Fascism

Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. Similar political movements spread across Europe between World War One and World War Two and took several forms such as Nazism and Clerical fascism. Neofascism is generally used to describe post-WWII movements seen to have fascist attributes.

Fascism as an international phenomenon

It is often a matter of dispute whether a certain government is to be characterized as fascist, authoritarian, totalitarian, or just a plain police state. Regimes that are alleged to have been either fascist or sympathetic to fascism include:

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Austria (1933-1938) - Austro-fascism: Dollfuß dissolved parliament and established a clerical-fascist dictatorship which lasted until Austria was incorporated into Germany through the Anschluss. Dollfuß's idea of a "Ständestaat" was borrowed from Mussolini.

Related Topics:
1933 - 1938 - Austro-fascism - Anschluss

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Italy (1922-1943) - The first fascist country, it was ruled by Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) until he was dismissed and arrested on the 25 July 1943. Mussolini was then rescued from prison by German troops, and set up a short lived puppet state named "Repubblica di Salò" in northern Italy under the protection of the German army.

Related Topics:
1922 - 1943 - 25 July

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Germany (1933-1945) - Ruled by the Nazi movement of Adolf Hitler (der Führer). In the terminology of the Allies, Nazi Germany was as their chief enemy the mightiest and best-known fascist state. See above for a discussion on the differences and similarities between Nazism and fascism.

Related Topics:
1933 - 1945 - Adolf Hitler - State

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Spain (1936-1975) - After the 1936 arrest and execution of its founder José Antonio Primo de Rivera during the Spanish Civil War, the fascist Falange Española Party was allied to and ultimately came to be dominated by Generalissimo Francisco Franco, who became known as El Caudillo, the undisputed leader of the Nationalist side in the war, and, after victory, head of state until his death over 35 years later. However, it was best described as an autocracy based on the Falangist fascist principles in its early years. By the mid-50s, the Spanish Miracle and the rise of the Opus Dei in the Franco regime led to Falangist fascism being discarded and fascists minimized in importance.

Related Topics:
1936 - 1975 - José Antonio Primo de Rivera - Falange - Francisco Franco - Spanish Miracle - Opus Dei

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Portugal (1932-1974) - Although less restrictive than the Italian, German and Spanish regimes, the Estado Novo regime of António de Oliveira Salazar was quasi-fascist. However, it was closer to the Spanish example of paternal authoritarianism than the Italian fascist or German Nazi model.

Related Topics:
1932 - 1974 - Estado Novo - António de Oliveira Salazar

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Greece - Joannis Metaxas' 1936 to 1941 dictatorship was not particularly ideological in nature, and might hence be characterized as authoritarian rather than fascist. The same can be argued regarding Colonel George Papadopoulos' 1967 to 1974 military dictatorship, which was supported by the United States.

Related Topics:
Greece - Joannis Metaxas - 1936 - 1941 - George Papadopoulos - 1967 - 1974

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Brazil (1937-1945) - Many historians have argued that Brazil's Estado Novo under Getúlio Vargas was a Brazilian variant of the continental fascist regimes. For a period of time, Vargas' regime was aligned with Plínio Salgado's Integralist Party, Brazil's fascist movement. However, it also showed great affinity with organized labour and leftist ideas, leaving its classification open to interpretation.

Related Topics:
1937 - 1945 - Estado Novo - Getúlio Vargas - Plínio Salgado - Integralist Party

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Belgium (1940-1945) - The violent Rexist movement and the Vlaamsch-Nationaal Verbond party achieved some electoral success in the 1930s. Many of its members assisted the Nazi occupation during World War II. The Verdinaso movement, too, can be considered fascist. Its leader, Joris Van Severen, was killed before the Nazi occupation. Some of its adepts collaborated, but others joined the resistance. These collaborationist movements are generally classified as belonging to the National Socialist model or the German fascist model because of its brand of racial nationalism and the close relation with the occupational authorities.

