FREE ESSAY ON RISE TO POWER: A COMPARISON OF HITLER AND MUSSOLINI

RISE TO POWER: A COMPARISON OF HITLER AND MUSSOLINI

The Rise to Power: A Comparison of Hitler and Mussolini
Hitler and Mussolini achieved absolute political and social power through the
manipulation of the people of their countries and circumstantial events at the time of
their ascent. Mussolini rose to total dictatorship more than ten years before Hitler's
first failed attempt to 'conquer' the failing Weimar Republic government and both
achieved this total rise in power in very similar ways such as the glorification of
emotion. Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler realized that the way to a rise in power was
through the people and their opinions/support therefore imposing their own ideals through
incredible propaganda techniques and speeches, and in Hitler's case, introducing a
scapegoat to blame. It is possible that Mussolini came to power ten years before Hitler
because the Weimar government was in control and the Nazi party hadn't been
organizationally formed yet; only a small group of men which included Hitler were
inspired by Mussolini's rise and motivated to achieve the same. 
Both Italy and Germany were the victims of a series of economic and social problems
caused primarily by World War I. The harsh terms and conditions of the Treaty of
Versailles (prohibition of rebuilding or financing an army and heavy reparations),
unemployment, and inflation caused extremely hard times in Germany. The German people
were fed up with the government and on the verge of a revolution. They needed someone who
could pull them up out of poverty, restore their faith in Germany and help them rebuild
their lives after WWI. After Hitler's Mein Kampf, in growing numbers, people started to
listen to Hitler's ideas. He promised the people a way out of the economic slump Germany
was in, to restore pride in themselves and their country, and presented a scapegoat to
blame for all of Germany's social, economic, and political problems: the Jews. Hitler was
a skilled user of propaganda techniques and therefore used his words to manipulate the
minds of people into believing what ideals he was imposing as the absolute truth. Hitler
appealed to a wide variety of people by combining an effective speaking style with what
looked like absolute sincerity and determination. As economic conditions worsened, the
appeal of the Nazis was far more effective than that of other parties; the nazis were the
one group which claimed to have all the answers. The nazi party offered simplistic but
appealing solutions to their problems and was not bound to one class or interest group.
He found a large audience for his 'program of national revival', hatred for France and
Jews (and other non-German races), racial pride in Germanic values, and disgust for the
Weimar Republic. Hitler believed that only a dictatorship (himself as dictator, of
course) could rescue Germany from the pit in which it had fallen. 
This was not at all unlike Mussolini's ideals and techniques he imposed upon Italy.
Mussolini was a supposed opportunist and his rise to power was a 'combination of
parliamentary manoeuvre and radical pressure'. The Italian people welcomed his authority.
They were tired of strikes and riots within Italy, responsive to the trappings of
Fascism, and ready to submit to dictatorship, provided the national economy was
stabilized and their country restored to its dignity as promised. Mussolini seemed to
them the one man capable of bringing order out of chaos. At rallies Mussolini caught the
imagination of the crowds due to his impressive physique and his staccato and orderly way
of speaking. His attitudes were dramatic, his opinions contradicted themselves, his facts
were often wrong but his words were strong and moving, and his gestures repeated often
with so much vigor and were so effective, that he rarely failed to impose his mood or
ideals to the Italians. From 1919 to 1922, Italy was torn by social and political strife,
inflation, and economic problems; this was very similar to Germany's condition in 1923.
Armed bands with a strong nationalistic bias, known as the Fascisti fought socialist and
communist groups throughout Italy. On October 24 1922, Mussolini, with the support of
conservatives and former soldiers, demanded that the government be entrusted to his
party. He threatened to seize power by force if his conditions were refused. As the
Fascisti readied for a march on Rome, Prime Minister Luigi Facta resigned. On October 28
Victor Emmanuel called on Mussolini to form a new government. 
Here some differences start to appear between the two leaders in their rise to power.
Although he was given incredible powers to restore order, Mussolini initially governed
constitutionally while Hitler strove entirely for sole dictatorship. But after the
violence of the 1924 elections (Hitler rigged what few elections did occur in Germany) in
Italy, Mussolini moved to suspend constitutional government. He then proceeded in stages
to establish a dictatorship by 1) forbidding the parliment to initiate legislation, 2) by
making himself responsible to the King alone, 3) by ordering parliment to authorize him
to issue decrees having the force of the law, 4) by establishing absolute censorship of
the press (Hitler did the same), and 5)by 1926 suppressing all opposition parties. 
Another difference between the two is the most obvious; Mussolini was rising to power ten
years before Hitler, even though the primary catalyst for both of the country's decay was
World War I which affected the countries (surprise) at the same time. A probable reason
for this is the interference of the Weimar Republic and the inability of the German
people to fall so easily into the ideals of Fascism/Nazism as they did in Italy. The
people had their 'own' government and wanted to give a trial run. One other reason that
might be related to the slow start of Hitler's rise to power is the view in which the
stucturalists have. "The structuralists see the structure of the Third Reich, a chaotic,
badly run government that was weakened by Hitler". Behind the scenes, the power was
revolving around three bases; Goebbels, Himmler, and Goring. Hitler rarely intervened in
events unless it was imperative to maintain his public image. He just as rather sit in
the mountains and watch movies. While the Nazis had created an illusion of power, there
was disorder behind that fa?ade. The Nazi leaders under Hitler made up policies
themselves, merely attaching onto ideas from Hitler while never receiving direct orders
or directions from Hitler himself. The second or third in command could issue an action
or an order by merely stating "The Fuhrer's will..." and would not be questioned or
second guessed. Due to this chaotic form of organization, it can be surmised that this
might have slowed Hitler's plans down a bit. No one knew what anyone was doing. 
Hitler and Mussolini both had very similar techniques in achieving power; most likely due
to the fact that Hitler had been inspired by Mussolini to take over the government. Both
used the characteristic of fascism (the glorification of emotion) to take hold of the
people in each country and impose their ideals upon. By manipulating the minds of people,
Hitler and Mussolini both convinced their people that dictatorship would deliver them
from all of their problems. This was not a hard task for Mussolini in Italy; Hitler did
have some difficulties which slowed him down (being sentenced to jail, etc) and overall,
the result was the same. Total dictatorship. 
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