This essay is corrected as 95/100 with detailed feedback at the bottom of this essay. Essay credit: Aisling Walsh. You may also like Complete guide to Leaving Cert History
The fascist regime led by both Hitler and Mussolini caused major developments in church-state relations. Neither man was religious, but both aimed to improve relations. Mussolini believed that “religion is an absurdity in practice and in mortality and in men a disease” however he compromised his views in hopes of building a harmonious relationship. Alternatively, Hitler emphasized control in his church-state relations creating an uneven power divide. Both men used political agreements an attempt to positively develop relations but, both men’s religious policies ultimately failed and proved that the church could function without state support.
After 1870 and the unification of Italy where the Vatican last land and consequently power, church-state relations were effectively destroyed. Relations were so poor the Pope took to calling himself the “prisoner of the Vatican”. Mussolini was aware of the public’s disapproval of past governments anticlerical policies and wanted to create a strong unified Italy and so he sought out to improve relations. Relations effectively developed through Mussolini making small gestures. He baptized his kids and married his partner. He also made efforts to express the same views as the church such as disapproving of abortion, divorce, contraception and communism. This created a unified message between church and state and therefore improving relations. Mussolini’s gestures achieved their aim by impressing the Pope and so he agreed to enter negotiations to end the 60-year feud.
Major developments were made in church-state relations in the signing of the Lateran treaty 1929. In this treaty, Mussolini agreed to make Catholicism the “sole religion of the state”, agreed to make the Vatican a sovereign state and to pay them €30 million. In return, the Pope would recognize Mussolini’s control over the state and agreed to stay out of political affairs. The treaty became known as the conciliation in Italy ending church and states 60-year feud and winning Mussolini the public’s support. The treaty is regarded as one of Mussolini’s greatest accomplishments as it drastically improved church-state relations and so unifying Italy making it easier for Mussolini to control.
However, the relations weren’t always harmonious and soon began to deteriorate. Church and state conflicted over who could control the youth and Mussolini made attempts to merge church youth groups with the Balillia. Relations develop poorly because of this, and the Pope released a Papa letter called “we have no need” condemning the attacks on the churches power. Fascism was also condemned, and the church placed fascist books on its list of banned books breaking the pattern of unified messaging between church and state. Mussolini’s adaptation of Nazi-style race laws was furiously rejected by the church weakening the relations further. It was clear that the church wouldn’t stand to be undermined and through Mussolini’s actions, the relations he tried so hard to fix were destroyed.
Hitler took a similar but more aggressive approach in dealing with relations with the Catholic Church. In 1933 after only being chancellor for six months Hitler signed a concordat with the church, the timeframe proved he prioritized church-state relations. In the concordat Hitler agreed to respect the church publicly and did so by praising them in many speeches, in one speech he claimed “(Christianity) is the unshakable foundation of the moral and ethical lives of our people”. He guaranteed the protection of the Catholic organizations and freedom of worship in schools, in return the church agreed to stay out of political affairs and took an oath of allegiance to the state, officially solidifying and positively developing church-state relations. Through the Concorde at the church hoped that church and state would harmoniously coexist however Hitler had other plans that would ultimately weaken church-state relations.
Relations deteriorated when Nazis began to interfere with Catholic policies, especially those relating to education. Hitler wanted to control education and so he sent the Hitler Youth out to intimidate members of Catholic Bible study and pressured parents to move their kids out of Catholic schools and into Nazi approved schools. Alongside that Hitler also launched a propaganda campaign against the church which undermined their influence and their relations. Relations further negatively developed in 1937 when Pope Pius released a Papal letter called “With Burning Anxiety”, in which he condemned the church for breaking the concordat. The Pope also condemned the “Pagan worship of the state”. Despite the warning not to oppose the state Bishop von Galen held an open protest in 1941 in which he condemned “forced euthanasia” of the disabled and called on the public to provide “immediate protection” to them. This directly conflicted with state policies and duly relations were damaged. Hitler reacted by firing Catholic civil servants and arresting priests. However, the policy was ended within that year proving the power of the church over the state despite poor relations.
The Protestant church proved much easier to control and so an attempt to have a good relationship developed successfully. Hitler decided he could control the Protestant church more effectively if he united them into ReichsKirche. The Protestant churches succumbed to this idea easier as church and state shared anti-Semitic views. The new Reichskirche was heavily influenced by the Nazis and “Adolf Hitler is the new Messiah” was preached. Swastika’s war hung in every church and pastures of Jewish origin were removed. the Nazi influence aimed to create a strong bond between church and state. It also aimed to remove Protestant opposition but failed as an opposition was led by Martin Niemoller who spoke out and set up the confessional church. The threat to the established relations between church and state was dealt with swiftly as Niemoller and over 600 other postures were arrested. Overall, Hitler failed to fully unify all the Protestant churches but more successfully developed good relations with the Protestant church than he did with the Catholic Church.
That power of the Christian churches allowed them to survive both totalitarian regimes despite their relations to the state without a major fall in support. Both men failed to control the Christian Church through political agreements. However, Hitler showed political agreements weren’t necessary to control religion when he dealt with the Jewish question with genocide and not negotiation. The support of the Jewish community was not valuable to either regime and so they silenced them with anti-Semitic policies. This damaged not only relations with the Jewish people but also relations with the Catholic Church as they disapproved of the discriminatory policies.
Feedback: Overall this is a really strong essay! You deal with both aspects of the question equally, meaning that your answer is well-balanced and doesn’t make the common mistake of writing far more about one or the other. The answer is clear and directly relates to the question, using loads of strong quotations, statistics and factual information to back up your argument. The fact that you draw a comparison between the two regimes’ attitudes towards religion makes this a strong historical essay, as it shows that you are using the critical thinking skills employed by historians. Your introduction sets up the essay well, but I would suggest including a small amount of context/ background information in there so that you can show off that you know loads about the topic! Your conclusion is also really good, as it sums up the essay and provides a bit more for the reader to think about too.
Cumulative Mark: This is awarded for historical content which is accurate and relevant to the question. This essay would easily achieve 60/60 for its cumulative mark. With 9 paragraphs, you would require a score of 6 or 7 per paragraph. As your paragraphs are all packed with factual content that is relevant to the question and is easy to follow, you would achieve this.
Overall Evaluation: This is awarded for the quality of the answer as a whole in the context of the set question. I would give this essay around 35/40 for its overall evaluation mark. Your treatment of the topic suggests a clear understanding and interest in the area – you showcase your knowledge but also include quotes, pointing to wider reading, and use your knowledge to make judgements/comments.
Total: 95/100 – this is an excellent essay, well done!