Studies of European political movements in the mid-twentieth century often focus on the “isms”: totalitarianism, Nazism, Communism, Socialism, and Fascism. Of all of these political ideologies, Fascism is most essential to understanding World War II. Fascism, or fascismo, originated in Italy in the years following World War I. The “Doctrine of Fascism” (“La dottrina del fascismo”), authored by Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini, was published in 1932. This doctrine set forth the elements of Fascism—totalitarianism, imperialism, racial purification, and nationalism—that we recognize today. Likewise, it defined the nascent movement as the antithesis of western liberal democracy.