What conditions allowed for the rise of fascist dictators in germany and italy?

what conditions allowed for the rise of fascist dictators in germany and italy?



Answer on What conditions allowed for the rise of fascist dictators in germany and italy?



Post World War I economic and political upheavals in Italy accounted for the rise to power of Mussolini, who was appointed Prime Minister in 1922 by King Victor Emmanuel. The economic collapse of Germany during the Great Depression brought Hitler to power as Chancellor of the German Republic in 1933, nominated by President von Hindenburg and ratified by the majority of German parliament. Fascist and Nazi ideology had roots in the later 19th century.



In both cases these men came to power in representative democratic political systems with the backing of big business, the royal court in the case of Mussolini, the old aristocracy and military in Germany, and much of the middle classes and peasantry. What this suggests is the validity of claims dating back to the mid-19th century about the limits of these types of democratic systems. It has been argued that when and where powerful established interests begin to loose control of these types of representative democracies, they will throw their support to anti-democratic forces and opt for an authoritarian regime. The first modern example was the coup d'etat of President Louis Bonaparte of France in 1851, following three of a broadly democratic regime that began empowering urban and rural lower classes supporting socialist movements. The 1936 coup of General Franco against the Spanish Republic following election victories by the Left in another example. It set off the Spanish Civil War eventually won by Franco and his backers. Brazil 1964, Greece 1967, Chile 1973, the failed coup in Venezuela in 2002, are a few similar cases. In each instance, democratic politics that produced Leftist upsurges were quashed by forces that decided democracy is too dangerous a game play any further. While 20th century fascist movement have their unique characteristics, this type of authoritarianism should in part be seen as part of a larger world-wide pattern of how ruling interests in modern capitalist societies respond to democratic politics when they cannot effectively dominate them.

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