Fascism In Italy After Ww2

WWI was a conflict lasting between 1914-1919 that lead to the deaths of millions. The Post-WWI effects were effectively the first domino that fell that would eventually lead to political instability in Germany, Italy, and Russia. Italian sociopolitical turmoil would lead to the rise of fascism with Mussolini. German sociopolitical chaos soon led to Nazism which would soon take hold itself along with Hitler’s take on fascism. Germany’s (Hitler’s) rise to power would eventually set off WWII. WWII would also lead to the Cold War which was set mostly in Germany. WWI did not directly cause WWII, the rise of fascism, or even the Cold War. However, the aftermath of WWI is what allowed the other pieces to fall in place. To begin, the political and …show more content…
The Italians were still mad about the war because they joined the Allies in hopes of getting land, but ended with very little but a couple strips of land. The Italians were infuriated because they fought a war for no reason. They got meager territorial expansion as a result of their loyalty to the Allies. They spent and invested much of their money, lives, and time into WWI, only to get measly gains. Italy was also having a difficult time following the war. Hyperinflation was happening in Italy following WWI, just like in Germany. As the reader can see there is a general motif of economic and sociopolitical instability following WWI. When Italians soldiers got home from the war, the money that they earned meant almost nothing. This led to fierce protests by the Italian Socialists who were big fans of Karl Marx and were becoming the biggest Italian political party during this time. Industrial leaders in Italy were very concerned with the threat of socialism and that is where Mussolini came in and created what would become a fascist state. Now, fascism was a critical step to the path of the next war, but was born out of the perils of the last war. So how did fascism lead to WWII? It was the ideology that contributed the most. As Mussolini explains, “Fascism… believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism … War alone …show more content…
Truth be told, it did not directly lead to the Cold War. Once again, WWI was the kick starter to the chain-reaction that culminated into the Cold War. Following WWII, there was a large power vacuum in Germany. Housing was blown away during the war, infrastructure was a mess, and there was no stable government to rule the land. Fortunately, two big superpowers emerged after WWII that would be able to help – the USA and USSR. In Berlin, these superpowers negotiated what the future Germany should look like and was called the Potsdam Conference of 1945. Stalin (USSR), Truman (USA), and Ackley (England) got together and decided that they would divide Germany up into four zones where USSR, USA, Britain, and France would control respective pieces. Berlin, which was in the USSR zone, was seen as a cultural symbol and the other three did not want USSR to have total control of such a cultural icon; so they split it like Germany. At last, the power vacuum in Germany issue has been dealt with for now. But with all the compromise going on, there was bound to be some degree of conflict. The division between the two superpowers was clearly defined when George F. Kennan sent the “Long Telegram” identifying that American and Soviet ideals were at odds and that the only way to settle this was to stop the spread of