Fascists and Conservatives: The Radical Right and the Establishment in Twentieth-Century Europe

What has been the relationship between the radical' and the conservative' right in twentieth-century Europe? In Fascists and Conservatives thirteen distinguished authorities on the European right explore this major theme within Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, Austria, Romania, Greece and the Nordic countries. Chapters on individual countries discuss the complex political and ideological relations between fascist and national socialist movements on the one hand and the conservative or established right on the other. The latter embraces monarchies, churches, officer corps, bureaucracies and the organizations which encompass agrarian, financial and industrial capitalism. In some countries the authors examine the fascist/conservative relationship in the very different context of a rightist authoritarian regime, whether this be explicitly fascist as in Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany, or more ambiguous in character such as in Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal or Vichy France. In a wide-ranging introduction, Martin Blinkhorn draws a fascinating picture of a relationship between fascism and conservatism in Europe which comprises subtle and ever-shif elements of collaboration, rivalry and antagonism.

Table of Contents:
1 Introduction: Allies, rivals, or antagonists? Fascists and conservatives in modern Europe, 2 Italian fascism: radical politics and conservative goals, 3 Conservative Catholics and Italian fascism: the Clerico-Fascists, 4 Conservatives and radical nationalists in Germany: the production of fascist potentials, 1912–28, 5 German Conservatives and the Third Reich: an ambiguous relationship, 6 Conservatives and fascists in Austria, 1918–34, 7 Conservatism, traditionalism and fascism in Spain, 1898–1937, 8 Populism and parasitism: the Falange and the Spanish establishment, 1939–75, 9 Conservatism, dictatorship and fascism in Portugal, 1914–45, 10 The conservative right and the far right in France: the search for power, 1934–44, 11 Conservatism, authoritarianism and fascism in Greece, 1915–45, 12 Fascists and conservatives in Romania: two generations of nationalists, 13 Conservatives and fascists in the Nordic countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, 1918–45, 14 Conservatism and the failure of fascism in interwar Britain, List of contributors, Index

Review :
` ... this book is a thorough, reliable and fascinating account of a major phenomenon that affected the whole of Europe.' - Times Higher Education Supplement