Nazism and Fascism; INCOMPLETE

History Notes! Will be updated...

Both Nazism and Fascism are extremely right states. Right- wing.

Some examples?

CULTURAL

Adocating Tradition: such as the ideal German/Italian being a peasant, and depicted as such in propaganada.

Nationalism: I shouldn't have to say this, but both Fascism and Nazism were extremely nationalistic. Fascism advocated 'Nothing outside the state', while Nazism shared a fairly similar view. This is best seen in the rigid, pervasive party rule, as well as their expansionist foreign policies- both emulated the Holy Roman Empire. The German term ‘lebensraum’ describes the insatiable aim of world domination.



PHILOSOPHICAL/IDEOLOGICAL

Anti-communist stance: Both Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler hated communists- for instance Hitler believed in the Stab in the Back theory: communists and evilllllllll politicians were responsible for BETRAYING THE FATHERLAND WITH VERSAILLES. OH, THE HORROR.

Anti-Versailles

They weren't just authoritarian... Authoritarianism----> Totalitarianism (extreme form)





SOCIAL

Economic ‘Third Position’: neither capitalism nor communism.

In accordance with the Corporate State in totalitarian ideals of Fascism and Nazism. Both of them believed in nationalizin business enterprises.





SIMILAR ASPECTS (PLUS TOTALITARIANISM)

EDUCATION AND PROPAGANDA

They broadcast propaganda through the state-controlled mass media. Why was Goebbels so powerful? Because he was the Propaganda Minister during the Third Reich. Fairly obvious, really. Censorship and media clampdowns were common in both regimes, however, so don't just bash Germany.

Both states indoctinated their youth with party policies and ideology. For instance, Fascism and Nazism was taught in schools with the teachers monitored, and there was the Hitler Youth and the League of German Maidens in, you guessed it, Germany.



SINGLE PARTY STATES



POLICE STATES



CORPORATE STATES

PERSONALITY CULTS

STATE IDEOLOGY

STATE CONTROL

EXPANSIONIST FOREIGN POLICIES:

Elaboration: totalitarian states wanted to expand, win glory, fame, land, resources, and support their population, generally by beating up somebody else’s.



Differences:

Anti-semitism was far more evident in Nazi Germany. Example? The State-administered 'Final Solution', the Holocaust, Shoah; possibly the worst human rights abuse in history: a genocide of six million European Jews. Not to mention Kristallnacht, the Nuremberg Race Laws…



Aims:

Glorify and strengthen their country so that they would never suffer humiliation like that meted out by the Western powers post-WW1 attracted a lot of people.

Get revenge on the Allies for the national humiliation (particularly in Germany’s case)

Expand their countries to become vast empires, possibly the WORLD (in Germany’s case, this is an advancement upon Wilhelm’s pre-WW1 Weltpolitik).



REASONS:



1. THE VERSAILLES TREATY- GERMANY

416/440 clauses of Versailles? Were for punishing Germany.



FINANCIALLY:

Reparations of 6,600 million pounds

Loss of the Saar Coalfield

Loss of Alsace-Lorraine



MILITARILY:

Army: 100,000 men

No tanks

No submarines

No airforce

Demilitarised Rhineland

SIX battleships

This harmed Germany's national sovereignty, security and made her vulnerable to external/internal threat. Note that the army was unable to suppress the November Revolution, plus the subsequent putsches, without the aid of the Freikorps.



TERRITORIAL

Anschluss

Alsace-Lorraine,

Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium

North Schleswig to Denmark


Land to Czechoslovakia and Poland for creating the Polish Corridor- pissed off even moderate Germans. Why? Well, this actually split German territories from the main part of Germany, and denied the principle of national self-determination.


War Guilt Clause- Even France and Britain felt bad after a while, let alone the Germans.



Weimar Republic:

Democratic constitution that ruled Germany.

Mutinies, riots and Allied pressure led to Wilhelm's abdication. Afterwards, some felt that democracy had been forced on Germany.



Timeline of Revolutions:

The Spartacists- 1919 (extreme left-wing communists)

Munich 1919 (communists)

Kapp putsch 1920 (led by the Freikorps and supported by the army)

Munich putsch 1923 (Adolf Hitler's first and failed attempt. This led to him being imprisoned for a few months, during which he wrote Mein Kampfy Chair, which is German for My Gay Furniture.)



Crises:

Widespread discontentment with Versailles: national humiliation, anger at weakness and 'betrayal'.

Freikorps: The Weimar government possessed no militia of their own and were forced to rely on the Freikorps. This made Germany exceedingly vulnerable to internal and external threat, as demonstrated by the Kapp putsch.



Weaknesses

The Weimar republic was extremely weak, as it was burdened by the financial reparations demanded by Versailles. Furthermore, it was militarily weakened by post-war damage as well as the clauses of the Versailles Treaty. Therefore it had to rely on the Freikorps to suppress revolts such as that of the Spartacists in 1919, and could not suppress the Kapp putsch of the Freikorps in 1920. People therefore felt that the new democracy was weak, and began to support autocratic forms of government.

In addition, this was the first time in Germany's history she had a democratic, constitutional form of government. The politicians therefore lacked experience and did not know how to cooperate in order to solve national problems.



Individual militia were too strong, and remaining high command still had a strong influence over German politics. As a result, the decisions of politicians were hampered.



Due to the implementation of proportional representation, there were many political parties respresented in the Weimar Republic. As a result it was extremely hard for them to reach a consensus, especially with both extreme left and extreme right groups within the coalitions. Therefore, it was impossible for Germany to be politically unified. With the high turnover rate of coalition governments, it was impossible to find a national solution to German problems.



Many revolutions furthered drained Germany's treaury, as well as costing valuable resources and time. This also hampered cooperation between different political parties, as both the extreme left and right opposed the Weimar government through force and had different reactions to the crises. This also hindered the Weimar government's attempts to stabilise Germany, and rendered it unable to deal with the political discontent’s root causes.



As a result of the republic’s forced to sign Versailles, as well as its ineptness creating hyperinflation (such as the passive resistance in the Ruhr and overprinting money), not to mention its inability to deal with postwar circumstances (in 1929, the Wall Street Crash and Stresemann’s death worsened the situation), discontent with the weak democracy was high. People felt Nazism promised strong and decisive leadership that would end the turmoil and problems. Nazism promised prosperity, employment and glory; none of which the Weimar Republic could achieve.



November Revolution





Fascist Aggression





Nazi Agression