Introduction

Abstract

The introduction assesses the usefulness of the concept ‘fascist warfare’, defines it in the context of the scholarly usage of the terms ‘fascism’ and ‘fascist warfare’, and analyses the distinctions between different forms of fascist warfare. Noting that it is seldom used by historians of Germany to include Nazi warfare, the authors argue that the term is of heuristic value to explain a historical phenomenon that shows structural similarities between the warfare waged by regimes and movements that can be characterized as fascist in Spain, Italy, Croatia, Germany, and Japan. Differences between them are quantitative, not essential. It explores also the fundamental distinctions between fascist warfare and that waged by other states.