The Rise of Fascism in Italy and Germany

Europe Recovered Slowly From WWI

• Allied and Central Powers had spent about $200 billion on the war; every European country was nearly bankrupt.

• The USA and Japan came out of it better off financially– No fighting took place on home soil– Increased trade opportunities

• The last royal families that ruled in absolute fashion fell – Habsburgs (Austria), Romanovs (Russia), Hohenzollerns (Germany)

Mussolini Launched a Fascist State• Italians felt betrayed by the

Treaty• Unemployment and inflation

spiraled out of control during and after the war.

• Fear of Communist Revolution was strong.

• Newspaper editor Benito Mussolini promised to rescue Italy.

• Fasces were symbols of authority in ancient Rome

What are those things in the arms of Lincoln’s chair?

• And in the US Capitol?

Ancient symbols of Rome were popular in early American history, too.

Mussolini’s Takeover• Blackshirts roamed the streets,

beating and killing enemies of the Fascist party– 3000 were killed 1920-22

• Middle class and aristocrats supported him

• King Victor Emmanuel capitulated to 30,000 Fascists in the streets of Rome and made Mussolini prime minister.

• Mussolini received emergency powers

Italy Becomes a Model• Democracy was abolished• Mussolini set up 22 corporations

to own and run the economy– Wages, and prices were controlled

• A great orator, people loved him.• Billboards read “Mussolini is

Always Right”• “He made the trains run on time”• Other fascist governments learned

from “the leader”, or Il Duce: – Franco (Spain) – Hitler (Germany)

Weimar RepublicGermany attempted a liberal democracy between 1919 and 1933. Weimar refers to the city where the convention was held that wrote the new constitution, although the Germans never called it the Weimar Republic, a name which is the invention of HISTORIANS!

The Germans continued to call their country the “Deutsches Reich” or German Empire, although this was not the 2nd Reich.

When Hitler came to power in 1933, he would call the German Empire under him the 3rd Reich…

Q?? By Hitler’s calculation, what or when were the 1st and 2nd Reichs?

Postwar Germany Can’t Pay

• The Weimar Republic greeted with horror the Versailles Treaty’s demands. Nevertheless, Germany made its first payment in 1921. Germany was allowed to pay off much of the reparations in commodities such as coal, wood, and iron ore.

• In 1922, Germany could not make its payment so Belgian and French soldiers occupied the Ruhr, Germany’s most industrialized area. This violated League of Nations’ law.

Germany in Chaos…

• The Weimar Republic told its people of the Ruhr region to go on strike and not cooperate with the occupying French and Belgians.

• During 8 months of occupation:– 132 Germans killed and 15,000 expelled from their

homes.

• Weimar went on to suffer many revolts and attempted takeovers by German communists as well as conservative groups – the small German army had a hard time keeping peace.

Hyperinflation

• German government funded the strikers in the Ruhr by printing more paper money

• This began a cycle of rapid inflation

• Soon 1 trillion of the new

marks = 1 old mark!!!

Denominations will range anywhere from 1 to 20 Million Mark or more!  During the hyper-inflation, prices were so high that suitcases and wheelbarrows were used to carry money around.

The Great Depression Struck

• To prop up its economy and to pay reparations Germany had received cheap loans from the US – (Dawes Plan 1924 & Young Plan 1929) – Austria too received US loans

• The Weimar Republic of Germany was devastated by the Crash on Wall Street (Black Tuesday Oct. 1929)

• Now the US needed those loans paid back

Desperation spread• Millions lost their jobs

• Shantytowns of evicted people sprang up

• Schools saw a drop in enrollment– Children were too hungry or shoeless or were trying to

work to help out

Germany was desperate for help…

• Adolf Hitler, an Austrian who had fought for Germany in WWI, had a plan.

• He had attempted a coup d’etat in 1923 and went to jail.

• Where he wrote My Struggle (Mein Kampf) to influence others

Hitler with supporters in Munich. Where is Munich?

Hitler as a Boy

• “Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn on the Austro-German border on 20th April 1889. His family background has given rise to much psychological speculation. His father, a customs official who died when Hitler was 13, was cold and strict, while his mother was gentle and loving and pampered her son, who adored her. Hitler was clearly intelligent but bored by much of his formal education, except for history, which was taught with a strong German nationalist bias.” (Noakes)

Hitler the Teenager

• As a teenager, Hitler came to see himself as an artist superior to others and unwilling to find a stable job. He drifted from job to job and tried to sell his paintings of famous sites to tourists.

• In school Hitler was exposed to teachers who urged Pan-Germanism, anti-Semitism and racist views.

• Ironically, he was friends with several young Jewish men who helped him sell his pictures.

Mein Kampf

• During 9 months in prison, 1923-24.

• Germans were a master race

• Inferior races- Jews, Poles, gypsies – should be destroyed.

• Lands lost should be regained, east & west

• Lebensraum needed

Hitler seizes his opportunity

• After prison, the Nazi Party was in decline as the economy improved.

• Then the Wall Street crash…and Germany’s economy sank…

• By 1931, Germans were in the street demanding bread from their government.

• Like moths to light, the people flocked to Hitler’s message…

Time Magazine observed then…

• “Fighting every inch of the way, three men stood out against the advance of Fascism in Germany last week: pale, bespectacled Chancellor Heinrich Bruning; white-haired Paul von Hindenburg; and their faithful lieutenant, Minister of the Interior and of War Wilhelm Groener. Each morning foreign correspondents in Berlin expected the Bruning Government to fall and Fascist Adolf Hitler, who only fortnight ago pounded a platform and shouted in his best Mussolini manner ‘ Right goes hand in hand with Might!’ , to seize the Government.”

Dec. 21, 1931

Hitler was named Chancellor and given absolute power.

• 1932 Nazis became largest party• January 1933 – An old, tired President von Hindenburg

named him chancellor according to the constitution.• Then, just before parliamentary elections, a fire broke

out in the Reichstag building. Who set it is a mystery, but • Hitler used this to blame the

communists, which helped the Nazis gain a majority in the parliament elections.

• With this majority, Hitler got what he wanted: a law which gave him absolute power for 4 years.

Political and Economic Control• Political : The SS – A security service loyal to

Hitler sets out to execute Hitler’s political enemies on the Night of the Long Knives in June 1934.

• Economy is supervised– Employers and workers alike have to

join the National Labor Front– Millions are put to work building

factories, weapons of war, and highways.

Cultural Control Reflected Propaganda & Hitler’s Tastes• The press, broadcasting, music,

literature, drama, paintings, film are placed under control of Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda.

• Music: Wagner• Films such as Triumph

of the Will are propa- ganda to reinforce Nazi ideology

"With the exception of Richard Wagner", Hitler wrote, "I have no forerunner." (Solomon)

Nazis Persecuted Jews• Nuremberg Laws 1935:

– Forbade Jews to hold public office, deprived them of citizenship, of publication, of teaching or working at banks or hospitals. Had to wear yellow stars of David.

• Kristallnacht, Nov 9-10 1938

Nazi mobs (Brownshirts)– Broke glass windows.– Destroyed 7500 shops– 275 synagogues

Nazi “documentary” film: The Eternal Jew

Works Consulted/Cited

• Bytwerk, Randall. Nazi posters 1933-1945. Calvin College. (May 29, 2006) http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/posters2.htm

• Noakes, Jeremy. “The Rise of Adolph Hitler.” Wars and Conflict: World War II. British Broadcasting Corp. (May 26, 2006) http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/hitler_02.shtml

• Solomon, Larry. “Wagner and Hitler.” 2002. (May 28, 2006) http://solomonsmusic.net/WagHit.htm