Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco were both leaders of single party states. Mussolini came to power in a relatively non-violent way, while Italy was in a time of relative peace. Franco relied on winning the Spanish civil war to ensure him his dictatorship. The backgrounds behind each acquisition were quite similar, yet the ways in which each went about grasping power were enormously different. Mussolini enjoyed a political takeover with the assistance of the Italian king, Franco led a brutal bloody struggle against Spanish Republicans. Where Franco initiated an appalling repression, Mussolini adopted the more popular views of his people.

The creation of both single party states can be traced back to one basic reason: the socialist/communist left wing parties threatening the republics and monarchies of Spain and Italy. Both men, Benito and Francisco believed that fascism was the best and only system of efficient rule. Thus...