Transcript Document

HIST2125
Hitler’s Germany
Lecture 4:
Italian Fascism
27 September 2012
Italian Fascism
• fasces (bundle): Ancient Roman symbol of authority
↓
• fascio (bundle or union): symbol of Italian national
unity (19th c.)
• Fasci di combattimento Fascist fighting leagues
founded by Mussolini (Mar 1919)
↓
• fascisti (Fascists) → fascismo (Fascism)
↓
• Partito nazionale fascista (PNF) National Fascist
Party with Mussolini as Leader (Nov 1921)
Mussolini’s Grip on Power
• PNF as mass movement with paramilitary
squadrons of young men (320.000 members in 1922)
• ‘March on Rome’ by Mussolini’s Blackshirts +
Italian King threatened (Oct 1922)
↓
• Mussolini prime minister with fascist-dominated
government
= Grip on power not by revolutionary act but by threat
+ approval of ruling elites
Hitler: Admirer of Mussolini
• Proposed collaboration between Italian
Fascists & German NS (Sep 1922)
• Proclaimed ‘Germany’s Mussolini’ by Nazi
Hermann Esser (Nov 1922)
→ Invention of NS Führerkult (Leader’s Cult)
= Lifelong friend of Mussolini
= Deeply convinced of close similarity of
Italian Fascism & German NS
F & NS: Interpretations
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Minimalistic approach (E. Nolte):
Anti-Marxism, Anti-Liberalism, Anti-Conservatism
Leader principle with party army
Claim of totality
• Expanded minimalistic approach (R. Griffin):
• Political ideology with mystical core
• Populist ultra-nationalism
• Maximalist approaches (S. Payne, R. De Felice):
• Nationalism, syndicalism, imperialism, idealism,
romanticism, militarism, mysticism, etc., etc.
F & NS: Common features
• Result of specific historical situation in weak
democracies (I, G, E, H, F)
• Mainly young men esp. middle class, students, civil servants,
military, non-industrial workers with strong affiliation with state &
nation
• Paramilitary groups (squadre / SA) of young unmarried
men exercising extreme leader cult & emotional comradeship
• Intellectuals as providers of ideas & visions on ‘people’ & ‘nation’
• Modern trends in technology, management, social policies, biology,
propaganda, mass media
Fascism and NS: Conclusion
• Only new & important ideology & movement
in 20th c. Europe
• Especially European phenomena of period
1919-45
• Alternative but failed visions of modernity