Painting by Raphel ( Raffaello Santi )

The birth of fascism can be attributed to the thoughts and philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. He was born in the German principality of Saxony in the year 1844. He was son of a priest and was educated at Bonn and Leipzig universities. He later on started teaching at Basle University in Switzerland when Bismark came to power. Prussia and France were involved in a bloody war in 1870, in which Niezsche also took part, not as soldier but as a volunteer.

After the war, Nietzsche got interested in music along with philosophy. He came in contact with the world famous musician Wagner. He was also influenced buy the thoughts of Schopenhaur. In 1879, he resigned his job and started living in Italy and Switzerland.. He had become a lonely person and spent last eleven years of his life as mentally disturbed person. He died in 1900.

Nietzsche philosophy has influenced a lot of intellectuals, writers and politicians all over the world. Some regard him as a radical thinker as his ideas on most of the things were clear and keen. Thus Spake Zarathustra his famous book. His other works are: Human All Too Human, Joyful Wisdom, Beyond-Good and Evil, The Anti Christ and Geneology of Morals. Nietzsche was in favour of war as it encouraged ambitions and courage.

Nietzsche has divided human beings in two groups: (i) General people –This class is of ordinary mentality and religious nature. (ii) Supermen – They have courage and ambitions. They usually govern. Nietzsche was a critic of Christianity. He believed it to be a ‘religion of slavery’ because of its emphasis on contentment, forgiveness, piety, etc. According to him, “A man can only be said to be great when he becomes a bridge and not a destination. Only that man deserves to be loved who uplifts others and not brings them down”.