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
- 2. Government’s role is to protect the people of the country
- 3. Nationalism
- 4. Militarism
- 5. Imperialism
- 6. Corporativism
-industrial leaders and workers must work well together
-detested capitalist’s greedy ways
- 7. Made Catholicism the national religion
-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
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”
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