The Similarities Of Nazism And Mussolini's Fascist Italy

The First World War left Europe devastated. A war of this magnitude not only rendered people completely hopeless but also created a power vacuum that needed to be filled. The democratic governments had failed to deliver, therefore people in hope of change welcomed extreme left and right winged parties. Around this time, the predominant right-winged political ideologies of Nazism and Fascism came to the forefront. In the period between the First and Second World War, Hitler's Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Fascist Italy provided the ideal alternative to the ineffective parliament democracy. Although considered comparable due to their ideological similarities and the reasons behind their popularity, Nazism and Fascism were "closer in theory than in practice" (Macdonald, 48). While the similarities
the political systems had complete authority over every aspect of the society, with no freedom given to any individual or group of people. However, once in practice the German Nazi regime was more totalitarian than the Italian Fascist regime. As Hannah Arendt points out, Mussolini's regime was "Not totalitarian, but just an ordinary nationalist dictatorship…" (qtd. in Germino, 132). Hitler was the head of state as well as Chancellor whereas in Italy King Victor Emanuel remained Head of State which, in essence, limited Mussolini's freedom of policy making. The police and security services were more repressive in Germany with no mercy given to even the slightest opposition. Italy's secret service, OVRA, on the other hand, was relatively lenient. The Nazis literally controlled every aspect of the society, from the curriculum in schools with history and biology books re-written to match Nazi ideas, to the role of women and families in Germany (Lowe, 312). This was not the case in Italy. All things considered, Nazism exercised totalitarianism to a further extent than Fascism