Related Topics:
Belgium - 1940 - 1945 - Rexist - Vlaamsch-Nationaal Verbond - 1930s - Verdinaso - Joris Van Severen - Resistance

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Slovakia (1939-1944) - The Slovak People's Party was a quasi-fascist nationalist movement associated with the Catholic Church. Founded by Father Andrej Hlinka, his successor Monsignor Jozef Tiso became the Nazis' quisling in a nominally independent Slovakia. The clerical element lends comparison with Austrofascism or the clerical fascism of Croatia, though not to the excesses of either model. The market system was run on principles agreeing with the standard Italian fascist model of industrial regulation.

Related Topics:
1939 - 1944 - Slovak People's Party - Catholic Church - Andrej Hlinka - Jozef Tiso - Quisling

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France (1940-1944) - The Vichy regime of Philippe Pétain, established following France's defeat by Germany, collaborated with the Nazis, including in the death of 65,000 French Jews. However, the minimal importance of fascists in the government until its direct occupation by Germany makes it appear to seem more similar to the regime of Franco or Salazar than the model fascist powers. While it has been argued that anti-Semitic massacres performed by the Vichy regime were more in the interests of pleasing Germany than in service of ideology, anti-semitism was strong in France before World War II.

Related Topics:
1940 - 1944 - Philippe Pétain

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As early as October 1940 the Vichy regime introduced the infamous statut des Juifs, that produced a new legal definition of Jewishness and which barred Jews from certain public offices. Worse still, in May 1941 the Parisian police force had collaborated in the internment of foreign Jews. As a means of identifying Jews, the German authorities required all Jews in the occupied zone to wear the Star of David on their clothing. On the 11th June, they demanded that 100, 000 Jews be handed over for deportation.

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The most infamous of these mass arrests was the so-called grande rafle du Vél' d'Hiv' which took place in Paris on the 16th and 17th July 1942. The Vélodrome d'Hiver was a large indoor sports arena situated on the rue Nélaton near the Quai de Grenelle in the 15th arrondissment of Paris. In a vast operation codenamed vent printanier, the French police rounded up 12,884 Jews from Paris and its surrounding suburbs. These were mostly adult men and women but there were around 4,000 children amongst them. The rounding up was made easier by the large number of files on Jews complied and held by Vichy authorities since 1940. The French police, headed by René Bousquet, were entirely resonsible for this operation and not one German soldier assisted.

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Romania (1940-1944) - The Iron Guard, turned more and more into a pro-Nazi and pro-German movement, and took power in September 1940 when Ion Antonescu forced King Carol II to abdicate. However, the cohabitation between the Iron Guard and Ion Antonescu was short-lived.

Related Topics:
Romania - 1940 - 1944 - Iron Guard - Ion Antonescu - Carol II

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The Antonescu regime that followed hardly qualifies as fascist, as it did not have a clear political program or party. It was rather a military dictatorship. The regime was characterized by nationalism, anti-semitism, and anti-communism, but had no social program. Despite the Ia?i pogrom and a near-liquidation of the Jews of many parts of Moldavia, the regime ultimately refused to send the Romanian Jews to German death camps. The regime was overturned on the 23rd of August 1944 by a coup lead by the king Mihai of Romania.

Related Topics:
Military dictatorship - Ia?i pogrom - Moldavia - Mihai of Romania

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Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945) - Poglavnik Ante Paveli?, leader of the infamous Usta?e movement, came to power in 1941 as the Croatian puppet leader under the control of Nazi Germany. Under the indirect control of Germany, the Usta?e regime was based heavily upon both upon clerical fascism and the Italian model of fascism, with elements of racial integrity and organic nationalism drawn from Nazism.

Related Topics:
Independent State of Croatia - 1941 - 1945 - Ante Paveli? - Usta?e

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Norway (1943-1945) - Vidkun Quisling had staged a coup d'état during the German invasion on April 9th, 1940. This first government was replaced by a Nazi puppet government under his leadership from February 1st, 1943. His party had never had any substantial support in Norway, undermining his attempts to emulate the Italian fascist state.

