Nazi Germany And Fascist Italy.
Fascism is widely recognised as a form of government with no realest principles. Unlike Marxism I doesn’t mould around one main source but morphs to the particular countries situation and the cult of personality of its leader.
The First way of analysing the two states is by looking at how Hitler and Mussolini came to power. Both Germany and Italy were suffering similar internal problems. The Great War and Wall Street Crash had ravaged economies, the countries were lead by weak governments and the threat of communism was ever increasing. These aspects were similar in the two countries were the precursors of Fascism. Of course there were other factors in both countries. In Germany anger over Germany’s capitulation during World War One and her anger over the terms of the Treaty of Versailles gave Hitler a very important point on which to build support. Hitler demonised people, creating scapegoats through propaganda, on this scapegoat he blamed Germany’s entire problem. This scapegoat was the Jews. Hitler’s rise to power was all of his own working. His incredible ability to appeal to people, his great skills as an orator and his German pride all help assert himself as a popular figure. Mussolini’s rise on the other hand was primarily based on opportunism. His policies contradicted themselves, his attitudes were dramatic and his facts were very often incorrect despite this he was able to win the hearts of Italians with his incredible speech delivery ability. By having a smart appearance and by giving an impressive display. His opportunist rise to power was most evident during his March on Rome. Had the King of listened to his Prime Minister, Facta, the march could easily have been crushed. There was a garrison of 28,000 well armed and well trained troops available which would have easily beaten the 40,000 Black shirts who were sometimes only armed with clubs and other farming equipment. Hitler’s route to creating Nazi Germany was legal. He gained power by gaining electoral support. Then once he had become chancellor he demolished democracy well within the guidelines of the German constitution. By using the Enabling act he could dissolve all other political powers and place himself as the Führer. Of course the methods employed by Hitler to gain voters and be able to pass the Enabling act were not strictly legal. Mussolini on the other hand forced his way into power by marching on Rome. Nothing about his seizure of power was legal.
