Fascism in Europe was the set of various
fascist ideologies which were practised by governments and political organisations in Europe during the 20th century. Fascism was born in
Italy following
World War I, and other fascist movements, influenced by
Italian Fascism, subsequently emerged across Europe. Among the political doctrines which are identified as ideological origins of fascism in Europe are the combining of a traditional national unity and revolutionary anti-democratic rhetoric which was espoused by the
integral nationalist Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-parl ...
and
revolutionary syndicalist Georges Sorel
Georges Eugène Sorel (; ; 2 November 1847 – 29 August 1922) was a French social thinker, political theorist, historian, and later journalist. He has inspired theories and movements grouped under the name of Sorelianism. His social and ...
in France.
The earliest foundations of fascism in practice can be seen in the
Italian Regency of Carnaro, led by the Italian nationalist
Gabriele D'Annunzio, many of whose politics and aesthetics were subsequently used by
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
and his
Italian Fasces of Combat which Mussolini had founded as the ''Fasces of Revolutionary Action'' in 1914. Despite the fact that its members referred to themselves as "fascists", the ideology was based around
national syndicalism
National syndicalism is a far-right adaptation of syndicalism to suit the broader agenda of integral nationalism. National syndicalism developed in France in the early 20th century, and then spread to Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It is ge ...
. The ideology of fascism would not fully develop until 1921, when Mussolini transformed his movement into the
National Fascist Party, which then in 1923 incorporated the
Italian Nationalist Association
The Italian Nationalist Association (''Associazione Nazionalista Italiana'', ANI) was Italy's first nationalist political movement founded in 1910, under the influence of Italian nationalists such as Enrico Corradini and Giovanni Papini. Upon it ...
. The INA established fascist tropes such as
colored shirt uniforms and also received the support of important proto-fascists like D'Annunzio and
nationalist intellectual Enrico Corradini
Enrico Corradini (20 July 1865 – 10 December 1931) was an Italian novelist, essayist, journalist and nationalist political figure.
Biography
Corradini was born near Montelupo Fiorentino, Tuscany.
A follower of Gabriele D'Annunzio, he founded ...
.
The first declaration of the political stance of fascism was the
Fascist Manifesto
"The Manifesto of the Italian Fasces of Combat" ( it, "Il manifesto dei fasci italiani di combattimento", italics=no), commonly known as the Fascist Manifesto, was the initial declaration of the political stance of the ''Fasci Italiani di Comba ...
, written by national syndicalist
Alceste De Ambris
Alceste De Ambris (15 September 1874 – 9 December 1934) was an Italian syndicalist, the brother of fascist politician Amilcare De Ambris. He had a major part to play in the agrarian strike actions of 1908 in Parma.
Life
De Ambris was born ...
and
futurist poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and published in 1919. Many of the policies advanced in the manifesto, such as centralization, abolition of the senate, formation of national councils loyal to the state, expanded military power, and support for militias (
Blackshirts
The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Nation ...
, for example) were adopted by Mussolini's regime, while other calls such as
universal suffrage and a peaceful foreign policy were abandoned. De Ambris later became a prominent
anti-fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
. In 1932, "
The Doctrine of Fascism
"The Doctrine of Fascism" ( it, "La dottrina del fascismo", italics=no) is an essay attributed to Benito Mussolini. In truth, the first part of the essay, entitled "" (), was written by the Italian philosopher Giovanni Gentile, while only the se ...
", an essay by Mussolini and
Giovanni Gentile
Giovanni Gentile (; 30 May 1875 – 15 April 1944) was an Italian neo-Hegelian idealist philosopher, educator, and fascist politician. The self-styled "philosopher of Fascism", he was influential in providing an intellectual foundation for ...
, provided an outline of fascism that better represented Mussolini's regime.
Regimes and parties
Some scholars assert that the term "fascism" should only be used to mean the ideology of the National Fascist Party under
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
in Italy, which ruled from 1922 to 1943. However, other European regimes that showed strong similarities to Mussolini's government are also popularly described as fascist. European parties often described as fascist or being strongly influenced by fascism include:
[For coverage of each one see Cyprian Blamires, ed., ''World fascism: a historical encyclopedia'' (Abc-Clio, 2006).]
* The
National Fascist Party/
Republican Fascist Party
The Republican Fascist Party ( it, Partito Fascista Repubblicano, PFR) was a political party in Italy led by Benito Mussolini during the German occupation of Central and Northern Italy and was the sole legal and ruling party of the Italian Soc ...
in the
Italy and the
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...
under
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
(1922–1945)
* The
National Socialist German Workers' Party (
Nazi Party) in
Nazi Germany under
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
(1933–1945) – Based on the ideology of
National Socialism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...
, much of which was heavily influenced or taken wholesale from Italian Fascism.
* The
National Union in
Portugal under
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar (, , ; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese dictator who served as President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1968. Having come to power under the ("National Dictatorship"), he reframed the re ...
and
Marcelo Caetano
Marcelo José das Neves Alves Caetano (; 17 August 1906 – 26 October 1980) was a Portuguese politician and scholar. He was the second and last leader of the Estado Novo after succeeding António Salazar. He served as prime minister from 19 ...
(1933–1974) (Salazar rejected the label of fascist criticizing the "exaltation of youth, the cult of force through direct action, the principle of the superiority of state political power in social life, and the propensity for organising masses behind a single leader", however his regime adopted many fascist characteristics with the
Legião Portuguesa, the
Mocidade Portuguesa
The (, en, Portuguese Youth) was a Portuguese youth organisation founded in 1936 (dissolved in 1974) under the right-wing regime of Prime Minister Salazar's Estado Novo. Membership was compulsory between the ages of 7 and 14, and voluntary un ...
, and
Corporatism
Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...
being the most prominent examples; after
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
Janu ...
Salazar distanced his regime from fascism)
* The
Fatherland Front in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
under
Engelbert Dollfuss and
Kurt Schuschnigg (1934–1938) (Based around the ideology of
Austrofascism
The Fatherland Front ( de-AT, Vaterländische Front, ''VF'') was the right-wing conservative, nationalist and corporatist ruling political organisation of the Federal State of Austria. It claimed to be a nonpartisan movement, and aimed to unite ...
, which was heavily influenced by
Italian fascism)
* The
Zveno
Zveno ( bg, Звено, lit=link), ''Politicheski krŭg "Zveno"'', officially Political Circle "Zveno" was a Bulgarian political organization, founded in 1930 by Bulgarian politicians, intellectuals and Bulgarian Army officers. It was associate ...
in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Maced ...
that established an authoritarian regime after the
1934 coup d'etat had some fascist and corporatist elements in its ideology. It ruled Bulgaria from 1934 to 1935 when it got ousted from power by Tsar
Boris III
Boris III ( bg, Борѝс III ; Boris Treti; 28 August 1943), originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier) , was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until hi ...
.
