliefs. In order achieve this directive Hitler appointed Joseph Goebbels to act as the minister in charge of the propaganda.
- Moreover, since Hitler was aware of the influence of the teachers in criticizing the various ideas he therefore issued a directive that all teachers who seemed critical to be sacked. This was to help ensure that there were no teachers to oppose his fascism ideology. In addition he also asked the member of the Nazi youth to report any teacher who tried to question the his ideology of fascism.
- Similarities between Italian Fascism and German National Socialism
- Italian and German fascism is similar since Hitler borrowed the ideology from the Italian rule that was under Mussolini. In both cases the Enlightenment prominence on individual rationality is not acceptable and there is more emphasis on the roles of will and sentiments as determinants of individual’s conduct. There is also seen to be a negative view on human character where the masses are seen to be lacking the intellectual capacities that are required to understand political situation that are considered to be compound. This consequently led to the manipulation of the masses where individual leader played a dominant role and it was entirely desirable that political power be controlled by the leader and the political elite because it was assumed that, only they were able take the decisions necessary to safeguard the national interest (Macdonald & Hamishi p.48).
- Both Italian and German Fascists took to extremes the theories of social Darwinism as developed by the classical liberal Herbert Spencer arguing that human development is based upon a fundamental struggle for survival in which strong individuals and strong nations can justifiably adopt the most aggressive methods to ensure their survival at the expense of others. This was seen by the violent strategies that both the countries implemented in the founding of the fascism policies.
- The ideology of liberalism and the political institutions of liberal democracy are rejected and the ideology of Marxism is rejected even more strongly although in both variants of fascism there has been some variable theoretical support for a limited form of so-called Third Way corporatism intermediate between capitalism and communism.
- Italian and German fascist adopted an extreme expansionary ultra-nationalism based upon ideas of their national supremacy and the justification of military conquest where they used the military in the conquest of regions and expansion of boundaries .They also used military in the implementation of their fascism policies and in the leadership of the country (Macdonald & Hamishi p.48).
- Differences between Italian Fascism and German National Socialism
- The first difference was in terms of the nature of the state. In the ideology of Italian fascism, the nature of the state was analyzed in terms of totalitarianism and corporatism theories whereas in German the two theories were rejected and instead the German economy remained under private ownership and control though the objectives were set by the Nazi government. The Germans saw the theories of totalitarianism as a passage to promote the survival of the German race (Bessel, p.182).
- The second difference was in their ideologies pertaining race. Unlike the Italian fascists the Germans had put a lot of emphasis on race. German were seen to be discrimination in terms of race, this was evident in the way they treated the Jews in a prejudice manner however there was seen no racial discrimination against any race in Italy.
- The third difference was that the Italian fascists identified themselves with modernity rather than traditional ways .This is demonstrated by the government identifying the underdeveloped backwardness of the Italian economy and encouraging the development of entrepreneurial activities while the Germans opposed the expansion of large scale industry and large department stores which were considered to be increasing the popularity among the self employed labour force who felt that their prospects were constrained as a result of the development of large scale industry on the one hand and socialist trade unions and political parties on the other. The German ideology praised the peasant’s way of life and stated that it replicated on the German racial traditions. They did this so as to offset its relative unpopularity among the urban working class by an appeal to the rural peasantry (Jenkins, p.85).
- The last difference was in terms of foreign policy objectives. Italy objectives were based on expansionary ultra-nationalism but were limited to desires to gain more territories in the Balkans and in Northern Africa while the Germans foreign policy objectives were mainly related to their racially discriminative attitudes especially toward Jews and Eastern European Slavs (Bessel, p.185).
- Why the differences on the development of right wing and the left wing occurred between Germany and Italy
- One of the striking points that brought about the difference between the fascism in Germany and Italy is the fact that in the two countries their respectful leader also influenced the implementation of the idea. In this case during the implementation of the fascism movement in Germany Nazi tried to restrict the influence of the church however in Italy under the influence of the Mussolini, laws were passed that allowed people to hang cross in various public buildings (Rostron 18). In addition, the Italian fascist indentified themselves with modernity rather than the tradition. In this case the leaders from Italian adopted the modernity rather than the traditions. The leaders in Italy also recognized that the backwardness of their economy in comparison to the countries such as UK and Germany. However on the other hand the leaders from Germany led by Nazi believed that the in order to realize the fight to large scales war they had to get support from various industrialized countries such as Britain and USA. This is because the leaders from German believe that the industrialized nation had the technology that could allow such country to develop.
