Preview

Compare and Contrast Social and Economic Policies of Hitler and Mussolini

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
514 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Compare and Contrast Social and Economic Policies of Hitler and Mussolini
Compare and contrast social and economic policies of Hitler and Mussolini

We should start this brief analyze with focusing on the background of the dictators' way to power. In both countries, Germany and Italy, the blow of 1929s Wall Street crisis proved to be very tough, however the economic situation inside states wasn't good after the end of World War the First. Unemployment and budget deficit helped Mussolini with taking power in 1922. Hitler became a chancellor in 1933 when Germany suffered the most from the 1929s crisis. A conclusion comes to mind: financial crisis is very likely to cause rapid growth of radical movements and to increase society's tolerance towards government's actions.

As it comes to reducing unemployment rate, both Hitler and Mussolini achieved success, however Mussolini's actions were insufficient in case of The Great Depression. In numbers; Hitler reduced unemployed people from 6 millions to 200 000, whereas Mussolini's from 500 000 to 120 000 (later in 1934, the number increased to 1 million).
The methods were similar; mostly public works (7000 km of motorways in Germany were built, 5000 km of railway tracks got an electrification) and also, in Germany, decreasing the number of women participating in labour-market.

The success of re-industrialization, Hitler turned out to be quite a good strategist. Between 1932-38 the total production of coal increased from 118.6 to 186.4 millions of tones; iron ore from 2.6 to 12.4 millions of tones, pig iron from 6.1 to 18.1 millions tones and steel from 8.2 to 21.9 millions tones. Meanwhile the army budget boosted from 1.9 to 17.2 billion reichsmarks - the economy was dominated by war preparations, as rearmament tended to be the prime objective of Hitler's policy.
In Italy, mostly because it wasn't even comparable with Germany in terms of economic power, only some achievement in that case are noticeable: increase of electricity and motor and grain production (the last mentioned

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Until 1930, the Nazi party had been a relatively minor party. However in the 1930 election, the Nazi’s popularity dramatically increased accounting for 14.4% of the vote, or 107 seats in the Reichstag. This meant that the vote had increased from 800,000 in 1928 to 6.4 million votes in 1930. The consolidation of Nazi power was in some ways aided by the economic collapse in 1931 and the consequent suspension of the reparation payments by the Allies. Hitler’s…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    What kind of economic environment would embrace Fascism? What kind of society would allow their country’s freedoms and future to be placed into one dictator’s hands? Germany was surrounded by perceived forces of evil. The exploitation of fear from the French to the West and the Russians to the East would break the spirit of the German people. The fear of these two forces against a nationalized Germany would be used by Adolf Hitler to gain power. In Italy, Benito Mussolini used alliances with the Catholic Church, unions, and industry bosses to gain political power. That, along with using brute force against his political opponents, Mussolini’s form of Fascism was gradually built with eleven years of severe political maneuvering. Both Hitler and Mussolini took advantage of a political environment to form a new lofty ideal, fascism, an ideal that would lead to a second escalation in the early 20th century.…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Two major leaders who rose to power during the Great Depression had different approaches to the economic and social problems of the era. Franklin D. Roosevelt who was elected President of the United States and Adolf Hitler who was appointed chancellor of the Nazi Party for Germany. They entered office within a month of each other. Hitler and Roosevelt had similar objectives when they stepped into office. They both began addressing the great depression. Both kept the interest of what was best for their people and prepared their nations for a war that was never forgotten.…

    • 1488 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Hitler. Stalin. Mussolini. These three names define World War II. World policy revolved around them for at least a decade or in Stalin 's case for almost fifty years. Much is generally known about each man 's role in the war, but only as it pertains to the outcome. Not many people possess extensive knowledge of these dictators as individuals or as leaders of a particular party. This paper will attempt to shed light on the differences as well as the similarities of they style of totalitarianism that the three men who shaped the middle of the twentieth century implemented in their respective countries.…

    • 3072 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    ever, both rose to power in their respective countries in a very similar fashion. That's not to say…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During Hitler’s reign on Germany he had changed the country economically to recover and improve from the Great Depression. Most of the policies changed supported Keynesian ideology. The government relied on major public work projects such as the Autobahn causing deficit spending but decreasing the unemployment rate. After the Nazis came into power in 1933 they banned strikes, trade unions and started to move their production focuses onto military rearmament. The German recovery was known as “Military Keynesianism”. In 1936 military spending exceeded 10% of GNP, the highest of all european countries.…

    • 92 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both German fascism, led by Adolf Hitler and Italian fascism, led by Benito Mussolini exploited many economical and political difficulties within their nation in order to gain power. Hitler blamed Germany's ruined economy on the Weimar Republic, Communists, and Jews, while Mussolini blamed large Socialist and Catholic parties for Italy's economic struggles. They also gained the support of farmers, small businessmen, civil servants, and young people by advocating strict nationalistic goals and blaming their economic troubles on the Bolsheviks. Nevertheless, the most crucial components of securing political power was though…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hobsbawn Great Depression

