DEPTH STUDY GERMANY: FASCISM - AN INTRODUCTION TO THE IDEOLOGY

1. DEPTH STUDY
NAZI GERMANY
HITLER DOMINATING
GERMANY BY 1934
FASCISM
6

2. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USEXv1jODpM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USEXv1jODpM

3. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY

4. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY
FASCISM
• Liberalism, conservatism and socialism were 19th
century ideology.
• Fascism is a child of the twentieth century.
• Some people believe that fascism was an inter-
war phenomenon.
• Fascist beliefs can be traced back to the 19th
century but it was shaped by the First World War,
by the big mixture of war and revolution that
characterised this period.
• The 2 most prominent manifestations of fascism

5. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUcYU95kCAI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUcYU95kCAI

6. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY

7. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY
FORMS OF NEOFASCISM
• Forms of neofascism and neo-Nazism have
resurfaced in the final years of the last century,
because of the combination of economic crisis
and political instability that has followed the
collapse of communism.

8. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY
WHAT IS FASCISM?
• Fascism was a revolt against the ideas and values
that had dominated western political thought
since the French Revolution.
• In the words of the Italian fascist slogan “1789 is
dead”.
• Values such as rationalism, progress, freedom
and equality were overturned in the name of
struggle, leadership, power, heroism and war.
• Fascism is defined largely by what it opposes: it is
a form of anti-capitalism, anti-liberalism, anti-

9. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY
THE CORE THEME OF FASCISM
• The core theme of fascism is the image of an
organically unified national community.
• This is reflected in a belief in “strength through
unity”.
• The individual is nothing, as the individual
identity must be entirely absorbed into the
community or social group.

10. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY
THE FASCIST IDEAL
• The fascist ideal is the “new man”, the “hero”,
motivated by duty, honour and self-sacrifice,
prepared to dedicate his life to the glory of his
nation or race, and to give obedience to the
supreme leader without questioning his
authority.

11. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY
ITALIAN FASCISM
• Italian fascism was
essentially an extreme
form of statism, that was
based on total respect
towards a totalitarian
state.
• The Fascist philosopher
Giovanni Gentile (1875-
1944) said:
“Everything for the state,
nothing against the state,

12. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY
CORE FASCIST THEORIES IN GERMANY
• Aryanism: the belief that the German people
constitute a “master race” and are destined for
world domination.
• Anti-Semitism: portrayed the Jews as evil and
aimed at their eradication. This one found
expression in the Final Solution.

13. CAMBRIDGE IGCSE – DEPTH STUDY: GERMANY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFICRFKtAc4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFICRFKtAc4