Fascism and the Nazi System

Fascist Italy v. Nazi Germany:

In the early 19th Century, Italy and Germany were characterized with instability, political weaknesses, and global economic crises. Governments in these countries seemed incapable of handling the troublesome situations. Actually, the leaders of both countries were dictators and led totalitarian regimes, which culminated in the cooperation during World War II. Adolf Hitler used the situation involving the near collapse of Weimar republic to advance propaganda against the government in which he blamed the government for all problems in the country and established Nazi solutions to the problems. In 1919, in Italy, Mussolini founded the Italian fascist party and formed a government after a series of strikes and riots. Since he took the government on dictatorial powers, Mussolini tried to control each aspect of Italian's life (Husic, n.d.). The Nazi and Fascist dictatorial regimes in Germany and Italy respectively had some similarities and differences.

One of the similarities between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany is that they both propagated anti-communist policy. The fear of communism was prevalent across Europe and acted as the basis for Hitler's solid support, especially against Russia, which was Germany's natural enemy. Mussolini used the fear of communism to his advantage by acting as the savior of the nation, which translated to strong support from big businesses and the elite. Secondly, the two regimes were extremely anti-democratic and tried to develop totalitarian states through controlling education, industry, people's lives, and agriculture.

The differences included the successful creation of totalitarian state by Hitler while Mussolini failed in his efforts. Hitler made Germany a totalitarian state where all political parties were prohibited except the National socialists while Mussolini failed because Fascism never seemed to be deeply rooted in Italy as Nazism was in Germany. Secondly, the Nazi system strongly promoted anti-Jewish policy because of Hitler's aim to ultimately exterminate the whole Jewish race. In contrast, fascism did not have anti-Jewish policy because Mussolini was neither racist nor anti-Jewish. Third, Hitler and Mussolini had different constitutional positions though they were dictators. In this case, fascism system in Italy was not as brutal as the Nazi system in Germany.

The rise of the Nazi system into power was fueled by the situations in Germany between 1929 and 1933 when the country was characterized with instability and the impact of global economic crisis that increased the number of the unemployed in the country to 6 million people. As the government was seemingly unable to address the situation and Weimar republic on the verge of collapse, Hitler carried out a great power against the government that culminated in establishment of a totalitarian regime through the Nazi system. In contrast, Italy was facing political and economic challenges between 1919 and 1922 since the existing five different governments were seemingly incapable of making necessary and effective decisions. Mussolini founded the fascist party during this period and won various seats in the 1921 elections when there was threat of the left-wing revolution. At a time of riots and strikes, Mussolini and his party formed a government after a march at Rome resulting in establishment of fascism. The Nazi system was established as a solution to the various problems the Germany was facing whereas fascism was established in attempts to address the economic and political problems.