How does Hitler’s Seizure of Power in Germany help us define Fascism? E

Hitler’s regime in Germany is commonly referred to as Nazism, and is identified in the theories of both Sternhell and Payne, which they conclude to be completely divergent from Italian fascism. If this is the case, then Paxton’s five stages of fascism are proven to be invalid; as, like Mussolini in Italy, Hitler’s regime in Germany shows direct resemblance to these stages, as the latter parts of this chapter will show. With the signing of the armistice, that formally ended World War One, on November 11 1918, Germany respectively lost the war. Six months after the signing, the representatives at the Paris Peace Conferences, were finally able to conclude the peace treaties, which was signed on June 28 1919. The Treaty of Versailles was to have dire effects on Germany, effects that arguably completely altered the nature of her future. As part of the terms of this settlement, Germany was radically changed; in terms of: legal and military restrictions, territorial changes and also, as a result of Article 231, Germany were blamed for starting the war, which formally became known as the war guilt clause, which stated: ‘The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by t he aggression of Germany and her allies’ . The sum, was later determined in 1921, to be  £6000million. In terms of legal restrictions, articles 227 to 231 tried many German officials, including Emperor Wilhelm ll, as war criminals. Furthermore, Germany saw its military, in all forms, air, land and sea, vastly restricted. The German public w... ...orship. Works Cited Allan Todd – The European Dictatorships – Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini – Cambridge university press (2002) Stanley G Payne – Fascism: Comparison and Definition – University of Wisconsin Press – 1980 Walter Laqueur – Fascism: Past, Present and Future – Oxford University Press – 1997 Roger Griffin – Essays in the 20th century World History – Heinemann London 1999 A.J Gregor – Young Mussolini and the intellectual Origins of Fascism – California Press 1979 Martin Kolinsky – Continuity and Change in European Society: France, Germany and Italy since 1870 – 1974 Palgrave Macmillan Martin Blinkhorn – Mussolini and Fascist Italy – third edition – Routledge 2006 Sharma, Urmila. Western Political Thought. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors (P) Ltd, 1998. p. 66. Philip Morgan, Fascism in Europe, 1919-1945, New York Tayolor & Francis 2003