919-925

It is interesting that, while many people will say that through art they discovered the meaning to their lives, for Adolf Hitler, it was the German army, not the artistic route, that allowed him to "finally [find] meaning in his life" (919). Art typically serves as a free expression of oneself in which one attempts to depict a personal emotion, event or opinion--an artist's work ultimately defines him or her and serves as the thread that pieces the artists life together. While the army typically is associated with having little to no freedoms, much like art, it too is an expression of self. Whereas art demonstrates how one lives one's life, the army provides a reason to live ones life. While the Austrian Adolf Hitler had moved to Vienna to become an artist, he was only able to find himself (or understand himself) upon joining the German army--a country that he was not associated with and therefore should not "naturally" have had any reason to sympathize with or understand. However, it was in the foreign German territory and as a member of the restrictive German army that Hitler began to truly define himself and his beliefs, as his autobiography Mein Kampf demonstrates. While this autobiography lays down Hitler's political foundation, it also manipulates the German nationalist sentiment against the rest of the continent (Germany was pretty mad about the results of the Treaty of Versailles, 1918) to further his anti-Semitic perspective. Is it fair for Hitler, a stranger in German land, to use German nationalism as a tool to further his own beliefs and to also further his own political popularity and power?

913-919

While Italy had never been completely stable after it's unification, it's unstable conditions worsened after WWI, for Italy was a complete and total mess. Rising inflation, high rates of unemployment and a national dissatisfaction for the Italian involvement in WWI resulted in a pretty chaotic scene. As the Russian Communist Revolution demonstrated, a state of national chaos allows for great governmental change for the (practically) unanimous discontent facilitates a national sentiment that embraces change. While socialism was on the rise (as an immediate response to the dissatisfied national sentiment), the fascist movement, lead by Mussolini, started to slowly gain popularity and awareness. Fascists aggressively smothered the socialist movement, and, as a result, "as the national regime weakened, Mussolini's coercive politics made him look like a solution to the absence of leadership" (915). In other words, Italians were essentially cornered into supporting Mussolini. The three main pillars of fascism are statism, nationalism and militarism, and the Italian fascist flag successfully encompasses these elements. Drawing pretty much directly from the etymology of the word "fascism", the image of the bird carrying the bundle of sticks tied together with an ax head sticking out successfully depicts the fascist cause while simultaneously inspiring pride in that cause; the subtle ax head demonstrating the unexpected nature of the fascist strength, power and potency.

Summary

As Danielle discusses in her post "Russian Revolution!!!", the Bolsheviks were "able to come to power due to the instability of Russia and the overall political and social CHAOS!!". I agree with this point entirely--the Bolsheviks proposed a solution to such chaos in the seemingly stable Soviet governmental system. I do not think that it is difficult to say whether or not the Communist Revolution would have been so successful if Russia had been more stable--the revolution was so greatly dependent on the support of the proletariat that ONLY such a state of chaos (and consequently desperation) facilitated the implementation of the Soviet government. This essentially follows the Marxist understanding that a communist revolution would inevitably occur due to contradiction and civil warfare, except that the fall of the English and French systems had not yet occurred. The proletariat were desperate to be acknowledged by their government, and the Soviet government appealed to that desire, offering a breath of fresh air amongst such chaos and instability. The Bolsheviks sympathized with the discontent of the Russian army and forfeited tremendous amounts of territory in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918) just to get out of WWI. The Bolsheviks (somewhat) stabilized the discontentment of the peasants by randomly distributing the land of the nobility without requiring compensations of any sort, and, in giving the workers control within the workplace, appealed to the workers as well. Essentially, I entirely agree with what Danielle said. The fact that Russia was in such a great state of chaos worked well with the fact that the Bolshevik party wanted to entirely change the foundations of Russia, because the state of chaos provided the proletariat with a reason to embrace this change.

