Unit 7: Fascist Dictators (1919-1939)

Unit 7: Fascist Dictators (1919-1939)

This unit emphasizes the rise of Fascist dictatorships in Italy, Germany, and Spain following World War I and the events leading up to and including the Holocaust.

Fascism is a form of government which is a type of one-party dictatorship. Fascists are against democracy. They work for a totalitarian one-party state. This aim is to prepare the nation for armed conflict, and to respond to economic difficulties. Such a state is led by a strong leader—such as a dictator and a martial government. Historically fascist governments tend to be militaristic, and racist. In the Third Reich, German society was pictured as a racially unified hierarchy, the Volksgemeinschaft.

Fascist leadership might also be similar to an oligarchy, such as in Italy where the fascist party was ruled by its 'grand council' from 1922 until the end of World War II.

Fascism appeared in Italy in the 1920s and developed fully in the 1930s. Its supporters thought that democracy was weak and full of moral perversions, that multiparty capitalism was too materialistic and unfair to the people. Communism, although unifying and fair, did not care about the needs of the nation[needs to be explained] and hampered business initiative. The two first fascist leaders were Mussolini and Hitler. After World War II, fascism continued in the form of military dictatorships in Portugal, Spain, Latin America and some parts of Asia.

Fascism was supposed to be the answer for that need, with national unity and solidarity instead of the divisions of class struggle and party politics. Believers in democracy generally consider fascism as a facet of totalitarianism, by the urge to control everything and allowing no freedom.

Unit Focus

• factors that led to the rise of Fascist dictatorships in Italy, Germany, and Spain after World War I
• comparison of communism and fascism
• events that led to Mussolini’s rise to power in Italy
• events that led to Hitler’s rise to power in Germany
• anti-Semitic policies of the Nazis which led to the Holocaust