Benito Mussolini’s Italy Fascism
Fascist movement began right after WW I
-people were unhappy with the results and the economy
was terrible
-people were scared that the socialists might come to power so many turned to fascism
-including King Victor Emmaneul
Benito Mussolini( Il Duce)
-hated the wealthy and catholic church
-mother forced him to go to catholic school
-expelled for stabbing a rich student
-unsuccessful elementary teaching career
-joined the socialist movement before during WWI
-fought for Italy in WWI-injured
-got involved in Fascist movement after the war
-became the leader of the Fascist movement
-King Victor Emmanuel asked him to be premier in 1922
-by 1926 was complete dictator of Italy
-killed political opponents
Fascist Ideas
1. Hated communism and democracy
Thought government should have all power
2. Government’s role is to protect the people of the country
Governments #1 goal was to protect the people
3. Nationalism
knowing that your country is or should be the most important thing to you
4. Militarism
having a strong military is the only way to have a strong country
5. Imperialism
country taking over colonies for more power and land
6. Corporativism
-needing the big buisnesses to make him sucessful
-industrial leaders and workers must work well together
-detested capitalist’s greedy ways
What did the world do to try to keep peace and prevent war in the 1920s?
-Leauge of nations
Adolf Hitler
- born in 1889 in Austria
- dropped out of school at 16
- wanted to be and artist and architect
- failed to get into art school
- moved to Germany in 1913
- joined German Army when WWI broke out
- was wounded twice (once by gas)
- won numerous medals
- accepted the “stab in the back” theory
- hated Weimer Republic
- joined the Nationalist Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi) after WWI
- voted Fuhrer (Leader) of the Nazi Party in 1921
- Nazi party attracted the following groups of people:
1. Manual laborers
2. Former soldiers
3. Adventurers and misfits
- The Nazi Party:
1. was violently nationalistic
2. was anti-Semitic (anti-Jew)
3. Hated the democratic Weimer Republic
4. talked of the Volk (German common people) superiority
Beer Hall Putsch (1923)
- Hitler and the Nazis tried to take over the German Gov’t
- Failed miserably
- Hitler was arrested for treason
- Got five years but only served 9 months
- While in prison he wrote his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
- Outlined Hitler’s ideas:
1. Aryans were the superior race
- Germans, Dutch, Belgians, Scandinavians and English
- No interbreeding
2. Anti-Semitic beliefs
- Hated Jews, inferior race
- Hitler associated them with the Weimer Republic and
Communism
3. Hated democracy
- Believed one person had to have the power to keep order and
Discipline
4. Undo the Treaty of Versailles
5. Re-unite German speaking peoples
- Austria, Sudetenland, Danzig, Poland
6. Lebensraum
- “Living space” in Russia for the German People
- Hitler also learned that he would have to come to power legally
- January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany
- Within 18 months Hitler had total power and created “The Third Reich”
7. Made Catholicism the national religion
He hated it. He was forced to go to school. He was athiest
-Mussolini hated religion but realized he nneded an alliance with the Catholic Church
-brought many Catholics to support Mussolini
8. Efficiency and order were very important
-Mussolini “made the trains run on time”
Mussolini’s fascism was not as strict as Nazism
-allowed monarchy to continue
-allowed the Catholic Church to continue
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