Fascism

Nationalist political movement that was founded around 1919 in northern Italy through the establishment of “fascist fighting alliances” (ital. fascio = alliance) against the socialization efforts of the workers. Within this movement, which received much support from the elites, Benito Mussolini established himself as the leader, who succeeded in having power transferred to him as prime minister by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1922. This so-called “March on Rome” was a model for Adolf Hitler’s attempted coup in Munich in 1923. Mussolini established a dictatorship with a one-party system beginning in 1922 and later plunged Italy into World War II alongside Germany, ultimately bringing about the downfall of the fascist system. Following the Italian movement, other extreme nationalist, leader-oriented, anti-democratic movements were later labeled “fascist.”