* The
Yugoslav Radical Union
The Yugoslav Radical Union ( Serbian: ''Jugoslovenska radikalna zajednica'', Југословенска радикална заједница; sl, Jugoslovanska radikalna skupnost, Croatian: ''Jugoslavenska radikalna zajednica''; or JRZ) was the ...
in
Yugoslavia under
Milan Stojadinović
Milan Stojadinović ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Стојадиновић; 4 August 1888 – 26 October 1961) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and economist who served as the Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from 1935 to 1939. He also served as Fore ...
(1935–1939) (Stojadinović's regime lacked the fascist characteristics of being a mass movement and totalitarian; however, his regime was heavily inspired by fascism)
* The
4th of August Regime
The 4th of August Regime ( el, Καθεστώς της 4ης Αυγούστου, Kathestós tis tetártis Avgoústou), commonly also known as the Metaxas regime (, ''Kathestós Metaxá''), was a totalitarian regime under the leadership of Gener ...
in
Greece under
Ioannis Metaxas
Ioannis Metaxas (; el, Ιωάννης Μεταξάς; 12th April 187129th January 1941) was a Greek military officer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941. He governed constitutionally for t ...
(1936–1941) (The Metaxist regime was not fully fascist however adopted many fascist characteristics with the
EON
Eon or Eons may refer to: Time
* Aeon, an indefinite long period of time
* Eon (geology), a division of the geologic time scale
Arts and entertainment
Fictional characters
* Eon, in the 2007 film '' Ben 10: Race Against Time''
* Eon, in th ...
being an example of this. The regime was based around
Metaxism
Metaxism ( el, Μεταξισμός) is an authoritarian nationalist ideology associated with Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas. It called for the regeneration of the Greek nation and the establishment of a modern, culturally homogenous Greece.Gert ...
, which was influenced by fascism)
* The
''Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS'' in
Spain under
Francisco Franco (1939–1975). After
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
Janu ...
, Franco's regime distanced itself from fascism; however, it remained highly authoritarian and nationalist, being based around the ideology of
Falangism.
These regimes listed did not fully abide by the doctrine of fascism as stated by Mussolini and Gentile. However, all regimes listed presented fascist influence through authoritarianism, use of organised paramilitaries/youth movements loyal to the state, propaganda and rhetoric that opposed liberalism,
individualism, democracy,
communism, etc., and built their economies around
corporatism
Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...
. These are all elements of governing popularised by Mussolini. The use of the Roman Salute and coloured shirt uniforms used by most of these regimes also shows how the aesthetics established by the National Fascist Party became adopted throughout Europe.
There were multiple regimes in
Romania that were influenced by fascism. These include the
National Christian Party under
Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga (; 1 April 1881 – 7 May 1938) was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.
Life and politics
Goga was born in Rășinari, near Sibiu.
Goga was an active member in the Romanian nationalis ...
(1938),
Party of the Nation under
Ion Gigurtu
Ion Gigurtu (; 24 June 1886 – 24 November 1959) was a far-right Romanian politician, Land Forces officer, engineer and industrialist who served a brief term as Prime Minister from 4 July to 4 September 1940, under the personal regime of King Car ...
(1940) and the
National Legionary State which was led by the
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard ( ro, Garda de Fier) was a Romanian militant revolutionary fascist movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel Michael () or the Legionnaire Movement (). It was strongl ...
under
Horia Sima
Horia Sima (3 July 1906 – 25 May 1993) was a Romanian fascist politician, best known as the second and last leader of the fascist paramilitary movement known as the Iron Guard (also known as the Legion of the Archangel Michael). Sima was ...
in conjunction with the Romanian military dictatorship under
Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II.
A Romanian Army career officer who ma ...
(1940–1941). The first two of these regimes were not completely fascist however used fascism to appeal to the growing far-right sympathies amongst the populace.
[''Final Report'', p. 51.] The military dictatorship of
Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II.
A Romanian Army career officer who ma ...
(1941–1944) is also often considered fascist.
Prior to and during the Second World War, Nazi Germany imposed numerous fascist/fascist related regimes across occupied Europe, these may not fully espouse the form of fascism established by Mussolini however they were authoritarian, nationalist, anti-communist and staunchly pro-
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were N ...
:
* The
National Partnership in
Czechia
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The C ...
under
Emil Hácha
Emil Dominik Josef Hácha (12 July 1872 – 27 June 1945) was a Czech lawyer, the president of Czechoslovakia from November 1938 to March 1939. In March 1939, after the breakup of Czechoslovakia, Hácha was the nominal president of the newly pro ...
(1939–1945)
* The
Slovak People's Party in
Slovakia under
Jozef Tiso
Jozef Gašpar Tiso (; hu, Tiszó József; 13 October 1887 – 18 April 1947) was a Slovak politician and Roman Catholic priest who served as president of the Slovak Republic, a client state of Nazi Germany during World War II, from 1939 to 1945 ...
(1939–1945)
* The
Vichy Regime
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...
supported by collaborationist parties (
Marcel Bucard
Marcel Bucard (7 December 1895 – 13 March 1946) was a French Fascist politician.
Early career
A decorated soldier who earned a reputation for bravery in World War I, Bucard became active in politics after 1918, initially as a member of '' ...
's
Mouvement Franciste
The Francist Movement (french: Mouvement franciste, MF) was a French Fascist and anti-semitic league created by Marcel Bucard in September 1933 that edited the newspaper ''Le Francisme''. Mouvement franciste reached a membership of 10,000 and wa ...
,
Jacques Doriot
Jacques Doriot (; 26 September 1898 – 22 February 1945) was a French politician, initially communist, later fascist, before and during World War II.
In 1936, after his exclusion from the Communist Party, he founded the French Popular Party (P ...
's
French Popular Party
The French Popular Party (french: Parti populaire français) was a French fascist and anti-semitic political party led by Jacques Doriot before and during World War II. It is generally regarded as the most collaborationist party of France.
...
,
Marcel Déat
Marcel Déat (7 March 1894 – 5 January 1955) was a French politician. Initially a socialist and a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), he led a breakaway group of right-wing ' Neosocialists' out of the SFIO in 193 ...
's
National Popular Rally) and
Joseph Darnand
Joseph Darnand (19 March 1897 – 10 October 1945) was a French collaborator with Nazi Germany during World War II. A decorated soldier in the French Army of World War I and early World War II, he went on to become the organizer and ''de facto ...
's
Milice in
France under
Philippe Pétain and
Pierre Laval
Pierre Jean Marie Laval (; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. During the Third Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France from 27 January 1931 to 20 February 1932 and 7 June 1935 to 24 January 1936. He again occ ...
(1940–1944)
* The
Ustaše in
Croatia under
Ante Pavelić
Ante Pavelić (; 14 July 1889 – 28 December 1959) was a Croatian politician who founded and headed the fascist ultranationalist organization known as the Ustaše in 1929 and served as dictator of the Independent State of Croatia ( hr, li ...
