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Thank you for the upload Dr. Brown. I find it a remorseful cultural tragedy that not even a century later most people are misinformed about what exactly fascism is, and how it came about. Red flags were present then, and our society should be very weary of fanatic populism, and corporatism being praised and espoused in the political forums.
pumpkinchunkin you described the United States as the progressive, that means liberal media proportion it to be . SO is the United States and fascist country or moving in that direction. I believe it has already arrived
Dr. Brown, I wanted to thank you for these uploads and for your willingness to engage your subscribers and commenters alike in actual discourse, taking the time to explain your points and help others do just what documentaries like these should help us do - learn. You're a class act.
I like the video. I do wish it had talked about Italy's involvement in the Spanish Civil, it's botched attack against France in 1940, and helping to invade the Soviet Union.
IKR...I guess you're never going to find a documentary without some sort of spin on it..Talking about socialism like it's somehow "liberal" is ridiculous. Both ideologies are deplorable!
You might also be interested in a new paper I recently published, available direct from Amazon. Simply search *'How socialist was National Socialism'* in the Amazon search box.
Ubaldo Croce I was referring to your freedom to express your opinion, something you would not have been able to do in fascist Italy (unless of course it was to agree with the PNF.)
There's a lot that can be learned about politics and human nature in Fascism. It started out as an idealistic movement with noble social and political ideas, but Mussolini and others became lax and corrupt, preferring to keep the old system in exchange for peace and quiet. The first compromise was with the monarchy, then the liberals, then the Church, and soon Fascism lost it's talented creative thinkers, sinking into "Mussolini is always right" hero worship. By the time that the Salo Republic was created, Mussolini had lost everyone besides a few loyalists, fanatics, criminals, and sadists. It's a sad testament.
Typical "history is written by the victors" documentary I expected. The clear biases, omissions of fact and interjecting politically charged opinions along with objective history. Nonetheless still a very interesting and compelling video full of nuggets of detail that can give depth to people's perspectives.
One of the real ironies is that if anyone had won WWI it was Italy. There old enemy the Hapsburg monarchy was reduced to a bunch of minor squabbling republics, they recaptured Tyrol and took islands in Dalmatia and Greece.
No there real did not come out in a good way. Italy's leaders willingly joined the war. They could not deliver on the territorial gains promised and the Italian men died in battle.
TheZestyCar Italy did not get all that was hoped for, but they got a lot and most importantly of all, their ancient enemy the Austrian Empire was not just defeated (as the French defeated Germany) but broken up into a bunch of small republics.
Here was the original goal of the Italian Fascists. The following is from the book 'Fascism: Comparison and Definition' by Stanley G. Payne (1980): "Fascism was created by the nationalization of certain sectors of the revolutionary left, and the central role in its conceptual orientation was played by revolutionary syndicalists who embraced extreme nationalism. Revolutionary syndicalists, especially in Italy, were frequently intellectuals or theorists who had come out of the Marxist and Socialist party matrix but had struggled to transcend limitations or errors that they believed they found in orthodox Marxism. They espoused direct action and a qualified doctrine of violence, but tried to reach beyond the narrow and cramped confines of the urban proletariat to broader mobilization of peasants and other modest sectors of producers."
+Stefano Carulli But surely the unification was a process rather than an event. The three wars of Italian independence and the final capture of Rome in 1870 after the defeat of the Papal States is generally accepted as the completion of the process, though it is true that the the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 is the headline event.
Aaaagh, Mussolini! Why did you have to join the Axis Powers!? You didn't even like the Germany! You could have had it all! ITALY could have had it all!
actually, it looked like fascist italy crumbled on its own. if anything, germany kept them from completely disintegrating for a few more years. they bankrupted themselves with all of their pointless wars and war mongering.
Fascism, like it's predecessor, Socialism cannot survive on it's own for long. Fascism was described by it's "creator", Giovani Gentile as the "most workable form of Socialism. Allowing the private ownership of property and industry (as long as they served the state) was a brilliant way to avoid much of the economic upheaval experienced in Russia but in the end, it's still Socialism and will fail economically.
How about engaging in wars that they were unprepared for...The pact of Steel made with Germany literally said that Italy wouldn't be ready for war until at least 1942-1943
MyXxx77 If what you're saying is true then the USA is the ultimate fascist state. My evidence? How much of the humongous US armed forces is "privately financed" ? Think about that when you pay your taxes. With that out of the side. You simply fail to understand that fascism appeared as a counter-ideology to marxism and as such sought to maintain traditional order, hegemony, hierarchy and above all a deep national pride. Marxism seeks out to abolish all classes, the ruling classes above all. Fascism sees that as suicide for a nation and its people. Socialism is at core about solidarity with all classes and all nations against the profiteers. Fascism has none of that and maintains the idea of traditional, hierarchical order with leaders and servants (and slaves). That's totally against socialist ideology. As such you have not a clue what the heck you're talking about. And last of all many German industrialists supported the nazis because they knew the nazis (fascists) took a brutal stance against any marxists. Nationalism, national glory, hegemony and the worship of power has nothing to do with socialism, never will. You're just foolishly attributing it to "state control" when the state just represents what *class* calls the shots. Fascists at least were smart enough to understand a nation would go under if it never gave anything back to its own people. As such they were way more successful than any anarchists, American libertarians (not the real ones that coined the expression) and fools completely ignoring 150 years of progress in society and want a throwback to the early industrial age.
Mussolini reaped what he sowed. I hope the human race truly learns from these terrible follies of the past. Great Doc. I also would like to see some content on Italy after the second world war.
'Fasci' does mean bundle, but this is a reference to a 'fasces' a bundle of rods surrounding an ax (a symbol of the authority of Roman consuls and later Roman emperors). Mussolini wanted to rebuild the Roman empire (at least in his propaganda).
Tyler Pape - it's sad that you find this funny: 'comical'. The fact that millions of people were slaughtered makes you laugh? I guess your comical entertainments are visits to slaughter houses, and embalming outlets.
you need to move on... a great many Italians suffered this war many thousands upon thousands were never to recover because of the atrocities committed and your ridiculous comments only shed light on your obvious ignorance. GO find the Donald Duck cartoons that so challenge the inner deep twit recesses of your redundant mind!
and he was confronted with the ultimate choice: join the strong germany who was conquering all of Europe or face it ? he chose the first,rather than being subdued,all in favour of the italian people. wrong choice,but in good faith
Thanks for posting. Interesting indeed although really frustrating that Mussolini's overthrow in 43 was covered by a single paragraph with very little detail, same regarding his eventual capture and death.
"Mussolini has steadily refused to be called anything save 'Leader' (Duce) or 'Head of the government,' the term dictator has been applied by foreign envy, as the Tories were called cattle-stealers. It does not represent the Duce's fundamental conception of his role. His authority comes, as Eirugina proclaimed authority comes, 'from right reason' and from the general fascist conviction that he is more likely to be right than anyone else is." --EZRA POUND ('Jefferson and/or Mussolini', 1935)
Its my thought that Fascism worked for Italy. Mussolini loved his country and was only doing what he thought was best. Now I know lots of you will hate on me for this but oh well.
the war mongering of mussolini and the pointless invasions lead to a bankrupt italy in less then 20 years. the hate and rage that the fascists were trying to fuel with italian citizens also shows just how weak the system really was. it looked to me to be a dismal failure.
