A Deeper Look into Fascism and Fascist Governments
The end of World War I brought devastation to much of Europe and with that devastation, came great change politically and socially. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties that ended World War I and ended the state of war between Germany and the allied powers. The treaty stated that Germany and some of its allies, including Italy, were responsible for the outcome of the war and were required to pay restitution for the damages. This resulted in territorial losses, the division of Germany and economic hardships in much of Europe. Frustrated nationalism, humiliation and the growing fear of communism associated with WWI introduced a new political movement called fascism in Italy and shortly after, in Germany. Fascism was “a reaction against the profound political and social changes” that came about after World War I. People desired for national unity and strong leadership in their countries and the Great Depression led many to think democracy was not a workable system and that fascism was the solution. It came to be viewed as the only force capable of fighting communism and socialism. Fascism comes from the Italian term, fasci, which means bundle and in political terms, unity. It
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Shortly after the end of the war, Nazism was banned and fascism was highly looked down upon. Today, there are few military dictatorships around the world that include fascism ideals. A new idea, “neo-fascism” was introduced in some Western democracies. Likely, the idea of a unified nation under one dictator died under Mussolini but the extreme racist forms of fascism, like Nazism, live on throughout the world. In fact, underground Neo-Nazi parties have grown in numbers and are empowered through the internet and gangs. The Neo-Nazi movement is not illegal but very highly frowned upon throughout the