Italian Fascism - Nazism - Stalinism

Totalitarianism

A form of government that seeks total control over all aspects of public and private life, including economy, education, and thought, through surveillance, propaganda, and force. Characterized by single-party rule, a charismatic dictator, and official ideology, it suppresses opposition and denies fundamental rights.

Black Shirts

A violent Italian fascist paramilitary group founded by Benito Mussolini. They served as the militant arm of the National Fascist Party, using violence, intimidation, and murder against socialists, communists, and political opponents to help Mussolini seize power.

March on Rome

A staged uprising and mass demonstration by Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party in 1922 that brought him to power as Italian Prime Minister. It marked the end of the liberal parliamentary regime and the beginning of Fascist rule.

Mein Kampf

“My Struggle“ is an autobiographical book by Adolf Hitler outlining Nazism ideology, racism, and future plans for Germany.

Enabling Act

A crucial German amendment, passes in 1933, that gave Hitler dictatorial powers to make laws without parliament consent

Nuremberg Laws

Antisemitic and racist laws that stripped Jews of citizenship and rights in Nazi Germany, and forbade marriage or sexual relations between Jews and Germans.

War Communism

The harsh economic and political system enforced by Lenin’s Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. The state controlled the industry and seized grain. It caused economic collapse, widespread famine, and was replaced in 1921 by the New Economic Policy (NEP).

New Economic Policy

A policy introduced by Vladimir Lenin, allowing a temporary return of private business and market mechanisms to restore the Soviet economy after civil war.

Collectivisation

A policy lauched by Joseph Stalin, adopted to transform traditional individual agriculture into large, state-controlled collective farms. It aimed to rapidly industrialize the USSR, increase agricultural productivity, and eliminate the kulaks.

Kulaks

Wealthy peasants in the Soviet Union who owned land, hired labor, or possessed machinery. They were largely targeted for elimination under Stalin's policies

Holodomor

A man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 caused by the Soviet regime under Joseph Stalin, it involved grain confiscation, forced collectivization, and restrictions on movement, leading to mass starvation.