(1941–1945)
* The Collaborationist government supported by
National Union of Greece and
Greek National Socialist Party
The Greek National Socialist Party ( el, Ελληνικό Εθνικό Σοσιαλιστικό Κόμμα, Elliniko Ethniko Sosialistiko Komma) was a Nazi party founded in Greece in 1932 by George S. Mercouris, a former Cabinet minister.
Histo ...
in
Greece under
Georgios Tsolakoglou,
Konstantinos Logothetopoulos
Konstantinos I. Logothetopoulos ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Ι. Λογοθετόπουλος; 1 August 1878 – 6 July 1961) was a distinguished Greek medical doctor who became Prime Minister of Greece, directing the Greek collaborationis ...
and
Ioannis Rallis
Ioannis Rallis ( el, Ιωάννης Δ. Ράλλης; 1878 – 26 October 1946) was the third and last collaborationist prime minister of Greece during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, holding office from 7 April 1943 to 12 Oct ...
(1941–1944)
* The Collaborationist government supported by
Dimitrije Ljotić
Dimitrije Ljotić ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Љотић; 12 August 1891 – 23 April 1945) was a Serbian and Yugoslav fascist politician and ideologue who established the Yugoslav National Movement (Zbor) in 1935 and collaborated with Ge ...
's
Yugoslav National Movement
The Yugoslav National Movement ( sh, Jugoslavenski narodni pokret / Југословенски народни покрет), also known as the United Militant Labour Organization (''Združena borbena organizacija rada'' / ''Здружена бор ...
in
Serbia under
Milan Nedić (1941–1944)
* The
Nasjonal Samling in
Norway under
Vidkun Quisling (1942–1945)
* The
Arrow Cross Party
The Arrow Cross Party ( hu, Nyilaskeresztes Párt – Hungarista Mozgalom, , abbreviated NYKP) was a far-right Hungarian ultranationalist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which formed a government in Hungary they named the Government of National U ...
in
Hungary under
Ferenc Szálasi
Ferenc Szálasi (; 6 January 1897 – 12 March 1946), the leader of the Arrow Cross Party – Hungarist Movement, became the "Leader of the Nation" (''Nemzetvezető'') as head of state and simultaneously prime minister of the Kingdom of Hunga ...
(1944–1945)
*
Konrad Henlein
Konrad Ernst Eduard Henlein (6 May 1898 – 10 May 1945) was a leading Sudeten German politician in Czechoslovakia. Upon the German occupation in October 1938 he joined the Nazi Party as well as the '' SS'' and was appointed ''Gauleiter'' of t ...
's
Sudeten German Party
The Sudeten German Party (german: Sudetendeutsche Partei, SdP, cs, Sudetoněmecká strana) was created by Konrad Henlein under the name ''Sudetendeutsche Heimatfront'' ("Front of the Sudeten German Homeland") on 1 October 1933, some months aft ...
,
Anton Mussert
Anton may refer to: People
* Anton (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Anton (surname)
Places
* Anton Municipality, Bulgaria
** Anton, Sofia Province, a village
* Antón District, Panama
** Antón, a town and capital ...
's
NSB,
Léon Degrelle's
Rexist Party
The Rexist Party (french: Parti Rexiste), or simply Rex, was a far-right Catholic, nationalist, authoritarian and corporatist political party active in Belgium from 1935 until 1945. The party was founded by a journalist, Léon Degrelle, and
Staf De Clercq
Staf Declercq (16 September 1884 – 22 October 1942) was a Flemish nationalist collaborator, co-founder and leader of the Flemish nationalist Vlaamsch Nationaal Verbond (Flemish National League, or VNV).
Biography
He was born as Jeroom Gustaaf ...
's
VNV were also given significant power in occupied Europe.
There were also a number of political movements active in Europe that were influenced in part by some features of Mussolini's regime. These include:
Le Faisceau
''Le Faisceau'' (, ''The Fasces'') was a short-lived French fascist political party. It was founded on 11 November 1925 as a far right league by Georges Valois. It was preceded by its newspaper, ''Le Nouveau Siècle'', which had been founded as ...
,
British Fascists
The British Fascists was the first political organisation in the United Kingdom to claim the label of fascist, although the group had little ideological unity apart from anti-socialism for much of its existence, and was strongly associated with c ...
,
British Union of Fascists
The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, fo ...
,
Imperial Fascist League
The Imperial Fascist League (IFL) was a British fascist political movement founded by Arnold Leese in 1929 after he broke away from the British Fascists. It included a blackshirted paramilitary arm called the Fascists Legion, modelled after the ...
,
Blueshirts
The Army Comrades Association (ACA), later the National Guard, then Young Ireland and finally League of Youth, but best known by the nickname the Blueshirts ( ga, Na Léinte Gorma), was a paramilitary organisation in the Irish Free State, founded ...
,
French National-Collectivist Party
The French National-Collectivist Party (french: Parti français national-collectiviste, PFNC), originally known as the French National Communist Party (''Parti français national communiste''), was a minor political group active in the French Thir ...
,
Breton National Party
The Breton National Party ( French ''Parti National Breton'', Breton ''Strollad Broadel Breizh'') was a nationalist party in Brittany that existed from 1931 to 1944. The party was disbanded after the liberation of France in World War II, because ...
,
Falange Española
Falange Española (FE; English: Spanish Phalanx) was a Spanish fascist political organization active from 1933 to 1934.
History
The Falange Española was created on 29 October 1933 as the successor of the Movimiento Español Sindicalista (MES ...
,
Black Front
The Combat League of Revolutionary National Socialists ( German: ''Kampfgemeinschaft Revolutionärer Nationalsozialisten'', KGRNS), more commonly known as the Black Front (german: Schwarze Front), was a political group formed by Otto Strasser in ...
,
National Syndicalist Movement,
Verdinaso
Verdinaso (''Verbond van Dietsche Nationaal-Solidaristen'', ), sometimes rendered as Dinaso, was a small authoritarian and fascist political party active in Belgium and, to a lesser extent, the Netherlands between 1931 to 1941.
Verdinaso was foun ...
,
Nationale Front,
Greek National Socialist Party
The Greek National Socialist Party ( el, Ελληνικό Εθνικό Σοσιαλιστικό Κόμμα, Elliniko Ethniko Sosialistiko Komma) was a Nazi party founded in Greece in 1932 by George S. Mercouris, a former Cabinet minister.
Histo ...
,
Vlajka,
National Fascist Community,
ONR-Falanga,
Patriotic People's Movement
Patriotic People's Movement ( fi, Isänmaallinen kansanliike, IKL, sv, Fosterländska folkrörelsen) was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapua Movement. It existed from 1 ...
,
Pērkonkrusts
Pērkonkrusts (, "Thunder Cross") was a Latvian ultranationalist, Anti-German sentiment, anti-German, anti-Slavic, and antisemitic political party founded in 1933 by Gustavs Celmiņš, borrowing elements of German nationalism—but being unsymp ...
