Fascism in Europe

Fascism in Europe was composed of numerous ideologies present during the 20th century which all developed their own differences from each other. Fascism was born in Italy and subsequently, across Europe several movements which took influence from it emerged. Purists assert that the term "Fascism" should only be used in relation to the National Fascist Party under Benito Mussolini in Italy.

However, commonly the following European ideologies are also described as forms of, or strongly related to fascism. The Falange in Spain under Francisco Franco, the Austrofascism in Austria under Engelbert Dollfuß, the 4th of August Regime in Greece under Ioannis Metaxas, the Sanation in Poland under Józef Piłsudski, the Ustaše in Croatia during the Interwar period and World War II, the Estado Novo in Portugal under António de Oliveira Salazar, and the Nazi Party of Germany under Adolf Hitler.

The most striking difference is the racialist and anti-Semitic ideology present in Nazism but not the other ideologies. Fascism was founded on the principle of nationalist unity, against the divisionist class war ideology of Socialism and Communism. Thus the majority of the regimes viewed racialism as counter productive to unity, with Mussolini asserting that "National pride has no need of the delirium of race".

Italian Fascism was expansionist in its desires, looking to create a New Roman Empire. As was Nazi Germany, who looked to expand its borders. The same cannot be said for the other ideologies who focused almost exclusively on internal matters. This led to some countries, such as Spain or Portugal, remaining neutral in World War II, rather than being Axis powers, while Metaxas's Greece fought against the Axis, due to Italy's invasion. It is widely accepted that the Nazis murdered the Austrofascist dictator, causing an uneasy relationship between Fascism and Nazism at an early stage.

The question of religion also poses considerable conflicting differences, some forms of fascism, particularly the Falange and Estado Novo were devoutly Christian. Thus the occultist and pagan elements of Nazism, were directly opposed to the Christian element found in the vast majority of fascism movements of the 20th century.