Fascist Regimes of Italy and Germany Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Fascist Regimes of Italy and Germany - Essay Example Contradictions to the ideology are liberalism, democracy, conservatism, individualism and capitalism and criticism against the state is forbidden. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini are two of the most infamous fascist leaders of the twentieth century, but did their leaderships also embrace totalitarianism Hitler and Mussolini were dictators; they governed without the consent of the people. A dictatorship is the foundation of the governing power and totalitarianism relates to the scope of the power of those who govern, most dictatorships tend to be totalitarian as if the power does not come directly from the people as it does in a democracy then the scope of power has no limits and therefore all aspects of life can be controlled. Fascism is juxtaposed with totalitarianism in this sense as the subordination of citizens advances the states interests of total control. Nazism and Fascism arose form right wing extremism and can be distinguished from left wing totalitarianism, namely communism in that right wing ideology seeks to enforce private ownership of wealth whilst left wing, namely communist totalitarianism seek to maintain collective ownership. Each strand is defined by social class. The ideology of fascism is mainly the working of the philosopher Giovanni Gentile. The emphasis was placed on the individuals need to become completely subordinate to the state. Under Hitler’s rule many characteristics of a totalitarian state can be shown, for example there was censorship of media, removing freedom of speech enabled the government to influence public opinion via propaganda which proved a highly effective methods of control. Nazis soon realized that mass media communication was of great importance and became aware of the Medias influence over the populous. The methods of communication available in the era were used as a means to convince the masses that Hitler had overwhelming support. This effectively constitutes a totalitarian leader. The manipulation of the masses brought about hysteria and a state of belief that through carefully planned and scripted radio, broadcasts rallies and publications persuaded the public that Hitler's idea of utopia was unavoidable. Secret police in the form of the Gestapo were in place to arrest so called enemies of the state and were removed from public life to concentration camps. Genocide was the most outrageous acts of his rule, Jews across Germany's territory were slaughtered on mass scales as they did not fit in to Hitler's Utopian ideal. White supremacy was at the forefront of his thinking and Nazism continues to exist in today's society. Nazism, Fascist ideology and policies espoused and practiced by Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist German Worker's Party from 1920-1945 were typical of totalitarian ideology. A Master Race to rule the world over other races was the ambition, and a violent hatred of Jews, whom Hitler blamed for all of the problems of Germany were on his agenda. Extreme nationalism was also demonstrative of totalitarian ideology. Hitler wanted to create a Master Race, uniting German speaking people into a great and singular