Why fascism emerged

So, Ben-Ghiat says, asking how fascism has changed during its century of existence is perhaps the wrong question. Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia. By Olivia B. Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini strikes a pose while skiing in Italy with his son in Related Stories.

Already a print subscriber? Go here to link your subscription. Need help? Visit our Help Center. In , Mussolini formed the National Fascist Party. But he still lacked a clear fascist program. He only knew one thing for sure: He wanted to rule Italy. As tens of thousands converged on Rome, government leaders became so unnerved that they resigned. King Victor Emmanuel had the constitutional duty to appoint a new prime minister, who would form the next government.

With his Blackshirts and other supporters swarming the streets of Rome, Mussolini demanded that the king appoint him prime minister. Mussolini chose Giovanni Gentile, a noted Italian philosopher, as his minister of education. He also wrote many articles and books, clarifying the basic ideas of fascism. The fascist state, he said, put this will of the people into action. Therefore, individuals must submit to the fascist state in order to be truly free. Building on the ideas of earlier European philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Gentile claimed that the peoples of the world are engaged in a survival of the fittest.

He declared it is the natural right of the stronger to conquer and rule the weaker. Gentile stated that war has another function in the fascist state: It unites the people and proves their superiority as a nation. Gentile, sometimes called the philosopher of Italian fascism, believed he could combine philosophy with raw power. Mussolini called new elections for the Italian parliament in Intimidation and fraud marred the election.

After the election, Mussolini closed opposition newspapers and banned public protest meetings. He declared all political parties illegal except for his own Fascist Party. He outlawed labor unions and strikes. He also established a political police force, the Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Antifascism. By , Mussolini had adopted the title, Il Duce the Leader.

He delivered emotional public speeches, swaying back and forth, puffing his chest, and holding his hands on his hips. Ironically, Mussolini liked this term and began to use it himself to persuade Italians to come together under his leadership for a rebirth of society. As for women, Il Duce saw their role as giving birth and caring for a new generation of warriors.

The Fascist Party organized youth organizations for all boys and girls aged 8— These groups promoted physical training, military drills for boys , and the ideals of the fascist state. Mussolini had little use for religion. Italy, however, was a strongly Catholic country. Gentile, as minister of education, continued the teaching of Catholic doctrine in the elementary schools. But he replaced it with philosophy at the secondary level. The Catholic Church objected to this reform.

Hoping to keep the church from opposing his fascist regime, Mussolini adopted pro-Catholic policies against abortion and divorce. Then in , he signed a treaty with the church that made Catholicism the state religion. They intended to establish a new state based on the unification of the German people, as envisioned in the 25 Points. Hitler was arrested and sentenced to five years in jail, though he served only eight months.

In January , Hitler became chancellor. He moved to dismantle the Weimar Republic and build the fascist single-party Third Reich. Following a series of legal, political, and propaganda maneuvers, the German Reichstag passed the Enabling Act on March 24, It allowed Hitler to enact laws without the approval of parliament or Reich President von Hindenburg.

Having achieved total control over Germany, Hitler and the Nazi Party began to implement other aspects of the fascist agenda. They began with the effort to create the ideal German national community defined along racial lines, known as the Volksgemeinschaft.

This effort was a two part process. First, it entailed uniting all ethnic Germans in a single German state. Second, it excluded all minorities already within the German state who did not belong in the national community—especially Jews. In , German annexed Austria in the Anschluss.

The Anschluss created the greater German state many German nationalists had dreamed of since A few months later, Germany seized the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, with the tacit permission of the Munich Agreement.

They worked to eliminate supposed threats to its health and unity. In addition, the Nazis moved to isolate and drive out persons considered racially alien to the national community because they supposedly threatened its purity and security. Escalating persecution and violence isolated German Jews, depriving them of their property, livelihoods, access to education, and markets and public facilities, with the intention of forcing them to emigrate.

They used the war to justify the most radical measures against both internal and alien enemies, including murdering mentally and physically disabled Germans and exterminating all the Jews in Europe.

The extreme right became influential throughout the Japanese government and society, notably within the Kwantung Army, a Japanese army stationed in China along the Japanese-owned South Manchuria Railroad.

