Totalitarian regimes in Europe

1922 Italy, Germany and the Soviet Union

In short

After the war, regimes that wanted to control every part of people's lives took power in some European countries. In Italy, after the March on Rome in October 1922, Benito Mussolini was asked to lead the government and within a few years set up the Fascist dictatorship. In Germany Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 with Nazism, while Stalin ruled the Soviet Union. These regimes abolished freedom of speech and opposition parties, persecuted anyone who disagreed and used propaganda, in schools too.

Why it matters Knowing how these dictatorships came about helps us understand how precious freedom and democracy are.

Source: Treccani, entry “Totalitarismo”

See it on the line Era quiz Read the full card Printable worksheet

Illustration: Totalitarian regimes in Europe (Italy, Germany and the Soviet Union) — Illustration created with AI for Storiascopio

Where: Italy, Germany and the Soviet Union

Study card about 4 minutes of reading

The story

After the war, a Europe in crisis

The First World War left Europe full of wounds. Soldiers who came home could not find work, prices rose, and many felt that the sacrifices had been for nothing. In Italy, which had won the war, many spoke of a “mutilated victory”, because it had not gained all the territories it had been promised. In Germany the defeated country had to pay enormous reparations, and many felt humiliated. In 1917 revolution had broken out in Russia, and the fear that it might spread to the rest of Europe alarmed businessmen, landowners and many of the middle class.

The democracies, young and fragile, struggled to solve these problems. In this climate, leaders who promised order, jobs and national pride, and said they could fix everything by force, had success. This is how what historians call totalitarian regimes were born in several countries: states in which a single party and a single leader control every aspect of public and private life.

Italy: Fascism

The first of these regimes was born in Italy. Benito Mussolini, a former socialist and journalist, founded the Fasci di Combattimento in 1919, with armed squads, the “Blackshirts”, who attacked trade unionists, socialists and peasants. On 28 October 1922 thousands of Fascists marched on Rome, the “March on Rome”. The government could have stopped them with the army, but King Victor Emmanuel III refused to sign a state of siege, and on 30 October he asked Mussolini to form a government.

Mussolini, in government, gradually turned Italy into a dictatorship. In 1924 the socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti denounced in Parliament the violence and the fraud in the elections, and eleven days later he was kidnapped and killed by Fascist squads. On 3 January 1925 Mussolini took responsibility in Parliament for what had happened and declared that he would use force. Over the next two years political parties, free trade unions and opposition newspapers were banned, a Special Tribunal was created, and the secret police watched opponents, many of whom were arrested, sent into internal exile or forced to leave the country.

Control of society

The regime tried to control everything: schools, with single textbooks and a duty to swear loyalty; free time, with organisations such as the Opera Nazionale Balilla for young people; the press and radio, with censorship and propaganda; culture, with the films of the Istituto Luce. The cult of the leader, the “Duce”, was everywhere: photos, writing on walls, slogans such as “Believe, obey, fight”. In 1935–36 Italy invaded Ethiopia, and in 1938 the racial laws were passed, which took away the rights of Italian Jews and removed them from schools and jobs.

Other regimes

In the Soviet Union, after Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Stalin built a dictatorship in which the Communist Party controlled everything, with labour camps and mass repression. In Germany, after the economic crisis of 1929, Adolf Hitler's National Socialist party won many votes: Hitler was appointed chancellor on 30 January 1933 and in a few months got rid of the parties and freedoms. Nazism spread a violent racism, especially against Jews. In Spain, after a civil war (1936–1939), General Francisco Franco took power.

Those who said no

Not everyone gave in. Antonio Gramsci, founder of the Italian Communist Party, was arrested in 1926 and died in 1937, after years in prison, having written his famous “Notebooks”. The brothers Carlo and Nello Rosselli, anti-Fascists, were killed in France in 1937. Many Italians, in exile or in hiding, went on believing in freedom.

Why it happened

Totalitarian regimes arose from a sum of crises: the end of a devastating war, economic crisis, fear of communism, national humiliation and the weakness of young democracies. In these moments many citizens, frightened and disappointed, accepted authoritarian solutions, hoping to find order and security again.

The regimes used a combination of violence, propaganda and consent: fear of the police and of special tribunals on one hand, great ceremonies and the cult of the leader on the other. Many opponents, divided among themselves, did not manage to unite in time.

What changed

Totalitarian regimes led Europe to the Second World War, to persecution and to the extermination of millions of people. After the war the defeated countries abandoned them, and in 1945 Italy was liberated; the Fascist dictatorship had lasted more than twenty years.

That is why the Italian Constitution of 1948 affirms people's rights to freedom, and forbids the re-forming of the Fascist party. Every year, on 25 April, Italy celebrates Liberation Day, and on 27 January, Holocaust Remembrance Day, it remembers the victims of the extermination.

Understanding how those regimes arose is important today too: it shows how freedoms can be lost little by little if they are not defended, and why freedom of speech, a free press and the vote are precious.

Key people and places

People

Benito Mussolini: Leader of Fascism and of the Italian government from 1922 to 1943 (1883–1945).
Adolf Hitler: Leader of Nazism and of Germany from 1933 to 1945 (1889–1945).
Joseph Stalin: Leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953 (1878–1953).
Giacomo Matteotti: Socialist deputy (1885–1924): he denounced Fascist violence and was murdered.
Antonio Gramsci: Italian politician and philosopher (1891–1937): an opponent of Fascism, he wrote the “Notebooks” in prison.

Places

Rome, Italy: The city that the “March on Rome” reached on 28 October 1922.
Berlin, Germany: The capital where Hitler was appointed chancellor on 30 January 1933.