***Question: Why did fascism/Nazis become popular in the 1920s and 30s?
There are many primary sources to review/analyze that you can use to answer this question and they are located in, Rise of Fascism primary sources. For background on fascism/Nazis please see the lectureFascism_1920s_30s_Lecture in this module.
1. Answer the question in one paragraph (c. 5 sentences).
2. Use the primary source as proof in your answer. Include a quote from the primary source and citation.
3. In order to place the primary source in context, read and use the secondary sources (lecture) as background. Cite it but no need to quote the lecture.
-Immediately after WWI two ideologies spread across Europe: communism and fascism. In 1917, the Russian Revolution succeeded and proved that communism could exist in a modern state and that new state would be the Soviet Union. Likewise, in the ruins of post-WWI Italy and Germany fascism was born and spread. In Italy, the fascists would be called Fascists and in Germany the fascists would be called Nazis. Whereas communism promised equality, the promise of fascism was the destruction of every modern ideology (democracy, socialism, communism, capitalism, conservationism, monarchy). Fascists were against everything traditional, and instead embraced ultra-nationalism as the future; the promise was glory for the nation. Everything was for the nation and that meant war and conquest. It also meant the spread of hate (racism and antisemitism) because hate tends to lead to war and serves as a distraction.
In post-WWI people flocked to either communism or fascism; the poor and workers to communism and the middle and upper classes to fascism. And as both competed for followers the two ideologies began to clash and they became enemies. In other words, as communism spread, fascism grew as a check. As the economy declined (Great Depression) fascists promised work in the form of military service. Fascists also promised greatness; that if you were part of a country that did not do well in WWI, fascism promised to replay the war (WWII) and this time win. It promised to make Italy and Germany great again and reverse the Treaty of Versailles.
Besides promises of jobs, a defense against communism, and victory in another world war, fascism also promised a different world: one void of liberal democracy. Liberal democracy, with its voting rights, capitalism, and individuality, was blamed for WWI and the Great Depression. Fascism promised a way forward without liberalism but one where individuality did not exist. The individual was replaced by the state. And the state was embodied by totalitarian dictators like Mussolini and Hitler that exuded masculinity and social-Darwinism – that only the strong (and fascism promised strength) survive. In war-torn Europe, with massive unemployment, people believed the propaganda. However, the promises were empty, and fascism ended up destroying Europe and murdering millions of innocent civilians.
Thoughts on the Document Analysis:
The lecture points to reasons why fascism spread and the primary sources clarify. There are many short primary sources for this module all put together under Rise of Fascism primary sources.pdfPreview the document and they point to how it spread so far and fast with particular attention to Germany. Many of these sources have to do with reversing the Treaty of Versailles (see the previous module on WWI), scapegoating the minority which were Jews, and eliminating the effects of the Great Depression. Read each one as a new promise from the Nazis at a time when people were especially disparate, scared, unemployed, and going hungry.
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