Fascism was forged in the crucible of post-World War I nationalism in Europe. The national aspirations of many European peoples nations without states, peoples arbitrarily assigned to political entities with little regard for custom or culture had been crushed after World War I. The humiliation imposed by the victors in the Great War, coupled with the hardship of the economic Depression, created bitterness and anger. That anger frequently found its outlet in an ideology that asserted not just the importance of the nation, but its unquestionable primacy and central predestined role in history. Italy was the birthplace of fascist ideology. Mussolini, a former socialist journalist, organized the first fascist movement in 1919 at Milan. The Nazi racialist version of fascism was developed by Adolph Hitler who with six others formed the Nazi party during 1919 and 1920. However, only in Italy and Germany did fascist movements turn into parties and become major political forces that by their own efforts achieved governmental power. Both countries were states in which the old order had collapsed or no longer seemed to work. Democracy was either not deeply rooted or a system of government of short duration, and nationalist sentiment often ran high. These conditions made it possible for the fascist movements to become established, to generate mass support, and, during times of continuing crises, to lay claim to the reins of government. Fascism as an ideology involves, to a varying degree, some of the following hallmarks: Extreme Nationalism and super-patriotism with a sense of historic mission, cult of personality around a charismatic leader, racism and a self image as being a superior form of social organisation, attacks against both socialism and communism, repression and totalitarianism. .
Fascism glorified national feeling and military strength. However, the nationalism of Fascists did more than stress the authority of the state and insist that people exist for its benefit, it tended towards an ultra or chauvinistic nationalism.