There will always be haters of Fascism no matter what. Fascism worked and that made people envious and even copy it. There was no hate or rage, I know because my family does not hate anyone nor have rage against anyone. So I don't think they are lying to me. Additionally the 100+ or so Italians I've interviewed had noting bad to say about Fascism nor are they filled with hate or rage.
rudeone4life is freedom of speech, press and expression allowed under a fascist system or would a person get beaten to death for expressing these kinds of things?
I am not writing this to specifically give Mussolini excuses as I have little sympathy for his part in WW2, so correct me if I am wrong. Didn't Mussolini overall order deaths of less than 8 thousand people? or was it about how many people were executed by Mussolini's forces? I also read that he didn't want to deport or kill Italian Jews. I do know that in a number of countries in the world where the Marxists fought with the powers in authority there were actually many more deaths. Like in Finland for example. I read that to make sure Marxists don't succeed about 20 thousand of people were arrested and killed over a number of years. It was at some point after the revolution in Russia, when Russia and Marxists attempted to repeat their power grab in Finland.
As an Ethiopian I came to like Mussolini and his buddy Hitler for one very important reason and the reason is that they invaded and brutalize all theses counties who supported Italy over Ethiopia. Now you taste your own medicine. Especially the invasion of all theses sovereign European countries who formally recognize Italy's ownership of Ethiopia which it invaded and committed genocide off.
Alfredo di Nuzzo Read, Mussolini after Ethiopia invaded, Greece, Albania, Spain: and Hitler invaded pretty much the whole of Europe. Which was nice to see all these who betrayed Ethiopia got immediate karma.
Alfredo di Nuzzo What immigration!? Italy tried to conquer countries in a bid to create an empire. And guess what happened by the end of the war, Italy lost EVERYTHING, including the country's dignity and respect.
HIM Haile Selassie I Rastafari I'm talking about the current immigration from Africa to Europe. And to be fair: 1) Italy actually conquered Libya and Ethiopia 2) It was colonialism. Every country in Europe did that. And italian territories were nothing compared to British and French colonies.
+HIM Haile Selassie I Rastafari Mussolini invaded SPAIN???? And when exactly did this happen?? I think it is you who should read and educate yourself a little bit, amigo
Two mistakes ,One Italians do not like war, number two the Italians were not particularly fond of militaristic Germans . Mussolini could have gone down as a force of good for Italy. Italy had no real reason to get involved in the First World War the soldiers had no stomach for a war that they had no understanding of. The same held true for the Second World War ,I'll equipped over 80 thousand were sent to Russia to assist the Germans at Stalingrad and most of them were lost.
@Vito Santo, well your statements are true, although the urgency and necessity for was was imminent for both Germany and Italy because the British and French were creating blockades all through Europe to help Stalin have the green light at enslaving Europe with Communism. However, it would have been better indeed if Italy did not enter the war for a multitude of reasons, they were definitely ill equipped, not disciplined enough and had antiquated equipment, with exception of the Naval forces. Even Hitler admitted towards the end how he wish the Italians just stayed Neutral and would have kept out of the war.
There were certainly other autocracies too, even before Lenin. I think the point the documentary was trying to make with too much literalism was that Mussolini is alleged to have coined the word 'totalitarianism' to mean that everything and everyone in the State must bend towards the State with totality. No one was allowed to do, say or think anything against the State under this definition.
Ethiopia was not "Africa's last independent nation." Liberia remained independent, though controlled to a large extent by the Firestone rubber company.
Could you please tell us who made this excellent documentary. The credits at the end are blurred. The Istituto Luce is mentioned but it is not clear if they are the producers.
This one is proving to be problematic, Fransciso. The full name of the film is _Mussolini: The Rise of Italian Fascism_, broadcast in the UK in 2007. After that, however, I'm drawing blanks. IMDB Pro has the info, but I don't have a secure login for that. Perhaps you could ask around your own contacts to see if anyone has access to the Pro site.
Nor do I, Qadira, but it was imposed by UA-cam for violence, I think. It's either accept the ruling or take the video down. I hope you find a way around your problem. Regards - Alan
Dostoevsky portrayed the human instinct to fascism perfectly in his "Grand Inquisitor" chapter from the Brothers. The modern western world has forgotten that people have not always, nor will they always desire to be free. It is often an excess of freedom that leads humanity to desire order, to desire strength and solidarity. I am afraid that this instinct will re-occur in the near future, and that we will not be ready for it--will not be ready to make the most of it, and keep it from self-destructing.
How does Italy using chemical weapons against its enemy implicate Fascist doctrine? That is a huge logical fallacy. Where in the Doctrine of Fascism is the use of chemical weapons mandated? The particular methods of the Italians against Ethiopians have nothing to do with Fascism as a political theory. That is like saying slavery-the subjugation of the Africans-is a necessary component of republicanism or parliamentarianism; however, neither the Declaration of Independence nor Magna Carta even talk about race let alone the subjugation of other races.
When the Germans went into Czechoslovakia , it was actually only Bohemia-Moravia left. Slovakia had separated itself from Czechoslovakia. Poland had also taken a part.
What most of these things lack, perhaps understandably, is the history of Liberalism in 19 th Century Europe which preceded. You really need to start with the French Revolution (7 Years War, better) and you'll discover that both Nationalism and Communism were Liberal in origin, opposed to Monarchy, from the die hard ideologues of Revolutionary France. The movement even penetrated the Ottoman Empire and brought about analogous changes until the Hapsburg and Ottoman collapsed after WW1. "Socialism" in Europe originated in Metternich Era England, "the Social Question", the abuses Charles Dickens and other "grievance novelists" wrote about. (H.B. Stowe was the American corollary, later the " Muck Rakers", ect.) The world we live in today began in 1919 and is totally different from what preceded it. That is really where the study of "fascism" belongs, a National movement without a doctrine largely defined by Mussolini's enthusiasm but more by Bolshevik "smear", still without any useful definition, but part of the demise of the Old World, and transition to what exists today.
This video doesn't seem to differentiate between socialism and communism in particular. Didn't Fascism begin as one of several socialist ideologies and turn on the others when their internationalism interfered with its nationalism?
+Adrian LeCesne i am not sure that there is much affinity between fascism and socialism at its heart - you will hear alot of right wingers say they are the same, but they lump everything together and never admit for a second that their own ideology of violence and corporate power over people has any relation. fascism mostly has always seen itself as opposed to anything left wing - such as socialism and communism and democracy for that matter too, - fascism is an ideology of using physical force and fear rather than any representative democracy or electoral process. - fascism is against the rights of workers to have any political voice and so it goes after unions viciously and so helps maintain tyrannical corporate power. the part about fascism though that makes it unique to just outright authoritarianism, is that also has some energized popularity - in particular if it draws up young men and women with its style and promise of uniforms and purpose - people get to feel like they are part of some powerful force - unfortunately that comes with a whole lot of violence and atrocities, with bristling mobs ready to beat to death anyone they think is some enemy within. not to say that soviet socialism wasnt also equally brutal, though it seemed to prefer secret police to do targeted violence and intimidation (the official view of murder in the USSR was that it only exists in the west) and also pretended to be democratic
TheOneFromFuture that is mostly right, but i think more of the ideal of fascism as a fascist supporter may view it. I dont think fascism sits between capitalism and communism, i would place regulated capitalism in that place - ie New Deal kind of stuff. fascism is beast with many different forms and it changes its nature as it moves along, being quite opportunistic and definitely exploitative when it needs to be, it perhaps though doesnt even sit on the same bar as others, because it is really just a reactionary moment that claims to sweep away whatever previous system exists or that it believes exist (hence its strong use of terms like decadence and rot to describe existing society in all its facets), but then once in power it is extremely unstable and its heads will use fear and violence to maintain there positions, as well as make whatever deals necessary with corporations. Mussolini's other name for cfascism was 'corporatism', the there is no longer a separation between public and private sector under fascism, rather all that is public is controlled and dictated by concentrated private interests, which is also what fascism generally sneers at things like human rights and favours anti-intellectualism to stop the public being at all made aware of what is happening to their society.
