Totalitarian Regimes in Europe

World War II occurred due to the rise and consolidation of the German Nazism and of the european fascisms. They characterize specific moments in which the country is experiencing a centralizing, anti-democratic, arbitrary and aggressive political regime. They had a strong influence in the interwar period (interval between the First and Second World War), which comprises between November 1918 and September 1939.

Index

Summary of totalitarian regimes in Europe
Main totalitarian regimes in Europe
- Stalinism
- Fascism
- Nazism
- Salazarism
- frankism
Totalitarian regimes today

Summary of totalitarian regimes in Europe

You totalitarian regimes existed in the first half of the 20th century, were based on the totalitarianism, which was a conservative reaction to democracy and the liberalism economic and political.

They existed and established themselves after the First World War, because they believe that governments should be strong and efficient, in order to have the nationwide control.

Within this system, the leader obtains broad powers over the lives of the entire population. They represent the state, as political parties were banned as they were considered the expression of discord.

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They were based on:

centralized government in the hands of a single leader or political party;
strong militarism, which impeded the free expression of the people;
Ideological advertising, which reinforces the “positive” and “benevolent” character of the regime in which they live, censoring the advertisements that were manifested against;
leader worship, who “abandoned” his private life in favor of the nation;
single party, only a group of leaders has the power to govern the country;
education, dictates the contents and how they should be taught at school;
Ideological control, repression organs are created in order to control people's minds. Anyone who challenged the regime was severely punished;
state interventionism, the state controls the economy;
use of terror, was used as a weapon to frighten opponents.

Main totalitarian regimes in Europe

You main regimes that emerged in Europe in the 20th century were:

Stalinism

With the end of Russian Revolution of 1917 and Lenin's death, the Stalinism in the Soviet Union. Stalin concentrated all power in his hands, eliminating his opponents and becoming the most important figure in the USSR. It lasted from 1927 to 1953, being one of the leftist totalitarian regimes.

He turned the Soviet Union into an industrial power in a decade. However, it reached that level using forced labor from people who committed political crimes.

Another mark of his regime was the persecution of his opponents, torturing them, executing them or sending them to forced labor camps.

In addition to having collectivized the farms – with the aim of industrializing the country – forcing people to hand over their land to the State, as private property was prohibited in the country. The peasants' production was handed over to the state at low prices.

This collectivization killed thousands of people due to insufficient food and resistance to the dictator's orders. Exclusion of religion, collectivization of the economy, end of private property, worship of the leader, persecution, of opponents, were some of the characteristics of Stalinism.

Fascism

It started in 1919, with Benito Mussolini, with the foundation of the National Fascist Party (PNF) in Italy.

Anti-communist and anti-democratic, they entered the government after The March on Rome, in 1922. Its rise took place in a context of political and economic crisis and fear of the growth of communism in the country, however, the fascist forces reacted violently.

The Italian king Vítor Emanuel III, named him prime minister in 1922. Mussolini gradually incorporated the fascist party into the government.

In 1925, Benito Mussolini proclaimed himself dictator of Italy, consolidating the totalitarian system in Italy. His fascist government was the first right-wing totalitarian regime that emerged in Europe. It only ended after World War II

O fascism can be seen as the precursor to conservative movements in Europe. Within fascism, the following stand out:

Anti-democracy;
Construction of a heroic past;
Contempt for socialism;
Exaltation of traditional and conservative values;
Anti-liberalism.

Nazism

It is considered the most famous totalitarian regime in Europe. It was a policy coordinated by the Austrian leader of the Germans, Adolf Hitler – the main figure in the Nazi regime that began to gain strength in Germany from 1920 onwards.

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It appeared in Germany in 1919, with the National Socialist German Workers Party, where Hitler was the leader of the party. The strengthening of the party is closely linked with the country's defeat in the First World War.

Germany felt wronged by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, in addition to believing he was the victim of a plot that forced the German surrender of the conflict.

Adolf Hitler – with his rhetorical ability – was inspired by Italian fascism, adding to the superiority of the Aryan race over the others.

Persecuted and exterminated Jews, known as anti-Semitism, which was already an ideology propagated in German society since the 19th century and reaffirmed by the Nazis. Such rejection provoked the Holocaust, which was the annihilation of some 6 million Jews during the Second World War.

It also physically eliminated communists, disabled people, religious people, intellectuals (who went against their thinking).

Nazism involved in its ideology:

Aryan race superiority (German);
Anti-Marxism;
Antiliberalism;
Nationalism;
Worship to the leader;
Exaltation of war.

Territorial expansionism was also a hallmark of this regime, as they invaded and annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia. In 1939, upon invading Poland, the British and French declared war on the Germans. Fact that started the Second World War.

Nazism, along with World War II, ended in 1945.

Salazarism

It is one of the names of the Portuguese “Estado Novo”. It was a dictatorial regime inspired by fascist ideas that prevailed in Portugal under the leadership of Antônio de Oliveira Salazar. It took effect from the New Constitution, established in 1933. The document dictated:

Prohibition of strike movements
Censorship of the media;
Creation of a one-party political system;

From that Constitution on, the most lasting dictatorship in Europe was installed. In addition to these points, Salazar:

It isolated Portugal from commercial relations with the outside world;
Maintained colonialism in Africa;
It ended freedom of expression.

The theme of salazarism was "God, Fatherland and Family".

In 1974, after Salazar's death (which occurred in 1970), a revolutionary movement of political transformation reached its peak with the Carnation Revolution. It was only after this revolution that Portugal managed to free itself from the dictatorship.

frankism

O Francoism (1939-1975) was born after a coup d'état against a democratic and republican government. That's when General Francisco Franco, influenced by fascist thoughts, rebelled against the government of Manuel Azaña Díaz. Spain begins to experience a Civil War.

The republicans were defeated and some went into exile in France and Mexico, while Franco established a undemocratic regime which reaches all sectors of society, in addition to privileging the Catholic religion and preaching the anti-communism. With this, both the army and the Catholic Church supported the regime.

One of its characteristics was the strong repression of its opponents.

It only came to an end with the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, in 1975, making room for a parliamentary democracy.