,
Union of Bulgarian National Legions
The Union of Bulgarian National Legions (UBNL) ( bg, Съюз на Българските Национални Легиони (СБНЛ); ''Sayuz na Balgarskite Natsionalni Legioni'' (''SBNL'')), until 1935 the Union of the National Youth Legions ...
,
Ratniks
The Union of Warriors for the Advancement of the Bulgarianness ( bg, Съюз на ратниците за напредъка на българщината, ''Sayuz na ratnitsite za napredaka na balgarshtinata''), commonly known as just the Ratni ...
and the
Russian Fascist Party
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
(based in Manchuria).
Prominent figures associated with European fascism outside of the Axis include
Oswald Mosley,
Rotha Lintorn-Orman
Rotha Beryl Lintorn Lintorn-Orman (7 February 1895 – 10 March 1935) was the founder of the British Fascisti, the first avowedly fascist movement to appear in British politics.
Early life
Born as Rotha Beryl Lintorn Orman in Kensington, Londo ...
,
José Antonio Primo de Rivera
José Antonio Primo de Rivera y Sáenz de Heredia, 1st Duke of Primo de Rivera, 3rd Marquess of Estella (24 April 1903 – 20 November 1936), often referred to simply as José Antonio, was a Spanish politician who founded the falangist Falange ...
,
Joris Van Severen
Joris Van Severen (19 July 1894 – 20 May 1940) was a Belgian politician and ideologue of the Flemish Movement as well as a Pan-Netherlander. A leading figure of pre- World War II Flemish nationalism, he co-founded the extreme-right group ...
,
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (; born Corneliu Codreanu, according to his birth certificate; 13 September 1899 – 30 November 1938) was a Romanian politician of the far right, the founder and charismatic leader of the Iron Guard or ''The Legion of ...
,
Francisco Rolão Preto
Francisco de Barcelos Rolão Preto, GCIH (12 February 1893, Gavião – 18 December 1977, Hospital do Desterro, Lisbon) was a Portuguese politician, journalist, and leader of the Portuguese National Syndicalists Movement (MNS), a fascist orga ...
,
Hristo Lukov
Hristo Nikolov Lukov ( bg, Христо Николов Луков; 6 January 1887 in Varna – 13 February 1943 in Sofia) was a Bulgarian lieutenant-general, politician, and Minister of War, who led the nationalistic Union of Bulgarian National L ...
,
Aleksandar Tsankov
Aleksandar Tsolov Tsankov ( bg, Александър Цолов Цанков; June 29, 1879 – July 27, 1959) was a leading Bulgarian politician during the interwar period between the two world wars.
Biography
A professor of political economy ...
,
Bolesław Piasecki
Bolesław Bogdan Piasecki, alias Leon Całka, Wojciech z Królewca, Sablewski (18 February 1915 – 1 January 1979) was a Polish politician and writer.
Biography
In the Second Polish Republic he was one of the more prominent Polish national ...
,
Radola Gajda
Radola Gajda, born as Rudolf Geidl (14 February 1892, Kotor, Kingdom of Dalmatia, Austria-Hungary – 15 April 1948, Prague, Czechoslovakia), was a Czech military commander and politician.
Early years
Geidl's father was an officer in the Aust ...
,
Eoin O'Duffy
Eoin O'Duffy (born Owen Duffy; 28 January 1890 – 30 November 1944) was an Irish military commander, police commissioner and politician. O'Duffy was the leader of the Monaghan Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a prominent figure i ...
,
Sven Olov Lindholm
Sven Olov Knutsson Lindholm (8 February 1903 – 26 April 1998) was a Swedish Nazi leader, active in far right politics from the 1920s to the 1950s. This included leading the Nazi party named Svensk socialistisk samling (SSS; literally "Swedish ...
,
Vihtori Kosola
Iisakki Vihtori Kosola (10 July 1884 – 14 December 1936) was the leader of the Finnish right-wing radical Lapua Movement.
Kosola was born in Ylihärmä, Southern Ostrobothnia. His family's farmhouse burnt down the next year, and the family ...
and
Konstantin Rodzaevsky.
Other right-wing/far-right political parties such as the
German National People's Party,
CEDA
The Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (, CEDA), was a Spanish political party in the Second Spanish Republic. A Catholic conservative force, it was the political heir to Ángel Herrera Oria's Acción Popular and defined itself in t ...
,
Party of Hungarian Life The Unity Party is the name of several political parties around the world, including:
Current-day parties with that name include:
*Unity Party (Australia)
* Unity Party (Azerbaijan)
* Unity Party (Hungary, 2009)
* Unity (Haiti) (''Inite''), est. 2 ...
,
Union of Mladorossi and the
Fatherland League lacked the ideology of fascism but adopted some fascist characteristics. Far-right politicians like
Alfred Hugenberg
Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg (19 June 1865 – 12 March 1951) was an influential German businessman and politician. An important figure in nationalist politics in Germany for the first few decades of the twentieth century, Hugenbe ...
,
José María Gil-Robles and
Gyula Gömbös represent fascism's influence on the right with these leaders adopting an ultra-nationalist and authoritarian rhetoric influenced by Mussolini and later Hitler's successes.
The nationalism espoused by these groups contrasted the internationalist focus of communism; there was little coordination between fascist movements prior to the Second World War however there was an attempt at unifying European fascists. The
1934 Montreux Fascist conference
The 1934 Montreux Fascist conference, also known as the Fascist International Congress, was a meeting held by deputies from a number of European Fascist organizations. The conference was held on 16–17 December 1934 in Montreux, Switzerland. The ...
was a meeting held by members of a number of European fascist parties and movements and was organised by the Comitati d'Azione per l'Universalità di Roma which received support from Mussolini. The first conference was open to many perspectives and failed to develop any unity amidst the many ideological conflicts among the delegates. The second conference was equally ineffective and more meetings were attempted.
Post-World War II
After the Second World War, most fascist regimes or regimes influenced by fascism were dismantled by the victors, with only those in
Spain and
Portugal surviving, both of which remained neutral during the war. Parties, movements or politicians who carried the label "fascist" quickly became political pariahs with many nations across Europe banning any organisations or references relating to fascism and Nazism. With this came the rise of
Neo-Fascism
Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration sent ...
, movements like the
Italian Social Movement,
Socialist Reich Party and
Union Movement
The Union Movement (UM) was a far-right political party founded in the United Kingdom by Oswald Mosley. Before the Second World War, Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF) had wanted to concentrate trade within the British Empire, but the Unio ...
attempted to continue fascism's legacy but failed to become mass movements.
European fascism influenced movements in the Americas. Both
North America and
South America would develop fascistic political groups rooted in the local European descended communities. These included the
Chilean Nacistas,
Brazilian Integralist Action
Brazilian Integralist Action (Portuguese: ''Ação Integralista Brasileira'', AIB) was an integralist/fascist political party in Brazil. It was based upon the ideology of Brazilian Integralism as developed by its leader Plínio Salgado. Brazil ...
