Hitler Vs Mussolini

Two mighty leaders, two totalitarian governments, but two different ideologies. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were two supreme leaders of their own totalitarian countries. They both used similar methods to control their people and their increase in income. They had very different ideas in mind though. So how were they different? Let’s take a closer look. The political ideology originated in an interesting way. In prison, “Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (“My Struggle) (p.552). The book was comprised of his reflections and obsessions over power and political virtues. It wasn’t till later that it was used as the basis of Nazi ideology. Much of his reflections with his need of power were rooted in anti-Semitism. He viewed the Jewish people as a different kind of persons who were responsible for the poor, initial state of Germany and their defeat in World War I. So he rid of them, and used this as a way to unite “pure” Germans to increase nationalism. Mussolini was different, in that he was a fascist. Fascism can be described as “Any centralized, authoritarian government that is not communist whose policies glorify the state over the individual and are destructive to basic human rights” (p.539). So Mussolini pursued nationalist goals which is a clear contrast to Adolf, who was after international goals.

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All he had to do was destroy anyone that might later stand in his way. To do this, he sought to purify German culture by denouncing other religions like christianity and burning modern art and literature which Nazis only saw “as an insult to the German military” (p.554). In schools Hitler had “Nazi Youth” indoctrinated in schools. They were later to be the future of Germany. Mussolini was the same way. “Shaping the younger was a major fascist goal” (p.538). They were taught to respect and comply with military discipline. “Boys and girls learned about the glories of ancient Rome”