How Did Benito Mussolini Rise To Power

Benito Mussolini
Mussolini's Rise to Power
As a youth, Benito Mussolini led a disorganized life. He had been a rebellious boy in school. He had fled from Italy to avoid military service in 1902. And he was arrested in Switzerland for organizing a general strike. World War I, however, gave Mussolini more focus. He rejected some of his earlier socialist beliefs, and in 1919, he founded a combat group called the Fasci di Combattimento, consisting mostly of Italian veterans. Two years later, he changed the group's name to the National Fascist Party. Taking advantage of the economic and governmental problems in Italy in the 1920s, he and his supporters marched on Rome, effecting a coup d'état and making himself prime minister.
By 1925, Mussolini
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Adolf Hitler
Route to Power in Germany
World War I also hugely influenced the Austrian-born Adolf Hitler. He, like many others who served in the war and suffered in its aftermath, felt that Germany had been cheated by peace. In 1919, Adolf Hitler began to attend meetings of a small group called the German Workers' Party. Soon he became the group's leader and changed the name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party, later called the Nazi Party.
The Nazis had several goals. One of these goals was to unite the German people into one nation. This nation would incorporate Germans in Austria, Czechoslovakia, and other countries. Also, the Nazis wanted Jews and non-Germans to be deprived of German citizenship. Hitler gained support for the Nazi Party through speeches and appeals to feelings of resentment.
In 1923, he attempted to overthrow governments of both Bavaria and Germany. He led a group of 2,000 in a march against the Bavarian government, but the state police stopped the protestors. This attempted coup is known as the Beer Hall Putsch.

Adolf Hitler and the Rise of the Nazi
In 1919, he joined a small political party called the National Socialist German Worker--the Nazi Party. Like communists in the Soviet Union and fascists in Italy, the Nazis practiced an extreme form of nationalism-- believing that the interests of their country were more important than any others --even more important than personal rights and freedoms. Hitler quickly rose to power to become the Nazi party's leader, or "Fuhrer." In his two-volume book, Mein Kampf, "my struggle" in English, Hitler spelled out his Nazi beliefs. He sought to unite all German-speaking people into a national state. He also maintained that the German, or "Aryan," race was superior to all others. Hitler thought his "master race" deserved more land, even if it meant taking it by force. The economic hardships in Germany in the early 1930's helped Hitler and the Nazi party gain power. In 1932, roughly six million Germans were jobless, and Hitler’s promise to restore German pride and stature in the world appealed to them. As head of the Nazi Party, Hitler was appointed German chancellor in January 1933. He quickly put an end to the faltering Weimar democracy and established his "Third Reich," a totalitarian regime with himself as dictator. Hitler capitalized on hate and racism, blaming Jews for the economic problems plaguing Germany. Jews were ousted from government positions and certain professions and