Italian and German Fascism: Similarities and Differences

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Fascism is one of the great political ideology in the 20th century. It is a kind of authoritarian government that, according to Wikipedia, “considers the individual subordinate to the interests of the state, party or society as a whole.” Two of the most successful and to be in the vanguard of fascism government is Italian fascism – led by Benito Mussolini, and Nazi Germany – led by Adolf Hitler. Fascism in Italy and Germany, though in many regards very similar - have the same political ideologies, still have many aspects to them that make them different from each other.

Before analysing the similarities and differences between the fascism that emerged in Italy and Germany since the very first of 20th century, it is better to discover - what is fascism. Actually, there is no clearly define about what is fascism, but it could be considered as militant political movement that emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to the leader. It based on the principles of Authoritarianism – government tried to organize and control with strong discipline as much as possible in people's lives. About political, fascism is kind of extreme nationalism with only one-party state, which means no way for democracy to exist. About economic, government claimed to control all the industrialists by putting all the economic activities under the corporate state. Society under fascism was encouraged by the military, industrialists, and middle class. About culture, to keep people under control, they threatened, censored them to have to support only Fascism policies. All above is some representative characters of fascism.

One obvious difference is the very first intention – Hitler's Nazi wanted to avenge what the world done to them after the World War I,...

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...somehow, were one of the cause that lead to World War II. It was one of the darkest periods of human being, but we could not deny the truth that Mussolini and Hitler were the excellent leaders.

Works Cited

“Adolf Hitler.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 7 May 2010

“Benito Mussolini.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 7 May 2010

“Fascism.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 7 May 2010

“Fascism in Germany and Italy.” Online Essays. 10 July 2007. 7 May 2010

“Italian Fascism.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 7 May 2010

“Nazism.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 7 May 2010

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