Rise of Fascism
Italy and Germany
13.4
What is Fascism?
 Militant political movement that emphasizes loyalty
to the state and obedience to its leader
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Extreme form of nationalism
Advocates social Darwinism
Glorification of war
Italy
Rise of Fascism in Italy
 Italy denied major
concessions in Treaty of
Versailles
 Economic troubles led to
fear of communism
 Benito Mussolini gains
popularity for anti-socialist
views through Fascist Party
Mussolini’s Rise to Power
Il Duce
 Mussolini’s Blackshirts
terrorize enemies
 March on Rome (10/1922)
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Mussolini and supporters
demand change in
government
King allows Mussolini to form
own government to save
economy
Mussolini’s Economic System
 Capitalism exists but in
service to the state

Everything in the state, nothing
outside the state, nothing against
the state
 Labor unions now controlled
by the government
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Authority comes from the top,
not amongst the workers
Mussolini’s “Dictatorship”
 OVERALL – Limited power
because…
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Presence of the king
No ruthless police state
Old conservative power structure
remains
 However…
 Few voting rights and political
choices
 Government-regulated leisure time
 Women remain in traditional roles
Positives?
 Electrification and road building
 Suppression of the Mafia
 Lateran Pact (1929) – Peace with the Church
 Vatican City created
 Church recognizes Italian gov’t
Nazi Germany
What is Nazism?
 Nazism = extreme nationalism + racism
Rise of Adolf Hitler
 Becomes leader of Nazi
party post-WW1
 Unsuccessfully leads Beer
Hall Putsch, lands in jail,
writes Mein Kampf

IDEAS
Germans should expand east,
need lebensraum
 Aryans (Germans) are the
master race, non-Aryan races
are inferior
 The “Fuhrer” of Germany
should have unlimited power

Economic Crisis
 Germany recovers in
1920s, make Hitler look
stupid
 Great Depression wrecks
economy

Hitler’s Nazis start preaching
salvation for German people
with their control
 Nazis become most
popular party by 1933
Hitler in Power
 Hitler named Chancellor in
1933, seeks Nazi majority
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Reichstag burns…blamed on
Communist parties
 Enabling Act gives Chancellor
unlimited powers
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Nazi Party only legal political
party
Strikes, labor unions outlawed
Freedom of knowledge and
information limited
 Establishment of Third Reich
Night of Long Knives (June 1934)
 Members of the S.A. murdered by Hitler’s elite
personal guard – the S.S.

S.S. pledges loyalty to HITLER, not Germany
 S.S. combines with Gestapo to form police state
The Fuhrer’s Propaganda
JOSEPH GOEBBLES
 Burned and banned books that did not conform to
Nazi ideology
 Churches forbidden to criticize the government
 Schoolchildren forced to join the Hitler Youth (boys)
or League of German Girls
Nazi Propaganda
Economic Recovery
 Major reason for Hitler’s popularity
 Large public works program and massive
rearmament
 Results
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Unemployment – 6 million to 1 million in three years
Standard of living rises incredibly by 1938
 Role of Women
 Stay at home and MAKE BABIES
 Only in wartime were women encouraged to work