,
Argentine Civic Legion,
Peruvian Revolutionary Union,
National Synarchist Union,
Revolutionary Mexicanist Action and the
Silver Legion of America
The Silver Legion of America, commonly known as the Silver Shirts, was an underground American fascist and Nazi sympathizer organization founded by William Dudley Pelley and headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina.
History
Pelley was a forme ...
along with figures like
Plínio Salgado
Plínio Salgado (; January 22, 1895 – December 8, 1975) was a Brazilian politician, writer, journalist, and theologian. He founded and led Brazilian Integralist Action, a political party inspired by the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini.
Init ...
,
Gustavo Barroso
Gustavo Adolfo Luiz Dodt da Cunha Barroso (December 29, 1888 – December 3, 1959) was a Brazilian lawyer, writer and politician associated with Brazilian Integralism and antisemitism. He was also known by the pseudonym João do Norte. Being con ...
,
González von Marées,
Salvador Abascal,
Nicolás Carrasco,
William Dudley Pelley and
Adrien Arcand
Adrien Arcand (October 3, 1899 – August 1, 1967) was a Canadian journalist who promoted a series of fascist political activities between 1929 and his death in 1967. During his political career, he proclaimed himself the Canadian Führer.
He ...
. Some historians also consider Argentine president
Juan Perón and his ideology,
Peronism
Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of Ar ...
as being influenced by European fascism,
[Brennan, James P]
''Peronism and Argentina''
Rowman & Littlefield. 1998. however, this has been disputed. Brazilian president,
Getúlio Vargas, and his corporate regime known as the
"New State" was also influenced by Mussolini's rule. European fascism was also influential in the European diaspora elsewhere in the world, in Australia
Eric Campbell's Centre Party and the South African fascist movement, which included
Oswald Pirow
Oswald Pirow, QC (Aberdeen, Cape Colony (now Eastern Cape South Africa), 14 August 1890 – Pretoria, Transvaal, Union of South Africa , 11 October 1959) was a South African lawyer and far right politician, who held office as minister of Jus ...
, being examples of this.
The rise of fascist activities and violence across Europe prompted governments to enact regulations to limit disturbances caused by fascists and other extremists. In a 1937 study,
Karl Loewenstein provides the following list of examples:
# Use of existing criminal codes
# A ban on subversive movements
# A ban on para-military wings of parties and political uniforms
# A ban on offensive weaponry
# New statutes that ban abuse of parliamentary procedures
# Bans on incitement and agitation of violence
# Bans on attempts to wreck meetings and assemblies
# Prohibitions on certain forms of speech, such as false rumor, disparagement of institutions
# Bans of publicly exalting criminals
# Bans on subversive propaganda aimed at the national armed forces
# Bans on anti-constitutional activities of public officials
# Creation of police forces that work to suppress anti-democratic movements
# Bans on secret foreign financial support for extremist parties and foreign propaganda
Fascist electoral performance
In the interwar period many parties which in historiography are referred to as fascist, proto-fascist, para-fascist, quasi-fascist, fascist-like, fascistic, fascistoid or fascistized participated in general elections organized in their respective countries. Though in numerous cases the fascist denomination is doubted (e.g. in case of the Belgian
Christus Rex or the Greek
National Union), electoral results obtained demonstrate their scale of popular support among the population. The best-ever performance of such parties in specific countries is given in the below table.
Outcome of theoretically multi-party elections which were clearly manipulated is ignored as unrepresentative for genuine support which the party enjoyed, e.g. the result of
Partito Nazionale Fascista
The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The p ...
in
Italy of 1924.
In case of some countries the lifetime of a fascistoid party did not overlap with reasonably free general elections, though the party might have fared well in other elections, e.g. in local elections in Bulgaria of 1934
Народно социално движение gained 12% of the votes, in local elections of Estonia in 1934
Eesti Vabadussõjalaste Kesklii won absolute majority of seats in 3 largest cities, while in local elections of France in 1938–1939
Parti Social Français
, logo = French Social Party emblem.svg
, leader1_title = President
, leader1_name = François de La Rocque
, foundation =
, dissolution =
, predecessor = Croix-de-Feu
, headquarters = Rue de Milan, ...
garnered some 15% of the votes. Some parties, like
National Corporate Party
The National Corporate Party () was a fascist political party in Ireland founded by Eoin O'Duffy in June 1935 at a meeting of 500. It split from Fine Gael when O'Duffy was removed as leader of that party, which had been founded by the merger of ...
in Ireland or
Le Faisceau
''Le Faisceau'' (, ''The Fasces'') was a short-lived French fascist political party. It was founded on 11 November 1925 as a far right league by Georges Valois. It was preceded by its newspaper, ''Le Nouveau Siècle'', which had been founded as ...
in France existed so briefly that they hardly managed to take part in any type of elections.
In some countries fascist parties ignored electoral competition, like
British Union of Fascists
The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, fo ...
did in case of the
UK elections of 1935. At times fascist parties abstained since elections were considered manipulated, like in case of
Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny in
Polish elections of 1935.
Early relationship
Mussolini and
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
were not always allies. While Mussolini wanted the expansion of fascist ideology throughout the world, he did not initially appreciate Hitler and the
Nazi Party. Hitler was an early admirer of Mussolini and asked for Mussolini's guidance on how the Nazis could pull off their own
March on Rome. Mussolini did not respond to Hitler's requests as he did not have much interest in Hitler's movement and regarded Hitler to be somewhat crazy. Mussolini did attempt to read ''
Mein Kampf'' to find out what Hitler's Nazism was, but he was immediately disappointed, saying that ''Mein Kampf'' was "a boring tome that I have never been able to read" and claimed that Hitler's beliefs were "little more than commonplace clichés".
Hitler and the Nazi Party in 1922 had praised the rise to power of Mussolini and sought a German-Italian alliance.
[Christian Leitz. ''Nazi Foreign Policy, 1933–1941: The Road to Global War''. London, England; New York City, USA: P. 10.] Upon Mussolini's rise to power, the Nazis declared their admiration and emulation of the Italian Fascists, with Nazi member
Hermann Esser
Hermann Esser (29 July 1900 – 7 February 1981) was an early member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). A journalist, Esser was the editor of the Nazi paper, '' Völkischer Beobachter'', a Propaganda Leader, and a Vice President of the Reichstag. In t ...
in November 1922 saying that "what a group of brave men in Italy have done, we can also do in Bavaria. We’ve also got Italy's Mussolini: his name is Adolf Hitler".
