History of Fascism

4 credits · Undergraduate

Fascism is a crucial subject to understanding the modern world. It was a break with all forms of political organization known to that point, and travelled speedily across national boundaries, to find representation in every European state west of the Soviet Union. Yet it prospered very differently by place -- strong in Romania, weak in Poland -- and came to power only in Germany and Italy, and from there transformed our world, with destructive energies that were unprecedented, revealing the ultimate consequences of an ideology based in racial supremacy. The course surveys all aspects of this movement, from intellectual origins in 19th century bourgeois Europe and World War I, through the extreme experience of World War II.