Fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany: Origins and Rise to Power

Fascism in Italy

The causes of the birth of Fascism in Italy were largely due to:

• Dissatisfaction with the peace agreements established after the First World War.
• The post-war situation, plagued by an economic crisis, unemployment, inflation, and social unrest.
• Revolutionary movements that frightened the most conservative sectors of society.

Fascism was the creation of journalist Benito Mussolini, who founded the National Fascist Party in 1921. He used paramilitary groups—the Italian Combat Squads (or Blackshirts)—to quash the workers’ movement. Mussolini gained support from large landowners, the small bourgeoisie, the Church, and King Victor Emmanuel III.

In 1922, the successful intervention of the Italian Combat Squads against trade unions and workers’ strikes allowed Mussolini to claim power. To pressure the government, he organized a March on Rome with the Blackshirts and was subsequently named prime minister by the king.

Once in power, Mussolini established a Fascist dictatorship. He took complete control over the country, restricted freedoms, prohibited political parties, and repressed trade unions and any other opposition using secret police (OVRA). He also directed the economy and controlled every aspect of social life through propaganda and censorship.

Nazism in Germany

The causes that led to Nazism in Germany can be traced to:

• Discontent during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) with the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles.
• The post-war situation, including economic crisis, unemployment, and social unrest expressed through revolutionary movements.

Nazism arose around the ex-soldier Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party, founded in 1920. It had a paramilitary group, the Storm Troopers (or SA), who fought the communists.

Hitler won the support of a large part of the middle class, who had been devastated by the 1929 economic crisis, and of the capitalists who despised the communists.

In the elections of 1932, the Nazi Party received 13.8 million votes, and Hitler was named Chancellor of Germany.