Coach Smith KEY TERMS FASCISM MILITARISM ANTI-SEMITISM RACISM SOCIAL DARWINISM AIM: WHY DID FASCISM DEVELOP IN IN ITALY AND GERMANY?

Coach Smith Benito Mussolini was the first person to use the term Fascism. Fascism refers to a political system that appeared in Italy after World War I. The term is also used more generally to identify similar systems such as Nazism in Germany.

Coach Smith Fascists were extreme nationalists. They believed that their nations were superior to other nations. They also strongly opposed communism.

Coach Smith Fascists used violence to defeat their political opponents and used war for national expansion. Fascists were militarists. Militarism is a glorification of war.

Coach Smith Fascists felt a single national party should unite all classes. They also believed that the strong should dominate the weak. They opposed unions and strikes.

Coach Smith Certain beliefs helped Fascists gain power. Anti-Semitism, a hatred of Jews, was an established belief in Europe. Jews were frequently harmed in times of unrest. As a minority group, they were easy targets.

Coach Smith Racism is a contempt for other races. This, too, was an established belief in Europe. European racism was strengthened by imperialism and nationalism. Racism also helped Fascists gain power.

Coach Smith Social Darwinists used Charles Darwin’s ideas about evolution in nature and concluded that all human groups competed for survival. They claimed that stronger groups had the right to succeed and that weaker groups deserved to die out. This belief helped Fascists gain power.

Coach Smith A new democratic republic, known as the Weimar Republic, was created in Germany but it remained weak. Military leaders would have preferred to give all political power to a single leader than to the common people.

Coach Smith Russian Communists demonstrated how to build a totalitarian state. The middle classes in other European countries feared the spread of Communism, leading them to support Mussolini and Hitler.

Coach Smith Benito Mussolini copied Bolshevik practices while denouncing their ideas. Like the Bolsheviks, he had a party newspaper, a party organization, and a private army of party members. He used violence against his opponents.

Coach Smith In 1922, Mussolini seized power and turned Italy into the first Fascist state.

Coach Smith Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party would come to power in Germany soon afterwards.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: Define Fascism. Why were Fascist leaders militarists? What is Anti-Semitism? How did racism and Social Darwinism help Fascists come to power? How did Communist practices in the Soviet Union influence Fascists? What nation was the first Fascist state? Coach Smith