History

• Italy after WWI was in a bad way
• Reasons Italians voted for Mussolini


  • Italy lost 600,000 soldiers in WWI
  • Italy was not rewarded with land promised at the Paris Peace Conference
  • Governments in Italy did not last long between 1918-1922
  • Inflation made everything very expensive, leading to food riots
  • Many believed democratic parties were getting them nowhere and they needed something different
• Some people became interested in communism
• The Church and the wealthy were afraid of the rise of communism
• Fascism


  A form of government that is a one-party dictatorship based on nationalistic ideas of racial superiority
• Fascists


  • Against democracy
  • Nationalistic (believe their nation is superior)
• Fascism


  Centred around a single leader and uses propaganda and fear to ensure control of the state
• The first two fascist leaders were Mussolini and Hitler
• Mussolini


  • Founded the Fascist party in 1919
  • Believed a dictatorship was needed to solve Italy's problems
  • Was prepared to use violence if necessary
  • Wanted a one-party state with complete control
  • Founded an armed group of Blackshirts who terrorised opponents
• Mussolini's rise to power

  1. Threatened to March on Rome and seize power

  2. The King sacked the Prime Minister and invited Mussolini to become Prime Minister
• Mussolini's rule


  • Founded the OVRA secret police force
  • Passed the Acerbo Law giving two-thirds of seats to the party with the most votes
  • Adopted the title Il Duce (the leader)
  • Used violence and bribery to win the 1923 election
  • Ruled by decree, making laws without Parliament
  • Arrested political opponents and maintained complete control until 1943
• Corporate State


  Each area of the economy divided into units that decided pay and working conditions, with no trade unions
• Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with the Pope, ending a 50-year dispute
• Mussolini's use of propaganda

  • Appointed a minister for propaganda
  • Used propaganda and intimidation to maintain control
  • Encouraged Italian children to join the Ballilla
• Mussolini's foreign policy mistakes


  Led to WWII and his collapse
• Mussolini's foreign policy actions

  • Invaded Abessinia (Ethiopia)
  • Sent help to Franco in the Spanish Civil War
  • Signed the Rome-Berlin Axis in 1936
  • Signed the Pact of Steel with Germany in 1939
• Mussolini's downfall


  1. The Allies landed in the south of Italy

  2. The king sacked Mussolini

  3. The Germans rescued Mussolini and set up the Salo Republic in the north

  4. Mussolini was caught by partisans (resistance fighters) and killed
• Hitler


  Promised to eliminate unemployment
• In 1933, six million people were unemployed: roughly 11% of the population
• Between 1933 and 1939, the Nazis dramatically transformed Germany's economy
• Transformation of Germany's economy


  1. Independent trade unions abolished

  2. Strikes made illegal

  3. Autobahns (motorways) built

  4. Army built up and armaments production increased

  5. Motor industry expanded

  6. Volkswagen car designed and manufactured

  7. Taxes cut to encourage private industry
• By 1939 there was virtually no unemployment in Germany
• Hitler Youth


  Boys' organisation to train them to become good soldiers
• League of German Maidens


  Girls' organisation to train them to become good mothers
• All youth were taught to hate Jews and inform on anyone who expressed anti-Nazi viewpoints-even their own parents
• Women's role in Fascist Germany


  • Stay at home and look after the family
  • Forced to give up careers
  • Not asked to serve in the armed forces
• The 3 Ks for German women


  • Kinder (children)
  • Küche (kitchen)
  • Kirche (church)
• Hitler wanted a high birth rate, so that the population would grow
• Mothers who had more than eight children were awarded a gold medal
• Women were supposed to wear traditional costumes with flat shoes and have their hair in plaits or buns. They were not supposed to wear make-up or trousers, dye their hair or smoke in public
• Propaganda Minister Goebbels


  Put in charge of spreading all Nazi ideas, including those expressed in Mein Kampf
• Propaganda methods


  1. Used newspapers, radio, cinema and theatre

  2. Movies made to make Hitler look good and Jews look bad

  3. Book burnings

  4. Cheap radios produced so Hitler's speeches could reach every home

  5. Loudspeakers installed along streets

  6. Posters presenting Hitler as a godlike figure

  7. Huge rallies organised at Nuremberg
• Hitler used terror to hold onto power and control his critics
• Use of terror


  1. Gestapo (secret police) set up

  2. People encouraged to report opponents or communists

  3. SA leaders killed on the Night of the Long Knives

  4. Critics and undesirables sent to forced labour camps
• Anti-Semitism


  Hatred of, or prejudice against, Jewish people
• Anti-Semitic measures


  1. Jews sacked from government jobs

  2. Boycott of Jewish shops and businesses

  3. Anti-Semitic films and posters

  4. Nuremberg Laws passed

  5. Jews forced to wear yellow Star of David

  6. Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) - Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues attacked
• The Holocaust or Final Solution was an attempt to wipe out the Jewish race
• Hitler targetted the Youth of Germany
• Hitler was determained to create loyalty amoung all people
• School books were rewritten to suit Nazi needs