<aside> <img src="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" alt="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" width="40px" /> In this lesson, you will…
Big Question: How does a country become fascist? What does fascism look like in policy and action?
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After World War I, many nations struggled to rebuild and a global depression in the 1930s led to high unemployment and a sense of desperation in Europe
The Treaty of Versailles also had created bitterness between many nations
In Italy, Germany and Spain people turned to an extremely nationalist government called Fascism. Two fascist dictators defined European fascism.
The National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) or Nazis, were a fascist group that wanted to overthrow the unpopular Weimar Republic
Adolf Hitler was an early Nazi recruit and quickly rose to power in the party and had taken total control of the party by 1921
In 1922, Mussolini was popular enough to lead a “March on Rome” and forced the Italian king to name him Prime Minister.
He immediately dismantled Italy’s democracy.
Based on Eco’s Eternal Fascism: Fourteen Ways of Looking at a Blackshirt
We will be investigating fascism through Umberto Eco’s fourteen identifying characteristics of a fascist cause. This includes:
Note that some of these characteristics overlap and some contradict each other. Eco’s Eternal Fascism is not a strict formula for fascist ideology, but a guide to some common trends in it.
VI. Appeal to Social Frustration
Benito Mussolini formed the Fascist Party and quickly gained popularity by promising to revive the economy, and rebuild the military.
Meanwhile in Germany, the current government, the Weimar Republic was weak and highly unpopular.
Hitler and the Nazi Party promised to put Germans to work by building factories, highways (The Autobahn), weapons, and increasing the size of the military.
I. The Cult of Tradition
Mussolini named his Fascist Party after the fasces, a Roman symbol of authority and power.