Italian Fascism vs. Nazism: Similarities and Core Differences

Introduction: Right-Wing Extremism in Context

Italian Fascism and Nazism are two phenomena that political scientists and historians have placed under the larger category of right-wing extremism. They share significant similarities, but they also display a whole array of differences, some of them fundamental. Right-wing politics in Europe did not cease to exist once the Second World War ended; they even began to manifest strongly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, as societies undergoing transitional stages and experiencing socio-political crises appear more prone to embracing extremist movements such as fascism.

There are a few pillars that generally support right-wing movements like Nazism and Italian Fascism in the first half of the twentieth century, but the two are fundamentally divided by the former's obsession with the supremacy of race (Bessel, 1996). What Italy and Germany shared during the period between the two World Wars was a socio-economic situation that encouraged the majority of the population to embrace right-wing parties. Transitions are usually situations that make way for extremist political movements to form and gain momentum, feeding on the disorientation of those caught in the process. Traditional and modern views clash, and those caught in between — usually the majority of the population — become a mass open to political manipulation.

Shared Foundations of Fascism and Nazism

It is generally agreed that Nazism is a form of fascism blended with theories of the superiority of the Aryan race and directed at a universal enemy: the Jewish people. Both Fascism and Nazism heavily relied on the charisma of their leaders — Mussolini and Hitler respectively. They were both nationalist movements that started as a counter-reaction to existing forms of government and to the threat of Bolshevism, promoting nationalism, autarky, totalitarianism, and a return to traditional values.

Although neither movement supported collective property at the expense of private industry, both Nazism and Fascism relied on total state involvement in all sectors, including the economy. German and Italian societies thus came under the leadership of parties claiming to promote the sole interest of the state, to which everything else had to be subjected. Politics were subjected to a militarized form of government; war was promoted as the only solution to each state's problems; and both movements achieved their goals through heavy propaganda supported by all available media, illustrated through signs, symbols, and uniforms.

The heroic past was important for both Mussolini and Hitler, and the new form of heroism the two leaders demanded from their people was to be achieved exclusively through war — a war destined to reclaim the rights the two countries had lost following their involvement in the First World War, as well as a war of expansionism.

The Fundamental Divide: Race Ideology and Anti-Semitism

One of the main sources of difference between Italian Fascism and Nazism is the use of theories related to racial superiority. This ideology shaped Nazism's development as the extreme form of anti-Semitism that led to its engagement in the systematic destruction of all Jews and everything Jewish. While Italian Fascism was certainly authoritarian and violent, it was Nazism's racial obsession that gave it a character categorically distinct from its Italian counterpart and drove it toward genocide.

Paths to Power: Italy and Germany Compared

In order to accede to the ruling ranks of government, Mussolini's National Fascist Party made use of the support of the monarchy. The NSDAP — Hitler's Nazi Party — rose to power and finally gained a majority in the German Parliament under the conditions of the parliamentary Weimar Republic. Democratic elections played a part in the party's rise, but Hitler also benefited from other factors: economic instability as a consequence of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, well-constructed and coordinated propaganda directed at diverse audiences, and paramilitary forces designed to weaken and ultimately annihilate opposition.

Both Mussolini and Hitler were appointed as prime minister and Reich Chancellor respectively, as a result of agreements with the head of state — the king and the president of the republic. Both would soon assume uncontested and total leadership as heads of state, even if, in Italy's case, Victor Emmanuel III retained his title as King of Italy until 1946. Mussolini and his Fascist Party ensured they had the support of the monarchy — regardless of the king's reasons for not acting against Mussolini's subsequent actions — as well as that of the Catholic Church, secured through the Lateran Treaty signed in 1929.