I'm wondering - how concentrated was the political power of this movement in Italy in reality? We always hear about this in terms of Mussolini, but was this bus really being driven primarily by Mussolini, or was he just the frontman for a small group of politically powerful people?
who debelled "mafia" in Italy? who created the national INPS for the first time? who changed the dirty palude of Terracina? who build the main train stations of Italy? which leader had the most traitors in his followers?
It seems as though he dreamt of becoming the second coming of Julius Caesar. The main variable I see that prevented that dream from becoming reality is that during his time Italy had a very weak, fragile economy. Second, his supposed ally, Adolph Hitler, had similar ambitions, but enjoyed a incredibly strong economy. The two countries economic state, played a significant role in the outcome of these two leaders.
Read or watch the film "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" A good take on how some viewed Il Duce at the time. ("...Girls, you are the crème de la crème...") - I loved that bit!
They left out the part about the Italian occupation of Serbia which ended with italian soldiers fighting against both the ustase and invading german soldiers.
This must have been horrible for the dictator to loose this easy. Both wanting to go to war and also stay out of it to not make the nation to collapse. What a tough situation he must have dealt with. Luckily the war did end and stopped the despair not only for what Mussolini got, but also those who suffered as victims (jews just because of their own religion especially but also the rest who got victims of the nazists/fascists) and those who at all cost tried to avoid being pulled into the war. What a hell for a time.
Italy and Japan didn't suffer as much during the depression because of their mixed, agrarian economies. The Soviet Union's command economy actually grew. Naturally, this changed people's attitudes towards economics. I don't know about this video's assertion that the Papacy liked fascism though. The fascists tried hard to push out Catholic social groups and they competed with each other for young people. Pius XI and Pius XII both complained bitterly about this.
I am not convinced that the Holy See supported fascism. The unification of Italy in 1870 with the annexation of the Papal States caused a political and religious wedge between Italian State and the the Holy See. The 1929 treaty resolved the conflict guaranteeing the right of the Church to exist and the freedom to carry out its mission by establishing the Vatican State as a separate country within Italy. In turn, the Holy See recognized Italy as a sovereign state.
Giovanni Serafino I'd have made the same reluctant decision Pope Pius XI and Pius XII made. There were no good choices and they were all against the church.
This is no offense against any people but I have this question: I don't understand Southern Europeans being anti jewish. Southern Europeans look like jews. Certainly when you look how the Germans did identify people. It shows me just how ridicilous the situation was. I mean, its like Blacks saying I am anti-black. Can anybody seriously comment on this.
However terrible Italy's behavior in Ethopia with respect to chemical weapons and reprisals against civilians may have been, she was in good company. Britain had used gas bombs from the air against Iraqi tribes in the 1920s. Churchill had also overseen a "starvation blockade" against the German populations during and immediately after WWI -- this killed up to 1 million civilians. One could also mention Britain's murderous civilian concentration camps during the Boer War.
The alleged use of 'concentration camps' in SA is a horrible distortion of the facts. It is true that concentration camps were established. But these were not intended to be a template for the later camps of the Nazi regime. The British camps in SA were intended to be a means to neutralize the advantage the Boer farmers had in their use of asymmetric guerilla fighting styles. To combat the hit-and-run tactics of the Boer's the British began to round-up and concentrate the civilian rural population which was offering support to the Boer fighters. It was, contrary to the rules of war, impossible to distinguish the Boer fighters from the farmers. To frustrate this, rounding up the civilians in camps removed the support base the Boer's enjoyed from the local farmers. This tactic began to work. The Boer's were losing their ability to successfully fight the British columns without this informal support. The problem arose, ironically, because of the attacks of the Boer's on British supply lines of communications. The supply lines were attacked, trains derailed, etc. This disrupted supplies that were bound not only for the troops but also the camps! The camps began to fall into disrepair and the unintended consequence of the both the initial tactic and the guerrilla attacks began to be the spread of disease. It was not, contrary to popular belief and later propaganda, an intention of the British military approach to murder women and children. Oh, and the original source of discontent between the Boer's (the descendants of Dutch settlers)? The fact that the British had actually sided with the native Bantu tribes and advocated that the Boer's agree to enforce greater legal equality between Boer policies and their Bantu neighbors. :/
Yes, its true that Fascism was created by a Socialist. No its not true that Fascism is a Right Wing idea. Ideologies that originate from Marxist ideas all belong on the Left, and that certainly includes Fascism and National Socialism. Neither of those ideas sprung from Classic Liberal ideas, they were both born from the Marxist schism in the 1920's when the idea of advancing socialism through the Nation State instead of the proletariat coalesced. After all its much easier to unite a people and have them fight and die for the cause of the nation, then for the vague idea of the control of the means of production and sticking it to the rich. Even Stalin recognized the power of nationalism, he very much was a nationalist without being a Fascist, so Nationalism itself (obviously) does not equal Fascism or Nazism, as the Left unsuccessfully argues. Nationalism is just a means to an end, its one of the tools to attain power, and whoever is the leader, regardless of the type of socialism, they will utilize whatever they can to attain it. If you look at Soviet propaganda and Nazi propaganda, with their soldiers marching, their nationalism on display, their authoritarian leaders giving these thunderous identity cult speeches you quickly see that the end is the same, whether they pursue it through National Socialism or Communism, or Fascism, or International Socialism, its all the same result in the end. Hitler urged Germans to fight for the Fatherland, Stalin urges Russians to fight and die for the Motherland, its so eerily similar yet Leftists can not see it, deep down I think many Leftists know that Nazis and Italian Fascists were Leftist, but they just refuse to admit it. Just like we never see the Democrat Party in the US apologizing for slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, the KKK, lynching etc. To a Leftist they think the Nazis are Right wing, the Republicans were the party of slavery and the KKK (Not the abolitionist party, the party of Lincoln), its completely upside down in their world. They should read a book sometime and learn history.
Mussolini... probably the best politician Europe ever had in the 20th century: remember that he was the only one in Europe to send troops on the Austrian border when Hitler tried to invade it... he considered Hitler a "mentally retarded" and "criminal" person.... He believed that "race" is an invention... yet, he made the biggest mistake ever. To go with the mad German. And that was the end for both of them. What "if" he listened to Italo Balbo, who hated the germans and liked the British.... what if!
All of Europe would have been better off had the Nazis or Fascism won! It is better to have white people in charge of Europe than the people of Africa. England, Sweden and France are going down. And when they talk about white racism, pull this up: Two minutes of hate (anti-white racism)
This documentary isn't that bad as usual. But frankly it has been carefully edited to keep a comfortable stance on conventional Anglo-American and left-of-center post war propaganda: It is silent on the struggle in WW I as if it was only Caporetto (it wasn't: in fact the stronghold of Italian forces kept most Austro-German from other western fronts about to collapse). It is silent on the fact that the Matteotti crisis was in fact largely prepared by still obscure directors, throwing Mussolini in his first deepest even personal crisis. It is silent, or even a bit of a liar, when it implicitly states that political violence was first imported into Italian politic life by Fascism. It wasn't: years of civil war prior and during the WW I (The Red weeks) red forces were systematically using violence.... And a bunch of other things. Not so new as a whole. Just some interesting new voices heard and indeed a new perspective on a long denied reality: Fascist Jews. By the way, Aldo Finzi was also a Jew. He was the President of PNF for almost ten years.....
10 minutes into this video and the authors have yet to explain Fascisms ties to the Italian Anarcho syndicalist movement in Italy started by Mikhael Bakunin a noted socialist. The Syndicalists were another form of socialism and the fact that they were political enemies of the communists does not change that fact. ::: Syndicalism was a trade union movement supporting the idea that the workers should elect the board of directors of a company and own all the stock. Mussolini made this philosophy "workable" by supporting the government take over stock in companies directly and manage them for the people. This today is nationalization of industry and the very form or corporatism that communists in Latin America today employ in Cuba and Venezuela and elsewhere they have come to power. :; To state that Mussolini fought the socialists in Italy is a rank rewriting of Italian History without even making an attempt to understand the economic philosophy behind it. Fascism in Italy was a left wing philosophy that was spawned from the Utopian socialists of the 1800's. Marx and Bakunin were friends. Bakunin had issues with communism but it was that he thought the age of government going away would never come and it would instead devolve into a dictatorship where as he thought Syndicalism would not. ::: One of the reasons the German Nazi party used a red swastika was to attract communists since they recognized they were competing for people with essentially the same ideological bent. And anyrate, Stalin killed more jews than Hitler did so Communism is as anti-semitic a philosophy as Fascism anyways. ::: unfortunately it seems this documentary is more of the Fascism is right wing propaganda put out by socialists trying to distance themselves from something that came from their brand. Right wing conservatism comes from a mind set that respects private property rights, limiting the power of the government and enforcing the principles of free market entrepreneurship. All of these things are an anethma to a Fascist that wants to nationalize every industry and have the government control everything to do with social and economic decisions made in a country.
...And oh, by the way, Totalitarian did not in the least "bent to M.'s will" It meant "All in the State, all for the State, nothing against the State" The State as supreme body of civil life. Oh, forget about it... maybe this documentary is just nice to see at first but the more I watch it, it is really full of most conventional crap...
im not anti semetic just tired of hearing this word over and over..... Jew. how does a person not be racist when we hear jews singled out all the time. over and over. if we are all equal and all the same human race, why do the jews get singled out still in this day and age? rhetorical....
Because many of them believe they are spiritually above all other people and as they oversee or create almost everything on television or films it only makes sense that a lot of that slips into media.
The Roman question had to be decided. Unfortunately, it gave the impression that the church supported fascism, and perhaps it did! By this time, people wanted to be both good Catholics, and loyal Italian citizens. Again, unfortunately, if Pius IX and the new political reality which was Italy , had settled the controversy in 1870, the rise of fascism may have been short lived .
"Rebuilt" from what exactly? Italy had an agricultural based economy at the time, there was nothing to rebuild. The only thing that BUILT Italy and made it the 8th richest country in the world it is today is the overwhelming amount of money poured in by the United States after WWII to keep Italy away from communism.
Please visit our new site for the serious history enthusiast: www.historyroom.org We have recent history, old history, ancient history, debates, reviews, quizzes and much more. You might even consider contributing something of your own! See you there!
Thank you for the upload Dr. Brown. I find it a remorseful cultural tragedy that not even a century later most people are misinformed about what exactly fascism is, and how it came about. Red flags were present then, and our society should be very weary of fanatic populism, and corporatism being praised and espoused in the political forums.
+pumpkinchunkin Good point, thank you.
pumpkinchunkin you described the United States as the progressive, that means liberal media proportion it to be . SO is the United States and fascist country or moving in that direction. I believe it has already arrived
Nothing wrong with fascism. All fascist régimes are a reflection of their nations, they're not all identical. Liberal death toll is worse.
Dr. Brown, I wanted to thank you for these uploads and for your willingness to engage your subscribers and commenters alike in actual discourse, taking the time to explain your points and help others do just what documentaries like these should help us do - learn. You're a class act.
Thank you, Archie, your kind words are very much appreciated. Regards - Alan.
I appreciate these uploads and your own comments placed in the descriptions. A little bit of commentary goes a long way.
I like the video. I do wish it had talked about Italy's involvement in the Spanish Civil, it's botched attack against France in 1940, and helping to invade the Soviet Union.
Thank you for the upload, really helps me with my project about Italian Facism. :)
That's good to hear, Markus! Good luck with the project!
Been a long time, but the report was a success and I am currently studying history in university. Cheers from Finland!
Mussolini bombs Civilians: Omg Mussolini and Fascism is so Evil!!!
Churchill bombs Civilians: Oh my God what a hero and a great man
Ignorant comparison
@@kalzaAlza doesn't make it any less true
3:21 The Imperial march? seriously?
yes
IKR...I guess you're never going to find a documentary without some sort of spin on it..Talking about socialism like it's somehow "liberal" is ridiculous. Both ideologies are deplorable!
You might also be interested in a new paper I recently published, available direct from Amazon. Simply search *'How socialist was National Socialism'* in the Amazon search box.
+Dr Alan Brown Thanks for sharing another excellent video, do you have any videos on Italy after WW2?
Ubaldo Croce You are entitled to your opinion, Ubaldo. Then again, that's one of the benefits of a free society, isn't it?
Ubaldo Croce I was referring to your freedom to express your opinion, something you would not have been able to do in fascist Italy (unless of course it was to agree with the PNF.)
+Ubaldo Croce So was it possible to express a free political opinion in fascist Italy? It's a simple question, Ubaldo. Yes or no?
Ubaldo Croce So, if I understand you correctly, in Mussolini's Italy "you could express every political opinion." Thank you for that, Ubaldo.
Thanks for the upload Mr. Alan Brown
You're welcome. Thanks, Chelsea.
Anyone else think the background music sounds an awful lot like Star Wars...
+Undisciplined Intellectual Yes! I came to the comments looking for someone else who had noticed.
Yes, I thought the same.
Thanks for uploading this excellent documentary Dr Alan!
There's a lot that can be learned about politics and human nature in Fascism. It started out as an idealistic movement with noble social and political ideas, but Mussolini and others became lax and corrupt, preferring to keep the old system in exchange for peace and quiet. The first compromise was with the monarchy, then the liberals, then the Church, and soon Fascism lost it's talented creative thinkers, sinking into "Mussolini is always right" hero worship. By the time that the Salo Republic was created, Mussolini had lost everyone besides a few loyalists, fanatics, criminals, and sadists. It's a sad testament.
Thanks Alan for a seriously helpful documentary that will help me with my Italian exam for A-level History
27:53 That is the sound of a Sith lord, ladies and gents. A comical comparison, but that's Palpatine levels of dark.
HibHab69 I am the senate !
Many things could be considered unnatural
Typical "history is written by the victors" documentary I expected. The clear biases, omissions of fact and interjecting politically charged opinions along with objective history.
Nonetheless still a very interesting and compelling video full of nuggets of detail that can give depth to people's perspectives.
"History is written by the victors"
said Mussolini
One of the real ironies is that if anyone had won WWI it was Italy. There old enemy the Hapsburg monarchy was reduced to a bunch of minor squabbling republics, they recaptured Tyrol and took islands in Dalmatia and Greece.
No there real did not come out in a good way. Italy's leaders willingly joined the war. They could not deliver on the territorial gains promised and the Italian men died in battle.
TheZestyCar Italy did not get all that was hoped for, but they got a lot and most importantly of all, their ancient enemy the Austrian Empire was not just defeated (as the French defeated Germany) but broken up into a bunch of small republics.
@@amcalabrese1 itasly hardly care about that ,the aim was lands that were not given
Here was the original goal of the Italian Fascists. The following is from the book 'Fascism: Comparison and Definition' by Stanley G. Payne (1980):
"Fascism was created by the nationalization of certain sectors of the revolutionary left, and the central role in its conceptual orientation was played by revolutionary syndicalists who embraced extreme nationalism. Revolutionary syndicalists, especially in Italy, were frequently intellectuals or theorists who had come out of the Marxist and Socialist party matrix but had struggled to transcend limitations or errors that they believed they found in orthodox Marxism. They espoused direct action and a qualified doctrine of violence, but tried to reach beyond the narrow and cramped confines of the urban proletariat to broader mobilization of peasants and other modest sectors of producers."
Stanley G. Payne is a revisionist idiot and totally incompetent.
Very informative, yet of course also distressing and horrifying.
Italy was actually unified in 1861, not in 1870.
+Stefano Carulli But surely the unification was a process rather than an event. The three wars of Italian independence and the final capture of Rome in 1870 after the defeat of the Papal States is generally accepted as the completion of the process, though it is true that the the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 is the headline event.
I have been watching several of your videos Dr Brown.They are very interesting and informative.Thank you.
My thanks for your posts; at last, some serious documentaries unlike those inane and fatuous Sky History channel attempts.
debyte Thank you! There's more to come too, so stay tuned. Regards - Alan.
Excellent. I'm particularly interested in The Spanish Civil War if you have anything.
Aaaagh, Mussolini! Why did you have to join the Axis Powers!? You didn't even like the Germany! You could have had it all! ITALY could have had it all!
actually, it looked like fascist italy crumbled on its own. if anything, germany kept them from completely disintegrating for a few more years. they bankrupted themselves with all of their pointless wars and war mongering.
Red Vulpes
reprisal for what? italy invaded ethiopia and ethiopia fought back.
Fascism, like it's predecessor, Socialism cannot survive on it's own for long. Fascism was described by it's "creator", Giovani Gentile as the "most workable form of Socialism. Allowing the private ownership of property and industry (as long as they served the state) was a brilliant way to avoid much of the economic upheaval experienced in Russia but in the end, it's still Socialism and will fail economically.
How about engaging in wars that they were unprepared for...The pact of Steel made with Germany literally said that Italy wouldn't be ready for war until at least 1942-1943
MyXxx77 If what you're saying is true then the USA is the ultimate fascist state. My evidence? How much of the humongous US armed forces is "privately financed" ? Think about that when you pay your taxes.
With that out of the side. You simply fail to understand that fascism appeared as a counter-ideology to marxism and as such sought to maintain traditional order, hegemony, hierarchy and above all a deep national pride. Marxism seeks out to abolish all classes, the ruling classes above all. Fascism sees that as suicide for a nation and its people.
Socialism is at core about solidarity with all classes and all nations against the profiteers. Fascism has none of that and maintains the idea of traditional, hierarchical order with leaders and servants (and slaves). That's totally against socialist ideology.
As such you have not a clue what the heck you're talking about. And last of all many German industrialists supported the nazis because they knew the nazis (fascists) took a brutal stance against any marxists.
Nationalism, national glory, hegemony and the worship of power has nothing to do with socialism, never will. You're just foolishly attributing it to "state control" when the state just represents what *class* calls the shots.
Fascists at least were smart enough to understand a nation would go under if it never gave anything back to its own people. As such they were way more successful than any anarchists, American libertarians (not the real ones that coined the expression) and fools completely ignoring 150 years of progress in society and want a throwback to the early industrial age.
Mussolini reaped what he sowed. I hope the human race truly learns from these terrible follies of the past.
Great Doc. I also would like to see some content on Italy after the second world war.
Ya i agree as a student of history i see the eerie resemblance.
+Charles Bell Trump unlike Hitler or Mussolini is an idiot though but yes history is repeating itself just not with trump
'Fasci' does mean bundle, but this is a reference to a 'fasces' a bundle of rods surrounding an ax (a symbol of the authority of Roman consuls and later Roman emperors). Mussolini wanted to rebuild the Roman empire (at least in his propaganda).
no he is right, he tried to make italy an empire with conquering ( in his mind was liberating ) part of africa ( Abissinia - modern Etiopia ).
These videos always provide great comical material.
Ye
Tyler Pape - it's sad that you find this funny: 'comical'. The fact that millions of people were slaughtered makes you laugh? I guess your comical entertainments are visits to slaughter houses, and embalming outlets.
steve randall No, it's simply funny people believe such bullshit.
+Tyler Pape I don't understand. What is it you don't believe, and what is it that you DO believe?
you need to move on... a great many Italians suffered this war many thousands upon thousands were never to recover because of the atrocities committed and your ridiculous comments only shed light on your obvious ignorance. GO find the Donald Duck cartoons that so challenge the inner deep twit recesses of your redundant mind!
and he was confronted with the ultimate choice: join the strong germany who was conquering all of Europe or face it ? he chose the first,rather than being subdued,all in favour of the italian people.
wrong choice,but in good faith
I feel bad for him.
Yes it's correct
Great watch .While Fascism is not an ideology I subscribe to it is fascinating
Thanks for the upload
Did I hear Darth Vader's theme in this film? (around the 3:25 mark)
Thanks Dr Brown for another excellent presentation!
At least Italy's economy functioned, low unemployment and grand public works projects. But Mussolini was unbalanced.
The trains ran on time as well.
Thanks for posting. Interesting indeed although really frustrating that Mussolini's overthrow in 43 was covered by a single paragraph with very little detail, same regarding his eventual capture and death.
"Mussolini has steadily refused to be called anything save 'Leader' (Duce) or 'Head of the government,' the term dictator has been applied by foreign envy, as the Tories were called cattle-stealers. It does not represent the Duce's fundamental conception of his role. His authority comes, as Eirugina proclaimed authority comes, 'from right reason' and from the general fascist conviction that he is more likely to be right than anyone else is."
--EZRA POUND ('Jefferson and/or Mussolini', 1935)
Its my thought that Fascism worked for Italy. Mussolini loved his country and was only doing what he thought was best. Now I know lots of you will hate on me for this but oh well.
the war mongering of mussolini and the pointless invasions lead to a bankrupt italy in less then 20 years. the hate and rage that the fascists were trying to fuel with italian citizens also shows just how weak the system really was. it looked to me to be a dismal failure.
There will always be haters of Fascism no matter what. Fascism worked and that made people envious and even copy it. There was no hate or rage, I know because my family does not hate anyone nor have rage against anyone. So I don't think they are lying to me. Additionally the 100+ or so Italians I've interviewed had noting bad to say about Fascism nor are they filled with hate or rage.
rudeone4life
is freedom of speech, press and expression allowed under a fascist system or would a person get beaten to death for expressing these kinds of things?
There was freedom of speech under Fascism.
And Italians did speak out some who spoke too much well they broke the law and paid for it and went to prison or went into exile. Better than death.
I am not writing this to specifically give Mussolini excuses as I have little sympathy for his part in WW2, so correct me if I am wrong. Didn't Mussolini overall order deaths of less than 8 thousand people? or was it about how many people were executed by Mussolini's forces? I also read that he didn't want to deport or kill Italian Jews. I do know that in a number of countries in the world where the Marxists fought with the powers in authority there were actually many more deaths. Like in Finland for example. I read that to make sure Marxists don't succeed about 20 thousand of people were arrested and killed over a number of years. It was at some point after the revolution in Russia, when Russia and Marxists attempted to repeat their power grab in Finland.
As an Ethiopian I came to like Mussolini and his buddy Hitler for one very important reason and the reason is that they invaded and brutalize all theses counties who supported Italy over Ethiopia. Now you taste your own medicine. Especially the invasion of all theses sovereign European countries who formally recognize Italy's ownership of Ethiopia which it invaded and committed genocide off.
+HIM Haile Selassie I Rastafari Wut?
Alfredo di Nuzzo Read, Mussolini after Ethiopia invaded, Greece, Albania, Spain: and Hitler invaded pretty much the whole of Europe. Which was nice to see all these who betrayed Ethiopia got immediate karma.
Alfredo di Nuzzo What immigration!? Italy tried to conquer countries in a bid to create an empire. And guess what happened by the end of the war, Italy lost EVERYTHING, including the country's dignity and respect.
HIM Haile Selassie I Rastafari I'm talking about the current immigration from Africa to Europe.
And to be fair:
1) Italy actually conquered Libya and Ethiopia
2) It was colonialism. Every country in Europe did that. And italian territories were nothing compared to British and French colonies.
+HIM Haile Selassie I Rastafari Mussolini invaded SPAIN???? And when exactly did this happen?? I think it is you who should read and educate yourself a little bit, amigo
Two mistakes ,One Italians do not like war, number two the Italians were not particularly fond of militaristic Germans . Mussolini could have gone down as a force of good for Italy. Italy had no real reason to get involved in the First World War the soldiers had no stomach for a war that they had no understanding of. The same held true for the Second World War ,I'll equipped over 80 thousand were sent to Russia to assist the Germans at Stalingrad and most of them were lost.
Not only that, Italians are lovers.
@Vito Santo, well your statements are true, although the urgency and necessity for was was imminent for both Germany and Italy because the British and French were creating blockades all through Europe to help Stalin have the green light at enslaving Europe with Communism. However, it would have been better indeed if Italy did not enter the war for a multitude of reasons, they were definitely ill equipped, not disciplined enough and had antiquated equipment, with exception of the Naval forces. Even Hitler admitted towards the end how he wish the Italians just stayed Neutral and would have kept out of the war.
Mussolini did not build the world's "first totalitarian state." Lenin did, a decade before Mussolini
There were certainly other autocracies too, even before Lenin. I think the point the documentary was trying to make with too much literalism was that Mussolini is alleged to have coined the word 'totalitarianism' to mean that everything and everyone in the State must bend towards the State with totality. No one was allowed to do, say or think anything against the State under this definition.
Ethiopia was not "Africa's last independent nation." Liberia remained independent, though controlled to a large extent by the Firestone rubber company.
fascism,socialism,republicanism,nazism,marxism,communism are all similar with some differences and they influenced by each other in some way
Could you please tell us who made this excellent documentary. The credits at the end are blurred. The Istituto Luce is mentioned but it is not clear if they are the producers.
This one is proving to be problematic, Fransciso. The full name of the film is _Mussolini: The Rise of Italian Fascism_, broadcast in the UK in 2007. After that, however, I'm drawing blanks. IMDB Pro has the info, but I don't have a secure login for that. Perhaps you could ask around your own contacts to see if anyone has access to the Pro site.
Thanks. That is enough. I just want to keep track of these important video documents. Thanks again for posting them.
Fashion, unity, aggression, beauty, vanity, and death.... These are the best thing in life!
It behooves people to pick up books and read for themselves. Start with Mussolini’s book My Rise and Fall.
You-Tube should not be allowed to dictate the content of social discourse. Death to fascism!
Better put Death to You Tube Fascism!
Why miss out that In 1912, Mussolini had been a leading member of the National Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party?
Appreciate the videos!
Thank you, Zachary. There's a few more to come, then a new channel on ancient history.
I honestly don't see why this has an age restriction, I need to watch it for my school project.
Nor do I, Qadira, but it was imposed by UA-cam for violence, I think. It's either accept the ruling or take the video down. I hope you find a way around your problem. Regards - Alan
Dostoevsky portrayed the human instinct to fascism perfectly in his "Grand Inquisitor" chapter from the Brothers. The modern western world has forgotten that people have not always, nor will they always desire to be free. It is often an excess of freedom that leads humanity to desire order, to desire strength and solidarity. I am afraid that this instinct will re-occur in the near future, and that we will not be ready for it--will not be ready to make the most of it, and keep it from self-destructing.
How does Italy using chemical weapons against its enemy implicate Fascist doctrine? That is a huge logical fallacy. Where in the Doctrine of Fascism is the use of chemical weapons mandated? The particular methods of the Italians against Ethiopians have nothing to do with Fascism as a political theory. That is like saying slavery-the subjugation of the Africans-is a necessary component of republicanism or parliamentarianism; however, neither the Declaration of Independence nor Magna Carta even talk about race let alone the subjugation of other races.
This is what you get from American made "documentaries". A subtle bias against everything national socialist and Faschist.
When the Germans went into Czechoslovakia , it was actually only Bohemia-Moravia left. Slovakia had separated itself from Czechoslovakia. Poland had also taken a part.
What most of these things lack, perhaps understandably, is the history of Liberalism in 19 th Century Europe which preceded. You really need to start with the French Revolution (7 Years War, better) and you'll discover that both Nationalism and Communism were Liberal in origin, opposed to Monarchy, from the die hard ideologues of Revolutionary France. The movement even penetrated the Ottoman Empire and brought about analogous changes until the Hapsburg and Ottoman collapsed after WW1. "Socialism" in Europe originated in Metternich Era England, "the Social Question", the abuses Charles Dickens and other "grievance novelists" wrote about. (H.B. Stowe was the American corollary, later the " Muck Rakers", ect.) The world we live in today began in 1919 and is totally different from what preceded it. That is really where the study of "fascism" belongs, a National movement without a doctrine largely defined by Mussolini's enthusiasm but more by Bolshevik "smear", still without any useful definition, but part of the demise of the Old World, and transition to what exists today.
This video doesn't seem to differentiate between socialism and communism in particular. Didn't Fascism begin as one of several socialist ideologies and turn on the others when their internationalism interfered with its nationalism?