During the Manchurian Incident of , radical army officers bombed a small portion of the South Manchuria Railroad and, falsely attributing the attack to the Chinese, invaded Manchuria. The Kwantung Army conquered Manchuria and set up the puppet government of Manchukuo there without permission from the Japanese government. International criticism of Japan following the invasion led to Japan withdrawing from the League of Nations.

The withdrawal from the League of Nations meant that Japan was politically isolated. Japan had no strong allies and its actions had been internationally condemned, while internally popular nationalism was booming. Local leaders such as mayors, teachers, and Shinto priests were recruited by the various movements to indoctrinate the populace with ultra-nationalist ideals.

They had little time for the pragmatic ideas of the business elite and party politicians. Their loyalty lay to the Emperor and the military. These ambitions led to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in After their victory in the Chinese capital, the Japanese military committed the infamous Nanking Massacre. The Japanese military failed to defeat the Chinese government led by Chiang Kai-shek and the war descended into a bloody stalemate that lasted until Japan reacted by forging an alliance with Germany and Italy in , known as the Tripartite Pact, which worsened its relations with the U.

In July , the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands froze all Japanese assets when Japan completed its invasion of French Indochina by occupying the southern half of the country, further increasing tension in the Pacific.

Francisco Franco December 4, — November 20, was a Spanish general who ruled over Spain as a dictator for 36 years from until his death. As a conservative and a monarchist, he opposed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic in With the elections, the conservative Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-wing Groups lost by a narrow margin and the leftist Popular Front came to power.

Intending to overthrow the republic, Franco followed other generals in attempting a failed coup that precipitated the Spanish Civil War. In , he declared Spain a monarchy with himself as regent. Franco gained military support from various regimes and groups, especially Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy, while the Republican side was supported by Spanish communists and anarchists as well as the Soviet Union, Mexico, and the International Brigades.

Leaving half a million dead, the war was eventually won by Franco in He established a military dictatorship, which he defined as a totalitarian state. Under Franco, Spain became a one-party state, as the various conservative and royalist factions were merged into the fascist party and other political parties were outlawed. Franco was also able to take advantage of the resources of the Axis Powers and chose to avoid becoming heavily involved in the Second World War.

Francisco Franco: A photo of Francisco Franco in The consistent points in Francoism included authoritarianism, nationalism, national Catholicism, militarism, conservatism, anti-communism, and anti-liberalism. The Spanish State was authoritarian: non-government trade unions and all political opponents across the political spectrum were either suppressed or controlled by all means, including police repression.

Most country towns and rural areas were patrolled by pairs of Guardia Civil , a military police for civilians, which functioned as a chief means of social control.

Franco was also the focus of a personality cult which taught that he had been sent by Divine Providence to save the country from chaos and poverty. Bullfighting and flamenco were promoted as national traditions, while those traditions not considered Spanish were suppressed. All cultural activities were subject to censorship, and many were forbidden entirely, often in an erratic manner. Francoism professed a strong devotion to militarism, hypermasculinity, and the traditional role of women in society.

A woman was to be loving to her parents and brothers and faithful to her husband, and reside with her family. Most progressive laws passed by the Second Republic were declared void. Women could not become judges, testify in trial, or become university professors.

The Civil War had ravaged the Spanish economy. Infrastructure had been damaged, workers killed, and daily business severely hampered. Franco initially pursued a policy of autarky, cutting off almost all international trade. The policy had devastating effects, and the economy stagnated. Only black marketeers could enjoy an evident affluence.

Falangism is widely considered a fascist ideology. Under the leadership of Francisco Franco, many of the radical elements of Falangism considered fascist were diluted, and it largely became an authoritarian, conservative ideology connected with Francoist Spain. Falangism emphasized the need for authority, hierarchy, and order in society. Falangism is anti-communist, anti-capitalist, anti-democratic, and anti-liberal, although under Franco, the Falange abandoned its original anti-capitalist tendencies, declaring the ideology to be fully compatible with capitalism.

It supports criminalization of strikes by employees and lockouts by employers as illegal acts. Falangism supports the state to have jurisdiction of setting wages. The Franco-era Falange supported the development of cooperatives such as the Mondragon Corporation, because it bolstered the Francoist claim of the nonexistence of social classes in Spain during his rule.

The conditions of economic hardship caused by the Great Depression brought about significant social unrest around the world, leading to a major surge of fascism and in many cases, the collapse of democratic governments.