Can Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany be compared? Not long ago, the answer seemed obvious: they could be and they were. Nationalist rhetoric, hostility to the left and to parliamentary government, and the glorification of violence seemed to invite comparison. More recently, doubts have arisen. As more attention is paid to the consequences of Nazi racism, it has been questioned whether Nazi Germany can be compared with anything. This collaborative volume meets the challenge of comparing the two movements. It contains ten essays, two each on five central themes: the rise of the Fascist and Nazi movements; the relation of the regimes to workers, women, and war; and how the regimes may be viewed in a long-term perspective. The essays take stock of recent research, advance fresh theories about the histories of Nazism and Fascism, and provide a basis for informed comparison of two regimes central to twentieth-century history.
Introduction: Italy, Germany and fascism Richard Bessel; 1. The 'crisis of bourgeois society' and the origins of fascism Adrian Lyttelton; 2. The crisis of bourgeois society in interwar Germany Bernd Weisbrod; 3. Italian workers and Italian fascism Tobias Abse; 4. Whatever was the attitude of German workers? Reflections on recent interpretations Tilla Siegel; 5. Women in fascist Italy Perry R. Willson; 6. 'The value of marriage for the Volksgemeinschaft': policies towards women and marriage under National Socialism Gabriele Czarowski; 7. Expansionist zeal, fighting power, and staying power in the Italian and German dictatorships MacGregor Knox; 8. Restorative elites, German society and the Nazi pursuit of war Michael Geyer; 9. From fascism to 'post-fascists': Italian roads to modernity Carl Levy; 10. National Socialism and modernisation Mark Roseman.
