Nazism

Nazism (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English" >/</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >ˈ</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >n</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >ɑː</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >t</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >s</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >ɪ</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >z</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >(ə)</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Help:IPA for English" >m</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English" >/</a>, alternatively spelled Naziism),<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism#cite_note-1" >[1]</a> or National Socialism (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language" title="German language" >German</a>: Nationalsozialismus), is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology" title="Ideology" >ideology</a> and practice of the German <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party" title="Nazi Party" >Nazi Party</a>and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany" title="Nazi Germany" >state</a>. It is sometimes applied to other <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics" title="Far-right politics" >far-right</a> groups. Usually characterised as a form of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism" title="Fascism" >fascism</a> that incorporates <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism" title="Scientific racism" >scientific racism</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism" title="Antisemitism" >antisemitism</a>, Nazism arose from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Germanism" title="Pan-Germanism" >pan-Germanism</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%B6lkisch" title="Völkisch" class="mw-redirect" >Völkisch</a> German nationalist movement and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-communist" title="Anti-communist" class="mw-redirect" >anti-communist</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freikorps" title="Freikorps" >Freikorps</a> after <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I" title="World War I" >World War I</a>.

Nazism subscribed to theories of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_hierarchy" title="Racial hierarchy" >racial hierarchy</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism" title="Social Darwinism" >social Darwinism</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples" title="Germanic peoples" >Germanic peoples</a> (called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_race" title="Nordic race" >Nordic race</a>) were depicted as true "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race" title="Aryan race" >Aryans</a>", and the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_race" title="Master race" >master race</a>". Opposed to both <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism" title="Capitalism" >capitalism</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism" title="Marxism" >Marxism</a>, it aimed to overcome social divisions, with all parts of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoculturalism" title="Monoculturalism" >homogeneous society</a> seeking national unity, and what it viewed as historically German territory as well as additional lands for expansion.

The term "National Socialism" arose out of attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of "socialism", as an alternative to both <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proletarian_internationalism" title="Proletarian internationalism" >internationalist</a> Marxist socialism and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market" title="Free market" >free market</a> capitalism. This required a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volksgemeinschaft" title="Volksgemeinschaft" >Volksgemeinschaft</a> or "people's community" of all Germans. It rejected the Marxist concept of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_struggle" title="Class struggle" class="mw-redirect" >class struggle</a>, opposed ideas of equality and international solidarity, and sought to defend private property.

The Nazi Party was founded as the pan-German nationalist and antisemitic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Workers%27_Party" title="German Workers' Party" >German Workers' Party</a> on 5 January 1919. By the early 1920s, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler" title="Adolf Hitler" >Adolf Hitler</a> assumed control of the organisation, renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP) to broaden its appeal. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_Program" title="National Socialist Program" >National Socialist Program</a>, adopted in 1920, called for a united <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Germany" title="Greater Germany" class="mw-redirect" >Greater Germany</a> that would deny citizenship to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews" title="Jews" >Jews</a> or those of Jewish descent, while also supporting land reform and the nationalisation of some industries. In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf" title="Mein Kampf" >Mein Kampf</a>, written in 1924, Hitler outlined his antisemitism and anti-communism at the heart of his political philosophy, as well as his disdain for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_democracy" title="Parliamentary democracy" class="mw-redirect" >parliamentary democracy</a> and his belief in Germany’s right to territorial expansion.

In 1933, with the support of more conservative elites, Hitler became <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chancellor_of_Germany" title="Chancellor of Germany" >Chancellor of Germany</a> and the Nazis gradually established a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-party_state" title="One-party state" class="mw-redirect" >one-party state</a>, under which Jews, political opponents and other "undesirables" elements were marginalised, with several millions eventually imprisoned and killed. Hitler purged the party’s more socially and economically radical factions in the mid-1934 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Long_Knives" title="Night of the Long Knives" >Night of the Long Knives</a> and, after the death of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_von_Hindenburg" title="Paul von Hindenburg" >President Hindenburg</a>, political power was concentrated in his hands,

Nazism

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