Roots Of Fascism

Fascism is a political ideology built on the notion of nationalism and characterized by dictatorship, suppression, corporatization and racism (Lasky 2015). While several fascist regimes came to power during the interwar period, they collapsed after World War II. However, fascism has continued to find adherent in countries around the world. Fascism not only promotes nationalism but also manifests corporatism and discrimination, fosters bloodshed and warfare, and endorses other totalitarian methods that are sustained towards conservative ends. Fundamentally, as a nationalist political philosophy, fascism places loyalty to and reverence for the state above all else, enabling the fascist state to exerts its authority over a country's political, economic, social and moral mechanisms (Lasky 2015). Its proponents view fascism as a sort of middle ground between democracy and socialism - the two sociopolitical extremes. From an economic perspective, unlike capitalist economies of democratic nations and communist economies of socialist nations, fascist nations are built around a system in which the economic resources are controlled by private corporations that are strictly governed by the state.
The brutal conflict left many of the defeated soldiers who returned home with a newfound taste for warfare and a desire for power. These circumstances gave rise to aggressive, military-themed political organizations. In Italy, Mussolini's Fascist party, founded by Benito Mussolini, endeavored to restore Italian prestige to that of Roman Empire (Wagnalls 2014). After quickly seizing power and becoming prime minister in 1922, Mussolini turned Italy into Europe's first functional fascist state. Similarly, after Hitler emerged as a charismatic leader of Nazi party, his fascist party grew strong enough to launch attacks on Europe that led to World War II and the death of