To what extent were the German and Italian regimes under Hitler and Mussolini Totalitarian?

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Robinson

Wollersheim, No1

History Internal Assessment 1st Draft

Nazism vs. Fascism

R.Q.: To what extent were the German and Italian regimes under Hitler and Mussolini Totalitarian?  

  1. Why?

With this research I want to discover whether Hitler and Mussolini transformed Germany and Italy, respectively into Totalitarian regimes. In my discretion this played a major role when looking at traditions, respectability of countries and reputations of countries. Such “emotions” can also trigger wars, as we so in WWII. Initially, I feel that Dictatorships having absolute power over a country can cause many inconveniences for the citizens of it. Hence, I want to understand their motives and ambitions. Also, I figure that this is a very important time period in which milestones and new dimensions have been opened. Thirdly, I decided on this topic because I am a German citizen, who is naturally interested in the background and history of ones father country.

  1. What?

I am going to use a series of books written in different time periods by different writers from different countries. This shows a certain scope of viewpoints, which makes the answer to this question more objective. I am also going to use the Internet as one research option of my internal assessment.

  1. I planned my essay. This can be seen in the appendix, 1) Essay Plan. This plan shows how I am going to attempt to accomplish my Task

  1. Define Nazism
  1. Nazism is the body of political and economic doctrines held and put into effect by the National Socialist German Workers' Party in the Third Reich including the totalitarian principle of government, state control of all industries, predominance of groups assumed to be racially superior, and supremacy of the Führer.
  1. Define Fascism
  1. Fascism is a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
  1. Define Totalitarian
  1. Totalitarian is defined as of or relating to centralized control by an autocratic leader or hierarchy. Of or relating to a political regime based on subordination of the individual to the state and strict control of all aspects of the life and productive capacity of the nation especially by coercive measures (as censorship and terrorism)
  1. All these definitions above are essential in order to understand how totalitarianism is initially linked with Nazism and Fascism. These terms, Nazism Fascism and Totalitarianism have all got the subordination of the individual to the state and the control of mind etc. of the individual in common. The difference between them, however is that Totalitarian is purely a term describing a situation, a current state of something. Nazism and Fascism on the other hand, describe an ideology that developed over centuries and eventually ruled a country. When we are looking at these definitions, we discover, that both ideologies have a feature of totalitarianism innate. Therefore, initially we would say that they the states, Germany and Italy, both are totalitarian because the autocracy by which they are ruled is totalitarian. This must mean that the people believe in it because they elected this system of government, and hence the system must be totalitarian. This, however, is debatable. In the ongoing lines I will question the above statement by looking closer at the two ideologies and how they became elected.
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  1. Discrimination of Minorities
  1. Germany
  1. Minorities, such as Jews, Blacks, Gypsies and women were discriminated widely. Anything not of Aryan derivation, was inferior. Women, for example, were expected to behave just like “K,K,K”—meaning Kinder, Kirche, Küche. Translated, Children, Church, Kitchen. In other words, they were expected to have as many children as possible to expand the Aryan race, support the religion and cook well. Jews, of course, were treated the worst, i.e.: concentration camps.
  1. Italy
  1. Fascist Policy towards women was condescending. Women were not put equal to men. It was also anti-urban and ...

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