By Alex Zegart

             Totalitarian regimes struck up in Germany, Italy and through out Europe during the rise of the Axis powers and right before WWII. While living in a totalitarian regime your life is a storm of important events and tons of propaganda scheming against the enemy. The largest and most effective totalitarian regime was in Italy where the dictator Mussolini controlled most of the population with effective uses of mass media and propaganda.

            In Italy Mussolini used his prowess in the uses of propaganda to control and trick the people. An example of this is when Mussolini tricked his soon to be Ally, Hitler. They had arranged to meet to discuss whether to form an alliance and the terms (preceding WWII) and in a deceptive trick to show how strong the Italian army was he arranged for Hitler to sit in a chair with a wall to his back, with two arches in the side of the wall, he then made 2000 of his men march in circles around Hitler making it seem as though he had a never ending army. He used many of these similarly deceptive tricks with other countries to give Italy a seemingly all powerful army and might.

            Another way that Mussolini enforced Totalitarianism on Italy was to control the media to portray Italy as a huge powerful force with a thriving economy and world relations. His lies flooded the news with false hopes and “truths” that would only tell a fraction of the truth of what really happened. An example of this is when he manipulated the upper class in the 1920’s with the use of media by targeting the Bolsheviks to gain their trust and support. This shows how Mussolini tricked the Italian people to gain power and to put the totalitarian regime into place.

        Overall the people of Italy were being lied to and tricked without even knowing it, but living a happy life under Mussolini where only a few know the real truth of what’s really happening in the Europe. The government was playing them for fools while they believe they are really the best off that they can be. In all the daily life of a person in a totalitarian regime is being lied to, tricked and cheated through the uses of propaganda and mass media. All of this shows just how living under a totalitarian regime would be, a complete lie.

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Italian Leaflet/Propoganda VENGEANCE !Beautiful little school in Gorla, in the middle of meadows,full of happy and (?) kidsyou don't exist anymore!... your little angelshave flown like a multitude of sparrowsin Heaven. The Hell they have leftto their moms and dads who are desperate.What have you done for the warsince when you have come to this Earthto give a little joy to your parents?What did you have to do with it? Nothing!...And still they made you die. Why?You were Italians and that's all; that's why.And we have to stay here stillwith hands in hands (i.e.: without doing anything); let them take downtogether with our homes, our creations (children?)Are we men or sheep? Let's hold outwith our combatants and let's go to workwith supreme resolution: VENGEANCE AND FREEDOM!AMBROSE'(In occasion of the slaughter of 300 children by Anglo-American bombers on Oct. the 20th, 1944 in the school of Gorla =Milano=)'