Related Topics:
Norway - 1943 - 1945 - Vidkun Quisling - Coup d'état - April 9 - 1940 - February 1

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Hungary (1932-1945) - By 1932, support for right-wing ideology, embodied by Gyula Gömbös, had reached the point where Hungarian Regent Miklos Horthy could not postpone appointing a fascist prime minister. Horthy also showed signs of admiring the efficiency and conservative leanings of the Italian fascist state under Mussolini and was not too reluctant to appoint a fascist government (with terms for the extent of Horthy's power). Horthy would keep control over the mainstream fascist movement in Hungary until near the end of the Second World War. Ferenc Szálasi headed the extremist Arrow Cross party, which had been banned until German pressure lifted the law. In 1944, with German support, he replaced Admiral Miklós Horthy as Head of State; following Horthy's attempt to have Hungary change sides. The regime changed to a system more in line with Nazism and would remain this way until the capture of Budapest by Soviet troops. Starting in 1938, several racial laws were passed by the regime, and over 400,000 Jews were sent by Hungary to German death camps from 1941 to 1944.

Related Topics:
Hungary - 1932 - 1945 - Gyula Gömbös - Miklos Horthy - Ferenc Szálasi - Arrow Cross - 1944 - Miklós Horthy - Head of State

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Argentina (1946-1955 and 1973-1974) - Juan Perón admired Mussolini and established his own pseudo-fascist regime. After he died, his third wife and vice-president Isabel Perón was deposed by a military junta. Similarities are best drawn, though, with the Vargas regime of Brazil.

Related Topics:
1946 - 1955 - 1973 - 1974 - Juan Perón - Isabel Perón

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South Africa (1948-1994) - Many scholars have labelled the apartheid system built by Malan and Verwoerd as a type of fascism. Whether it was a fascist regime or an example of a socially conservative administration with excessive powers is hotly debated. The racial and nationalist ideas were implanted inside the South African regime, however the economic structure of the country was not as regulated as that of a typically fascist state.

Related Topics:
South Africa - 1948 - 1994 - Apartheid - Malan - Verwoerd

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Guatemala (1953-1980s) - Mario Sandoval Alarcón, a self-declared fascist, headed the National Liberation Movement after a coup d'état overthrew the democratic government of Col. Jacobo Arbenz. Sandoval became known as the "godfather of the death squads" during the Guatemalan military's 30-year counter-insurgency campaign and at one point served as Guatemala's vice president.

Related Topics:
Guatemala - Mario Sandoval Alarcón - National Liberation Movement - Jacobo Arbenz

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Rhodesia (1965-1978) - The racial segregation system by Ian Smith is similarly considered by some to be a form of fascism. See the comments of South Africa.

Related Topics:
Rhodesia - Ian Smith

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Lebanon (1982-1988) - The right wing Christian Phalangist Party, backed by its own private army and inspired by the Spanish Falangists, was nominally in power in the country during the 1980s but had limited authority over the highly factionalised state, two-thirds of which was occupied by Israeli and Syrian troops. Phalangists, trained and supported by Israel are alleged to have carried out the Sabra and Shatila Massacre in 1982.

Related Topics:
Lebanon - Phalangist Party - Israeli - Syrian - Sabra and Shatila Massacre - 1982

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Iran (1950-1953) - Under the Iranian National Front, during the regime of Mohammad Mossadegh, attacks on the political left were led by right-wing groups with fascistic elements including the Iranian Nation Party, led by Dariush Forouhar; the Sumka (The National Socialist Iranian Workers Party) led by Dr. Davud Monshizadeh; and Kabud (Iranian Nazi Party) founded by Habibollah Nobakht.

Related Topics:
Iran - 1950 - 1953 - National Front - Mohammad Mossadegh - Iranian Nation Party - Dariush Forouhar - Sumka - Davud Monshizadeh - Kabud - Habibollah Nobakht

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