888-893

The Russian Communist Revolution craftily utilized the weakened political state of Russia in order to unite the masses in support of a Communist state. The Russian morale was low during WWI and Lenin, who led the Bolshevik party and thus the Communist revolution, used this discontented state to rally support against the provisional government. While there were slight efforts made to maintain contentment amongst the nobility, the general Bolshevik energy was directed to obtaining the support of the peasantry. The Bolsheviks empowered the workers and peasantry, giving them control in the workplace and also redistributing noble land without compensation for the nobles. The success of the Communist revolution was the utilization of the enraged peasants, who were frustrated with being ignored by their government. Instead of continuing a spirit of negligence, the Bolsheviks essentially devoted their entire platform to satisfying some of the peasants needs. Obtaining such support benefited the Bolshevik cause for not only did it increase the potency of the political group but it also insured that the peasants would not rebel against the Bolsheviks.

876-888

While the feminist movement had been gaining momentum prior to WWI, the war called on women to serve their countries internally while the men fought in the foreign wars. Since the men were called off to fight in war, the jobs that they performed needed to continue in order to maintain the internal functioning of the country. Consequently, the women were beckoned to join the workforce and, though they were not constantly working right next to men, the fact that women could perform the same tasks as men was hugely significant in the societal perception of women. The dependency of country’s on the women workforce during WWI fostered the growth of a new identity for women, one in which they were independent from the guidance and aid of men and were instead equally capable within society as men. However, while the growth of the female identity was great during WWI, the spectrum of the growth seemed to be confined to the period of warfare, when the male workforce was driven out of the country and the women were thus needed to replace them. Consequently, the strength of the female presence in the workforce was fleeting. Despite the fleeting nature of the female presence within the male-dominated workforce, the spirit of female independence and equality persevered and inspired further search for this spirit to be realized within society (and it slowly was with the initiation of female suffrage first in the U.S., Germany and the Soviet Union). WWI allowed women to penetrate not only the workforce but also to embrace a new empowered identity that was distinct and independent from men.

865-876

World War I occurred during a great technological transition. While armies now carried tanks and machine guns, they were still using strategies that had functioned before the presence of such powerful weaponry. This gap between technological preparation and strategic ability resulted in an outrageously large number of deaths for seemingly insignificant results. Despite the blatant presence of such a gap, countries were determined to demonstrate their military strength and ability, and allowed such determination to blind them of the grave reality of the war. Such blindness is demonstrated in Germany’s Schlieffen Plan, for, while they were not prepared to initiate the Schlieffen Plan, it was what they believed to be the only way to weaken both France and Germany and they consequently carried through with it despite their unpreparedness. While this particular plan didn’t necessarily demonstrate a multitude of deaths, the rushed nature of the procedure reveals the desire to acquire the title of most powerful country. While each country entered the war with the impression that, due to technological advancements, the war would be quick and a victor could be determined with one sweeping blow, the gap between advanced technology and almost primitive war plans weakened each country and caused WWI to be a long and drawn out war that had insignificant territorial gains.

855-862

Up until the late 19th century, science had been utilized to provide order and logic in an otherwise chaotic and uncontrolled realm. However, Freud and Nietzsche used science to prove the innate human lack of control. While science had previously focused on tangible facts and evidence, Freud and Nietzsche focused on the abstract nature of the consciousness and mind, having only human behavior and actions to serve as the foundation of their analysis. Not only did the foundation of their studies stray from the traditional, but they also specifically targeted the traditional social establishments that shaped the culture of that time, blaming such confining structures for the restriction of the human potential and for thus altering the true nature of the human reality. The separation of Freud and Nietzsche from the traditional conformities of society initiated a paralleled transformation in the artistic realms, inspiring artistic creations such as Black Lines by Wassily Kandinsky, 1913 (page 859). This abstract painting seems to be a complete expression of emotion. It follows no strategic pattern or form, however, despite the chaos that this painting conveys, it also shares an oddly tangible emotion to which the audience can relate. The studies of Freud and Nietzsche broke from the norm and, in doing so, broadened the potential understandings of the human reality and inspired humans to seek other forms of expression outside of what society deemed normal.