Click2Flicks - Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Chapter 2

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 2 - HITLER AND MUSSOLINI</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Italy fought on the side of the Allies during World War I. Not much credit had been given to the Italians for all their efforts. Benito <a href="http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/dpf/Fascism/Images/FRY82.html" target="_blank"><b>Mussolini</b></a> was enraged about that.</p> <p>After the war, the former school teacher from Predappio developed a new <a href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussolini-fascism.html" target="_blank"><b>political theory</b></a> called "<a href="http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/dpf/Fascism/Intro.html" target="_blank"><b>Fascism</b></a>." Using ancient Rome’s <a href="http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/dpf/Fascism/Images/Big/FRY64-550.jpeg" target="_blank"><b>symbol</b></a> of power - bound sticks called <a href="http://home.uchicago.edu/~jazuber/fasces.htm" target="_blank"><b><i>Fasces</b></i></a> - Mussolini began to build his <a href="http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/dpf/Fascism/Images/FRY08.html" target="_blank"><b>authority</b></a> base.</p> <p>By 1922, after Benito’s "<a href="http://www.falange.org/fasci4.jpg" target="_blank"><b>March on Rome</b></a>," King <a href="http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/pict/ju002297/index.html" target="_blank"><b>Victor Emmanuel III</b></a> took note of Mussolini’s increasing popularity. He made the former school teacher head of the government. Hitler, at the time, was still formulating his ideas. It would be more than a decade before he became head of the German government. When he did, he took the same name as Mussolini: <i>Fuhrer</i> means "leader" in German.</p> <p>Effectively using the power of <a href="http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/dpf/Fascism/Images/FRY49.html" target="_blank"><b>propaganda</b></a> to influence <a href="http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/dpf/Fascism/Images/FRY46.html" target="_blank"><b>young people</b></a>, Mussolini’s prominence grew. He wanted to <a href="http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/dpf/Fascism/Images/FRY51.html" target="_blank"><b>attract</b></a> people to the Fascist way of thinking. In 1929, with <a href="http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/lateran-ratified.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Cardinal</b></a> Gasparri, <a href="http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/sign-s.jpg" target="_blank"><b>he</b></a> even <a href="http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/lateran-pact.jpg" target="_blank"><b>signed</b></a> the Lateran Treaty with the Catholic Church, thereby creating the Vatican State. The Pope (Pius XI) was finally free to come and go at will.</p> <p>Meanwhile, in Germany, Adolf Hitler’s oratory had <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/28/12/28-1119a.gif" target="_blank"><b>moved him</b></a> closer to center stage. Twenty simultaneous fires in Berlin, including one at <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/28/12/28-1125a.gif" target="_blank"><b>the Reichstag</b></a>, gave the future dictator a reason to seize power in February, 1933. Assuring would-be subjects that he could provide the country with security, the former <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/28/8/28-0710a.gif" target="_blank"><b>foot soldier</b></a> was soon the undisputed ruler. (Look for the "x" in this link to the U.S. National Archives.)</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="corelli_mandolin_ch1.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="corelli_mandolin_ch3.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>