Fascism: Reflections on the Fate of Ideas in Twentieth-Century History

Abstract

It has often been claimed that fascism began with WWI & ended with the defeat of Hitler in 1945; however, it is more accurate to argue that fascism emerged long before WWI & that its tenets are still visible in the contemporary era. In an effort to prove this case, the relationship between historicism & fascism is discussed, social factors of the pre-WWI era are examined, political thinking of the time is outlined, & modernity is described. The relationship between fascism & intellectual thought, anti-Semitism, & Sorelian revolutionary revisionism is examined also. These events demonstrate that fascist thinking existed for 30 years before the beginning of WWI. Historical happenings should always be kept in mind when other political terminologies are discussed. For example, the historical background of totalitarianism, Stalinism, Nazism, & communism must be considered before these ideologies can be accurately portrayed. K. Larsen