War and Its Effects as an Ideological Source of European Fascism

Abstract

The First World War and its consequences constituted the soil, on which the fascists movements rose in all European countries, gathering people mainly on the basis of discontent and disagreement with the Treaty of Versailles. On the one hand, after the end of multinational imperial state, promise to respect the right of every nation to self-ruling was a popular idea; on the other hand, the Treaty of Versailles did not always respect the idea, e.g. in case of Slovakia, Austria or Hungarian. The so-called little treaty, concerning the minorities, was also treated as non-equal position of nation. The fascists movements based on this and began not only to identify everyone on the basis of national identity, but also to glorify war as a unique experience, as an example of heroism, something much better than pacifism. This idea was fundamental in education, beginning with children. It seems also very important to underline the fact, that most of the charismatic leaders of fascists movements personally took part in the First World War, treating the war as a splendid example of national community, it was the case not only of Mussolini and Hitler. The dream that the Treaty concluded after the Great War will be a guarantee of eternal peace, from the very beginning was contested by fascist movements, leading in the end to the Second World War.