Mussolini and Hitler: Road to Power

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Mussolini and Hitler: Rise to Power

June 2010

Dundee College

        Benito Mussolini became prime minister of Italy in October 1922 at the age of 39, he is considered the creator of fascism. 11 years after Mussolini came to power, in 1933, Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany at the age of 44. Both men became dictators, although Mussolini's road to full dictatorship took much longer, and they both formed totalitarian governments in their countries. They had many similarities in their beliefs and their roads to power.

        

        This essay will look at both Mussolini's and Hitler's rise to power. Their roads to dictatorship will be compared and contrasted, and their contributions to the start of WW2 will be discussed.

        When WW1 ended in 1918, all of the countries involved had suffered great losses. Over 600.000 Italian men had lost their lives. The cost of the war had put a huge strain on Italy's economy, and the Italian government had to resorted to borrowing money from the US and Britain just to cover the expenses, but it was not enough, and the government had to resort to printing more money instead; causing inflation. Prices started going up, which meant people could hardly afford to feed themselves. There were no jobs for the soldiers that came back from the war, and unemployment rates soared across the country. Italy had been promised a lot of land when she signed the treaty of London, joining the entente in the war, but the treaty of Versailles; which was signed in 1919, did not live up to Italy's expectations, and many felt that the war had been fought for nothing. Germany, which after the war became the Weimar Republic, had suffered the greatest losses in lives in the war however it was the treaty of Versailles, which was particularly harsh on Germany. According to the treaty Germany had to take the blame for causing the war, and was ordered to pay reparations to  Britain and France; this was known as the war guilt clause. Also Germany lost all of her overseas colonies and was forbidden to have an army.

        There was a lot of resentment towards the outcome of the war in both countries. Both Mussolini and Hitler; which were both believers in Nationalism, felt their countries had been treated unfairly. Mussolini felt that Italy should have gotten more out of the treaty of Versailles, he also believed that what Italy needed was a firm authoritarian government to sort out all her problems; He of course envisioned him self as the leader of that government. Hitler was also unhappy about the treaty of Versailles, and as he pointed out in his book Mein Kampf felt that it was unjust and should be ignored. Germany had, before WW1 been on it's way to becoming very powerful, and he wanted to restore it's former glory and power. Both men felt that their countries had been weakened.

        In 1919, after returning home from the army, Mussolini established the Fascio Italiani di combattimento, which were squads of paramilitary ex-soldiers who became known as the black- shirts. The fasci spread across Italy engaging in violent attacks on strikers and socialist groups. This earned him a lot of supports among property owners who feared communist and socialist ideas.

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In 1921 Mussolini decided to start focusing on getting into parliament. He transformed the fasci  into the PNF; Partito Nazionale Fascista, a right-wing party. The party was based on extreme nationalism, focusing on building up the greatness of the state; viewing Italy as superior. The focus was also on establishing peace and order through a strong authoritarian government. This was the starting point of fascism. After WW1 this was exactly what people wanted to hear, and in the 1921 elections his party won 35 seats in parliament. Hitler had remained in the army after the war, employed as a spy; to ...

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