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hobsbawn argues that the Great depression forced Western Governments to give social considerations priority over economic ones in their state policies (254). Garraty agrees and further explains that this was not initially the intention of both leaders (Roosevelt and Hitler) (276). Their plan was designed mainly to tackle economic issues, for example the corporatism organization. Initially, this plan was intended to bring economic equality, but it ended up having its social biasness, where big businesses and large corporations ended up being benefited to the neglect of the others. It was then that the government under both leaders saw it then necessary to abandon corporatism and take a more anti-business stance (Garraty, 270). Other examples that lead to similar consequences were the effects of the New Deal farm policy for sharecroppers (Hobsbawn, 254; Garraty, 276) and its public housing policy on racial segregation, and that of the Nazi rearmament on urban concentration (Garraty,…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When the Great Depression first started, the unemployment rate was at an astonishing 25%, about 15 million people. It then fluctuated during that time down to 8.3 million people, back up to 10.5 million, and leveled out to be about 8 million in the end ("Was the New Deal a Success," 2015). People not in favor of FDR’s new deal strongly argued that Roosevelt failed to destroy unemployment; therefore, his new deal was unsuccessful. Although it did not destroy unemployment completely, he ultimately decreased the number of people out of work because he applied many new jobs for Americans. One of FDR’s main goals was to create more opportunities for work.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Impact out of State: His rise to power in Germany inspired the rest of the world to solve its problems with violence.…

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Chaotic Nature

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There is ample evidence that Germany’s war production levels increased during the Second World War in 1942, when ammunition, tanks and total arms increased by significant percentages due to Albert Speer relaxing constraints on businesses, and increasing the number of workers. However, one cannot not deny that the chaotic nature of the Nazi Government structure undermined war production excessively, due to the fact the German economy was not fully mobilised for war. It is also evident that the shortage of raw materials and labour affected the economy massively, furthermore with the SS remaining loyal to themselves; murdering six million Jews instead of seeking labour. The key factor of the failures in German war production is that the Nazi state was too chaotic and remained loyal to their ideology rather than to the war effort, with too many agencies competing for any consistent policy to be formulated; thus slackening war production.…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wendell Willkie, the Republican Presidential candidate in 1940, once said, “It is from weakness that people reach for dictators and concentrated government power.” In Germany, Italy, and Japan, the awful economic, political, and racial conditions leading up to World War II gave rise to three of the modern world’s fiercest dictators. Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo have gone down in history for all the wrong reasons, and they will forever be remembered for the dark stain they have left on history. Adolf Hitler, possibly the most infamous of dictators, is one of the most known figures in history. Before Hitler came to power, Germany was in the midst of an economic depression, still trying to find money to pay its war reparations after losing World War I (Hitler, 1).…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is estimated that one in three Germans was unemployed in the 1930s. The Great Depression was a worldwide crisis that affected the world, especially Germany. The impact of the Great Depression was particularly severe in Germany. Unemployment hit millions of Germans, as companies shut down or downsized. Others lost their savings as banks folded. The serious conditions of the early 1930s led many German voters to abandon mainstream political parties and look to more radical alternatives, such as Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. To gain political power in the 1930s Germany, Adolph Hitler used a number of sophisticated techniques to win over a German population reeling from the First world war. Through propaganda, the youth and public speaking, Hitler was able to win over the German…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    After 6 years. The war II democracy spread to Western Europe and Communism spread to Eastern Europe. The democracy can cote the president, personal freedom, free elections, and speech. The communism is there no private property and the government produces goods. The second effect was social. 60 million civilians died during the war, then the concentration camps were discovered after the war. The bomb in cities and harming civilians. Also the Jewish population in Germany went to the holocaust. The another effect was economic. The war destroyed factories, nothing to produce, and trade. Also destroyed homes, farms, highways, and railroads. The war have cost 4 trillion dollars, it make Germany people become poor. Becoming another countries problem financially. The final effect was United Nations. They replace League of Nation, they make peace keepers. Economic and social help provide food, medicine, help needy…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Fundamentally, both Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler had the same burning desire to each make their nation a respected and economically impregnable Great Power. Mussolini wanted to return Italy to its glory days of the ancient Roman Empire, a domestic policy amongst others which was used as propaganda and to ultimately consolidate his power. A strong economy and a united state were vital for both countries in case of the outbreak of yet another catastrophic war. "Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state", stated Mussolini in need of desperate backup at home. Post WWI left both Germany and Italy with grave problems economically, which further repelled into social problems such as high unemployment and inflation, crucial issues which had to be dealt with domestically. In addition to this, Hitler wanted to implement his ideological aims which included German rearmament, racial purity and the consolidation of his power which were reflected in his domestic policies. This essay will compare the similarities and differences of the domestic policies of both Hitler and Mussolini, and state to what extent one leader was more successful than the other in achieving his policy.…

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays