World War I was the first Major war of the 20th century. It started with the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 and involved more countries than any war before it (Graham). Many European countries entered alliances with each other and fought for four years. It resulted in several casualties including the death of more than 9 million soldiers and 6 million civilians until it ended with the peace treaty of Versailles (Graham). However, many countries were unsatisfied with the results of the Treaty of Versailles, amongst them Italy and Germany, both of which felt they had been humiliated and cheated. Riding on these feelings of national humiliation, two leaders under the banner of Fascism rose to power. Through …show more content…
They needed to produce weapons for their soldiers, and therefore allow factories to go back to work. To revalidate their countries, Hitler and Mussolini had to create laws. In Germany, Hitler implemented the New Plan (1934), which stopped all foreign imports and subsidized industry, hence raising their production in war essentials such as coal or oil (“Germany”). Later they implemented the Four Year Plan (1936), which was meant to prepare Germany for war in four years, in both industry and army (Rice 105). This left the country in a state of Wehrwirtschaft, an economic state where both the economics of peacetime and wartime were combined (Overy). Although these policies successfully boosted the economy and industry, the economy was strictly controlled, and many small businesses were sacrificed to support bigger industries, which on the long run gave Germany more problems. Labor unions also came under Nazi control by implementing policies such as the RAD, which gave jobs to men while wearing an army uniform, the Strength Through Joy (KdF), which was a controlled leisure organization, or the German Labor Front (DAF) (Overy). By controlling the labor unions, Hitler was able to control the workers as he pleased. For Mussolini, the goal of modernization had been long overdue, since he felt this would help establish Italy as a leading European power. Mussolini’s first goal was to make Italy strong internally and to achieve this he waged a number of social and economic “ battles” (Mulvihill 18). The “Battle for Births” aimed at increasing Italy's population. Women had to be driven back into home, to be dutiful wives and mothers, and the more children they had the better. Mothers of seven children were saluted by militiamen, while unmarried men were liable to special punitive taxes (Mulvihill 18). Many other battles were waged. Extensive public works Provided employment and