Page 66 - Fascism: The Bloody Ideology Of Darwinsim

66 FASCISM: THE BLOODY IDEOLOGY OF DARWINISM

problems, in addition to fighting amongst themselves.
Essentially, the poverty Italy was faced with as a result of the First
World War was the most important factor in the rise to power of Italian
fascism. More than 600,000 Italians had died as a result of the war, and up to
half a million people were crippled. The greater part of the population was
made up of widows and orphans. The country was beleaguered by an
economic recession and high unemployment. Although the Italians had
suffered great losses in the war, they had achieved very few of their aims. Like
many other nations exhausted by the war, the Italian people longed to
recapture their honor and former glory.
Actually, this was a feeling that had been gathering increasing strength
since the end of the 19th century. Modern Italy looked back with nostalgia at
the greatness of the Roman Empire, and felt it had a right to former Roman
territory. Furthermore, there was a feeling of rivalry with the major powers of
the world, and Italy hoped to raise itself to their rank, or, to rise to "the position
it deserved." Affected by these aspirations, the Italians hoped to become as
powerful as Great Britain, France and Germany.
Social, political and economic crises also played the major role in the
establishment of Nazism in Germany, which had been defeated in the First
World War. Unemployment and a financial crisis added to the disappointment
of defeat. Inflation rose to levels that had seldom been equaled. Small children
played with banknotes worth millions of marks, because money, which lost
value by the hour, had come to be worth no more than pieces of paper. The
Germans wanted to restore their lost honor and return to a better standard of
living. It was with the promise of fulfilling such wishes that Nazism would
emerge and win support.
Pre-fascist Spain also demonstrated close similarities to these counties.
The loss of its colonies on both sides of the American continent at the
beginning of the 19th century had led to a serious diminishment of self-esteem.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Spain was in a state of semi-collapse. Its
economy was failing, and the privileges accorded to the aristocracy opened the
way to great injustices. The Spanish looked back to the days of a great and
powerful Spain with great longing.
Another country where fascism came to have enormous influence was
Japan. In pre-fascist Japan, the higher strata of society were very concerned
about the spread of Marxist ideas among the young. But they were unable to
determine how to rid themselves from that pernicious ideology. In addition,
such social changes were very disconcerting for a society so tightly bound to