Italian and German Fascism: Similarities and Differences

In the 20th century there were a lot of rises and falls of many types of government. In some cases, two "world wars" influenced these events and multiple changes arose in power. The First World War gave way to such styles of rule as Fascism and Nazism. Very often these two ideologies are conflated as the same thing. However, while there are similarities between these concepts, a lot of differences also exist, that need to be mentioned. In order to understand these two movements, one should get to know the meaning of these terms. Such political ideology as Fascism is used in reference to the style of ruling that arose in Italy after The First World War and was represented by Benito Mussolini. And Nazism is embodied by the man who might be a true Nazist itself, Adam Hitler.

Fascism could be considered as militant political movement that emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to the leader. It based on the principles of Authoritarianism: government tried to organize and control with strong discipline as much as possible in people's lives. The first obvious difference between these two political systems is about the intention: Hitler's Nazi wanted to avenge what the world done to them after the World War I, he wished Germany to gain the hegemony all over Europe. While Mussolini's fascism just wanted to reconstruct Roman Empire, build up the southern part from agriculture to industrial as the northern part of Italy. Other areas of differences between Germany and Italy involve their people. Hitler had people's support till the end, while Mussolini gradually lost people's faith.

After the World War I, Germany and Italy were in the same period of difficulty. Germany was considered to be the nation that made the war breaks out. B...

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...ly and Nazi Germany differ from each other in many areas, but they still share some common experiences. As James Brown quotes: "Fascism and Nazism, although poles apart in their intellectual content, are similar in this, that both have emotional appeal to the type of personality that takes pleasure in being submerged in a mass movement and submitting to superior authority."

References:

‘Fascism in Germany and Italy’. Online Essays, viewed 4 April 2011, .

‘Italian Fascism’. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, viewed 4 April 2011, .

McKay, J. P., Hill, B. D., & Buckler J., 2003. A history of Western society, 7th. ed. New York:

Houghton Mifflin Company.

‘Nazism’. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, viewed 4 April 2011, .