What is Fascism

“Fascism is a new type of mass, right-wing political movement created by Benito Mussolini in 1919, who ruled Italy between 1922 and 1943” (Shubert, Goldstein, 2012).

Discuss the role of fascism in the interwar period/What were the driving forces that accounted for the rise of fascism during the interwar period in Europe

Fascism started in 1919 in Italy by a man named Benito Mussolini. Between 1918 and 1920 Italy was given the nick name the two red years. Mussolini held this position in power until 1943. “Italy’s Fascist regime ended on 25 July 1943, when Benito Mussolini was arrested on order of the king, Victor Emmanuel III” (Foot, 2018).

This is because there were working class protests, factory sit-ins, and peasant discontent. Many Italians feared there would end up being a revolution if things did not get fixed. Mussolini then came up and he had been leading the PSI party until he was kicked out in 1914. That is when he organized a fascist group which soon took rein in Italy. This group challenged many traditional ways such as socialism, communism, and strikers. By the year 1922 the fascist groups had silenced most of these groups and many feel these groups saved the country.

What characteristics distinguished fascist states from merely authoritarian regimes

There are many different characteristics to fascism and those can be nationalism, and that is because fascism supports a very strong liking to patriotism and countries providing for themselves. Other characteristics are lack of recognition of human rights, supremacy for military, uncontrolled sexism, intertwined government and religion, and controlled mass media. In fascism the government’s power is unlimited and is used to control public and private life. This include political, financial, morals, and beliefs. In authoritarianism there is a strong central government, but it allows its citizens a small limited amount of freedom.

Why did the average person allow fascism to take hold 

In many cases after the war nationalism started to take effect on most countries. Italy was on the verge of collapse due to many different things such as factory sit-ins and working-class protests. Many feared that Italy was about to have a revolution by the working-class like Russia had done just years before. Therefore, Mussolini used this to his advantage and many Italians felts like this was the way to restore and expand Italian territories. This was their way of being superior leaders to the rest of the world and gain power and rein back to what they had prewar. Many also allowed this to happen because they were scared Italy was going to be over taken by a stronger power and they didn’t want it to decay under the hands of another country. They also hoped it would help resolve class conflict between employer and employee.

Foot, J. (2018). Forgetting Fascism. History Today, 68(8), 8–11. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=130528113&site=eds-live&scope=site (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Shubert, A. & Goldstein, R.J. (2012). Twentieth-century Europe [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/