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Fascism

In this lesson, students will be able to define the following terms:

FascismMilitarism

Anti-SemitismRacism

Social Darwinism

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Benito Mussolini was thefirst person to use the termFascism. Fascism refersto a political system thatappeared in Italy afterWorld War I. The term

is also used more generally to identify similar systems such

as Nazism in Germany.

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Fascists were extreme nationalists.They believed that their nations were superior to other nations. They also

strongly opposed communism.

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Fascists used violence to defeat theirpolitical opponents and used war fornational expansion. Fascists were

militarists. Militarism is a glorificationof war.

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Fascists felt a single national party shouldunite all classes. They also believed

that the strong should dominate the weak.They opposed unions and strikes.

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Certain beliefs helpedFascists gain power.

Anti-Semitism, a hatredof Jews, was an

established belief inEurope. Jews werefrequently harmed intimes of unrest. As

a minority group, theywere easy targets.

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Racism is a contemptfor other races. This,

too, was an establishedbelief in Europe.

European racism was strengthened by imperialism and

nationalism. Racismalso helped Fascists

gain power.

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Social Darwinists usedCharles Darwin’s ideas

about evolution in nature andconcluded that all human

groups competed for survival. They claimed that

stronger groups had the right to succeed and thatweaker groups deserved

to die out. This belief helpedFascists gain power.

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A new democratic republic, known asthe Weimar Republic, was created in

Germany but it remained weak. Militaryleaders would have preferred to give

all political power to a single leader thanto the common people.

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Russian Communistsdemonstrated how to

build a totalitarianstate. The middleclasses in other

European countriesfeared the spread ofCommunism, leading

them to support Mussolini and Hitler.

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Benito Mussolini copiedBolshevik practices whiledenouncing 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.

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In 1922, Mussolini seized powerand turned Italy into the first

Fascist state.

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Adolf Hitler andthe Nazi partywould cometo power inGermany

soon afterwards.

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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?