Fascism, Nazism, and the Dawn of the Cold War

Fascist Italy: Post-WWI Crisis and Rise

After the First World War, Italy suffered a serious crisis. The country was heavily indebted from financing the war, which provoked an increase in prices and rising unemployment. Much of the population began to support extremist parties: the Communist Party and the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, led by Benito Mussolini. Although this party obtained few seats in these elections, it decided to seize power by force.

Key Features of Fascism

• Based on an undemocratic and anti-communist ideology.
• Established a totalitarian state.
• State intervention in the economy.
• Promoted an aggressive nationalism.
• Cult of violence and militarism.

The Ideology of Nazism

After the failed Beer Hall Putsch, Hitler was imprisoned, where he wrote his ideas. He incorporated many features of fascism: the cult of the leader, the primacy of the state, the exaltation of violence, and the cult of youth. It also had its own distinct features, such as intense racism. Nazi ideology, while incorporating traditional values, dictated that single women should have children and engage in domestic tasks.

Nazism is a variant of fascism. Racism is the belief that there are superior and inferior races. For Hitler, Germans belonged to the Aryan race, which he considered superior. A priority was the return to racial purity within the population. To achieve this, he targeted and murdered individuals deemed 'undesirable': the mentally ill, those with physical disabilities, and homosexuals. Most Jews were banned from professions. In 1938, the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht) occurred, during which dozens of Jews were murdered. Hitler later decided to implement the 'Final Solution'.

The Origins of the Cold War

The end of the Second World War did not bring a stable peace. The United States and the USSR engaged in a diplomatic struggle which led to the Cold War.

During this period, the world was divided into two main spheres: the Western Bloc, led by the United States, and the Communist Bloc, led by the USSR. Each bloc had its own distinct economic and political system.

Early Confrontations and Policies

The next major step toward the Cold War took place in Greece, where Monarchists and Communists vied for power in a civil war. President Truman endorsed the anti-communists, a strategy called the containment policy. The Americans carried out the Marshall Plan, a program of economic aid to rebuild Western Europe. At the same time, the USSR created the Cominform to coordinate support for communist parties worldwide.

Maximum Stage of Tension

The Berlin Blockade

The first major Cold War confrontation occurred with the Berlin Crisis, three years after the war ended. The German capital was divided into four sectors. The U.S., Britain, and France merged their sectors, creating the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). The USSR responded by establishing a communist state in its sector, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), and imposing a blockade on West Berlin.

The Korean War

A year later, Mao Zedong's Communist troops triumphed in the Chinese Civil War, further escalating tensions. The Korean War developed in Korea, a former Japanese colony that was divided into two parts: the North, supported by the USSR, and the South, supported by the U.S.