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Lyalko S

Origins

  • Among the factors contributing to the rise of Fascism in Europe were the economic dislocation following World War I (1914-1918), the threat of Communism arising from the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1914 Benito Mussolini, the founder of Fascism in Italy, called on Italy to enter World War I. Influenced by the ideas of French writer Georges Sorel and German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, he glorified "action" and "vitality" and denounced antiwar Communists. After the war, Mussolini's oratorical powers and the support of conservative interests that wanted to stop the spread of leftist movements helped him rise to power.