Fascism as an Ideology
Understand fascism — the totalitarian ideology of ultranationalism, militarism, and racial hierarchy that ravaged Europe in the 20th century.
Fascism was a political ideology and mass movement that emerged in Europe after World War I, characterized by ultranationalism, authoritarianism, militarism, the cult of a charismatic leader, and contempt for liberal democracy and individual rights. It represented a radical rejection of both Enlightenment liberalism and Marxist internationalism.
Fascism glorified the state as the supreme expression of national will, demanded total submission of the individual to the collective, and celebrated violence and war as ennobling experiences. It was anti-rational, appealing to emotion, myth, and spectacle rather than logical argument. Fascist movements exploited economic despair, national humiliation, fear of communism, and resentment of established elites to build mass followings.
Nazi fascism added virulent racial ideology to the mix, positioning the 'Aryan race' as superior and Jews as an existential threat requiring elimination. This racial dimension, absent from Italian fascism's origins, produced the Holocaust. The defeat of fascist regimes in World War II discredited the ideology, but its core elements — xenophobic nationalism, authoritarian leadership, contempt for democratic norms, and the scapegoating of minorities — continue to resurface in various forms.