ABSTRACT
In Italy, the enthusiasm that accompanied its joining the war of 1915 was prepared by the spreading of a cultural orientation whose most emblematic products were nationalism and Futurism. This orientation, invoked and glorified the irrational forces of history, it considered decadent any aspiration to democracy, peace and a reasonable social order. France, in 1914, was swept by a wave of belligerence that had been prepared at the turn of the century by a culture that was very willing to accept violence as a normal fact and, to some extent, desirable in itself. It should be remembered, for example, Reflexions sur la violence by the Socialist George Sorel, was published with considerable success. In a quick examination of the bellicist rhetoric that accompanied the outbreak of Second World War, it is also worthwhile briefly considering the positions of the European Socialist Movement.
