alternatehistory.com

Hi all,

A question popped in my head.

A Fascist state is defined by dilution of individual identities in the State, with glorification of the State as THE force and the identifying factor above everything else.
It is also defined by a focus on the military, a strong state apparatus and an economy that is very close to the State.

If you look at this, the turn of the century IIIrd Republic does kinda fit the bill, with forced assimilation of minorities, both in colonies but also in the métropole (les Hussards Noirs as the teachers were called).
You had a focus on the "ligne bleue des Vosges" and revanchism, a destruction of other loyalties (the Church) and an economy structured around heavy industry keeping close to the powers that be (Schneider...).
The goal was to strengthen the State and create a common French identity.

We can assume that political identity is a spectrum, with rarely a clear stand but shifting behaviours, especially at state level.

While it's obviously not a Nazi style fascism or even regular death squads, could we consider the early XXth Century IIIrd Republic as a proto-fascist state, precursor to Italian Fascism for example, which had a similar focus on building a national identity from separate regional ones?
Top