+Adrian LeCesne i am not sure that there is much affinity between fascism and socialism at its heart - you will hear alot of right wingers say they are the same, but they lump everything together and never admit for a second that their own ideology of violence and corporate power over people has any relation.
fascism mostly has always seen itself as opposed to anything left wing - such as socialism and communism and democracy for that matter too, - fascism is an ideology of using physical force and fear rather than any representative democracy or electoral process. - fascism is against the rights of workers to have any political voice and so it goes after unions viciously and so helps maintain tyrannical corporate power.
the part about fascism though that makes it unique to just outright authoritarianism, is that also has some energized popularity - in particular if it draws up young men and women with its style and promise of uniforms and purpose - people get to feel like they are part of some powerful force - unfortunately that comes with a whole lot of violence and atrocities, with bristling mobs ready to beat to death anyone they think is some enemy within.
not to say that soviet socialism wasnt also equally brutal, though it seemed to prefer secret police to do targeted violence and intimidation (the official view of murder in the USSR was that it only exists in the west) and also pretended to be democratic
TheOneFromFuture
that is mostly right, but i think more of the ideal of fascism as a fascist supporter may view it. I dont think fascism sits between capitalism and communism, i would place regulated capitalism in that place - ie New Deal kind of stuff.
fascism is beast with many different forms and it changes its nature as it moves along, being quite opportunistic and definitely exploitative when it needs to be, it perhaps though doesnt even sit on the same bar as others, because it is really just a reactionary moment that claims to sweep away whatever previous system exists or that it believes exist (hence its strong use of terms like decadence and rot to describe existing society in all its facets), but then once in power it is extremely unstable and its heads will use fear and violence to maintain there positions, as well as make whatever deals necessary with corporations. Mussolini's other name for cfascism was 'corporatism', the there is no longer a separation between public and private sector under fascism, rather all that is public is controlled and dictated by concentrated private interests, which is also what fascism generally sneers at things like human rights and favours anti-intellectualism to stop the public being at all made aware of what is happening to their society.
I'm wondering - how concentrated was the political power of this movement in Italy in reality? We always hear about this in terms of Mussolini, but was this bus really being driven primarily by Mussolini, or was he just the frontman for a small group of politically powerful people?
who debelled "mafia" in Italy? who created the national INPS for the first time? who changed the dirty palude of Terracina? who build the main train stations of Italy?
which leader had the most traitors in his followers?
Alan, do you have similar videos on lenin, trotsky and stalin? I would love to see them!
Its interesting that his soldiers did not care to fight for him.
This Documentary is called "Italian Fascism In Color"! I own it :)
It seems as though he dreamt of becoming the second coming of Julius Caesar. The main variable I see that prevented that dream from becoming reality is that during his time Italy had a very weak, fragile economy. Second, his supposed ally, Adolph Hitler, had similar ambitions, but enjoyed a incredibly strong economy. The two countries economic state, played a significant role in the outcome of these two leaders.
I mean I guess he forgot to look up what happened to Julius Caesar cause he got what was coming...
Read or watch the film "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"
A good take on how some viewed Il Duce at the time.
("...Girls, you are the crème de la crème...") - I loved that bit!
He just wanted to make italy great again
They left out the part about the Italian occupation of Serbia which ended with italian soldiers fighting against both the ustase and invading german soldiers.
This must have been horrible for the dictator to loose this easy. Both wanting to go to war and also stay out of it to not make the nation to collapse. What a tough situation he must have dealt with. Luckily the war did end and stopped the despair not only for what Mussolini got, but also those who suffered as victims (jews just because of their own religion especially but also the rest who got victims of the nazists/fascists) and those who at all cost tried to avoid being pulled into the war. What a hell for a time.
So Mussolinis story is like that of Darth vader he started as a socialist but became the darkest fascist leader in history
...and oh, by the way, Amendola was not beaten to death. This is a gross mistake, not even difficult to avoid. Amendola died almost one year later.
Italy and Japan didn't suffer as much during the depression because of their mixed, agrarian economies. The Soviet Union's command economy actually grew. Naturally, this changed people's attitudes towards economics. I don't know about this video's assertion that the Papacy liked fascism though. The fascists tried hard to push out Catholic social groups and they competed with each other for young people. Pius XI and Pius XII both complained bitterly about this.
I am not convinced that the Holy See supported fascism. The unification of Italy in 1870 with the annexation of the Papal States caused a political and religious wedge between Italian State and the the Holy See. The 1929 treaty resolved the conflict guaranteeing the right of the Church to exist and the freedom to carry out its mission by establishing the Vatican State as a separate country within Italy. In turn, the Holy See recognized Italy as a sovereign state.
Giovanni Serafino I'd have made the same reluctant decision Pope Pius XI and Pius XII made. There were no good choices and they were all against the church.
This is no offense against any people but I have this question: I don't understand Southern Europeans being anti jewish. Southern Europeans look like jews. Certainly when you look how the Germans did identify people. It shows me just how ridicilous the situation was. I mean, its like Blacks saying I am anti-black. Can anybody seriously comment on this.
remove all kind of fascism including communism
However terrible Italy's behavior in Ethopia with respect to chemical weapons and reprisals against civilians may have been, she was in good company. Britain had used gas bombs from the air against Iraqi tribes in the 1920s. Churchill had also overseen a "starvation blockade" against the German populations during and immediately after WWI -- this killed up to 1 million civilians. One could also mention Britain's murderous civilian concentration camps during the Boer War.
The alleged use of 'concentration camps' in SA is a horrible distortion of the facts.
It is true that concentration camps were established. But these were not intended to be a template for the later camps of the Nazi regime.
The British camps in SA were intended to be a means to neutralize the advantage the Boer farmers had in their use of asymmetric guerilla fighting styles.
To combat the hit-and-run tactics of the Boer's the British began to round-up and concentrate the civilian rural population which was offering support to the Boer fighters. It was, contrary to the rules of war, impossible to distinguish the Boer fighters from the farmers. To frustrate this, rounding up the civilians in camps removed the support base the Boer's enjoyed from the local farmers.
This tactic began to work. The Boer's were losing their ability to successfully fight the British columns without this informal support.
The problem arose, ironically, because of the attacks of the Boer's on British supply lines of communications. The supply lines were attacked, trains derailed, etc. This disrupted supplies that were bound not only for the troops but also the camps! The camps began to fall into disrepair and the unintended consequence of the both the initial tactic and the guerrilla attacks began to be the spread of disease.
It was not, contrary to popular belief and later propaganda, an intention of the British military approach to murder women and children.
Oh, and the original source of discontent between the Boer's (the descendants of Dutch settlers)? The fact that the British had actually sided with the native Bantu tribes and advocated that the Boer's agree to enforce greater legal equality between Boer policies and their Bantu neighbors. :/
Should have included something about involvement in the Spanish Civil War.
The audio is waaay too quiet
what comes around goes around
Is history repeating itself here in America?
+Joseph Kovalcik Seems to have all the hallmarks. I fear what follows, even though I don't live in the states.
Joseph Kovalcik yes can't wait until D Day occurs in occupied America, now the land of fascist racists!!
Yes, its true that Fascism was created by a Socialist. No its not true that Fascism is a Right Wing idea. Ideologies that originate from Marxist ideas all belong on the Left, and that certainly includes Fascism and National Socialism. Neither of those ideas sprung from Classic Liberal ideas, they were both born from the Marxist schism in the 1920's when the idea of advancing socialism through the Nation State instead of the proletariat coalesced. After all its much easier to unite a people and have them fight and die for the cause of the nation, then for the vague idea of the control of the means of production and sticking it to the rich. Even Stalin recognized the power of nationalism, he very much was a nationalist without being a Fascist, so Nationalism itself (obviously) does not equal Fascism or Nazism, as the Left unsuccessfully argues. Nationalism is just a means to an end, its one of the tools to attain power, and whoever is the leader, regardless of the type of socialism, they will utilize whatever they can to attain it. If you look at Soviet propaganda and Nazi propaganda, with their soldiers marching, their nationalism on display, their authoritarian leaders giving these thunderous identity cult speeches you quickly see that the end is the same, whether they pursue it through National Socialism or Communism, or Fascism, or International Socialism, its all the same result in the end. Hitler urged Germans to fight for the Fatherland, Stalin urges Russians to fight and die for the Motherland, its so eerily similar yet Leftists can not see it, deep down I think many Leftists know that Nazis and Italian Fascists were Leftist, but they just refuse to admit it. Just like we never see the Democrat Party in the US apologizing for slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, the KKK, lynching etc. To a Leftist they think the Nazis are Right wing, the Republicans were the party of slavery and the KKK (Not the abolitionist party, the party of Lincoln), its completely upside down in their world. They should read a book sometime and learn history.
