Fascism in Europe
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"The governments most often considered to have been fascist include the Mussolini government in Italy, which invented the word; Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, but other similar movements existed across Europe in the 1920s and 1930s."--Sholem Stein |
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Fascism in Europe was composed of numerous ideologies present during the 20th century which all developed their own differences from each other. Fascism was born in Italy; subsequently, several movements across Europe which took influence from the Italian faction emerged.
Purists assert that the term "Fascism" should only be used to mean the ideology of the National Fascist Party under Benito Mussolini in Italy, which ruled from 1922 to 1943.
However, commonly the following European regimes are also described as fascist, or strongly related to fascism:
- Falange in Spain under Francisco Franco (1937–1975)
- Fatherland Front in Austria under Engelbert Dollfuss and Kurt Schuschnigg (1934–1938)
- 4th of August Regime in Greece under Ioannis Metaxas (1936–1941)
- Iron Guard in conjunction with the Romanian military dictatorship in Romania under Ion Antonescu (1940–1941)
- Ustaše in Croatia under Ante Pavelić (1941–1945)
- National Union in Portugal under António de Oliveira Salazar (1933–1974)
- Nazi Party of Germany under Adolf Hitler (1933–1945)
- Hlinka Guard in Slovakia under Jozef Tiso (1939-1945)
- Arrow Cross Party in Hungary under Ferenc Szálasi (1944–1945)
The most striking difference is the racialist and anti-Semitic ideology present in Nazism but not the other ideologies. Fascism was founded on the principle of nationalist unity, against the divisionist class war ideology of Socialism and Communism. Thus the majority of the regimes viewed racialism as counterproductive to unity, with Mussolini asserting that "National pride has no need of the delirium of race".
Italian Fascism was expansionist in its desires, looking to create a New Roman Empire. Nazi Germany also looked to expand its borders. The same cannot be said for the other ideologies, which focused almost exclusively on internal matters. This led to some countries, such as Spain or Portugal, remaining neutral in World War II, rather than being Axis powers, while Metaxas's Greece fought against the Axis, due to Italy's invasion. It is widely accepted that the Nazis murdered the Austrofascist dictator, Dollfuss, causing an uneasy relationship in Austria between Fascism and Nazism at an early stage.
The question of religion also poses considerable conflicting differences, some forms of fascism, particularly the Falange and Estado Novo were devoutly Christian. Thus the occultist and pagan elements of Nazi ideology, were very different to the Christian element found in the vast majority of fascist movements of the 20th century.
See also
- The Doctrine of Fascism
- Compulsory sterilization
- Eugenics
- Syndicalism
- National syndicalism
- Jingoism
- Falange
- Fascism in Africa
- Fascism in Asia
- Fascism in North America
- Fascism in South America