The second part of Hitler's ''Mein Kampf'' ("The National Socialist Movement", 1926) contains this passage:
In a 1931 interview, Hitler spoke admirably about Mussolini, commending Mussolini's racial origins as being the same as that of Germans and claimed at the time that Mussolini was capable of building an
Italian Empire that would outdo the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
and that he supported Mussolini's endeavors, saying:
Mussolini had personal reasons to oppose antisemitism as his longtime mistress and Fascist propaganda director
Margherita Sarfatti
Margherita Sarfatti (née Grassini; 8 April 1880 – 30 October 1961) was an Italian journalist, art critic, patron, collector, socialite, and prominent propaganda adviser of the National Fascist Party. She was Benito Mussolini's biographer as we ...
was Jewish. She had played an important role in the foundation of the fascist movement in Italy and promoting it to Italians and the world through supporting the arts. However, within the Italian fascist movement there were a minority who endorsed Hitler's antisemitism as
Roberto Farinacci
Roberto Farinacci (; 16 October 1892 – 28 April 1945) was a leading Italian Fascist politician and important member of the National Fascist Party before and during World War II as well as one of its ardent antisemitic proponents. English hist ...
, who was part of the far-right wing of the party.
There were also nationalist reasons why Germany and Italy were not immediate allies.
Habsburg Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
(Hitler's birthplace) had an antagonistic relationship with Italy since it was formed, largely because
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1 ...
had seized most of the territories once belonging to Italian states such as
Venice. Italian
irredentist claims sought the return of these lands to Italian rule (''
Italia irredenta
Italian irredentism ( it, irredentismo italiano) was a Nationalism, nationalist Political movement, movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Kingdom of Italy, Italy with irredentism, irredentist goals which promoted th ...
''). Although initially
neutral, Italy entered
World War I on the side of the
Allies against Germany and Austria-Hungary when promised several territories (
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol,
Trieste,
Istria and
Dalmatia). After the war had ended, Italy was rewarded with these territories under the terms of the 1919
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
In Germany and Austria, the annexation of Alto Adige/South Tyrol was controversial as the province was made up of a large majority of German speakers. While Hitler did not pursue this claim, many in the Nazi Party felt differently. In 1939, Mussolini and Hitler agreed on the
South Tyrol Option Agreement
The South Tyrol Option Agreement (german: Option in Südtirol; it, Opzioni in Alto Adige) was an agreement in effect between 1939 and 1943, when the native German and Ladin-speaking people in South Tyrol and several other municipalities of north ...
. When Mussolini's government collapsed in 1943 and the
Italian Social Republic
The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...
was created, Alto Adige/South Tyrol was annexed to Nazi Greater Germany, but was restored to Italy after the war.
Racism
The most striking difference is the
racialist
Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies can be more ex ...
ideology which was the central priority of
Nazism, but not a priority of the other ideologies. Fascism was founded on the principle of
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
unity
Unity may refer to:
Buildings
* Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building
* Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper
* Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England
* Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a ...
which opposed the divisionist
class war
Class War is an anarchist group and newspaper established by Ian Bone and others in 1983 in the United Kingdom. An incarnation of Class War was briefly registered as a political party for the purposes of fighting the 2015 United Kingdom genera ...
ideologies of
Marxist socialism and
communism; therefore, the majority of the regimes viewed racialism as counterproductive to unity, with Mussolini asserting: that "
National pride
Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...
has no need of the delirium of race".
Nazism differed from Italian fascism in that it had a stronger emphasis on race in terms of social and economic policies. Though both ideologies denied the significance of the individual, Italian fascism saw the individual as subservient to the state whereas Nazism saw the individual as well as the state as ultimately subservient to the race. However, subservience to the Nazi state was also a requirement on the population. Mussolini's fascism held that cultural factors existed to serve the state and that it was not necessarily in the state's interest to interfere in cultural aspects of society. The only
purpose of government in Mussolini's fascism was to uphold the state as supreme above all else, a concept which can be described as
statolatry
Statolatry, which combines idolatry with the state, first appeared in Giovanni Gentile's '' Doctrine of Fascism'', published in 1931 under Mussolini's name, and was also mentioned in Gramsci's Prison Notebooks (1971) sometime between 1931–1932, w ...
.
Unlike Hitler, Mussolini repeatedly changed his views on the issue of race according to the circumstances of the time. In 1921, Mussolini promoted the development of the Italian race such as when he said this:
Like Hitler, Mussolini publicly declared his support of a eugenics policy to improve the status of Italians in 1926 to the people of
Reggio Emilia:
In a 1921 speech in
Bologna, Mussolini stated the following: "Fascism was born
..out of a profound, perennial need of this our
Aryan
Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...
and
Mediterranean race
The Mediterranean race (also Mediterranid race) was a historical race concept that was a sub-race of the Caucasian race as categorised by anthropologists in the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. According to various definitions, it was said to be ...
". In this speech, Mussolini was referring to Italians as being the Mediterranean branch of the
Aryan race
The Aryan race is an obsolete historical race concept that emerged in the late-19th century to describe people of Proto-Indo-European heritage as a racial grouping. The terminology derives from the historical usage of Aryan, used by modern ...
, Aryan in the meaning of people of an
Indo-European language
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dut ...
and culture. However, Italian fascism initially strongly rejected the common
Nordicist conception of the Aryan race that idealized "pure" Aryans as having certain physical traits that were defined as Nordic such as blond hair and blue eyes.
[Aaron Gillette. ''Racial Theories in Fascist Italy''. London, England; New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2001. Pp. 188.] The antipathy by Mussolini and other Italian fascists to Nordicism was over the existence of the Mediterranean
inferiority complex that had been instilled into Mediterraneans by the propagation of such theories by German and Anglo-Saxon Nordicists who viewed Mediterranean peoples as racially degenerate and thus inferior.
Mussolini refused to allow Italy to return again to this inferiority complex.
In a private conversation with Emil Ludwig in 1932, Mussolini derided the concept of a biologically superior race and denounced racism as being a foolish concept. Mussolini did not believe that race alone was that significant. Mussolini viewed himself as a modern-day
Roman Emperor, the Italians as a cultural elite and he also wished to "
Italianise" the parts of the
Italian Empire which he had desired to build.
A cultural superiority of Italians, rather than a view of racialism.
Mussolini believed that the development of a race was insignificant in comparison to the development of a culture, but he did believe that a race could be improved through moral development, though he did not say that this would make a superior race:
Mussolini believed that a biologically superior race was not possible, but that a more developed culture's superiority over the less developed ones warranted the destruction of the latter, such as the culture of
Ethiopia and the neighboring
Slavic cultures, such as those in
Slovenia and
Croatia. He took advantage of the fact that no undertaking was made with regard to the rights of
minorities (such as those that lived in
Istria and
Trieste's surroundings) in either the
Treaty of Rapallo Following World War I there were two Treaties of Rapallo, both named after Rapallo, a resort on the Ligurian coast of Italy:
* Treaty of Rapallo, 1920, an agreement between Italy and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the later Yugosla ...
or the
Treaty of Rome; and after 1924's
Treaty of Rome these same treaties did not make any undertaking with regard to the rights of the minorities that lived in
Rijeka. Croatian, Slovene, German and French
toponyms
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
were systematically Italianized.
