How Totalitarian Were Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany?
How totalitarian were Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany?
Giovanni Amendola first coined the word ‘totalitarian’ when describing the Italian Fascist government under Benito Mussolini in 1923 as different to conventional dictatorships. It is after this that the word was popularised to have both negative and positive connotations. However, German theorist Carl Friedrich and political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski collaborated to formulate a modern day politically scientific definition known as the ‘six-point syndrome’; a breakdown of totalitarianism into six key features and characteristics. I will use these individual points to structure my argument, firstly by analysing the ideology and its effectiveness, then the party and dictatorship. I will then evaluate the effectiveness of the ‘systems of terror’ and state control of the economy and military, as neither side appears to have absolute control but Nazi Germany has enough so that there are no other major instituations, unlike in fascist Italy. These elements will help to justify why I believe that Nazi Germany was very totalitarian in its nature, but despite the term originating from Fascist Italy, the modern day definition does not hold.
The first stage of the six-point syndrome was an official ideology. In this context political ideology is the set of beliefs, ideals and doctrines that shape the way society would be governed and conducted under those who hold these principles. Hitler devised his ideology and published it as ‘Mein Kampf’ in 1926, which essentially became the party manifesto. Although slightly demagogic, it revealed many of Hitler’s true ideals such as Lebensraum, a ‘living space’ for the German population to develop, autarky and the fact that Germany was in danger from the communists and Jewish people, whom he declared Germany’s two main enemies, thus creating a scapegoat and further deepening the investment in a German Nationalist ideology.
However, a limitation to this stage is the
Giovanni Amendola first coined the word ‘totalitarian’ when describing the Italian Fascist government under Benito Mussolini in 1923 as different to conventional dictatorships. It is after this that the word was popularised to have both negative and positive connotations. However, German theorist Carl Friedrich and political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski collaborated to formulate a modern day politically scientific definition known as the ‘six-point syndrome’; a breakdown of totalitarianism into six key features and characteristics. I will use these individual points to structure my argument, firstly by analysing the ideology and its effectiveness, then the party and dictatorship. I will then evaluate the effectiveness of the ‘systems of terror’ and state control of the economy and military, as neither side appears to have absolute control but Nazi Germany has enough so that there are no other major instituations, unlike in fascist Italy. These elements will help to justify why I believe that Nazi Germany was very totalitarian in its nature, but despite the term originating from Fascist Italy, the modern day definition does not hold.
The first stage of the six-point syndrome was an official ideology. In this context political ideology is the set of beliefs, ideals and doctrines that shape the way society would be governed and conducted under those who hold these principles. Hitler devised his ideology and published it as ‘Mein Kampf’ in 1926, which essentially became the party manifesto. Although slightly demagogic, it revealed many of Hitler’s true ideals such as Lebensraum, a ‘living space’ for the German population to develop, autarky and the fact that Germany was in danger from the communists and Jewish people, whom he declared Germany’s two main enemies, thus creating a scapegoat and further deepening the investment in a German Nationalist ideology.
However, a limitation to this stage is the