The concept of fascism has a long and tortuous history. In its descriptive mode it has been used to characterize a set of European countries during the interwar and World War II periods. In its pejorative form, it has been used to condemn anyone vaguely associated with what is typically called “the right,” even if the targets of the accusation are simply centrist liberals. Supporters of the US war in Vietnam, and even to some extent the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, come to mind.

But fascism also has had a conceptual history that is fairly clear in its contours and logically consistent in its development. A logical consistency in development as understood by analysts does not imply that logic or rationality were especially valued in the theory or practice of fascism, as we shall see.

After discussing several of the more prominent definitions, commonalities among the four cases of European fascist movements that actually achieved governmental power during the interwar period – Italy, Germany, Hungary, and Romania – will be presented. Germany and Italy, as the largest and politically most important, will be emphasized. As we saw in the introductory chapter, the focus here is on the leaders who form the extremist groups, but the only cases analyzed are those in which the ephemeral gain was sufficiently robust to generate a following large enough to ensure capture of the government. Thus, the only fascist movements to be incorporated here are those that experienced some period of state governance.