Against ethnic Slovenes, he imposed an especially violent
fascist Italianization policy. To Italianize ethnic
Slovene and
Croatian children, Fascist Italy brought Italian teachers from
Southern Italy to the ex Austro-Hungarian territories that had been given to Italy in exchange for its decision to join Great Britain in World War I such as Slovene Littoral and a big part of western
Slovenia while Slovene and Croatian teachers, poets, writers, artists, and clergy were exiled to
Sardinia and
Southern Italy. Acts of fascist violence were not hampered by the authorities, such as the burning down of the
Narodni dom
The Trieste National Hall or Slovene Cultural Centre ( sl, Narodni dom), also known as the Hotel Balkan, in Trieste was a multimodal building that served as a centre for the Slovene minority in the city. It included the Slovene theatre in Trieste, ...
(Community Hall of ethnic Slovenes in Trieste) in Trieste, which was carried out at night by fascists with the connivance of the police on 13 July 1920.
After the complete destruction of all Slovene minority cultural, financial, and other organizations and the continuation of violent fascist Italianization policies of ethnic cleansing, one of the first
anti-fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
organizations in Europe,
TIGR
TIGR, an abbreviation for ''Trst'', ''Istra'', ''Gorica'', and ''Reka'', full name Revolutionary Organization of the Julian March T.I.G.R. ( sl, Revolucionarna organizacija Julijske krajine T.I.G.R.), was a militant anti-fascist and insurgent or ...
, emerged in 1927, and it coordinated the Slovene resistance against Fascist Italy until it was dismantled by the fascist secret police in 1941, after which some ex-TIGR members joined the
Slovene Partisans
The Slovene Partisans, formally the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Slovenia, (NOV in POS) were part of Europe's most effective anti-Nazi resistance movement Jeffreys-Jones, R. (2013): ''In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western ...
.
For Mussolini, the inclusion of people in a fascist society depended upon their loyalty to the state. Meetings between Mussolini and
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, No ...
dignitaries from the colony of
Libya convinced him that the Arab population was worthy enough to be given extensive civil rights and as a result, he allowed Muslims to join a
Muslim section of the Fascist Party, namely the
Muslim Association of the Lictor. However, under pressure from Nazi Germany, the fascist regime eventually embraced a racist ideology, such as promoting the belief that Italy was settling Africa in order to create a white civilization there and it imposed five-year prison sentences on any Italians who were caught having sexual or marital relationships with native Africans. Against those colonial peoples who were not loyal, vicious campaigns of repression were waged such as in Ethiopia, where native Ethiopian settlements were burned to the ground by the Italian armed forces in 1937. Under fascism, native Africans were allowed to join the Italian armed forces as colonial troops and they also appeared in
fascist propaganda
The propaganda used by the National Fascist Party (PNF) in the years leading up to and during Benito Mussolini's leadership of Italy (1922–1943) was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Fascist ...
.
At least in its overt ideology, the Nazi movement believed that the existence of a class-based society was a threat to its survival, and as a result, it wanted to unify the racial element above the established classes, but the Italian fascist movement sought to preserve the class system and uphold it as the foundation of an established and desirable culture. Nevertheless, the Italian fascists did not reject the concept of
social mobility and a central tenet of the fascist state was
meritocracy, yet fascism also heavily based itself on
corporatism
Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...
, which was supposed to supersede
class conflict
Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor.
The forms o ...
s. Despite these differences, Kevin Passmore (2002 p. 62) observes:
There are sufficient similarities between Fascism and Nazism to make it worthwhile by applying the concept of fascism to both. In Italy and Germany, a movement came to power that sought to create national unity through the repression of national enemies and the incorporation of all classes and both genders into a permanently mobilized nation.
Nazi ideologues such as
Alfred Rosenburg were highly skeptical of the Italian race and fascism, but he believed that the improvement of the Italian race was possible if major changes were made to convert it into an acceptable "Aryan" race and he also said that the Italian fascist movement would only succeed if it purified the Italian race into an Aryan one.
Nazi theorists believed that the
downfall of the Roman Empire was due to the interbreeding of different races which created a "polluted" Italian race that was inferior.
Hitler believed this and he also believed that Mussolini represented an attempt to revive the pure elements of the former Roman civilization, such as the desire to create a strong and aggressive Italian people. However, Hitler was still audacious enough when meeting Mussolini for the first time in 1934 to tell him that all Mediterranean peoples were "tainted" by "Negro blood" and thus in his racist view they were degenerate.
Relations between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany were initially poor but they deteriorated even further after the assassination of Austria's fascist chancellor
Engelbert Dollfuss by
Austrian Nazis
Austrian Nazism or Austrian National Socialism was a pan-German movement that was formed at the beginning of the 20th century. The movement took a concrete form on 15 November 1903 when the German Worker's Party (DAP) was established in Austria ...
in 1934. Under Dollfuss Austria was a key ally of Mussolini and Mussolini was deeply angered by Hitler's attempt to take over Austria and he expressed it by angrily mocking Hitler's earlier remark on the impurity of the Italian race by declaring that a "Germanic" race did not exist and he also indicated that Hitler's repression of Germany's Jews proved that the Germans were not a pure race:
Foreign affairs
Italian Fascism was
expansionist
Expansionism refers to states obtaining greater territory through military empire-building or colonialism.
In the classical age of conquest moral justification for territorial expansion at the direct expense of another established polity (who ...
in its desires, looking to create a
New Roman Empire
The Italian colonial empire ( it, Impero coloniale italiano), known as the Italian Empire (''Impero Italiano'') between 1936 and 1943, began in Africa in the 19th century and comprised the colonies, protectorates, concessions and dependencie ...
. Nazi Germany was even more aggressive in expanding its borders in violation of the 1919
Treaty of Versailles. The Nazis murdered the
Austrofascist
The Federal State of Austria ( de-AT, Bundesstaat Österreich; colloquially known as the , "Corporate State") was a continuation of the First Austrian Republic between 1934 and 1938 when it was a one-party state led by the clerical fascist Fa ...
dictator Dollfuss, causing an uneasy relationship in Austria between fascism and Nazism at an early stage.
Italian nationalist and
pan-German claims clashed over the issue of
Tyrol.
In the 1920s, Hitler with only a small Nazi party at the time wanted to form an alliance with Mussolini's regime as he recognized that his pan-German nationalism was seen as a threat by Italy. In Hitler's unpublished sequel to ''Mein Kampf'', he attempts to address concerns among Italian fascists about Nazism. In the book, Hitler puts aside the issue of Germans in Tyrol by explaining that overall Germany and Italy have more in common than not and that the Tyrol Germans must accept that it is in Germany's interests to be allied with Italy. Hitler claims that Germany, like Italy, was subjected to oppression by its neighbours and he denounces the Austrian Empire as having oppressed Italy from completing national unification just as France oppressed Germany from completing its national unification. Hitler's denunciation of Austria in the book is important because Italian fascists were skeptical about him due to the fact that he was born in Austria which Italy had considered to be its primary enemy for centuries and Italy saw Germany as an ally of Austria. By declaring that the Nazi movement was not interested in the territorial legacy of the Austrian Empire, this is a way to assure the Italian fascists that Hitler, the Nazi movement and Germany were not enemies of Italy.