- Another major reason why there were difference in the development of the fascism in German and Italy is the fact that most of the people in Germany were easily manipulated. This is because most people in Germany feared the Hitler administration and therefore easily complied with the various policies that he developed. However in the case of Italy the people could easily resist some of the policy that Massillon developed. This therefore implied that Mussolini had to ensure that he develop policies that could invoke resistance from the members of the masses. Considering other countries such as France it is evident that Fascism ideologies could not have succeeded well. This is because in France there was presence of a strong parliament that helped to control the influence of any leader who tried to dictate some policies. However in countries such as Germany there were no such things as the function parliament since the dictators such as Hitler had abolished the elections.
- Role of Hitler
- After the World War 1 a new party emerged in Germany known as the social workers party under the rule of Adolf Hitler. The party became powerful and dissolved parliament and took over the government changing it into a fascist country. The difference between fascism in Italy and German were fuelled by Hitler in a number of ways. The first being that the ideologies of race were very elaborate in German due to Hitler’s view on the issue. He claimed that the German people were better, stronger and more intelligent than any other people. Other groups, especially Jews and Romans were considered to be inferior. Hitler believed that Germany could survive only if it got rid of these weak people. This consequently led to racism being strongly evident in the Nazist’s party ideology (Berehem, p.68).
- Hitler is seen to promote racism and prejudice against the Jews .This is demonstrated by the passing of a law in the year 1933 that deprived the Jews of their rights. In 1935 Hitler passed the Nuremberg laws that denied the Jews of their own citizenship and forbade intermarriage of Jews and non Jews. This promoted racism which is not a shared ideology with the Italian fascism that did not give much emphasize on racism (Mommsen, p.39)
- Hitler was also seen to change the country into fascist country by the creation of the ministry of popular enlighten and propaganda that was created to control the mass media and used it for the spreading of the propaganda created by Nazist party. He was able to control the media and the books printed so as to only promote the ideologies that were approved by the party or him personally and control the information fed to the masses.
- Hitler also cleaned up the government workers by eliminating the workers who were communist sympathizers or Jews and replaced them with individuals who shared his ideologies. The workers were mainly from the party so as to ensure that there was no form of resistance in the government and to create a strong foundation within it (Mommsen, p.42)
- In 1934 Hitler made SS an independent organization that was only answerable to Hitler and hammer. He also placed the Gestapo under its control so as to easily control the masses and implementing his fascist ideologies. He is seen to also to make his ideologies popular by setting policies that required the professions to synchronize with the Nazi beliefs and also making the membership of Nazi group obligatory for all Germans until they attain the age of 18.
- Hitler is also seen to abolish any sources of opposition .This was seen in the abolishment of political parties, elections and referendum to avoid the masses from getting any chance of electing anyone who would oppose his rule. He also abolished trade unions and restricted the masses from protesting the policies that he had put in place; this gave him full control of the countries governance. Hitler used force and brutality which scared the masses into obedience of his authority and Nazi’s fascist ideologies (Berehem, p.70).
- It can be therefore concluded that Hitler had a great influence in the successful implementation of the fascist ideologies in comparison to other countries such as France. Unlike France and other countries that fascist ideologies failed due to the lack of control of the parliament. Hitler was able to overthrow the parliament and fully control the running of the country while else in France the parliament was still in charge of the countries operations reducing the chances of any dictatorial form of governance.
- Conclusion
- It can be concluded that world war one was a great contributor to the rise of fascist leaders in both Italy and German. This is due to the problems faced in the countries after the war that left the mass vulnerable to the manipulation of any leader who would promise a way out of the situation the countries were facing. Hitler and Mussolini are seen to have contributed greatly into the development of the fascist ideologies in the two countries and there ideologies are seen to have similarities and differences that are attributed to by the nature of the policies set by these two leaders. The fascist ideologies are however seen to dwindle in other parts of the world such as France since its government and parliament is not dissolved and consequently the running of the government is liberal and does not rely on any individual. Fascism has been seen to do more harm than good since it speared through negative attributes and disunited the masses.
- Work cited
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- Bessel, Richard. Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: Comparisons and Contrasts. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998. Print.
- Haugen, Brenda. Benito Mussolini: Fascist Italian Dictator. Minneapolis, Minn: Compass Point Books, 2007. Print.
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- Macdonald, Hamish. Mussolini and Italian Fascism. Cheltenham: Thornes, 1999. Print
- Mommsen, Hans. The Third Reich between Vision and Reality: New Perspectives on German History, 1918-1945. Oxford [u.a.: Berg, 2002. Print.
- Rostron, Allen. "No War, No Hate, No Propaganda" : Promoting Films About European War And Fascism During The Period Of American Isolationism." Journal Of Popular Film & Television 30.2 (2002): 85. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.
- Toporowski, Jan. "Fascism And The Economics Of European Integration." Challenge 38.1 (1995): 58-60. Business Source Complete. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.
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