ABSTRACT
It is essential to be cautious when speaking of ‘foretastes of fascism’ before the First World War, in an age when the word ‘fascism’ had yet to be coined and most of the conditions which enabled fascism to flourish had yet to come about. There must be no suggestion that any discernible prewar ‘roots’ of fascism were roots only of fascism, or on the other hand that their existence in any way rendered inevitable either the appearance of fascism or, where relevant, its success. Like any important historical phenomenon, fascism was the product of both long-term and more immediate factors, without either of which it could never have existed in recognizable form. This section considers some of the former. And since the beginnings of fascism – whatever else it may have become – lay in the realm of culture and ideas, it is with these that we shall begin.