Despite public attempts of goodwill by Hitler towards Mussolini, Germany and Italy came into conflict in 1934 when Engelbert Dollfuss, the Austrofascist leader of Italy's ally Austria, was assassinated by Austrian Nazis on Hitler's orders in preparation for a planned
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the Nazi Germany, German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "Ger ...
(
annexation
Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
of Austria). Mussolini ordered troops to the Austrian-Italian border in readiness for war against Germany. Hitler backed down and defer plans to annex Austria.
When Hitler and Mussolini first met, Mussolini referred to Hitler as "a silly little monkey" before the
Allies forced Mussolini into an agreement with Hitler. Mussolini also reportedly asked
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. ...
to
excommunicate
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
Hitler. From 1934 to 1936, Hitler continually attempted to win the support of Italy and the Nazi regime endorsed the
Italian invasion of Ethiopia (leading to
Ethiopia's annexation as
Italian East Africa) while the
League of Nations condemned Italian aggression. With other countries opposing Italy, the fascist regime had no choice but to draw closer to Nazi Germany. Germany joined Italy in supporting the
Nationalists under
Francisco Franco with forces and supplies in the
Spanish Civil War.
Later, Germany and Italy signed the
Anti-Comintern Pact
The Anti-Comintern Pact, officially the Agreement against the Communist International was an anti-Communist pact concluded between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan on 25 November 1936 and was directed against the Communist International (Com ...
committing the two regimes to oppose the
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...
and Soviet
communism. By 1938, Mussolini allowed Hitler to carry out Anschluss in exchange for official German renunciation of claims to Tyrol. Mussolini supported the
annexation
Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
of the
Sudetenland
The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the b ...
during the
Munich Agreement talks later the same year.
In 1939, the
Pact of Steel was signed, officially creating an alliance of Germany and Italy. The Nazi official newspaper ''
Völkischer Beobachter'' published articles extolling the mutually benefit of the alliance:
Hitler and Mussolini recognized commonalities in their politics and the second part of Hitler's ''Mein Kampf'' ("The National Socialist Movement", 1926) contains this passage:
Both regimes despised
France (seen as an enemy which held territories claimed by both Germany and Italy) and
Yugoslavia (seen by the Nazis as a racially degenerate Slavic state and holding lands such as
Dalmatia claimed by the Italian fascists). Fascist territorial claims on Yugoslav territory meant that Mussolini saw the destruction of Yugoslavia as essential for Italian expansion. Hitler viewed Slavs as racially inferior, but he did not see importance in an immediate invasion of Yugoslavia, instead focusing on the threat from the Soviet Union.
Mussolini favored using the extremist
Croatian nationalist
Ustaše as a useful tool to tear down the Serbian-ruled Yugoslavia. In 1941, the Italian military campaign in
Greece (the
Greco-Italian War
The Greco-Italian War (Greek language, Greek: Ελληνοϊταλικός Πόλεμος, ''Ellinoïtalikós Pólemos''), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian Campaign in Greece, and the War of '40 in Greece, took place between the kingdom ...
, called the
Battle of Greece
The German invasion of Greece, also known as the Battle of Greece or Operation Marita ( de , Unternehmen Marita, links = no), was the attack of Greece by Italy and Germany during World War II. The Italian invasion in October 1940, which is ...
for the period after the German intervention) was failing. Hitler reluctantly began the
Balkan Campaign with the
invasion of Yugoslavia. German, Italian, Bulgarian,
Hungarian and Croatian
insurgents
An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irreg ...
(under the Axis
puppet Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. It was established in p ...
) decisively defeated Yugoslavia.
In the aftermath, with the exception of Serbia and
Vardar Macedonia, most of Yugoslavia was reshaped based on Italian fascist foreign policy objectives. Mussolini demanded and received much of Dalmatia from the Croats in exchange for supporting the independence of Croatia. Mussolini's policy of creating an independent Croatia prevailed over Hitler's anti-Slavism and eventually, the Nazis and the Ustashe regime of Croatia would develop closer bonds due to the Ustashe's brutal effectiveness at suppressing Serb dissidents.
The question of religion also poses considerable conflicting differences as some forms of fascism, particularly the
Fatherland Front and
National Union that were devoutly
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. The
occultist and pagan elements of Nazi ideology were very hostile to the traditional Christianity found in the vast majority of fascist movements of the 20th century.
See also
*
Antisemitism in Europe
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-Semitism)—prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews— has experienced a long history of expression since the days of ancient civilizations, with most of it having originated in the Christianity, Chris ...
* ''
The Doctrine of Fascism
"The Doctrine of Fascism" ( it, "La dottrina del fascismo", italics=no) is an essay attributed to Benito Mussolini. In truth, the first part of the essay, entitled "" (), was written by the Italian philosopher Giovanni Gentile, while only the se ...
''
*
Falange
The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS; ), frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco ...
*
Fascism in Africa
*
Fascism in Asia
*
Fascism in North America
Fascism in North America refers to political movements in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean that are variants of fascism. Fascist movements in North America never gained power, unlike their counterparts in Eur ...
*
Fascism in South America
*
Jingoism
Jingoism is nationalism in the form of aggressive and proactive foreign policy, such as a country's advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national i ...
*
National syndicalism
National syndicalism is a far-right adaptation of syndicalism to suit the broader agenda of integral nationalism. National syndicalism developed in France in the early 20th century, and then spread to Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It is ge ...
*
Racism in Europe
Racism has been a recurring part of the history of Europe.
Austria
There has been racism in various parts of Austria. Since the start of the European migrant crisis in 2015, there has been increase in the number of cases of racism.
Belarus
Bu ...
*
Radical right
*
Syndicalism
References
Informational notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Atkins, Stephen E. ''Encyclopedia of modern worldwide extremists and extremist groups'' (Greenwood, 2004).
* Blamires, Cyprian, ed. ''World fascism: a historical encyclopedia'' (5th edition, ABC-CLIO, 2006), 750pp, with 500 entries by 100+ scholars
excerpt* Blinkhorn, Martin. ''Fascism and the Right in Europe 1919–1945'' (Routledge, 2014).
*
* Davies, Peter, and Derek Lynch, eds. ''The Routledge companion to fascism and the far right'' (Routledge, 2005)
excerpt* Davies, Peter J., and Paul Jackson. ''The far right in Europe: an encyclopedia'' (Greenwood, 2008)
excerpt and list of movements*Eatwell, Roger. 1996. ''Fascism: A History.'' New York: Allen Lane.
*
*
*
* Morgan, Philip. ''Fascism in Europe, 1919–1945'' (2003).
*
*
*
* Sarti, Roland. ''The Ax Within: Italian Fascism in Action'' (New Viewpoints, 1974).
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fascism In Europe
20th century in Europe
Politics of World War II