8:07 does anyone know the name of that score,I hear it a lot in documentaries
Why would this video be inappropriate for any viewer.
I believe it was the violent scenes early on, Kenneth. It was age-rated by UA-cam, not me. Regards - Alan.
@@oasis6767 Great video. I was being a bit sarcastic in my comments. Considering the media consumed by the masses today, of all ages. 👍
Saluti Romani! Me ne frego!
+Eric Owens ?
+HughJason If you have a question you must be a bit more specific.
Mussolini... probably the best politician Europe ever had in the 20th century: remember that he was the only one in Europe to send troops on the Austrian border when Hitler tried to invade it... he considered Hitler a "mentally retarded" and "criminal" person.... He believed that "race" is an invention... yet, he made the biggest mistake ever. To go with the mad German. And that was the end for both of them. What "if" he listened to Italo Balbo, who hated the germans and liked the British.... what if!
there is still a road in NYC dedicated to Balbo, he was welcomed as a king in US.
great quality video
Fascism was humiliated and died in the mountains of Greece! (1940-41)
And now Greece is hell bent on bringing it back with Golden Dawn.
All of Europe would have been better off had the Nazis or Fascism won!
It is better to have white people in charge of Europe than the people of Africa.
England, Sweden and France are going down.
And when they talk about white racism, pull this up:
Two minutes of hate (anti-white racism)
Fascism is needed in Italy to day to stop those African refugees from turning Italy into Somalia!!!!!
+Dario Ghidoni Yep, but now.... you are suffering.
Seriously? Fascism is a good thing? You horrify me. Greece has already collapsed. What a glorious thing to see.
hard to find any non bias, even anti Fascism talks of Fascism in documentary form.
Who is the producer and which is the title of this documentary?
Check the credits, Riccardo - the producer's name appears at the very last frame.
Ian Lilley! Thank you, that escaped me!
Can someone please tell me who published this documentation?
LOL50020 It was produced and directed by Ian Lilley, and made by IWC Polivideo in 2005
Dr Alan Brown Thank you very much
All these comments praising Mussolini for being a great leader and I'm just here wondering what type of wall he'd like to line up against the most
This documentary isn't that bad as usual. But frankly it has been carefully edited to keep a comfortable stance on conventional Anglo-American and left-of-center post war propaganda: It is silent on the struggle in WW I as if it was only Caporetto (it wasn't: in fact the stronghold of Italian forces kept most Austro-German from other western fronts about to collapse). It is silent on the fact that the Matteotti crisis was in fact largely prepared by still obscure directors, throwing Mussolini in his first deepest even personal crisis. It is silent, or even a bit of a liar, when it implicitly states that political violence was first imported into Italian politic life by Fascism. It wasn't: years of civil war prior and during the WW I (The Red weeks) red forces were systematically using violence.... And a bunch of other things. Not so new as a whole. Just some interesting new voices heard and indeed a new perspective on a long denied reality: Fascist Jews. By the way, Aldo Finzi was also a Jew. He was the President of PNF for almost ten years.....
El Douche.
10 minutes into this video and the authors have yet to explain Fascisms ties to the Italian Anarcho syndicalist movement in Italy started by Mikhael Bakunin a noted socialist. The Syndicalists were another form of socialism and the fact that they were political enemies of the communists does not change that fact.
:::
Syndicalism was a trade union movement supporting the idea that the workers should elect the board of directors of a company and own all the stock. Mussolini made this philosophy "workable" by supporting the government take over stock in companies directly and manage them for the people. This today is nationalization of industry and the very form or corporatism that communists in Latin America today employ in Cuba and Venezuela and elsewhere they have come to power.
:;
To state that Mussolini fought the socialists in Italy is a rank rewriting of Italian History without even making an attempt to understand the economic philosophy behind it. Fascism in Italy was a left wing philosophy that was spawned from the Utopian socialists of the 1800's. Marx and Bakunin were friends. Bakunin had issues with communism but it was that he thought the age of government going away would never come and it would instead devolve into a dictatorship where as he thought Syndicalism would not.
:::
One of the reasons the German Nazi party used a red swastika was to attract communists since they recognized they were competing for people with essentially the same ideological bent. And anyrate, Stalin killed more jews than Hitler did so Communism is as anti-semitic a philosophy as Fascism anyways.
:::
unfortunately it seems this documentary is more of the Fascism is right wing propaganda put out by socialists trying to distance themselves from something that came from their brand. Right wing conservatism comes from a mind set that respects private property rights, limiting the power of the government and enforcing the principles of free market entrepreneurship. All of these things are an anethma to a Fascist that wants to nationalize every industry and have the government control everything to do with social and economic decisions made in a country.
This video is making Fascism look good
So basically if you remove the antisemitism and the whole racial superiority thing, fascism isn't a such a bad ideology.
So basically if you remove the fascism, fascism is not so bad. ok got it.
Mussolini was not anti-Semitic.
Nazism was antisemitic, Mussolini always talked about a "Mediterranean Race" which was a metaphor for the unity of the former Roman Empire states.
...And oh, by the way, Totalitarian did not in the least "bent to M.'s will" It meant "All in the State, all for the State, nothing against the State" The State as supreme body of civil life. Oh, forget about it... maybe this documentary is just nice to see at first but the more I watch it, it is really full of most conventional crap...
im not anti semetic just tired of hearing this word over and over..... Jew. how does a person not be racist when we hear jews singled out all the time. over and over. if we are all equal and all the same human race, why do the jews get singled out still in this day and age? rhetorical....
Because many of them believe they are spiritually above all other people and as they oversee or create almost everything on television or films it only makes sense that a lot of that slips into media.
That is true. Need an enemy? Repetitive Demonizing will do it
Who is the Narrator ? I recognize the voice but my brain isn't willing 😁
Bill Paterson, Beba.
@@oasis6767 thank you 😊
Extremely biased
I don't like fascism, my family does not have fascist origins, I've never been a fascist. When Italy was fascist, my family was't.
OK so Mussolini was PM before becoming leader of fascists?
Other way around, Cranky.
his big mistake was the Lateran pact
The Roman question had to be decided. Unfortunately, it gave the impression that the church supported fascism, and perhaps it did! By this time, people wanted to be both good Catholics, and loyal Italian citizens. Again, unfortunately, if Pius IX and the new political reality which was Italy , had settled the controversy in 1870, the rise of fascism may have been short lived .
Is that execution real?
Yes, hence the age restrictions on the video.
The purpose is always in the name.
Too Colorful for me.
Crazy as one is , but at least he rebuilt Itlay.
@James Anderson because he lost
"Rebuilt" from what exactly? Italy had an agricultural based economy at the time, there was nothing to rebuild. The only thing that BUILT Italy and made it the 8th richest country in the world it is today is the overwhelming amount of money poured in by the United States after WWII to keep Italy away from communism.